Total pages in book: 141
Estimated words: 133213 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 666(@200wpm)___ 533(@250wpm)___ 444(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 133213 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 666(@200wpm)___ 533(@250wpm)___ 444(@300wpm)
In the distance she heard the sound of sirens.
“Parker, I think you should sit down,” Adam said, a frown on his face.
“I’m fine. I need to call my boss.” Parker pulled his cell from his pocket even though his eyes were still on Kala. He stopped, and that was the moment she realized his hand was covered in blood. “Shit.”
“Aidan,” Carys called out. She managed to get to Parker as he started toward the ground. He’d been hit during the gunfire, and the adrenaline of the situation had gotten him through. But now the injury was taking over. “It’s a GSW. Damn it. I’ve got two entry wounds on his back. It might be in his liver.”
Aidan dropped to his knees beside her, a calm presence among the chaos. “All right. Let’s get him stable.”
She nodded and they got to work.
Twelve hours later Carys sat in Ben Parker’s hospital room, watching the man who’d undoubtedly saved her cousin. If he hadn’t chosen her over taking out his enemy, there wouldn’t have been time to get her out. Cooper and Uncle Ian would almost certainly have tried and likely died when the house came apart, falling in on itself. Parker had saved more than one life.
The rest of the team was meeting with CSIS, but she couldn’t sit through another round of what Uncle Ian called debriefs.
She would rather sit here and wait for Parker to wake up. It had been a close thing. He’d been in surgery for hours, the doctors working to save his liver. She’d been told he would come through with minimal damage, but he would have to rest.
Carys rather thought the Canadian operative wouldn’t listen to doctors.
She’d been surprised no one had visited him. Only a young man who’d introduced himself as Tim. He’d checked on Ben and then he’d gone off to the debrief, too.
Was Ben Parker a lonely Captain Ahab, constantly chasing after his white whale? How much had he given up to try to take down Huisman?
Of course after spending some time with the doctor she rather thought Parker was right.
“Hey, is he still out?” Aidan walked in carrying two coffees. “I checked his chart. All of his vitals are strong. He’s a tough son of a bitch. He carried her down a steep flight of stairs with two bullets in him.”
“The man deserves some rest. I want to stay here until he wakes up. I don’t want him to wake up alone,” she whispered back. “Any word from Tris?”
In the chaos she hadn’t had a chance to really talk to him. She’d been working with Aidan to save Parker’s life, and then the team had met with CSIS to clear up all the details that came with a house blowing up in the middle of Toronto. And there were all the bodies…
“I think they’re finishing up,” Aidan replied. “He said he would be here within the hour. Ian wants to leave this evening. Hopefully Parker wakes up soon because I got the feeling they’re planning on picking us up and taking us all straight to the airport.”
They’d been left out again, though this time they’d chosen to stay in their world—the hospital—rather than going into Tristan’s. This time it didn’t feel like he was leaving them behind. They’d been given the choice, and it was easy to trust him now. “Any news about Zach?”
The whole team seemed sick at the idea of Zach’s betrayal. Though Tristan hadn’t exactly put it like that. He’d said Zach was in trouble.
They just didn’t know what the trouble was.
“He didn’t say,” Aidan replied. “We’re going to have to sit down and talk, Carys. I know you’ve been through a lot, and if you need some time, we’ll give it to you.”
The door came open and there was Tris. He’d showered and changed clothes and still looked tired and rumpled and so beautiful. “Hey. Is he doing okay?”
She needed to make a few things plain to him. To both of them. She walked straight up to Tristan and wrapped her arms around him. “Parker is okay, but I’m not. Tris, I should have been exactly the woman you said I was. I should have found you and dragged your ass back home. At least then we would have talked. I shut down because somewhere deep inside I always thought we would fail. I always thought something as amazing as what we have couldn’t possibly last. You should understand I’m never letting you pull this shit on me again, Master.”
A long, shuddering sigh went through Tristan, and he held on to her tightly. “Never. I told you, I’m done playing the spy. I’m a happy tech who will hang with Lou and Tash and make sure Ms. Magenta gets out alive.”
“Is she?” a deep voice asked.
Aidan immediately moved toward the bed where Parker was waking up. “Go slow, man. You’ve had a serious surgery. One of the bullets lodged in your liver. The good news is you didn’t lose it, but you’ve got a long recovery ahead.”