Heston (In the Company of Snipers #25)

Chapter Twenty-Six

Alex arrived at Kelsey’s door out of breath and, for the first time in forever, unsure of himself. He’d prayed for this moment, but now that it was here, he was afraid to hope. Kelsey had taken one helluva beating in the White River, enough that she might never recover completely. She very well could have permanent brain damage. TBI, for hell’s sake. There was no way to know for certain until she woke up.

Hesitating, he ran a hand over the knotty scar on his scalp. He’d been beaten years ago, bad enough his brain had also swollen. He’d had the same surgery as Kelsey. Had nearly the same section of his skull removed. The same scars. She and he were a matched set.

“Alex,” Libby said behind him. No hope resonated in her voice. No emotion. Just the calm professionalism of a strong woman who’d transitioned from nurse to physician. The same woman who’d survived her own near-death experience before she’d married Mark. Libby Houston, now a mother of five, a doctor, and Kelsey’s best friend.

Alex lifted his eyes to Libby’s sweet face. He might never tell them, but he loved Libby and Mark. There were no better friends. Well, except for Murphy and Roy, both senior agents who’d retired years ago, but had come back. Harley and Zack. Their wives and… Shit . He was rambling.

“Let’s look in on Kelsey and see how she’s doing, shall we?” Libby suggested, her slender hand already palming the door open. And there she was. His goddess. His everything. Alex’s breath caught, just like it did every time he looked at Kelsey. Quickly, he stepped past Libby and went straight to Kelsey’s side.

“Judy, McKenna, and I decided you should be the only one with Kelsey when she wakes.”

He nodded like the dolt he’d turned into the second Kelsey’d been shot.

“She was drugged, Alex. Understand? Someone at that hospital in Washington was giving Kelsey too much painkiller. We think that’s the main reason she didn’t regain consciousness once the swelling subsided. Not because of any severe brain damage. In fact—”

His head swiveled back to Libby. “Drugged? By who?”

McKenna peeked around Libby and joined him at Kelsey’s bedside. “Axel hacked into the hospital’s security, but couldn’t find anything conclusive. Mark and Beau, on the other hand, installed Tattle Tails in the hallway outside Kelsey’s room after you got that first threat.”

Tattle Tails were Mother’s invention. The tiny things were expertly camouflaged to be nearly invisible, at least, unnoticeable, and crafted to record audio and video. Once inconspicuously placed, they remained active until their batteries died or until Mother killed them. She’d patented the miniscule batteries that powered them, had yet to reveal how she’d packed so much clever technology into such small devices.

Alex blinked. He hadn’t once thought of Tattle Tails. He’d been too worried about Kelsey. But he should have considered the damned Irishman would have someone inside the hospital. Thank God for friends who’d flown cover while Alex had been running around like a chicken with his head cut off. “And?”

McKenna pulled a four-by-four photo out of her scrubs’ pants pocket and handed it over. “Axel did a background check and found this. The woman played her part well. I never doubted she was part of the staff there.”

“Sorry to say, but neither did I,” Libby added.

“Her name’s Jolie Montgomery, and she is a nurse, just not an American nurse.”

“She’s from Ireland,” Alex growled. He should’ve seen that coming, too. “Son of a bitch!”

“The photo shows her injecting something into Kelsey’s IV. I believe it was fentanyl. Every time she entered Kelsey’s room, she injected just enough to keep Kelsey sedated,” McKenna continued. “Libby, Judy, and I suspected something was up when Kelsey’s stats returned to normal so quickly after her first surgery. Relieving the pressure on her brain did what it was supposed to. Yet she didn’t regain consciousness like she should’ve and—”

“And we know our girl, Alex,” Judy, Harley’s wife, bit out. “Kelsey’s a fighter. The minute Axel told us that woman is a fraud, we started tracking every shot that went into Kelsey’s IV. We asked questions. We stuck our noses in everyone’s business, and we pissed a lot of people in that hospital off.”

“Not like we care,” Libby added haughtily.

“Her?” Alex asked. The kind nurse who’d told him to keep doing what he was doing, that his presence had stabilized Kelsey’s blood pressure?

Damn. He’d been so consumed with all the what-ifs of losing his wife, he’d thoroughly neglected OPSEC countermeasure. He’d failed to recognize critical intel. He’d mis-identified threats. Mark and Beau were the ones who’d assessed his and Kelsey’s vulnerabilities. He’d analyzed some risks, but had zeroed in so intently onto that damned Irishman—whom he still didn’t have a name for—that he’d been blind to others. These three women were the ones who’d encouraged him to bring Kelsey home to Virginia. They were the ones who’d developed and applied no-kidding countermeasures. Them. Kelsey’s girlfriends. While he’d been running scared and—

Alex wasn’t afraid to admit it. “Kelsey’s my everything,” he told the three women he trusted with her life. “I was a mean, hateful son of a bitch before I found her. When I…” He paused, his heart so damned full of love for his wife it might break all over again. “I’m nothing without her. Absolutely nothing.” He would’ve used Heston’s abso-fuckin’-lutely, but Libby, Judy, and McKenna were ladies, and Kelsey might overhear, and he’d already cussed enough, and—

And now, he was rambling.

Libby’s cobalt blue eyes glistened. “Then stay with her, Alex. Be the first one she sees when she opens her eyes. She’s been more active since we brought her home. It won’t be long now. It still might take days, but you’ll see. She is going to be okay, honey.”

God, that endearment killed. “Thanks,” he choked out, his voice so damned tight.

Libby gave him a very feminine chin nod. “You need anything, you hit the call button. We’ve got your back, Boss.”

That did it, her calling him Boss. His eyes teared up. He had to blink to keep them from falling, as the ladies he loved almost as much as he loved his wife, filed out of the room and left him alone with his one and only. If they thought Kelsey was going to be okay, then he believed.

Carefully lifting her covers, Alex laid down beside Kelsey and made sure to cover her again, except for her already exposed foot. There were no lines, tubes, or wires to deal with this time. She was warm and soft but sleeping. Breathing evenly. Her poor head was still in that protective helmet, would be until Dr. Kang confirmed ed she was stable without it. Still so close and yet so damned far away.

Gently sliding his right arm under her shoulders, he tucked Kelsey’s back to his front. She didn’t stir, didn’t moan. But Alex did. Like the weakling he’d become, he dipped his face into the space between her helmet and her neck and let his tears fall. What was loving a woman if a man wasn’t scared to death to lose her? What did he have to live for if she died? Yes, Alex adored his children, but Kelsey leaving them would change everything. He’d be hollow, not just bereft, but empty. Gutted. The precious light and laughter he depended on would be gone, and with it, his soul.

God had blessed him with Kelsey and Alex knew it. He didn’t deserve her, never had, never would. Which was why God might still take her back. Because she was pure, and Alex was one of the filthiest sinners on Earth. He might be one of God’s children, but he wasn’t a favored son, and Alex wouldn’t change that if he could. He wasn’t one of God’s avenging angels. If anything, he was more like the Destroyer, Satan. A killer. A wolf. One of those necessary evils in this wicked world, but evil, nonetheless.

“I have faith in you, sweetheart,” he whispered. “Take your time. Just breathe. Just rest. If you have things to do before you can come back to me, that’s okay. I understand, because I have things to do here. Please know that whatever happens, I love you. And if it takes forever—”

“Quiet,” she mumbled, her voice thick and drowsy. “I’m tired. Leave me alone.” Damned if she didn’t yawn and stretch. Her warm backside flexed against his cock. Which had no interest at all in performing, not since the lady of his heart had come so damned close to Death’s door.

“Kelsey?” he asked, needing more than just those few words.

She sighed a tiny grunt. Turned her face into her pillow.

“Am I boring you?” he teased, so damned hopeful that he was. That she’d heard him. That she’d come back with her memories intact.

“Hmmpf…Uh-huh…”

She’d heard! She’d answered! She knew him!

Alex could’ve roared, he felt that lighthearted. That lucky. Instead, he bowed his head and inhaled the essence that was pure Kelsey. Her unique, sweet scent. Her indomitable spirit. Her faithful soul. If anyone believed in God, she did. Alex’s doubts fled like ice in the morning sun. She’d survived other nightmares. She would survive this one. She was coming back to him. They would go home together. They’d cry and hug their children and—

“So tired,” she whispered.

“Then rest,” he whispered back.

Looking at the ceiling, he silently told The Man Upstairs, ‘Thank you for saving my wife, Lord. Thank you so damned much. But there’s still work to be done down here, and You know it. So forgive me, Father, because I’m definitely going to sin.’

And Alex hit the call button.