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“How long?”
“You’ve been in the hospital for two and a half days. The…well, the cancer had to be taken into account, too. We believe it is one of the reasons it has taken you so long to come around fully from the surgery.”
“When can I go home?”
“I’m not sure. At least a few more days for sure. I think you… oh, you know what? There’s a man that has been in the waiting room pretty much all night. Usually, it would be too late for visitors, but he’s apparently your partner at the FBI or something?”
“Jack. Yes. He’s here?”
“Yes.”
“Can I see him?”
“Yes. Just…don’t stress yourself, okay? You still need to rest.” Without waiting for Rachel to respond, the nurse walked out of the room.
Rachel thought about the dream she’d had with Alex Lynch. Sadly, it was the most vivid memory she had of her time here in the hospital. Maybe that dream-Lynch had been right. Maybe deep down, shewantedto die. Now that she knew it was coming, maybe she—
No. You’re going to fight as hard as you can. You’re going to fight to make sure your daughter has a mother for as long as she can. Weak, sick, or however she can get you, she needs a mother.
The door to the room opened up again, and this time, Jack stepped in. He looked tired and worn down. His face, usually cleanly shaved, was sporting a five o’clock shadow. He walked slowly over to her, dropped to his knees by her bedside, and gently took her hand.
“You literally took a bullet for me,” he said. “You know that?”
“Not on purpose,” she said, her voice quiet and scratchy. “I was trying to knock him down.”
“They say you’re going to be fine. Just need some rest and to make sure there’s no infection that might arise from the bullet. That’s a big concern with the cancer.”
“What happened?” she asked. “With Dickerson?”
“He’s also in the hospital. Another one, though, not this one. Between you and me, I might have lost my shit after he shot you. Broken nose, a few teeth missing… but I pulled myself back when I realized I had to make sure his ex-wife didn’t bleed out.”
“Did she?”
“No. It was close, though. She’s in a room just a few doors down from you. The last update I got said she’s going to be fine.”
Rachel filed all of this away. She wanted to know all of the charges that would go against Dickersonand what the trial process would look like for a man that had only a limited time left to live. Instead, she asked: “What time is it?”
Jack glanced at his watch.“Nearly one in the morning.”
“Would you stay here in the room with me until morning?”
He smiled at her and kissed her gently on the cheek.“Try to stop me.”
She smiled back as he managed to grab the chair with his free hand and pulled it over, never letting go of her hand.“Hey… how is Paige doing? I know she and my grandmother came in to see me.”
“I only saw her for a bit, but she seemed fine. She was scared for you, but I think there’s a small part of her that thinks it’s sort of cool you got shot and survived it.”
“Yeah, that sounds like her.”
“One more thing,” Jack said. “And then I’m going to run get you some water because it sounds like you’ve been eating sand. But I wanted you to knownowinstead of being sort of whacked over the head with it by your grandmother or Dr. Emerson.”
“Emerson?”
“Yeah. Look, I don’t know how it happened, but somehow the news caught on about this…about the infamous Agent Rachel Gift…the agent that took down Alex Lynch. And then someone manage to learn about your cancer. You’ve been a blip on the local news. Whenever anyone asked me for a comment, I simply said you saved my life and that was it.”
“Thenews?God…so Anderson knows I was helping?”
“Yes. But that’s nothing. And it’s not the point…see, because you were on the news, Emerson saw it. Apparently, she showed up earlier today to check on you. And when he did, he met with your grandmother. He spoke with her for a bit about an experimental treatment. He said he thought of you the moment he learned about it. It’s—”
