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“Ignore it! Keep going!” Charlie shouted.
“Are we being followed?” West demanded.
The van jerked wildly to the left, threatening to throw Will off balance, only to lurch to the right again, nearly tossing him into Ed. “Not that I can see. I think we’re clear to go to the house.” From Will’s quick glance through the windshield, it looked as if they’d left the quiet neighborhood and were moving into a busier, more populous area. He didn’t recognize it, but he didn’t get out to see much of the city beyond the smaller neighborhoods where he saw his patients.
“That rental house?” Will’s head popped up and his hands stilled on Ed’s shoulder. “They have to know about it by now. They’ll find us.”
“Don’t worry, Will.” Ed grabbed Will’s frozen wrist with his right hand and squeezed, drawing his gaze to the man in front of him. “We always have a fallback safe house before we launch a mission. Just in case things go to shit.”
Like tonight.
“The only problem is that it’s going to take at least an hour for us to get there,” Kairo chimed in.
“Will? Are they safe waiting that long?” Charlie inquired, jerking his chin toward Ed.
“Yes. I’ve got the bleeding slowed enough and from what I can see, no major arteries were hit. The sooner we get somewhere safe, the better, but I need time, light, and stability in which to work.” Will dug into his bag again and found the bottle of morphine he was searching for. It wasn’t his preference, but he didn’t want Ed and West suffering through this bumpy ride. He quickly injected a dose into Ed, who released a relieved sigh. He then prepared a second syringe for West. The man didn’t look happy about it, but at least he didn’t fight.
Once that was taken care of, he ripped off the gloves he’d pulled on to treat his patients and tossed them to the floor of the van as he turned his attention to Charlie. He ran his hands over the man roughly and tugged at his clothes.
“Whoa! Whoa! I’m happy to see you, too,” Charlie gasped, thrusting his hands into the air.
“I’m not groping you, asshole. I’m checking to make sure you’re not hiding any injuries from me.”
“I’m not!”
“Like I trust you to tell me the truth. I’ve seen those stupid war movies where the guy always says to take his buddy first, all while hiding his own worse injuries.”
Both Ed and West broke into loud guffaws of laughter that helped to slow Will’s questing hands enough so that Charlie could grab them.
“I’m not lying!” Charlie argued. “I’m seriously fine.”
“Trust us, Charlie will be the first to tell you he’s hurt,” Ed chuckled.
“Loudly,” West added.
“Biggest damn baby you’ve ever met,” Ed continued. He slid a little lower in the seat that Kairo had used to work the equipment and braced his foot against the wall of the van. His eyes were partially closed and his mouth was in a lopsided grin. “Even if it’s a splinter, he will bitch to anyone around to hear him.”
“Thanks so much for your love and support,” Charlie muttered.
“Baby,” West snickered.
“Huge baby,” Ed agreed, drawing the word out.
“Charlie?” Will braced his hand on the ceiling of the van to steady himself as Kairo deftly launched them onto a highway. He had no idea where they were going, and he truly didn’t care just so long as it was somewhere safe.
Charlie placed his hand on the side of Will’s neck and brushed a light kiss to his forehead. “I swear to you that I’m okay. At worst, I might have a little glass in my back because someone decided to take along C-4 to this stealth operation.”
Ed giggled. “Danger Putty.”
West even chortled. “That Danger Putty saved our asses.”
Will sighed and squeezed his eyes shut against the swell of fear, panic, relief, anger, and exhaustion that rose in his chest. The scent of blood and sweat filled his nose, and he opened his eyes again to see that Charlie had taken a step closer, a strange look twisting up his features and digging lines around his eyes.
“Don’t leave me yet. Just give me another chance,” Charlie said in a choked voice.
“Leave you?” Will gasped and the entire van became oppressively quiet. Even the hum of the engine and the rush of the wind on the vehicle seemed to drop as if everyone was suddenly listening in on their conversation, but he didn’t care. He needed to know what the fuck Charlie was even talking about.
“I know tonight was overwhelming and crazy, but I swear to you that this was a weird one. Nothing went right, and that almost never happens. Usually our missions are much smoother. We rarely get hurt,” Charlie explained.
“It’s true,” Kairo called from the front of the van. “The last time any of us got hurt was when Ed fell down the stairs in Spain.”
