The doctor came around to the other side of her bed and pulled a small flashlight from his pocket, briefly checking her pupils. “Hi, Caroline, my name is Dr. Klein. I'm the chief surgeon in this unit. Tell me, how does your head feel?”
“Fine.”
“Any severe pain?”
Aside from a niggling little stab wound at her side, not really. “No.”
“I'd like to do a quick examination now that you're conscious. Is that okay?”
She nodded, but Cotter was the one who answered, “Yes, of course.”
Dr. Klein reached for the sheet covering her, and Nightshade immediately clutched it to her chest, glancing at Cotter instead. Klein caught the hint and cleared his throat. “Senator, if you could step out of the room, I'll let you know as soon as we're done.”
Hurt flashed across Cotter’s haggard face, but Nightshade felt no sympathy for the man. Besides, if he saw all the scars covering her body, he’d know instantly she was not Caroline.
“You'll call me if you need anything, right?”
Nightshade nodded, “Sure.”
Cotter glanced at the doctor. “Take care of my little girl.” With a last strained look at Nightshade, he left the room and she blew out a breath.
Cotter leaving was a lull in the building storm, but Dr. Klein could be the tsunami that took her down. She couldn’t allow him to see all her scars or he could blow her whole cover.
“I’ll inspect your side first. The men who brought you in said you had a stab wound, but they did a good job stitching you up on the fly. Can you sit up?” Dr. Klein asked gently.
“I think so.” Nightshade curled her fingers into a loose fist, putting most of the weight on her knuckles as she pushed herself into a sitting position. Her palms and arms burned. She still felt weak from her blood loss, but it was important that she push through to get to D.C. to find her unit.
Dr. Klein moved through his examination quickly and efficiently, pulling off the bandage, checking her right side and then her back. Thankfully he didn’t try to examine her entire body and she was able to keep the sheet up for most of the time.
He probed her right cheek and she flinched. She felt the side of her face and remembered Merc. He’d accidentally clocked her in his fevered state.
“Everything is healing up nicely. You’ll have some swelling for a few more days, but there were no fractured bones or internal bleeding.”
“Now let me see those hands.”
Nightshade leaned back on her pillows and held up her hands. She’d need all of her strength to complete her mission.
She cleared her throat. “What about Merc?”
Dr. Klein inspected the bright red rings the horse’s reins had rubbed into her skin. “He's pulling through. Had to get him some heavy antibiotics to fight off a pretty nasty infection, but he's finally come around. He's even gotten out of bed despite my orders not to move, trying to force his way down here to check on you, would have made it too if he’d been able to walk very far.”
Surprise filter through her. As far as Task Force Scorpion was concerned, Caroline Cotter was safe. Merc had completed his mission.So why come check on her?“So he's going to be okay, right?”
Dr. Klein finished inspecting her hands. “He'll be just fine. Maybe you can go see him in a little while. I think he's been worried about you. Seeing you might make him feel better.”
What exactly was he implying? Merc wouldn’t be worried about her. She was nothing more than a mission to him. He was a soldier, a mercenary.Just like her.As soon as he was healthy enough to get back to base, he’d be out of here in a heartbeat, ready to take on the next assignment.
So why was Dr. Klein saying Merc was concerned for her? Sure they’d hit a tough break with the capture and the explosion, and she had been the one to rescue him…But only because he’d been so severely beaten he could barely walk. The image of Merc strung up from the ceiling, dripping blood, his face swollen, his skin flayed and cut…him bartering his life for hers…“I think I'd like that.”
What? Where had that come from?
Nightshade gave herself a hard internal shake. She didn’t have the time or luxury to worry about Merc. Not now. He’d survive. She’d gotten him to the cave. They were even, right? So why did she needto see him so bad her chest ached?
Dr. Klein took a chair beside her bed, the same one Cotter had previously occupied. “Your wounds are healing amazingly fast, and there didn't appear to be any other... trauma. But just in case, I gave you a shot for sexually transmitted diseases.”
Fire blasted up her cheeks. “What? I didn't-”
Jesus. She never really even thought about sex. Not that she hadn’t been curious about it; she was a normal-ish woman. But she’d been a soldier first her whole life. A part that made up the whole of Mayhem. Besides, most of the men she came in contact with didn't live very long.
