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Nico grunted in pain as he lay on the wet ground, not even bothering about the rain. His face was deathly pale and his teeth gritted together in pain. Lacey crawled over to him and pulled open his rain jacket exposing the wound. Nico didn’t even try to stop her. She pushed all emotion aside and drew in a deep breath before she examined him. Gritting her teeth she lifted his soaking wet T-shirt and took a look. The bullet had entered the fleshy part just above his hip, and exited out the other side. A through and through. She turned and rummaged through her backpack, pulling out everything inside until she found a spare T-shirt and a long-sleeved sweater.
“I think it’ll be okay,” she said through trembling lips, folding the T-shirt into a makeshift pad that she pressed against the exit wound. Nico hissed in a painful breath.
“I know,” he replied, lifting his head off the ground a few inches so he could look at her. “I’ve already assessed it. I’ve lost a bit of blood, but I don’t think it hit any major organs,” he said in his most annoying know-it-all voice. Lacey wanted to smack him. Or kiss him. Or both. But she did neither; instead she used her other hand to push down on her sweater on the entry wound to stem the flow of blood. He was alive. She just needed to keep him that way.
“I grabbed the sat phone off her.” Nico held the phone aloft in one hand.
“Help me with this,” Lacey demanded of Teresa, who was sitting a few feet away, her hands wrapped around her sore neck. Lacey felt a fleeting sting of guilt; the poor girl was probably in a lot of pain, but Nico’s wound was more urgent. Once she had Teresa applying pressure to both sides of the injury, she took the phone from Nico’s cold hand and dialed.
Even as she called for help, she continued to administer first aid, pulling out both of the emergency silver blankets from the kits she and Nico carried in their packs. She wrapped one around Nico, pushing it beneath him to get him off the wet ground, and the other around Teresa’s shoulders, hoping to keep them warm and ward off shock. Lacey was also probably in shock, and now the adrenaline was wearing off, she could feel the cold eating into her bones from the constant downpour of chilly rain. But she’d have to cope. She also found some proper surgical padding and bandages and as she gave out the details of their situation and waited for confirmation of a rescue, she fashioned a makeshift dressing by strapping some pads on tight with the bandages. Nico moaned and groaned, then gave a sigh of relief once she let him lie back down. Teresa sat huddled under her emergency blanket a few feet away and Lacey made sure she was doing okay once she’d finished with Nico.
They were sending a rescue chopper to do an airborne extraction, estimated ETA around forty-five minutes. The rescue helicopter could handle these conditions, while the small one that’d dropped them off couldn’t. Lacey hoped like hell that was true because she didn’t like the idea of stretchering Nico down the steep trail; she was suddenly bone tired. Then she remembered she’d been on the go for over thirty-six hours with very little sleep. Griff was coming back up the bluff to give her a hand, leaving Mila to mind the other hikers. Another chopper would bring Gorman and Tyrell from farther down the trail to help them bring the six hikers back to base.
The rain eased off, and then almost as if a tap had been turned off somewhere in the sky, it stopped. Lacey sat back and tipped her head to the sky, staring at the clouds above which were breaking up, revealing a small patch of blue.
They’d done it. Achieved what they set out to do. They’d stopped Sandra and saved Teresa’s life. The outcome wasn’t perfect; she would’ve preferred to bring Sandra back alive to face the justice system, and maybe give some answers as to why she’d decided that murder was the only way to absolve her pain. Nico was injured, but he’d be okay; she felt it in her soul. Maybe a little time in hospital and a few enforced weeks’ rest might slow him down a little. God knew he worked too hard most of the time. Time recuperating and processing what they’d just endured might be good.
She drew in a deep breath of rain washed air. Clear and crisp. Lacey took a moment to really look at her surroundings. The top of Barn Bluff was wet, rain droplets shimmering on every blade of grass and scrubby branch, but it was incredibly beautiful. A sense of peace rolled over her. Her demons had come back to haunt her with a vengeance today, but she’d conquered them and come out the other side if not unscathed, then at least with her pride intact. Now she knew, next time she was faced with this type of situation, she’d do better. Sliding her backside over the wet rocks, she lifted Nico’s head into her lap and smoothed his wet hair away from his forehead. Running her fingers over his chin, she followed the shape of his jaw beneath the stubble, stopping to gently trace the scar on his cheek. He smiled tiredly up at her and she leaned down and touched her lips to his. He was going to be okay. They were going to be okay. She stared into the clearing mists, thanking the universe for giving her this man.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
NICO SAT CAREFULLY in the winged chair, easing into the backrest. God, it was good to be home. The past two days spent in hospital had been a nightmare. The worst part was having to just lie there while people trooped in and out of his room. Doctors and nurses, then Tyrell and the other officers coming to check for themselves Nico was really going to be fine, Shadbolt, who came to congratulate him on a job well done, Pederson and Saito, who took his preliminary statement and also congratulated him, if a tad grudgingly. Even Margie and Herb had come to visit, bringing some of Margie’s famous rock cakes. Lacey vetted them all at the door, guarding him like a prize Doberman, but she barely had time to speak to him, she was so busy running errands, debriefing the rest of the team, and answering endless questions on his health, so they were never alone for more than five minutes. She’d even fielded the phone calls from his mother and siblings, which was a feat unto itself. But all he’d wanted was to hold her in his arms. That would’ve been the best medicine of all.
He’d been waiting impatiently to be discharged, just so he could be alone with her; finally, just her and him.
“Here’s your pain medication, I’m going to watch while you take it.” Lacey rounded through the living room door, Smudge close on her heels. Smudge had been ecstatic to see him this morning, but clever dog that he was, he must’ve sensed Nico wasn’t himself and hadn’t jumped up to lick his face, not even once. His faithful dog came to lay his head on Nico’s feet as Lacey placed two pills in a cup and a glass of water on the table next to him, then stood over him, tapping her foot. Lacey had been running around like a headless chicken for the past hour, ever since she’d brought him home. Doing the same thing she’d been doing at the hospital. Keeping so busy and frenetic it almost felt like she was avoiding him.
“I’ll take them on one condition,” he said, eyeing the pills but not picking them up.
“What?” There was a dangerous edge to Lacey’s voice, but he forged on, needing to talk her down off this ledge of feverish activity.
“I want you to sit down and talk to me for five whole minutes.”
She narrowed her eyes at him, but then finally relented and perched on the edge of the couch closest to him, still watching him intently. “Right, I’m sitting. Take those pills.”
He did as he was told, partly because his side was aching like a bitch and mostly to keep her happy.
Once he’d swallowed his medicine with a big slug of water, he gave her an appreciative smile, hoping to soften her up before he hit her with his unpopular opinion. “You need to take a chill pill and stop acting like a drill sergeant.” He knew that her certain type of crazy sprung from her anxiety for his welfare, but he was fine, she just needed to recognize that. What he really needed was for her to sit with him so he could relish her company.
“What? I’m not!” she fired back defensively, her eyes going wide with outrage.
He stared back at her, getting lost in the golden tints around the edges of her iris. It was her eyes. They were the true heart-stealers. They were the first thing that’d truly sucked him in on the very first day they’d met. And they could still make his heart beat erratically, even now.
Reaching out, he took her hand. The movement caused a spasm of pain to shoot through his belly, but he hid it well. “You. I need you. Your presence is better than all the pain meds in the whole wide world,” he said, tracing small circles on the back of her hand with his thumb. “Come here.” He drew her toward him, tugging her off the couch and patting his knee.
“No, I’ll hurt you,” she protested.
“I’m willing to take a little pain if I can have you in my arms.” He looked directly into her eyes. “Please, Lace.”
The past few days had occupied his mind with the practicalities of being injured in hospital and the worry of trying to finalize a murder investigation while handling the fallout of Lacey shooting Sandra, which was still a matter under investigation. It was procedure, but he knew the outcome would be in Lacey’s favor; she’d had no other choice, but that didn’t mean Nico wasn’t a touch worried. So he hadn’t had much time to actually process everything that’d happened on top of that bluff. Or process how Lacey was coping with it all. She’d been his rock throughout the past two days. But he needed to delve deeper, to make sure she wasn’t faking it.
Lacey sat gingerly on his lap, not leaning any weight on him, then slung an arm around his shoulders, resting her amber gaze on his face. It was the first time she’d looked at him, really looked at him, all day.
“I need to know you’re doing okay after everything we went through,” he said evenly, while a the same time pulling her closer into his uninjured side. She resisted for a second, before slowly melting into him. She felt so good. It was what his body had been crying out for over the last few days.
“I’m actually doing okay now,” she replied, resting her forehead against his temple. “I didn’t want to worry you, but I saw Imran yesterday, while they were running all those tests on you.”
“That’s good,” he countered. Imran Malik was the local police psychologist, and he was damned good at what he did. Lacey had visited him regularly after her near-death experience six months ago, and he was glad to see she’d reached out to him again. He left a gap for her to fill, hoping she’d finally tell him the truth.
