Dangerous Pursuit (OSI Dark Ops #3)

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

For the second time in three days, Calliope found herself stuck in a hospital, waiting for someone she loved to come out of surgery. She was not a fan and hoped she wouldn’t have to do it again anytime soon.

“Callie Girl, why don’t you come sit down?” Granddad patted the spot next to him on the love seat. “The surgeon told you he’s done thousands of procedures with that gizmo.”

“Gizmo?” She rolled her eyes and plopped down next to him. “They’re doing a VATS procedure, Granddad. Video-assisted thoracic surgery. It’s when they make a couple of small incisions and insert a port between his ribs. After that, they insert a small camera, locate the nodule, and remove it. It’s less invasive, and they won’t have to spread his ribs.”

“That sounds plain awful, so I’m glad they won’t have to do that.” Granddad took a sip from his Styrofoam cup and grimaced. “How is it they can create robots that do all these fancy surgeries but they can’t manage to make a decent cup of coffee?”

“I could be wrong, but I’m pretty sure the people working on medical technology are not the same ones who create vending machine coffee.” Despite the seriousness of the moment, her Granddad managed to make her chuckle.

“There’s that smile.” He nudged his shoulder against hers. “So, you gonna tell me what’s eatin’ at ya? Ever since you got home you seem kinda … I don’t know … down in the dumps about somethin’.”

“I’m just worried about Dad, that’s all.” She avoided his all-too-astute gaze by looking up at a chart on the wall that illustrated the Heimlich maneuver.

Her granddad always had a knack for reading her and could tell when she was fibbing.

“Nah, I think it’s more than that.” He set his rough hand on her knee to stop it from bobbing up and down. “Somethin’ happened while you were gone. Ya wanna talk about it?”

She’d slept with an emotionally unavailable man, fell in love with said man, watched him get shot, then had her heart broken. Other than that, not much, really.

“I’m not ready to just yet.” She tilted her head sideways to lean on his shoulder. “Can you give me a little time to figure it out?”

“You bet, honey.” He turned and kissed the top of her head. “Just don’t let it fester. ”

“Jacob, Calliope.” Dr. Willoughby strolled over to them.

Relieved to have the distraction, she stood with her granddad.

Doc knew the surgeon and had been invited to observe the procedure and act as the liaison with the family.

“How is he?” Calliope looped her arm through her granddad’s.

“He did great.” He slid his glasses off and rubbed the bridge of his nose. “They were able to remove the entire nodule with no problem. In a few weeks, we’ll do another blood test, and depending upon the results, he may not require any chemotherapy.”

“Well, that’s good news, isn’t it?” Granddad wrapped his ropy arm around her shoulders and gave them a gentle squeeze.

“It definitely is.” Calliope breathed a sigh of relief.

“They’re taking him back to recovery,” Doc said. “Once he’s settled in, they’ll come get you and take you back to see him.”

“When can he come home?” Maybe she could camp out in his hospital room.

“They’re going to keep him overnight for observation.” Doc tucked his glasses in his shirt pocket. “But your dad’s strong, and they’re pretty confident he’ll be able to go home tomorrow.”

“That is such great news,” she said .

At least things were looking up where her dad was concerned. That was one area of her life she could worry less about.

“Now for the difficult part. He’s going to need to rest for the next few days.” He chuckled. “And I know what a restless fella Gabriel is, so good luck with that.”

“We’ll make sure he doesn’t overdo it.” Her granddad gave her a little shake. “Won’t we, Callie Girl?”

“You better believe it.” Her dad was in constant motion, always working on something, helping someone out. Keeping him still was going to be a challenge. “Thank you, Doc.”

“Yeah, thanks, Doc.” Granddad removed his arm from her shoulders and extended his hand.

“You’re welcome.” He shook it and gave Calliope a quick hug. “We’ll talk soon.”

He turned, headed toward the elevator, and pressed the button. The door whispered open, and he disappeared inside.

“How about I go down to the cafeteria and get us all something to eat?” Granddad faced her. “Your dad had to fast before surgery, and I’m sure he’ll be good and hungry when he wakes up.”

“You sure it’s okay for us to bring him food?” she asked.

“Yeah, the surgeon said once he’s out of surgery, he could eat pretty much whatever he wants. ”

“Okay, then, food sounds great.” She reached into her pocket, tugged out some bills, and held them out to him. “Here, take this.”

“Put your money away.” He pressed her hand down. “What would you like?”

“Fine.” She put her money away and asked for a loaded cheeseburger and a jumbo-size soda. “And none of that nasty diet stuff, either.”

Calliope desperately needed the caffeine. She’d been so busy worrying about her dad and Lucas, she hadn’t been able to sleep much since she got home.

“Regular soda it is.” He started toward the elevator and turned back to her. “Text me if anything changes.”

“Will do.” Calliope waited until he was in the elevator before sliding her phone from her back pocket.

She tapped the screen, entered her password, and called Cole.

He answered after two rings. “Lambert.”

“Hey, Cole.” She’d promised to update him on her dad’s status.

“What’s the good news?” he asked.

“Everything went great, and he’ll be able to go home tomorrow.” She explained the procedure to him. “He’s going to be out of commission for a bit, so, if possible, I’d like to stick around for a few more days.”

“Take whatever time you need,” he said. “You guys have been going pretty hard lately, and we jumped right into the op with Burke, so you’ve all more than earned some down time.”

Shortly before heading to Colombia, they’d spent several days helping Jeffrey Burke with a very personal, very tricky mission involving a twelve-year-old girl who’d been kidnapped by the now-deceased King of Qadira.

May he rest in hell.

“Okay.” She hesitated for a few seconds, then asked, “So, um, how is he?”

Jonathan had called her yesterday with an update when Lucas was released from the hospital. But she wouldn’t be satisfied until she knew he was home, comfortable, and healing.

“I assume you mean Lucas?” Cole’s heavy sigh came through the phone. “Look, Calliope, whatever happened between you two is none of my business, but something did happen. And not to be an asshole, but I’ve never known you to run from anything, yet that’s what this feels like.”

She wasn’t sure what to say—especially since he was right—so she didn’t say anything at all.

“Give your dad my best, and let me know if you need anything.” Cole finished with, “And if you want to know how Lucas is doing, call him,” then he hung up.

She was afraid if she heard Lucas’s voice, she’d lose the tiny bit of progress she’d made toward getting over him.

“Who are you kidding?” she muttered to herself .

She hadn’t made any progress at all. On the contrary, her sense of loss had only grown with each day that passed.

Calliope rubbed the center of her chest for the millionth time since leaving him in that hospital room. She’d never been in love before and had no idea that missing someone could physically hurt so much. And her lack of experience in that particular area left her completely clueless on how to deal with a broken heart.

“Enough.” She shook out her arms and stretched her neck from one side to the other.

She needed to get a grip. Her personal drama had begun to encroach on her work, and that would not do.

“Ms. Daniels?”

Calliope turned at the sound of a woman’s voice. “Yes?”

“I can take you back to see your dad now.” A nurse wearing pink scrubs gave her a gentle look.

“Thank you.” She followed her down the hall, around a corner, and into room 213.

Her dad was in the bed nearest the door with a curtain hanging between him and the bed next to him. His eyes were closed, his breathing was steady, and the heart monitor beeped at a decent rate.

Ugh, she was so sick of hospitals.

“Your dad will be sleepy for the next few hours as the anesthetic wears off.” The nurse turned a dial on the monitor to lower the volume. “Visiting hours end at 8 p.m., and you’re more than welcome to stick around until then. ”

“Can’t I stay with him tonight?” she asked.

“Unfortunately, it’s hospital policy.” Her voice held a hint of apology.

“Okay.” So much for camping out all night. “My grandfather is down in the cafeteria.” She tugged out her phone. “I’ll text him and let him know which room we’re in.”

“I’ll make sure he finds you.” She patted Calliope’s forearm and gave her a small smile. “And don’t worry about your dad. He’s doing very well, and we’ll make sure he’s comfortable through the night.”

“Thank you again, for everything.” Her emotions were hovering so close to the surface, the nurse’s kind words almost made her weep.

“You bet.” She checked the near-empty IV bag hanging from a rack at the head of the bed. “I’ll be back soon to remove his IV.”

As soon as the door swung shut behind the nurse, Calliope carefully crawled up on the bed, curled up next to her dad, and nestled her head against his shoulder. Just like she used to do when she was little and had one of her weird nightmares about a scary woman calling out to her. It didn’t take a mental health professional to surmise the nightmares were probably caused by some sort of deep-seated, subconscious absentee-mommy issue.

“I’m so glad you’re going to be okay,” she whispered. “I already lost one important person in my life. I couldn’t take it if I lost you, too. ”

“Who did you lose, honey?” Her dad’s raspy voice vibrated against her.

“I didn’t know you were awake.” She remained snuggled up to him. “How do you feel?”

“Right as rain.” He reached his arm across his body, careful not to jar the IV tube, and held her hand. “Now talk.”

Calliope spent a few minutes giving him the unclassified highlights of their mission and segued into bragging about Lucas and what a wonderful and accomplished person he was. She left out the part about how amazing he was in bed, of course. She was close with her dad but not that close. She finally mustered up enough guts to tell him what Lucas had said in the boat about his wife.

“Sounds like a great man.” He rubbed the rough pad of his thumb over her knuckles.

“He really is, Dad, and I fell for him so hard.” She felt the tears coming and didn’t bother fighting them. She buried her face against him and, between sobs, tried to tell him the rest. “But … he’s still … in love … with his wife, and … I … I can’t compete against her ghost.”

“What did he say when you told him that?” he asked.

“Nothing, because I never told him.” She scrubbed her hand across her face and wiped it dry on the side of her shorts .

“Wait a minute.” He drew in his chin and looked down at her. “What do you mean, you never told him? Why not?”

“Because he was in the hospital and—”

“So you don’t really know how he feels about you, do ya?” One bushy, salt-and-pepper gray eyebrow lifted. “You jumped to a conclusion, and rather than stick around and face the possibility that he might break your heart, you ran away. And look what happened—you ended up with a broken heart anyway.”

Was her dad correct?

The more she considered his words, the more she began to realize it actually might have been her fear of rejection that had sent her running for the safety of home.

“What should I do?” She tilted her chin up to look at him.

“What do you want to do?” Her dad wasn’t one for tossing out the answers for her. He expected her to use her critical thinking skills to work through things on her own.

“I want to talk to him.” That was an easy one to figure out.

“Then that’s what you’ll do.” He used the edge of the blanket to dab away her tears. “But for now, you just stay right here and rest, because I know you haven’t been sleeping since you got home. ”

Knowing what she needed to do, Calliope’s mind finally relaxed. Her eyelids grew heavy, and her dad’s steady breathing lulled her to sleep.