“Jesus Christ, Ethan, she’s covered in blood,” Hunter bit out.
“It's not mine. It’s Merc’s. Just help him,” she said.
Aaron and Riser moved as a single unit, cutting away Merc’s bloody bandage. They hooked him up to an IV and cleaned his chest, revealing multiple slashes, hundreds beneath the blood. “What the fuck did they use on him?”
“A flogger,” Nightshade said automatically and immediately wished she hadn’t drawn their attention back to her. “I saw the man do it once.”
Hoyt loomed forward, his scarred face a mask of rage. “I’ll murder the bastard myself.”
“He’s already dead.”I killed him.Although she’d like to see what Hoyt was capable of. A year ago, he’d been held by his own family in the Tennessee mountains and tortured to near death. His file detailed his brush with suicide before he’d managed to get his shit back together. She could only imagine what nightmare the man relived watching as Merc was cleaned up.
“I need to roll him. If his front is this bad, there’s no telling what his back will be like,” Riser said.
Once again, working in perfect synchrony, they gently rolled Merc over onto his stomach. The entire helicopter filled with silence. Even Nightshade’s heart stopped, and she’d already seen his back. She could only imagine what his teammates must be thinking. The wounds on his back, most likely from the explosion, had dried into a hard cake of crusted blood and dirt.
“I'm going to kill every goddamn man responsible for this,” Hunter said, “Starting with J.” The seething hatred in the helo held her hostage.
Nightshade shoved that thought aside. He’d done it for a reason, to remove any doubt that she was Caroline Cotter, and no matter how much TF-S's camaraderie and efficiency reminded her of her own team, they would survive. They would get to go home to their families.
If she didn't rescue Mayhem, her team would not.
Aaron lifted another needle, filled it and then inserted the liquid through Merc’s IV. “Morphine. It’s gonna hurt like hell to clean this mess up, and I sure as shit don't want him waking up in the middle of it.”
Using their distraction for the moment, she eased her robe over as slow as possible, so as not to draw attention to herself, and inspected her side. Her whole leg was wet with blood, as was her robe and side. If it hadn’t been for so much of Merc’s blood covering her, someone would have noticed by now.
A rush of dizziness crashed into her and she dropped the robe to lean back against the wall, her gaze meeting Ethan’s knowing one. Thank God he didn't say anything to Aaron to distract him from the task of peeling away the dried, encrusted blood from Merc’s back.
Ethan eased around to face her, his voice quiet, so that she had to strain to hear it. “Tell me where you’re hurt.”
Nightshade shook her head, the movement making her side burn even as her arms and legs turned to ice. “It’s just a scratch. I’ve had worse.”
“Have you now? Been on plenty of missions in your life?” Ethan gave her a crooked smile and Nightshade nearly bit her tongue when she realized her blunder.
Scrambling, she offered the only response she could think of. “Isn't that what they say in the movies?”
Heart pounding, she waited on his response and nearly passed out when his smile melted into a frown. He placed his hand on her shoulder. “Yeah, they say that shit in the movies but not in real life. I’ve got a little bit of medical training myself. Let's get this thing off of you and I can take a look, okay? The last thing I need is your father breathing fire up my ass because I let you bleed out on the way home from your rescue mission.”
Nightshade took a breath.Ethan thinks your Caroline, they trust you and you trust them.She capped the urge to shove his hand away and let him pull the robe off. She could’ve stitched her own side; she’d done it before.
He balled up the robe and used it as a pillow for her head as he eased her down to the floor. Ethan gently probed around the edges of the wound, every single movement like a fresh stab. “Hate to tell you this, but you’ll need stitches.”
She almost said big deal, she’d had plenty. If he ever saw the inside of her right thigh, he’d get to see what a real scar looked like. But that would definitely blow her cover. Instead, she said, “Will it leave a scar?” As if she didn't already have plenty of scars on her body. Scars she was proud of.
“I wouldn’t worry about it. Hunter, pass me a bandage and some disinfectant.”
Ethan reached across her and came back with white cloth and a clear bottle. She tried to focus on his movements, but everything had started to run together.
Her body tingled. Her head felt light.
“This is gonna hurt,” Ethan warned.
Nightshade turned to Merc. His big hand lay close to her. She reached out and grabbed his hand.
Ethan poured the disinfectant in her open wound, and the fire swallowed her whole.
As soon asCaroline lost consciousness, Ethan got Riser’s attention. “Hey, I’m gonna need a little bit of help. She’s a lot more hurt than she let on.”
“What’s going on here?” Riser sidled over to them, Ranger easily filling in his absence to assist Aaron.
