“I hate to admit it, but she’s right.” Trevor agreed. “I’ll call Ryker. I’m sure he’s got some people nearby who can help with this mess.”
Coop glanced at Mac then back at his other teammate. “What about her?”
They knew what he was asking. If they got Homeland involved, Ryker would find out about Mac’s real identity. Something like that could get her banned from ever working with them again, which meant ruining her career with R.I.S.C.
“It’s okay,” Mac answered for Trevor. “Ryker knows about me.” With a sideways glance, she looked at Luca and back to him. “He knows everything.”
Her eyes skittered away from his but not before he caught the shame and uncertainty there. She knew he’d heard everything she and Marino had talked about before he and Trevor got to the room. The conversation ran through his mind again.
Mac hadn’t said the actual words, but she didn’t have to. He knew what the fucker had tried to do to her when she was a teenager.
On the edge of losing his shit, Coop turned away and faced Trevor. “I’m gonna go look for the shooter.” His voice came out emotionless and flat. “Make the phone call and stay with Mac until I get back. And I still want her checked out!”
“Be careful.”
Her soft words seemed to fill the thick air around them as he walked out of the room. Coop didn’t turn back around, though. If he did, if he looked into her eyes and saw even a glimpse of what had been there just now, there was no telling what he’d do.
Not because he blamed her for what happened back then. Fuck no. He blamedhimselffor letting her go into the house alone.
As her partner—and her lover—he damn well should’ve stayed by her side. Or at the very least, he should’ve made sure either he or Trevor stayed in the front of the property rather than splitting up to check the sides and back.
Leaving the front entrance unmanned was a fucking newbie mistake. One that nearly cost him everything.
To make matters worse, when he saw all that blood and that she wasn’t moving, he thought she’d been hit. For those few, short seconds, Coop believed his entire world was bleeding out in front of him.
It was all too damn much.
With his gun secured in his fist, he made his way outside and across the street. With his head on a constant swivel, he kept a close eye on his surroundings, ready to act at the first sign of a threat.
As he walked through the thick foliage, he tried not to think about what had transpired in that fucking house. Blocking it out, he concentrated on finding the shooter or any evidence he may have left behind.
Twenty minutes later, he returned to the house having found nothing more than a spent casing and a trail leading to the road on the opposite side of the trees.
When he didn’t see an ambulance in the driveway, he clenched his jaw together and stormed into the house. He found his teammates standing in the home’s entryway.
“Where the fuck is EMS?”
“We didn’t call them.”
Coop glared at Trevor. “Why the hell not?”
“Because I don’t need a damn ambulance, Coop. I already told you, I’m fine.”
“Yeah? How much medical training have you had?”
“The same as you.”
So not much.“Exactly.”
“But I’ve had plenty,” Trevor spoke up, pointing to himself. “Team medic, remember? I ran the basic tests, and I’m confident she’s all right. Mac got her bell rung pretty hard and has a bump on her head, but she shows no signs of a concussion.”
“Basic tests.”
Mac stepped forward, arms crossed tightly at her chest. “Seriously, Sean. I’m. Fine.”
Coop looked deep into her eyes. After several seconds of intense studying, he realized Trevor was right. There were no signs of unequal pupils, and from the way she was shooting daggers at him, her eyes were definitely reactive.
He was glad to see some of her fire had returned.
