Page 45 of Her Fearless Warrior

Linc thought about it and had to admit to himself, he didn’t.

“There’s the fact that he purposely kidnapped Leila and Katherine and left them in a hole so they would provide him information.”

Jerry smirked. “Yes, yes. I got all of that relevant information from Ms. Cloud. I have to go now. Thank you for your cooperation in this debrief.”

The screen went blank.

“Do you believe that shit?” Linc asked Kostya.

“I got the same thing,” Kostya said. “Thanks for your cooperation, but no thanks for rescuing their people. He’s not what you would call a people person,” Kostya chuckled.

“How’s Katherine doing?” Linc asked.

“We’re going to go check on her right now.”

Linc followed Kostya out of the conference room. They walked down a hallway and turned, walked down another hall and turned, then walked down another. The place was like an ant farm. Finally, they reached a door that said medical on it. He opened it and there was a petty officer at a desk. He stood up and saluted Kostya.

“Sir, how can I help you?”

“We’d like to sign in to visit a couple of your new civilian patients. Katherine Cole and Elijah Hopkins.”

“Please sign in here,” the petty officer said as he indicated a login book with a pen on top. Kostya signed in first, then Linc did.

“You will find the men just as you go in. In the back behind the curtains is the woman’s area.”

“Thank you, Petty Officer Hawley.”

When they turned the corner to the ward, they saw that there was space for twenty patients. The men’s area had more beds occupied than Linc expected. It was easy to spot Elijah because he was over fifty, and all the other patients were barely over thirty. There was a nurse doing something with one of the IVs.

“How is he doing?” Kostya asked.

“Better. He’s still in a coma, but the doctor ordered it.”

“What’s his prognosis?” Kostya asked.

“That’s a question for his doctor. He should be available in fifteen or twenty minutes.”

Kostya looked over at Linc. Both of them hoped for good news.

“We were hoping to check on Katherine Cole. Is it okay if we went into the women’s section?” Kostya asked.

“I’ll escort you,” the nurse answered.

As they got closer to the curtain, they heard giggling. “That is the funniest song in the world. I can’t believe I never heard it before.”

It sounded like Leila talking, but her voice was a little garbled.

“How does the song go again?”

“She’ll be riding on six white horses, coming round the mountain here she comes.

“She’ll be on some horses, coming round the mountain. There she goes.

“There she goes again.

“She’ll—”

“Ms. Cloud,” a man’s voice interrupted the song. “The anesthesia should wear off in an hour or so. You’re going to be very sore. I need you to keep this ice pack on your face for fifteen minutes every hour. Can you do that?”