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Grant scowled down at her. “You don’t ask questions and neither willshe.”
Thalia didn’t have enough strength left to wonder what the hellthatlook was for, but he did have a good point…again. The woman blew past a row of closed doors and then stopped, pulling a wad of keys from the front pocket of her pink sweater. With ease and familiarity, she plucked out a key and unlocked the door at the end of the hallway, flipping the light on as sheentered.
“On the table. Strip her shorts.” Thalia jerked away from Grant when he sat her on the cold, stainless steeltable.
“I can manage my own clothes.”Thank you very much.She didn’t know who the hell this woman was, but the termbitchdidn’t seem that far off the mark. No greeting or introductions, nothing. Just an order to strip and sit in a snotty Frenchaccent.
The woman didn’t balk at Thalia’s protest as she rifled through a row of cabinets, throwing what seemed like random crap into a metal bowl. “I don’t care who does it as long as you’re naked from the waist down by the time I’mready.”
“She has a cut along her ribs, too.” Grant shrugged when Thalia glared at him, reaching for the button on hershorts.
“The shirt will need to go as well, then.” Salina whirled around and deposited the bowl full of surgical tools at the head of the table. She paused a moment, taking Thalia in as if she were inspecting a slab of beef. “You have two minutes while I ready the IV line, then I’m cutting them off you.” She turned and reached into another cabinet. “Not that I would be very attached to that fashionstatement.”
Total bitch.Thalia couldn’t stop her wince of pain or the rush of heat to her face and chest as Grant crowded around her, helping slide her shorts over the gash on her thigh. This time he didn’t even try to look away from her. She didn’t know why she was so embarrassed. This was nothing compared to him listening to her pee. He’d already seen her naked and beat to hell. She slapped his hand away as he reached for the hem of her shirt, biting her lip to keep from calling him another colorful name.Be nice. He’s trying tohelp.
Grant braced his arms on the table, caging her in, the scruff of his almost full beard tickling her cheek as he spoke into her ear. “I have to transfer my stuff and ditch the car. Don’t give her a hard time.” He paused, his soft lips sliding gently along her cheek. “I’ll be rightback.”
Thalia watched him tuck his gun into the back of his cargo pants as he disappeared down the hall, a sickening uneasiness building in her stomach.What if he doesn’t come back?She flinched when she turned to see Salina standing in front of her with a long needle pointed right ather.
“No!” Thalia shook her head. “No drugs. Just someantibiotics.”
“It’s only a topical to numb the area so I can clean it out.” Salina pressed forward and Thalia grabbed her wrist, keeping the needle onlockdown.
“I said no.” No way in hell was she letting this bitch inject her with God knowswhat.
“Fine.” Salina’s eyes narrowed as Thalia let her go. She watched as the woman rolled up her sleeve and injected the needle into her own flesh. Thalia winced as the woman pushed the plunger in ever so slightly. “You people are all the same,” she said, pulling the needle out and rubbing her fingers over the injection site. “There, see? I am not dead. This is only a numbingagent.”
Thalia screamed when Salina reached out and grabbed her thigh, giving it a gentle squeeze. “Son of a bitch! Okay! Numbing agent! Numbing agent! Ahh!”Please!Tears clouded her vision as Salina turned and threaded another needle into thesyringe.
Nine
As quiet as a rock,Salina worked to clean out the cut on Thalia’s leg and repair some of the patchwork Grant had done. For what seemed like hours she sat in what could only be described as hell, nothing but her thoughts of Grant to keep the pain at bay.Shouldn’t he be back bynow?
“He will be back soon enough.” Thalia turned her head away from the hallway where Grant haddisappeared.
“I know I didn’t say that out loud.” Either the woman had lied and given her the good shit—which totally sucked for all the good it was doing—or the bitch was a mindreader.
Salina giggled and wiped at the stitches on her side, applying a gooey ointment before moving to the next abrasion. “No, you did not have to. Staring at the door will not make him walk throughit.”
Thalia relaxed a bit, hoping the uneasy feeling growing in the pit of her stomach with every minute that ticked by was caused by her fever. She watched as Salina worked above her, wondering if she and Grant had ever been an item. She was pretty enough. Auburn hair that curled around her shoulders, deep brown eyes and pouty French lips. She was also petite. Like elven tiny. Thalia hadn’t always appreciated her height. Though being five foot ten had its advantages when it came to dealing with some of the people she’d come up against the past few months. But being tall next to an elf made her feel like afreak.
“What did you mean earlier?” she finally asked, hoping to pry a little information out of Tinker Bell. “We are all thesame?”
Salina opened a brown bottle and poured more alcohol onto a fresh cotton swab. “CIA, Mossad, ISI, whoever you work for. You all have understandable trust issues, but it makes my job impossible to do attimes.”
Operative? Holy shit! Is that what he is?“How do you knowhim?
One of her shoulders raised in a casual shrug. “He saved my brother’s life a few years ago.” Salina glanced up at her through her lashes, quickly dabbing away the sting that sent Thalia’s last breath hissing through her teeth. “He did not live long enough to repay his debt, but I will always honor it. I have done some of my best work on your man.” Another moan escaped as Thalia’s chest filled with a weird sense of pride.My man?She winced again as a sharp, stinging pain pinched the inside of her arm.Dammit, thathurts!
Salina chuckled again and sighed. “I have never seen him so attentive as he is with you. Of course,” she shrugged, “I have never seen him with anyone at all before today, so what do I know? He is all bark and growl, and then gone. Until the next time. And he pays well so I do notcomplain.”
Bark and growl.“That’s my Grant,” she mumbled, her lips feeling a bittingly.
Salina’s hand stopped moving, her focus fixed on Thalia’s arm. A small grin pulled at the corner of her lips. “Grant?” She nodded. “I like that name much better than Silas. He never looked like a Silas tome.”
“Grant, smant.” Thalia waived her hands through the air, wondering why her fingers looked like fuzzy caterpillars. “I don’t care what his name is. That man knoooows how to—ouch!” Thalia jumped when the woman poked at a spot near the top of her arm. Her head spun a little as she tried to focus on the trickle of blood running towards herelbow.
“Sorry.” Salina prodded at the seeping hole. “This one is going to hurt abit.”
