Page 106 of Four Cards Exposed

James shook his head. He needed to stop doing that. “They didn’t touch her.”

“Okay.”

James sucked in a shaky breath. He stared at the IV in one arm. The knuckles on that hand were already swelling grotesquely. His other arm had a fresh bandage on it, which was already stained red.

For a second, none of them spoke.

“Relax, James. We’re speaking to our colleagues in Texas, so they know we’re coming.”

“Texas?” His head was fuzzy, too.

“You’ve got a collapsed lung. Maybe other internal injuries. We need to get you to a hospital.”

Susan walked unsteadily towards them. Someone had given her a light gray sweatshirt to wear on top of her dress, but even so, he could tell she was cold.

“Come here,” he said.

Susan perched lightly on the edge of the seat.

“James,” she said. Her eyes filled with tears. “You came for me.”

“I will always come for you,” he rasped.

There was more he wanted to say, but this didn’t seem like the right time or place.

He looked at Lorraine, half-expecting to find her laughing at them, but his partner’s expression was strangely tender.

Beyond her, closer to the front of the plane, he could see a group of men dressed in black. The large man he’d first seen in the forest looked up, as if sensing his stare, and nodded at him.

The FBI’s Hostage Rescue Team.

“You really pulled out all the stops, Lorraine,” he rasped.

Lorraine laughed. “I wasn’t about to let them skin my partner alive. Though it looks like they came close.” Her expression took on a serious tone. “I’m sorry that it took so long. I’m sorry—“

James knew better than to shake his head this time around.

“I knew you’d come, Lorraine.”

“You saved our lives,” Susan said. Her fingers laced with the fingers of his good hand. James wondered how he’d ever thought he could live without her.

“Guerrero wants to take over,” James said hoarsely.

Susan nodded. “We know where they are. We can worry about it later.”

Not much later.

Guerrero knows Moore.

They could restart operations.

Dark thoughts pulled him into an uneasy sleep.

32

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Susan