Focus on the patient. You can do this.
I shove my feelings down so deep, they can’t possibly escape—for now—and measure out four milligrams of morphine. “This is for the pain. I’ll also give you a local anesthetic and a shot of antibiotics before I stitch you up. Okay?”
She nods, tears staining her cheeks. I work quickly. Three injections, saline to irrigate the wound, antiseptic, four stitches, and a thick bandage. Raelynn brings Bella a fresh shirt and helps her put it on.
Natasha doesn’t look at me when I move to the kitchen sink to wash the blood from my hands. “I thought Gladys would be safe here,” she says quietly. “Bella has a different last name. How did they even find her?”
I pull Natasha against me, rubbing small circles over her lower back. “I don’t know, baby. But Gladys is a force of nature. Those bastards don’t know what they’re in for.”
In the living room, West clears his throat. “Bella, can you tell us what happened?”
“Who are you people?” she asks. “And why are you even here? They said if I called the police, they’dkillAunt Gladys. If she dies?—”
“We’re not the police. My name is West. I’m a retired Navy SEAL. That wall of muscle over there is former Special Forces. Graham was in the Coast Guard. Raelynn, Air Force. The men who took your aunt have been selling drugs in the Middle East for more than a decade, and they’re after Natasha because she tried to stop them.”
I keep my arm around Natasha’s waist and urge her into the living room. Bella glares up at us. “Aunt Gladys loves you. She talks about you all the time. How could you do this to her?”
“Natasha didn’tdoanything.” I can’t imagine what Bella is feeling right now, but there’s no way I’m going to stand by and let her blame Natasha for what Bastian and his piece-of-shitassociatesdid. “You want to blame someone, blame Clancy. He’s probably the one who gave those assholes your aunt’s name.”
“Doc.” Ryker shoots me a look that clearly says “shut up.”
West lowers himself down next to the young woman. “I know you’re scared, Bella. But I need you to tell me everything you can remember.”
“Take her to the Five Points,”West says. “I sent the remote key to your phone.”
“Gotcha.” Raelynn slings Bella’s bag over her shoulder and takes the young woman’s arm. “Come on, darlin’. I’ve got you.”
“She’ll be safe at a hotel?” I ask.
West pins me with his icy stare. “The Five Points uses Emerald City Security. That’s Cam’s firm. She doesn’t like it, but we have access to their camera network. Rip and Wren can monitor Bella’s door twenty-four-seven.”
Natasha hasn’t said a word since Bella started telling us what happened.
“We were having coffee,” Bella says with a sniffle. “I was supposed to go to work today, and Aunt Gladys was going to watch her murder shows and cook us dinner.
“Someone knocked. I thought it was the grocery delivery. But when I opened the door, three men forced their way in. I broke the first guy’s nose.” Bella almost smiles, even as she swipes a fresh trail of tears from her cheek. “Aunt Gladys insisted I take some self-defense classes when I went to college. But I couldn’t fight all three of them. Aunt Gladys was so brave. She just told me she loved me and she’d see me again soon. I thought…they’d all leave, but one of them stayed. He…”
She wraps her arms around herself with a wince. “He told me if I called anyone, he’d make Aunt Gladys’s last few hours…” More tears, and she shakes her head, unable to continue.
West passes me a small, plastic case. “Keep this on you, Doc.”
I open the lid to find two small earbuds.
“Multi-channel comms units. They can piggyback off the app Rip installed on your phones. I don’t know what Bastian’s end game is yet, but I’d lay odds he’ll call Natasha in the next three or four hours with his demands. Make sure you put those in the second her phone rings.”
“Why does it matter?” Natasha asks. “Whatever he wants, I’ll do it. I can’t let him hurt Gladys.”
“Hell, no.” I frame her face with my hands and brush the tears from her cheeks. “You are not giving up.”
“He’s already won. He took the only home I’ve had in eight years. My only friend. He almost killed you on the island. I won’t give him another chance. I can’t.” She twists out of my hold, then turns to West. “You have to keep Doc safe. Please.”
“We’ll keep you both safe. This is what we do, Natasha. Doc’s family, which means you are too. We don’t give up on family.” West taps his ear. “Inara just pulled up. She and Graham will take you to the warehouse. We’ll meet back there in two hours. Ry’s picking up Wren and Harlow. After what I did this morning, I need to see Cam for a few minutes. Once I do, I’ll be clear.”
The haunted look in his eyes reminds me just how much West has done for us in the space of four days.
I tuck Natasha tighter against me and meet the former SEAL’s gaze over the top of her head. “I can’t pay you back for?—”
“We owe you twenty times over, Doc. This? Raelynn would say it ‘ain’t nothin’ but nothin’.’ And she’d be right.”
