Code of Honor

Chapter Forty-one

Loren paced outside the operating room, drinking a cup of vending-machine coffee she couldn’t taste, searching for someone who could tell her something. Hospital personnel she couldn’t classify streamed by, pushing stretchers, carrying specimens, talking in urgent tones. She was starting to feel invisible when a green-eyed blonde in scrubs who looked familiar did a double take and stopped in front of her. Her ID read Captain Gabrielle Hill. “Aren’t you supposed to be in the ER for observation?”

Loren shook her head. “I’m fine. I need to be here.”

“At least sit down. You’ve got a concussion. That is a bullet wound on your forehead, you know.”

“Barely touched me.”

Captain Hill rolled her eyes. “I so love taking care of alpha warriors.”

Loren smiled. “See that a lot, I guess.”

“All the time. Who are you waiting for?”

“The FBI agent with the gunshot wound to the shoulder. Can you find out how she’s doing?”

“Who are you?” Hill asked.

Loren didn’t have ID, but at least she was wearing the scrubs they’d given her in the receiving area and not her biker gear. Her jacket and pants had been trashed from tears, burn holes, and embedded grime and grit. She’d had to turn over her weapon to the Delta troops, but since the place was on an air force base and crawling with feds, she wasn’t too worried about safety. So far, she’d been flying under the official radar and hadn’t been questioned as to just how she fit into the big picture. She wasn’t exactly authorized to be in on this operation, but since Roberts knew who she was, she figured her ass was covered.

“That’s a tricky question. I’m federal, but I can’t prove it. I think Director Roberts will vouch for me—I came in with her.”

“I saw the three of you arrive.” The captain looked like she was waiting for more.

“That’s not what I’m doing here, though,” Loren said. “The agent in there is my lover.”

Hill nodded. “Wait here.”

She donned paper booties and a cap from a shelf by the OR doors, entered a sequence of numbers on a keypad, and disappeared into the hallway beyond.

Alone again, Loren watched the second hand on a round clock with big black numbers, visible through the window in the closed OR door, go around three times before Hill reappeared.

After disposing of the cap and booties, Hill said, “Come with me and try to look like you work here. Lose the coffee.”

Loren followed, dumping the paper cup in the first trash can she passed. Hill pushed the red button on another set of doors marked Recovery.

“She’s in bay eleven. You’ve got five minutes,” Hill murmured, “then you need to get out of here before we both get written up.”

“Thanks.”

Only two of the beds in the recovery room held patients, and bay eleven, nearest the door, was curtained off from the rest of the room. Loren slipped inside. Sky lay on a hospital bed covered by a thin white blanket. She appeared to be asleep. Her eyes were closed, her lids a bruised, fragile blue. Her lips were pale, her cheeks chalk white. Monitors beeped, a blood-pressure cuff automatically inflated and deflated on Sky’s right arm, and clear fluids ran through intravenous lines into her wrist.

Loren eased up to the head of the bed, leaned over, and kissed Sky’s forehead. “It’s Loren, Sky. You’re okay now.”

Sky’s eyes opened. “Hi.”

“Hi.” Loren’s throat was so full she couldn’t say more. Sky was alive. She couldn’t think past that.

“You okay?” Sky whispered.

“I’m good.” Loren brushed the backs of her fingers over Sky’s cheek. Everything was clear now. Sky was alive and anything was possible. “Real good. How you feeling?”

“Like that bitch shot me.”

Loren grinned. “You’re in the recovery room at Mountain Home Air Force Base. They just got done taking care of you. You’re gonna be okay.”

“What about you?” Sky’s brows drew down. “I remember blood. You were hurt.”

The beeping on one of the monitors increased, and the readouts for Sky’s pulse and blood pressure jumped. Loren leaned closer, stroked her hair. “Hey, I’m fine. I’m up walking around. It was just a graze. You know head wounds always bleed a lot.”

“You sure?”

“Yeah. I’m sure.”

“So…” Sky paused. Licked her lips. “Thirsty.”

Loren looked around. Saw a Styrofoam container with a straw by the bed. Figuring it wouldn’t be there if it wasn’t meant for Sky, she placed the straw to her lips. “Just a little, baby.”

Sky drank. Let out a long breath. “Thanks. How long will I be in here?”

“I don’t know.”

“You can’t go back to Silver Lake. Too risky. Your cover—”

“Shh. Don’t worry about that. I’ll figure it out.”

Sky’s eyes sharpened. She tried to sit up and failed. “Loren, listen. Sooner or later, Ramsey will figure out someone was feeding intelligence to the feds. He’ll trace me and find out I wasn’t Lisa. And then he’ll start looking at you. You can’t—”

“There’s a lot of casualties on the mountain,” Loren said. “I’ll just have to be one.”

Sky’s eyes fluttered closed. A second later they opened again. “All right. That will work. I’ll get in touch with some of my people. Put out a cover story.”

“You’ll keep your ass in bed and get better.” Loren leaned down and kissed her. “Just worry about getting better.”

Sky was quiet a long moment. “Can you do that again?”

“Oh yeah.” Loren cradled her cheek, kissed her again. “Sky, I’m not going anywhere. I’ll be here until you get out.” She reached through the bars on the side of the bed and gripped Sky’s hand. “I meant what I said. I love you. When I thought I might lose you up there on that mountain, I about lost my mind. I’ve never been afraid of losing anything before, but I can’t lose you. You matter more to me than anything.”

“You know,” Sky laced her fingers through Loren’s, “I wasn’t afraid to die. I would have been pissed, but I wasn’t afraid. The only thing I regretted was that I hadn’t told you how much I love you.”

Loren caught her breath. “Yeah?”

Sky nodded. “Oh yeah. I love you like crazy. I’m sorry I didn’t say so sooner.”

Loren reached behind her, pulled a chair next to the bed, and kissed Sky one more time before sitting down. She gripped Sky’s hand again. “Then I guess you better get some sleep, because we’ve got some catching up to do. I’ll be right here when you wake up.”