“What are you doing? You don’t want to get that infected. The last thing I need is for your temp to skyrocket again. That scared the crap out of me!”
He eyed her quizzically and replaced the bandage back against his skin. “Skyrocket you say? How high was it?”
She wished she hadn’t said anything. He took the news of everything else so well she felt like any further bombshells would just be pressing her luck.
“AJ?”
Wincing, she answered. “Well, you may have had a slight infection.”
Leaning against the side of the bed, he crossed his arms and raised a brow. “I may have? Or I did?”
She set the clothes on the bed next to him and sighed. “Okay, you did have an infection. You and I were talking yesterday morning, and you started acting really strangely. Then you seemed like you were in a trance or something. I can’t really explain it. You were burning up, and I didn’t know what to do. I had to get my father. He found some penicillin in one of these old cabinets and gave you some. By the afternoon your fever had gone down, but we gave you another dose, and for good measure I gave you one this morning.”
“You gave me one? As in you gave me an injection? Are you qualified to do that?”
“No.” What could she say? She wasn’t going to lie to him.
“I see.”
“It’s not like that. He showed me how yesterday afternoon. Besides, I watched him give you other shots, and it wasn’t that hard. Really.”
She wondered why he was staring at her like that. Something was on his mind, and the way his eyes never left her made her nervous. Hell, everything about the man made her nervous. He was close to a foot taller than her. His shoulders looked like he should be a linebacker for the San Diego Chargers and not in the navy. Even wounded and donning bandages, he seemed to be a formidable presence looming over her.
“What else did he give me?”
Whew. She was strangely relieved. That was an easy question to answer.
“Morphine. For the pain.”
Again he was staring at her. Why? It was driving her mad. She could swear she all but saw the wheels turning in his head.
“What aren’t you telling me, AJ?”
She was thoroughly freaked out. Why on earth would he assume there was something she omitted from her answer? She was leaving something out, sure, but he didn’t know that.
“I’m sorry?”
“No offense, sweetheart, but you are a horrible liar. Don’t ever play poker.”
Was that an insult or a compliment? She wasn’t a good liar? Who wanted to be good at lying anyway? Still it was a cheap shot.
“I beg your pardon. I don’t know what you mean.”
He threw his head back in laughter and quickly held his side. “Look, AJ. We can do this the easy way or the hard way.”
“What’s the difference?”
He merely shrugged. “No difference. They both end up with the same result.”
“And that would be?”
“You telling me whatever it is you’re not telling me now.”
Good Lord, but the man was tenacious for just being shot a few days previous. She had a feeling he wasn’t bluffing. One way or another she would tell him whether she wanted to or not. Any attempt to play dumb would be pointless.
“My father may have accidentally given you too much morphine. The first night you were here after he removed your bullet and stitched you up. It was…touch and go for an hour or so.”
She winced at his expression. He was shocked, surprised even, but for some reason she didn’t see anger in him.
“Wait, let me see if I understand this. Your father saves my life twice. Then he injects me with a near-fatal dose of painkillers?”
He said it so calmly she was wondering if it was all a ruse and he was actually going to blow at any moment. She lifted her shoulders and took a deep breath.
“Yes. That’s about right.”
He shook his head at her. She would understand him being upset, even outraged because they could have killed him when he should’ve in fact been taken to a hospital. Yet she saw a smirk on his face. Damn, he was perplexing.
“Anything else I need to know?”
“Isn’t that enough?” she asked, exasperated by his question.
“Oh no. That’s plenty. Believe me, but in light of everything I’ve found out and how my past few days have gone I can’t help but wonder that there’s more.”
She saw his point. Everything that she’d told him would be a lot for anyone to take.
“That really is everything. He’s fixes animals, not people. Plus he hasn’t been well.” She shook her head. “I know we should’ve gotten you medical attention, but he was so adamant that we needed to protect you. Kept saying over and over again that he hadn’t felt that feeling in over forty years. I saw his eyes. He believed what he was saying. So I believed what he was saying, too.”
Surprisingly he touched her shoulder. It was a gentle and comforting movement and definitely one she hadn’t expected.
“I understand, AJ. I wasn’t lying when I told you that. If your father felt something that strongly, then I believe he had good reason. Besides…” He gave her a wink. “Despite everything you still didn’t manage to kill me.”
A bitter laugh bubbled up. It really wasn’t funny, but she couldn’t help but be amused at the irony of him trying to cheer her up for them almost killing him.
“There are your clothes. Oh and here’s another bottle of water and some toothpaste. I don’t have a toothbrush for you, but we can see about getting you one. I’ll just wait outside the room here. Can you get dressed on your own?”
Why had she asked that? He better say yes. She could not help him. It was one thing that she had bathed him and was privy to every part of his nakedness, but there was no way she could help him while he was awake. Aside from her whole face turning bright red with embarrassment she would probably be so mortified she wouldn’t be able to look at him ever again. It surprised her that she didn’t want to take that kind of chance. She’d grown used to his face, the curve of his jaw and the way his eyes fluttered when he slept.
“No worries. I got it.”
Thank God. The words nearly fell from her mouth, but she caught herself. “Okay, well I’ll be outside. Just yell for me when you’re all done and I’ll help you to the stairs.”
His hand, which was still resting on her shoulder, rose up, and he brushed his thumb against her chin.
“Thank you, AJ.”
“You’re welcome. I’ll be outside.”
Chapter 11
The short walk up the stairs proved to be a bigger challenge than he’d anticipated. Begrudgingly he had allowed AJ to help him up the fourteen steps. Damn if the fourteen hadn’t felt like a hundred.
He was sore, stiff, and every muscle in his body screamed in protest with every foot forward. Lying in bed, while a necessary part of his near-death experiences, didn’t serve his muscles too well. He was going to have to make an effort to loosen up and get well so he could figure out what he was going to do next.
From what AJ had told him he was sure the navy assumed he was dead. While SEALs were known for being elite Special Forces operators he never knew of one to come back from the dead. People would definitely be talking about him for years to come.
He was hit with sadness for his longtime friend Tom Drake. He was by far one of the best men he had ever known. It was a cruel twist of fate that he’d survived all the missions he had only to retire in hopes of finally enjoying life and then being gunned down mere weeks into his new life.
The upstairs of their beach bungalow was nice but not too nice. Everything seemed almost too ordinary. His thoughts went back to the secret underground clinic, and he wondered if whoever had lived here before had been involved in something so illegal that he took every step necessary to not draw attention to himself.
“Dad’s right in there.”
He had his arm around her shoulder, and she was holding him tight
ly around his waist. Any other time he might have enjoyed it, but now all he could think of was the pain he saw in her eyes when she spoke of her father barely holding on.
They entered the bedroom, and for the first time Nick got a good look at the man who had saved his life. Despite his frail appearance, Nick saw the marine that AJ had described. His hair was still in a traditional jarhead cut. While it was gray, it still had a sense of authority attached to it.
“Dad?”
He watched as AJ gently touched her father’s chest, trying to wake him. He was about to tell her to let him rest, but his eyes opened and he smiled at her.
“I was just dreaming of your mother.”
“Oh, Dad.” She kissed the top of his head.
“How’s the young man?”
AJ moved out of her dad’s path of vision and motioned with her hand in his direction. “See for yourself.”
He walked over to the frail man and offered a hand. “Sir, I heard I owe you a debt of gratitude.”
“AJ, get the poor boy a chair.”
She brought a small chair over to his bedside, and he sat. Seeing the man now, he was having a hard time imagining this man having the strength to tackle anyone, let alone struggle with a gun and win. Adrenaline could be a tricky thing though. This he knew to be true.
“How do you feel, Commander Slater?”
“You saved my life, sir. I think you’ve earned the right to call me Nick.”
“In that case you can call me Liam.”
There was a knowing nod between the two men. Both of them understood the importance of respect and honor.
“Your daughter tells me you were a marine? I must say, being a navy man myself I would normally razz you, but it sounds like you have done more than your fair share to earn my respect. It’s an honor to meet you, Liam.”
“It is I who is honored.”
Barely lifting his head he looked at AJ who was standing at the foot of the bed. “Sweetheart, could you leave us alone, please? I need to talk to Nick about some things.”
“I already filled him in, Dad.”
The look in the old man’s eyes was very telling. He knew it well. Whatever he wanted to talk to him about was something that AJ knew nothing of.
“I don’t doubt you have, dear. I just would like to explain a few things myself. Besides, he’s up and around now. He’s going to be hungry. Maybe you could fix him something to eat. A sandwich or something?”
Wanting to reassure the worried look on her face away, Nick added, “I would love a sandwich. Do you think you could make one for me? My mouth is watering just thinking about it.”
He watched as she hesitantly left the room, but not before she made him promise to yell for her if he needed anything at all. While he knew her concern was for her father and not him he couldn’t help but be touched by her Florence Nightingale persona.
“Okay, she’s gone. What doesn’t she know?”
The old man smiled at him. “You’re a smart man, Nick.”
He shrugged and crossed his arms together as he waited for his next bombshell. Lord have mercy, his life was sure being hit hard with a few twists and turns these past few days.
“I didn’t intend to keep it from her. You must understand, she was already so upset that I refused to take you to a hospital or call for help. Placing your ID on the man who tried to kill you did nothing to calm her anxiety.”
“She’s already explained all this to me. From what I understand you were a sniper in Nam. She tells me that you told her of a feeling that you had. Hairs standing up on the back of your neck and all that.”
The old man took a deep breath. He looked to be in some kind of pain, and Nick wondered if the morphine he was given was intended for Liam instead. Being that he was a marine, he knew better than to ask if he was all right or not. Even if he wasn’t he knew he would deny it and muster through it.
“Yes, that was all true. What she doesn’t know, what I didn’t tell her because she was already so worried and distraught over everything, was what I overheard right before I got to you and the man standing over you.”
Nick cocked an eyebrow. “What did you hear?”
“I only heard a small piece of it, but he was laughing at you. He said something about leaving men behind and you should have known better to let them die.”
He scanned his memory bank for information that could relate to such statements. Nothing was ringing a bell. Sure he’d saved many men in his day, but he’d also lost some men as well. It was the nature of the beast. War was an ugly son of a bitch that didn’t care who it hurt.
“I don’t know if I understand. So he was trying to kill me because I saved someone? Or because I didn’t?”
Liam shook his head. “I don’t know. It is kind of a mixed up puzzle in my head. I can remember bits and pieces but not really all of it.”
“I see.”
“I’m sorry. I’m not sure why, but at the time and the way the man said it, it seemed so significant. It was like you should have known exactly what he was talking about.”
Maybe he should know. Between being shot, the infection, and the painkillers, maybe his brain was still clouded.
“Colombia.” Liam blurted out the word.
A tumble of memories churned inside him. Of all the things he would’ve expected the old man to say, that wasn’t one of them. Colombia held a memory for him that he would sooner forget.
“Come again?”
“I just remembered. He said something about Colombia.”
Nick’s gut burned with acid. He could almost feel it boiling up inside him. “Do you remember what he said about it?”
The man’s eyes were growing heavy. “I’m sorry. Just what I told you.”
He watched Liam drift off to sleep. As he said his last sentence he looked to be exhausted. Only up and talking for a few minutes and he was too tired to continue. Liam was truly a man hanging on to his last bit of life. He forced himself to push that aside so he could focus on what he just learned.
What Liam had first told him meant little to him. Once he added Colombia to it though, that opened up some old wounds. Ones he thought were dead and buried. Literally.
Two Army Night Stalkers lost their lives on that mission. Two of his friends and fellow teammates, Jack Peyton and Rex Metcalf, had barely escaped with their lives. Had it not been for a rogue rescue mission led by Tom Drake with both he and his other teammate Adam Collins as backup they would have died.
Nick sat there shaking his head in both disbelief and amazement at the man lying before him. A former marine sniper who hasn’t served his country in forty years never lost that survival instinct and risked everything to save a complete stranger. As big of a shock as that would be, the most surprising was that the man was dead-on. Something about the ambush and assassination of Tom didn’t quite make sense to him. The whole time he was swimming away he kept playing over it in his mind, and something didn’t add up. Now it did.
Revenge.
Some high-ranking fucks lost their careers after that cluster fuck of a mission almost cost them two of their men. After the court martial and all the testimony had been given, he’d heard little of what happened to the guilty parties.
He wanted to kick himself. That should’ve been his first clue. A quiet enemy was never a good one. His testimony as well as Tom’s had help prosecute the ones involved. He wasn’t the only one who testified though. Adam, Jack, and Rex had all given very compelling testimony.
He shot up from his chair and ignored the pain that shot through his side. If Tom was assassinated and he was a target, he was damn sure that his other teammates were next.
Moving at the quickest pace possible with his stiff muscles he ran from the room to find AJ. He didn’t get very far when she came around the corner and ran right into him. The plate carrying his sandwich fell to the floor.
“Nick? Oh my God! What happened?” She ran down the hall toward her father’s room.
Flustered he turne
d and went after her, annoyed at himself for scaring her. He came in the room to find her leaning over his chest.
“AJ, he’s fine. He just fell asleep.”
She swung her head around and came toward him. He could see the fear in her eyes, though she tried to mask it with anger. “Why would you scare me like that? I thought…” She covered her eyes and shook her head.
Fuck. She was crying. Damn it to hell.
“Come here.” He didn’t wait for her to oblige. Instead he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her into him.
“I’m sorry I scared you.”
He stood there holding her for a moment while her tears ceased. Tears were one of the least favorite things he liked about a woman. Seeing AJ cry though, well, it hit him somewhere in his gut extra hard.
She pulled away, wiping her eyes and looking relieved. “Why were you so rushed?”
“Your dad heard more than he told you. He didn’t want to worry you, but…” He hesitated. It wasn’t that he didn’t think she could handle it, but he was really beginning to hate seeing her upset.
“What is it? Please tell me.”
He considered it. Her eyes were desperate and pleading.
“I promise I can handle it.”
Damn, the woman was a puzzle to him. It was like she was reading his thoughts.
“All right, I’ll tell you.” He placed his hands on her shoulders. “Your father overheard something the man who tried to kill me said. It…well, it makes sense now.”
She shook her head, clearly confused. “What makes sense?”
“I know who tried to kill me. And I know who’s next on their list.” He gripped her shoulders firmly before he hit her with the big one. “I need your help, AJ.”
Chapter 12
AJ stared at him blankly. She must have misunderstood him. What on earth could he need her help with? It was only by sheer miracle and a bit of luck that she hadn’t completely lost it the past few days. Lord knew there were a few times she came close.
“I don’t understand.”
“The things your father overheard would have sounded benign to the average person, but to me and a few of my former teammates it explains a lot.”
Morgan, Nicole - Sweet Affliction [Sweet Awakenings 4] (Siren Publishing Classic) Page 7