Total pages in book: 144
Estimated words: 135382 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 677(@200wpm)___ 542(@250wpm)___ 451(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 135382 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 677(@200wpm)___ 542(@250wpm)___ 451(@300wpm)
Could she leave Nate with him while she hid? She was worried about Nate being around her, though the idea of being apart made her heart hurt.
“I’m glad, but you can’t do that again,” Charlotte said. “I understand that before we believed the situation might be fluid, but we have solid evidence now and I have to ask you to reconsider your position. There is a hefty bounty on you on the Dark Web.”
Her stomach churned but she managed to stay upright. This asshole was offering people money to take her out? Had they put Nate’s life up for sale, too? It seemed surreal. Even with what had happened this afternoon, it was hard to reconcile with reality. “For my head?”
“Not bloody likely.” Brody’s hand slid over hers, warming her skin. “You need to understand no one is going to allow that to happen.”
She forced herself to pull away when all she really wanted was to crawl up into his lap and wrap herself around him and beg him to save her, to save their son. But that was a reality she’d accepted long before.
Ian Taggart leaned forward, his elbows hitting the table. “The good news is they want you alive.”
“I think he wants to torture me himself.” And not the fun torture. No, this would be pain and horror and eventually death.
Did she deserve that? Had the universe merely granted her a reprieve from the pain she deserved for that night when she’d taken lives instead of saving them?
“I don’t think that’s his point. When I talked to the bastard he said Steph had something he wanted and he was willing to let Nate go if she came in,” Brody said. “He wanted to bargain with her. Now that doesn’t mean he won’t kill her. I won’t have her used as bait or a bargaining chip.”
He might say that, but she had to seriously consider it. It wouldn’t do a lick of good to mention it here though. “I don’t know what they think I have to give them.”
“That’s what we need to figure out.” Ian sat back. “I’m hoping that finding out the bastard’s name will help point us in the right direction. We’ve got a few feelers out on the Dark Web. We’ll see if we can get someone talking.”
“I’ve already pulled CCTV footage. Hopefully we’ll get a face from our would-be kidnapper today if he chooses not to seek medical attention. But I do have a couple of questions that might help. Did the man you were working on pass anything to you?” Adam asked. “Did he say anything at all?”
“He was unconscious when he was brought in,” she said, her voice going a flat monotone. She hated thinking about this. Hated everything about it. When she closed her eyes she could see the boss’s face, the cruel hard glint in his eyes as he promised to end her. “He had a GSW to the upper right quadrant. I was forced to resection part of his liver and take out his spleen. The operation took approximately three hours. The patient required three liters of blood. Luckily, I had some on hand. He was O positive. I keep that and A pos on hand at all times. He did have a cardiac arrest on the table, but I was able to get the heart functioning again. When I left him, the patient was critical but stable.”
“I’m not talking about the operation,” Adam said quietly. “I’m talking about before and after the operation. What do you remember about that? Can you tell us anything about him as a person and not a patient?”
She shook her head. “It all happened so fast. I don’t remember much. I remember a lot of yelling and one of my nurses was crying. I have two. One fled when she realized what was happening. It was protocol. She was responsible for the kids. We had a small group of pediatric patients. Luckily no one was critical. Uhm, two broken arms and a case of strep throat. She would have walked them to the nearest village. It’s about a mile east of the clinic. The children were mostly from that village. They should be safe.”
Adam was taking notes. “Excellent. We’ll see if we can find her and ask if she remembers anything. What happened to your other nurse?”
Anya Shadrova. God, what had happened with Anya? Guilt pressed on her. Stephanie had fled, terrified for her son. She’d spoken briefly to the young nurse from Ukraine before she got into the car, but Anya hadn’t left with them. She’d been all of twenty-four and filled with a need to do good in the world.
Had she gotten Anya killed?
“Anya wouldn’t leave the clinic. She stayed with me and assisted on the procedure. She remained with the patient to monitor him overnight. That was the last time I saw her. That was roughly two o’clock in the morning. I went to sleep and my security head woke me up. The patient had died and he thought we needed to get out of there very quickly. I don’t honestly know that I could have saved him even if I’d been in a modern facility.”