Dangerously Entwined

by Sidney Bristol

  He pulled his weapon from his shorts and rounded the landing to the second floor.

  The first thing he registered was a gun pointed at him.

  Grant’s arm snapped up at the same moment he recognized the blond hair glinting in the morning light.

  His gut tensed and his scalp tingled.

  “Nolan? Jesus.” Grant lowered his weapon immediately and blew out a breath.

  “TL? Oh, thank God.” Nolan rose from the crouching position he’d been in at the top of the stairs.

  “Nolan? Is it just you?” Melody pushed her way up to stand next to Grant.

  Nolan’s face went dark, his brows drawing down and mouth screwing up. He glanced over his shoulder, concern tightening his features. “No, Vaughn’s here. He’s not in good shape.”

  Oh, no.

  No, no, no.

  Grant steeled himself against more bad news.

  “Show me,” Melody ordered.

  “What happened to you two?” Nolan asked over his shoulder.

  “Long story, tell you later,” Melody replied.

  Nolan went to the second door on the right then tapped out a rhythm on the door.

  “Come in.” Vaughn’s voice was weak, but his words were clear.

  Nolan glanced back at Grant and Melody. For a moment his face was creased in worry, then it was gone, covered by a mask that said everything was fine. They all had it, they had to. It was part of the job.

  He pushed the door open and held it. “Hey, look who I found.”

  Melody edged into the small bedroom, then Grant.

  It was more white on white on white decorating, which only made the blood stand out even more.

  Vaughn lay in the middle of the queen bed on the bare mattress.

  God, it was a lot of blood.

  The sheets were balled up on the floor. The top sheet had been shredded into strips and used to staunch the bleeding. Vaughn’s typically golden tan was an ashy gray-green color. His shoulders and head were propped up by the available pillows. A few bottles of liquor sat on the nightstand. The booze was probably the only disinfectant and pain relief he’d had. Most telling was the lifeless way Vaughn lay there. Feet drooping to the side. Hands lying open, lifeless. Grant shut the door. Nolan circled to the other side of the bed where a basin of murky water sat on the nightstand. Melody perched on the edge and took Vaugh’s hand in hers.

  Shit.

  Grant could not lose these guys. He’d lost men before, but not these ones. This couldn’t be happening. He’d promised himself he wouldn’t allow it.

  “It went straight through,” Nolan explained to Melody, his voice deceptively calm. “He was fine up until a little while ago. He’s got a little bit of a fever and some bleeding. Not a lot, but I don’t like it.”

  Melody glanced over her shoulder at Grant.

  This complicated things.

  “He’s going to have to go to a hospital,” she said, stating the obvious.

  “No,” Vaughn said. He wasn’t even opening his eyes.

  A light sheen of sweat made his brow glisten.

  The fabric pressed to Vaughn’s side was awfully bright red looking for something that was supposed to be old blood.

  If Grant had to guess, their main concerns were infection and internal damage.

  Melody was right. Vaughn had to go to a hospital. Which would make him an easy target for whoever it was trying to kill them. There weren’t an abundance of medical facilities on the island. A place like this would likely only have one place that handled serious injuries.

  Getting Vaughn the help he needed would become a race. Would he get patched up or would the Lebanese find them first?

  Melody leaned over him and took his hand between hers. She was the heart of the team, that glue that kept them working as one. “Vaughn, I don’t want to explain to Carla why you died of a treatable injury. We’re going to the hospital. But first, just what the hell happened out there?”

  Nolan picked up a fresh strip of the sheet, folding it several times until it was the right size for the wound. “You saw the news?”

  “Yes,” Melody said.

  He reached over and pealed the bandage back, grimacing at the damp flesh.

  The wound was still oozing.

  Fuck.

  Nolan pressed the new bandage while tossing the other into a pile on the floor. “We were walking, four abreast, when this van comes out of nowhere. We weren’t ready, okay? These guys jump out. I threw the cooler at the first one, managed to take him down. Vaughn and I went right. Vaughn got the guy’s gun. He says he saw two guys grab Riley. I never saw that, or Brenden. Then there’s shooting. Vaughn and I take off down a side street. They shot him a few blocks later. We got off the street, stopped the bleeding then wound up here.”

  It was a bare bones retelling. There were no doubt details missing, things that would become clearer once Nolan had some rest and they got Vaughn’s side of things.

  “Has there been any word from the others?” Vaughn asked, his voice rough and strained.

  “No, only from you two,” Melody replied.

  “So they got them then.” Nolan shook his head.

  “We don’t know that,” Melody said slowly.

  “Let’s worry about that later.” Grant glanced at her. The most realistic option was that both Riley and Brenden had been taken, but they didn’t know that. “Let’s focus on Vaughn right now, then the others.”

  “What happened to you, two?” Nolan asked.

  Melody related the events from their side in sparse detail, bringing them up to last night when Grant and Melody had made their discovery about their attacker’s nationality.

  “We think,” she glanced at Grant, “that this is about Ethan and Lebanon.”

  Nolan frowned at them. “Seriously?”

  “One of the phones we took had the man in a Lebanese uniform. Several men were carrying Lebanese pounds.” Grant lifted his shoulders. “If it’s not, someone wants us to think it’s them.”

  “Did you call Zain?” Nolan asked.

  “We tried to,” Melody said slowly.

  “Once we figured out that it might be them, we killed everything and split.” Grant’s stomach knotted.

  During their last disaster of a job in Lebanon, they’d learned about a new type of technology, one that allowed the government to monitor most every call. Even secure lines. It made any piece of tech a potential tracking device. Bad for their team. Good for the government.

  If the people after them were able to utilize this same tech, any call they made from any phone could give up their location.

  Somehow they had to get Vaughn medical care, locate their two missing team members, signal for help and get off the island. They’d had worse odds, but not by much.

  5.

  Thursday. Hospital Can Misses, Ibiza.

  Melody paid the driver using some of the cash they’d lifted off the bodies. It was the only disposable money they had.

  She could feel Grant’s displeasure rolling off him. What with the attacks yesterday he was in hyper cautionary mode. That did not work well with Vaughn’s delicate health situation. Things in the cab had gotten very tense when they’d clashed over where to be dropped off.

  Melody had won that argument. There was no way Vaughn was going to walk a block to the hospital just so they could have the distance to observe people loitering around the doors. Melody had overruled him on the grounds that Vaughn was getting worse by the minute. Plus, if there were people stationed outside the emergency department looking for them there wasn’t a thing they could do about it. This way they had the best chance at getting inside the hospital where people and security officers might offer a little protection.

  The main hospital on the island was a structure that looked like stacked shipping containers. There wasn’t a lot of traffic in or out at this early hour, but she knew that could change at any moment.

  “We’ve got to go now,” Grant announced from the back seat. He was peering o
ut into the parking lot.

  “Okay, come my way.” Nolan pushed open his door and slid out.

  He was able to reach back in and assist Vaughn in moving his upper body, while Grant assisted with Vaughn’s left leg. Between the three men they got Vaughn out and standing.

  She said a final thanks before getting out, eyeing both the upholstery and Vaughn’s shirt for blood.

  There wasn’t any, which meant he really had stopped bleeding or the bandage was holding its own.

  Grant and Nolan each took one of Vaughn’s arms and walked him in through the sliding glass doors to the emergency department.

  The waiting room had the typical tourist fare. Lots of hungover twenty somethings. Some sporting injuries. There were no locals here, which meant they blended in rather well.

  Melody hadn’t lied when she told Grant that tidbit about her past earlier. He’d just been so holier-than-thou. Normally she’d have let a comment like that pass. If he didn’t want to put in the work to get to know her, to understand the world outside his bubble, she wasn’t going to force it on him. But there’d just been something about the way he spoke, how he looked at those kids that irritated her. She knew he probably hadn’t meant it that way and he couldn’t change who or what he was.

  Nolan handled Vaughn’s paperwork and chatting with the nurse at the desk so Melody took the opportunity to walk the waiting room, scouting out the exits, windows, vending machines and bathrooms. She knew they were all aware that this put them squarely in the path of those hunting them, but it couldn’t be helped. Either they got Vaughn the medical attention he needed and he lived, or they remained in hiding and Vaughn died.

  None of them were willing to let one of their team die. They’d just have to figure out an exit strategy, hope a doctor saw him soon and move fast when the bad guys caught up with them.

  She stopped and stared out of the large windows in the waiting room. Those made her nervous. Yes, they could see out, but there was also the chance that someone could see them.

  The guys finished checking in and got Vaughn settled in the chairs closest to the front desk. Grant caught her eye and gestured for her to join them.

  She gave the windows one last glance before crossing to where Grant stood.

  He wrapped his hand around her elbow and bent his head. Her instinct was to lean into that touch, use this otherwise ordinary moment to soak up body contact, draw strength from him. But that wasn’t what she wanted from him any longer.

  Melody grit her teeth and mentally held onto her irritation. She had to, or she’d fall under his spell, wanting what she couldn’t have.

  “I’m going to stay here with Vaughn. I’d like you and Nolan to go across the street to that store and stock up on supplies, okay?”

  She nodded. “Sure.”

  When she went to pull away, he tightened his grip.

  “Be careful?” he whispered even softer.

  Melody looked up at him. Grant was in full-on leader mode, his face stony with his trademark I-just-sucked-a-lemon mouth scrunch going on. She wanted to smack him and melt into a puddle. It was a frustrating state of being, but she couldn’t fault him for caring. Grant was this way because he didn’t know how to be any other way. He was a protector to his core, and he was trusting her to not need him. It had taken them a long time to get here.

  She put her hand over his. “We’ll be back in a few minutes. Promise.”

  He nodded and let go.

  Melody glanced at Nolan and nodded toward the doors. He jerked his head, the exhaustion showing through. He fell into step with her and together they left the hospital.

  “How you holding up?” she asked.

  “Okay.” His sigh said otherwise.

  “Are you worried about Vaughn or Yvonne?” She figured as a new dad he had a lot of options when it came to worry and that was before this job.

  “Both.” He glanced over his shoulder. “If we can catch a break, Vaughn will be fine.”

  “Yvonne and the baby aren’t doing well?” It was the first Melody had heard of this.

  “No, they’re great, just...some shit went down with Yvonne’s best friend. Tabby? It has her shaken.”

  “Tabby...the red head? The one Vaughn dated before he met Carla?”

  “Yeah. Know who she’s dating now?”

  “Who?”

  “Jamie from Troy Team.”

  “Really?”

  Melody rolled that news around in her head.

  Vaughn and Jamie were alike. She could see the spitfire red head meshing well with Jamie where things had fizzled with Vaughn.

  If only Melody’s love life were so easy.

  “Everything okay with you?” Nolan asked, dragging her thoughts away from the company gossip.

  “Yes,” Melody replied.

  Nolan eyed her.

  She frowned. “What?”

  “It’s something Priscilla said.” Vaughn heaved a sigh.

  Priscilla was the latest edition to the teams growing family structure. The woman with her own traumatic past had somehow gotten past Brenden’s walls. She was bringing Brenden out of his shell, reminding him that life should be lived, not just survived.

  “What’s Priscilla saying?” Melody asked.

  “She’s convinced something’s going on with you and Grant. We’ve all told her she’s wrong, of course.”

  Melody’s gut tightened and she had to force herself to keep her head up high.

  Priscilla knew the truth, or at least suspected it.

  She kept going, one foot in front of the other. The men were easy to fool. They saw what she wanted them to see. She should have known that at some point at least one of these brilliant women would see through her act.

  At least she was ending things with Grant now as opposed to later, when it would be harder to hide her true feelings for him. It would crush her spirit to have someone else realize how in love she was with Grant all the while the object of her affections was oblivious to her.

  “Mel?”

  “Hm?” She realized too late she’d been quiet.

  “Is there something going on with you and...?”

  “Of course not. I didn’t think I needed to dignify that with a comment.” She managed to huff a bit, as if it were an outrageous idea that she and Grant might actually be something to each other.

  She glanced away, staring up at the sun, willing her tears to dry.

  How right he was, and he didn’t even know it. No one could.

  Once Grant accepted that they were over, things could settle into a predictable routine as far as their team dynamic was concerned. No one had to know that deep down, she was in love with Grant.

  GRANT PACED THE WAITING room. He had different points to hit. If he walked over to the fountains, he could see the shop across the street. There still wasn’t any sign of Melody or Nolan, but they had a lot of shopping to do. If he paced to the vending machines, he had a clear line of sight into the parking lot. When he walked back to the entrance, he could peer down the halls, deeper in the hospital. All of this without ever losing sight of Vaughn.

  Not that he was going anywhere.

  The man had barely moved a muscle since sitting down. His head was tipped back, hands pressed to his stomach. Grant was pretty certain he’d never heard so much silence from Vaughn, even when he was sleeping. The guy was always running his mouth.

  How many times had Grant prayed for a little peace and quiet?

  He’d listen to all of Vaughn’s bullshit right now if it meant he was well.

  This was a disaster.

  What was taking Melody so long?

  He wheeled around and peered toward the shop. He should have never sent Melody off. Having her out of sight made the skin between his shoulder blades itch. Right now his attention should be on Vaughn, but all he was thinking about was Melody.

  What if something happened to her? Someone grabbed her on her way back?

  This was killing him.

  During most jobs, she was
at a hotel or their next safe house. She wasn’t typically at risk. But lately she’d gotten hurt more than he liked.

  Her bloodstained shirt lying on the tile floor came to mind.

  Nope.

  Grant squeezed his eyes shut, banishing the memory.

  He couldn’t think about Lebanon. Not when Melody wasn’t in his line of sight.

  Two figures stepped out of the shop and into view.

  There she was.

  The tight fist around his heart eased.

  She wore a pair of swimsuit cover-up capris in bright blue, a bedazzled tank top with Ibiza printed against a backdrop of flowers, her hat and glasses. The backpack she’d grabbed to swap out for the black go-bags completed her look as an average vacationer on the island. Except she was his Melody. She would never be average to him.

  Grant remained where he was, poised on the balls of his feet, watching their slow progress back toward the hospital. Every car and person who passed them was a possible threat in his book.

  Eventually both Nolan and Melody made it back to the waiting room without incident. They both had a few plastic bags of supplies. Some food. Minor first aid stuff. Burner phones. Water.

  Melody handed Grant some kind of hot sandwich thing then sat next to Vaughn. She spoke to him, her voice so soft Grant couldn’t overhear.

  Nolan stopped next to Grant, looking at his friend.

  “See anyone out there?” he asked in a low voice.

  “There was one guy on a phone. He kept looking at us. Melody pointed him out to me on the way back.”

  “Shit.” Grant sucked in a deep breath. They’d expected this.

  The timer was ticking.

  “We need a plan,” Grant muttered.

  “I’m not sure what we can do,” Nolan said.

  A car whizzed past far too fast. Grant frowned at it and watched the window where he’d last seen it.

  Not a minute later two men with dark, olive complexions strode down the sidewalk toward the hospital doors.

  “Those two?” Nolan muttered.

  “I see them,” Grant said.

  The two guys stepped inside the sliding glass doors, their gazes on the nurse at the desk. Neither glanced left or right, they just walked straight up to the desk and spoke to the nurse on duty. There wasn’t anything visibly wrong with them either. More than that, it was the fact that they wore dark cargo pants and button-down shirts with only a few buttons done up. It was the kind of thing Grant would do to conceal a weapon.