He finally got out of the car.The ticking sounds of cooling metal echoed inside Rowan’s head.
He opened her door.“Come on.You can rest soon.”
“I want to go home,” she repeated dully, staring at the dashboard.
“It’s not safe, Rowan.Just trust me a little longer, okay?”
What else can I do?The numbness rose again.Daddy.They shot my daddy.
He said nothing else, just offered his hand.
Rowan finally uncurled enough to slide her legs out of the car.The concrete floor was cold.She swayed.He shut the car door and took her elbow, his hand strangely gentle.“This way.”
He led her through the garage and up one step, through a door, and into a small wood-floored room that held a rack of coats, with boots in a neat row underneath, and an incongruous washer, dryer, and laundry sink.The floor was warmer, and she swayed again.He steadied her.
Footsteps resounded.Rowan flinched.
“Steady,” he said.“It’s my boss.You’ll be all right.”His tone was kind, just a low murmur.Rowan looked up at his face and saw that his eyes were flat and dark.He looked worried, a vertical line between his dark eyebrows.“Don’t worry.You’re not in any trouble.”
“Dammit, Delgado, you disobeyed a direct goddamn order!”The man was tall, with bushy iron-gray hair and steely eyes, wearing a long black coat that whispered as he moved.The light glinted off his metal-rimmed glasses.He walked stiffly, and as he rounded the corner his coat flapped open.Rowan saw a gun in a holster under his left arm.
“General,” Delgado said, “may I present Rowan Price?She just saw her father and best friend murdered by Sigs.”
Rowan took a deep breath.She saw the taller man blink just before she started to scream.
Delgado didn’t want to use a sedative patch, but she wouldn’t stop screaming even when her voice broke.It took the skin-square a few minutes to work, and he spent the time trying to calmly talk to her, keeping his voice pitched low and soothing, especially when Henderson called Cath in and the mohawked girl had burst into the room, skidding to a stop and frightening Rowan even more.
When the drug hit, she slumped all at once.He caught her, carried her to the bed.The safe room was done in green and blue, no windows but a gas insert fireplace.She hadn’t tried to escape.She’d just kept screaming, backing away from him, and struggling against his hands.Getting the patch on her had been problematic, too.He’d had to invade her comfort zone and slip the clear plasilica square on her wrist while she struggled to get away from his hand, which was closed around her upper arm.She’d been so busy trying to get away she hadn’t even noticed the patch.And he’d avoided touching her skin, even though he’d wanted very badly to just take her in his arms and let her scream herself out.
Catherine let out a long breath from the doorway.Henderson had apparently thought that another woman might soothe her, but the mohawked girl had been of little help.She stood next to the old man, her arms folded, the silver hoops in her ears brushing her cheeks.
Henderson sighed.“That was not pleasant,” he said dryly.“Explain yourself, Delgado.”
“The Sigs did a full-scale penetration on her house.”Delgado’s shoulders were tight as bridge cables.“Killed her father and her friend.I got her out of there and called for a distraction so I could finish the extraction.They must want herreallybadly.”He laid her down on the bed, pulled the quilt up over her.Her hair tangled over the pillow.
“It’s not surprising,” Cath said.“Want to know her index?”
Henderson ignored her.He looked at the woman lying on the bed.“How fragile is she?”
“Very,” Delgado answered.“We have to get her out of the city.”
“Oh, wow.”Catherine grinned, her earrings swinging as she moved.“Delgado’s got a girlfriend.”
“Catherine, if you don’t have anything useful to add, can you please be quiet?”Henderson said mildly.
Cath shut up.The chain on her belt jingled as she fidgeted.
Henderson studied Delgado for a long moment.“All right.We’ll get her out of the city.I don’t want you to disobey another order, Del.I need you.”
Delgado nodded.“Sorry, General.”
Henderson shrugged.The dim lamplight was kind to his ravaged face.“It couldn’t be helped.If the Sigs got her we’d be fighting her in a month or two.This way’s better.Good instincts, Del.We’ll tear it apart in briefing later.For right now, I’ll take you off active and make you her mentor.”
Delgado shook his head.“She won’t respond well to me.They never do.I’ve never had a neophyte before.”
“Then it’s high time you learned.”Henderson unfolded his arms and straightened.“It’s either that or a full-scale court-martial.I need you too much to do that.So from now on, you’re responsible for getting her trained.”
Delgado shut his mouth and nodded.
