Chase.
I try to speak, but something down my throat prevents anything from coming out. Instead, I gag.
“Easy,” a doctor above me says.
Flashes of Greer holding pressure on my gunshot wound flutter through my mind, and my eyes scan the room for her.
She’d never leave me here alone.
Chase catches my frantic eyes, flicking his away quickly.
He knows where she is, but he’s nervous to tell me.
There’s a reason Helms kept me busy and at arm’s length: my intellect is too sharp for him to work his own agenda while shirking the responsibilities of his office.
The doctor walks me through getting the tube out of my throat, and I immediately sit up.
“No! That needs to stay in, sir,” a nurse says as I snatch my IV tape off.
“Where is she?” I growl, my throat feeling like rocks were dragged through it.
“Listen, there wasn’t anything else I could do, and she wanted to go…”
Blood squirts out of my vein, and I hold pressure over it after I pluck the IV out of it.
“Sir!” the nurse screeches, trying to help me back into bed as the room spins when I stand, but I shove her back.
Her head hits the monitors that still scream like hell because I’m back earthside, and she snarls at me.
“Where the fuck is she, Chase? I swear to God, I’ll slit your throat right here in front of everyone.”
“I don’t know,” he admits, his eyes growing glassy.
“Excuse me?”
“Helms got her. I armed her; she was with ten of Raymond’s best men… She disappeared in plain sight, Koen. I don’t know how the hell he did it.”
“Clearly, he was fucking hiding in the house, Chase. How daft can you all be?”
“We’ve swept back through the house multiple times since…”
“How long has she been missing?”
He swallows thickly, and I know I’m not going to like his answer.
“A week.”
I step toward Chase, but he doesn’t move. “Get out of my fucking way.”
“You’re not okay enough to leave yet, Koen! You were shot and had surgery. You’ve been in a coma, for fuck’s sake.”
“I said, move. Or I’ll move you.”
To push his chair would be demeaning, and while I’m a fucking asshole, I really don’t want to cross that line.
“Let the doctor check you over before you go all G.I. Joe.”
“I’m not fine, Chase. I won’t be until she’s back home. Safe. Get out of my way and get on the coms.”
