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When silence greeted her declaration, she fought to get her eyes open. The room was empty, and another tear slid down her cheek. She hated this, hated feeling the loss all over again. Cobalt shouldn’t have died. Brad shouldn’t have. Nor should Zinc and Uranium.
Every time she closed her eyes, she saw them again. Alive. Worried. Working. Waiting. The sorrow in them. They were too far away, and she couldn’t get to them.
They were never supposed to leave a man behind.
Why had he left her?
Waking again, after another hideous journey down the it’s a shitty world merry go round, she pushed the blankets off. She had to get out of the bed, out of the hospital. They needed answers and—
“Get your ass back in that bed.” Merc stood in the open doorway, glaring.
“I hate this bed.” She didn’t whine or complain, and made it to sitting upright. They’d had to do surgery, repair some organ damage, but she’d managed not to break a single bone.Go figure.“I want to go to the funeral.” Cobalt deserved a flag, an honor guard, and she should be there.
“When you can stand, fine.” He hadn’t moved from the doorway. “Until then, your ass stays in that bed.”
He only got this angry with her when she’d scared him. Gripping the edge of the bed, she glanced at him. “If I can’t get up, I can’t go find Gabriel.”
She hadn’t let herself think about him. Until that moment, she hadn’t realized how much she’d wanted to do exactly that. Merc mentioned Gabriel had been there, in the hole. How he’d bled right alongside them to get to her and Cobalt. No hesitation. Chrome mentioned it briefly, ending his statement with“Danvers came through.”Despite all the coverage the disaster in Las Vegas earned on the news, they weren’t involved, and no mention of any of them had been made.
Reports cited everything from a gas leak to a possible bomb. Homeland Security wasn’t releasing details. Ant said he thought it was more targeted—a drone strike. It would explain the flash. The aircraft hit the building for the first explosion, and its fuel tanks detonated for the second. A theory, but one Merc and Plat both agreed with. The death toll was over two hundred, and the numbers climbed each day. The wounded? More than a thousand, and they didn’t think all of those had been accounted for yet.
“You don’t need to find him.” John pointed a finger at her. “Stay in the fucking bed, or I’ll handcuff you to it.” He crossed the room and nailed her with a long stare. “You tried to die on me.”
“Not on purpose.”
“Don’t do it again.”
“I’ll do my best.” Then, because she loved him too, she added, “Asshole.”
“When you can actually stand long enough to look me in the eye and say that, fine.” He almost smiled. “Until then, you stay put. Besides, you have an assignment anyway.”
Her head ached. She’d kill for a shower, and she wanted out of the damn r—“What the hell?” They wouldn’t let her out of bed, but she had an assignment? She shouldn’t bitch. She was alive, and they still had a job to do. But her heart wasn’t in it, not right now. “What is it?”
“They’re bringing in a consultant. Chrome cleared him, so did Steele. He’s your assignment. You’re going to be laid up, and you’re the best with intelligence anyway. So you will debrief him, bring him up to speed, and put him to work.”
Irked. Vexed. Pissed. The words were too weak for the anger seething in her. “Why?”
“Because you need eyes and ears on the ground you can trust and instincts nearly as sharp as yours.” Merc shrugged and nodded to the door. “That said, if you decide he’s a no, just say the word. I’ll bounce his ass out of here for you.”
With that, he opened the door to reveal Gabriel waiting. A fading bruise decorated his cheek, and his knuckles were raw and scabbed. She drank in the sight of him, cataloging every injury. His gaze swept her from head to toe with similar intensity, and his mouth tightened.
“You forgot to mention the head wound.”
“No,” Merc said. “I didn’t forget anything. Remember what I said, Copper.” Then he faced off with Gabriel. “Danvers, Iwillbe watching.”
“So you said. So Chrome said. So did the big bastard at the gate.” The faint smile in his voice warmed her. The man was fearless.
Or insane.
“John,” she said, wanting to end this before they decided to let their testosterone sort it out. “It’s okay.”
“Fifteen minutes,” Merc said to Gabriel. “She needs to rest.”
“On that we agree.” She could almost hear the smirk in his words, and her heart thudded a little harder. Merc really needed to move. She wanted to see Gabriel, make sure he really was okay. “Trust me, the only place I plan on letting her go is to the bathroom, and then only if she asks nicely.”
“Good.”
Wonderful.Now she had two of them.
