Page 248 of Operation: Defiance

“As in BDSM?” I choke back a laugh. “That…if you knew Ellen…”

Inara shrugs. “It was the only explanation that didn’t require the hospital to call Tacoma PD.”

“You’re good. In another life, we might have been friends.”

Inara leans forward, elbows on her thighs. “Might still happen in this one. Never say never.”

I don’t know what to do with that. Friendship has always felt conditional. Temporary. Something that expired when I was suddenly too intense, too analytical, or too inconvenient.

The sound I make isn’t quite a laugh, but it tries. “You don’t know anything about me.”

She doesn’t flinch. “I know enough.”

Staring down at my hands, at the faint tremor I’m trying to ignore, I file that away for later. Friendship implies time. Time implies survival. And I’m still not sure of either.

“We should go see Ellen,” Inara says gently. “I know how it feels when you’re racing against a clock that could take someone you love. You need to borrow some time from me, you just say the word.”

My eyes start to burn, and I nod. Every minute Asher’s in GSD custody reduces the chances I’ll get him back whole. Or…at all.

Inara leads me to the end of the corridor, to a private room with the blinds down. “I’ll be right outside.”

Ellen’s eyes are closed when I step inside. My brain glitches, unable to reconcile the woman I last saw six years ago with the one in front of me now. She’s so much smaller. Not just thinner—smaller. As if her entire body has collapsed inward. And she’s so very still, despite the steady rise and fall of her chest.

“You are not to move without permission.”

I know that kind of stillness. It hasn’t left me, even now.

“Ellen.” I keep my voice soft. Gentle. Something she’s had too little of lately.

She jerks awake with a small, pained sound. Relief flickers in her pale hazel eyes, but fear quickly takes its place. “You shouldn’t have come. Raine, if they find you⁠—”

“They won’t. Not here. Not anywhere until I want them to.”

I take a couple steps closer to the bed. If I thought I could handle it—if I thought Ellen could handle it—I’d hug her.

“You can’t know that,” she whispers.

“I’ve been careful.” My gaze settles on Ellen’s hands. On the bruises circling her wrists. The faint tremor in her fingers. “I need you to do something for me.” I reach into my bag and pull out a digital recorder I found in the cabinet with all of Asher’s burner phones. “Document everything you remember. What they did six years ago. How they forced you to retire. The monitoring. Re-intake. All of it. Tonight, if you can.”

Ellen’s throat works once, and she squeezes her eyes shut. “Okay. But you can’t come back here. It’s too dangerous.”

“There’s a nurse outside. You talked to her when they brought you in?”

“She said you’d sent her. Gave me that ridiculous story about playing with ropes to tell the doctors.” Her cheeks turn bright red, and the heart rate monitor ticks up slightly.

“When you’re done, she’ll get it to me. You can trust her.” I hope I sound reassuring. Ellen needs that right now.

She shifts in the bed, every movement as small as she can make it, and reaches under the pillow. That simple effort exhausts her. She drops a flash drive onto the blanket. “He told me you’d need this. One of the men who brought me here. He said you’d know what it was.”

I pick up the drive and leave the recorder in its place. “I do. This is proof.”

The door closes softly behind me as I step back out into the hall. Inara’s exactly where she was when I went in, alert and sharp even this close to midnight. “Send me what’s on the recorder’s memory card as soon as Ellen’s done with it.”

“I will.” She studies me for a moment, a tiny frown curving her lips, then lowers her voice. “You’re not alone, Raine.” Her tone is so matter-of-fact, there’s no room for argument. “I have people. Good ones. You need us, we’ll show up.”

Inara’s words shatter something in my chest I can’t think about now. Help, offered without conditions.

I nod, because that’s all I trust myself to do.