CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
Boone’s eyes flickered open, and he stared up at acoustical ceiling tiles. There was an overhead sprinkler in the center of one of them with a nasty water spot surrounding it.
Wait a minute. Ceiling tiles? What happened to the jagged rock?
Where the hell is my team?
The unyielding silence that had loomed around him had been replaced by an annoying, steady beep and murmuring coming from somewhere nearby.
He turned his head to one side to identify the source, and a stabbing pain sliced through his brain. He moaned, and bile burned his throat. He squeezed his eyes tight and swallowed back the urge to puke. When he reached up to touch his head, he felt a tugging sensation at the back of his hand.
Warm, delicate fingers guided his arm gently down onto something soft, and he risked opening his eyes a little at a time. The room was somewhat dark and his vision was fuzzy, but he could tell the person over him had long hair because he felt it brush against his arm.
“Careful. You don’t want to pull out your IV.” Her familiar voice instantly soothed him.
He blinked a few times, and Luna’s beautiful face came into focus above him. But … how was that possible? She was only a voice in his ear, an angel conjured up by his battered mind to comfort him as he floated between life and death.
“There you are.” Her soft lips brushed his forehead, and he recognized her scent. “You had us worried.”
“You’re real?” Boone sounded like he’d swallowed rocks. Maybe I did. “You’re actually here?” He lifted his hand and dragged his fingertips over her cheek in disbelief.
“I’m really here, and I’m not the only one.” She turned, and he followed her gaze.
A few feet away, Cole was in deep conversation with a man in a white coat, holding an electronic tablet.
“Here, have a sip of water.” Luna lifted a plastic cup with a bent straw from the side table and held it while he took a couple of long swallows.
The cool liquid felt amazing on his ravaged throat and helped clear some of the grogginess from his mind.
“How do you feel?” She set the cup down and rested her hand on his arm.
How did he feel? He did a quick mental assessment.
“Let’s see … my head feels like someone hit me with a baseball bat, and my body’s not feeling too great either.” He glanced around the room. “Where am I?”
“You’re at Carillon Roanoke Memorial Hospital.” She took his hand and sat in a chair next to the bed.
“Virginia?” Now he recognized the beeping sound was coming from a heart monitor by the head of the bed. Next to it, an IV bag hung from a metal stand. He frowned. “How long have I been here?”
“Almost a week,” she said. “Do you remember what happened?”
Boone dug deep, searching for something, anything. A memory flickered just out of reach. He closed his eyes, concentrated, and the floodgates flew open with flashes of what happened rushing back to him.
Pakistan. Udall. Sheep? Missing girls. Tunnels.
“The last thing I remember is … is someone … running into me.” Damn, his head hurt like a son of a bitch. “What am I missing?”
“You’re missing the part where you almost got blown up.” Cole strolled over and stood on the other side of the bed. “Welcome back.”
Blown up? How could he have no memory of that?
“There was an explosion, and it triggered a cave-in.” His boss went on to detail everything that happened.
Boone’s brows pinched together in frustration.
Cole might as well be telling someone else’s story, because he still couldn’t remember anything after the girl plowing into him.
“Well, that explains why it feels like I got hit by a truck.” He shifted his position and tried to sit up.
“Hang on.” Luna put her hand on his shoulder and gently pressed him back down. “Let me help you.” She grabbed a remote from a pocket on the side of the bed and pressed a button. There was a humming sound. The head of the bed tilted upward, then stopped. “Is that better?”
“Yeah, thanks.” God, it was so fucking good to see her.
“Boone, I’m Dr. Ellis, but call me Mike.” The guy in the white coat walked over to the foot of the bed. “You’re a lucky man. If you hadn’t been wearing your protective gear, things could’ve ended much differently for you.” He swiped and tapped the tablet screen.
“You suffered a severe concussion, two cracked ribs on the left side, and a fractured ulna in your left arm.” The doc turned the tablet toward Boone and pointed out the various breaks.
Only then did he notice the cast on his arm.
He’d had a minor concussion before, but it was nothing compared to what he felt now.
He’d broken his other arm once, too, when he was nine years old and going through a Superman phase.
Like a typical dumbass kid, he thought it would be a good idea to jump from the hayloft.
Turned out it wasn’t such a good idea after all.
“You’ve got some pretty colorful bruises and ended up with eighteen stitches in your right thigh, where a sharp piece of shrapnel managed to breach your pantleg.
Thanks to your physical conditioning, you seem to be healing pretty quickly.
But I’d like to keep you one more night for observation, and then you should be able to go home tomorrow afternoon. Do you have any questions for me?”
“Will I ever get the memory of those missing days back?” Boone took Luna’s hand in his and stroked his thumb over her knuckles. “Because I gotta tell ya, I’m not crazy about having a week of my life just gone.”
“Understandable, but you need to give your brain some time to heal. The explosion knocked it around pretty good, even with your helmet on. That said, there is a slight possibility you may never get those memories back.” Mike filled him in on how long he would have to be in a cast, what meds to take and avoid, and he rattled off a list of what Boone could and could not do after his release and until he got checked out again.
Luna grabbed her phone and started making notes.
“Don’t worry about keeping track of all of that. I’ll make sure it’s all on his discharge papers.” The doctor slid the tablet into his coat pocket and crossed his arms.
“Oh, okay.” She set her phone on the table next to the bed.
“Boone, I’d like to see you in my office in two weeks.
If all looks good, you should be able to return to light duty at work.
” He added, “I know how you guys are, so let me be clear what I mean by light duty. No heavy weights, no obstacle course, no hand-to-hand combat training, and definitely no going on ops until after eight weeks. At that time, we’ll remove your cast and you can return to working with your team. ”
“I’ll make sure he takes it easy.” She rubbed her hand up and down Boone’s arm.
“What about sex, doc?” The idea of him and Luna taking it easy in bed appealed to him a great deal. And there was no fucking way he could keep his hands off her for six weeks.
“Boone!” She gently swatted his arm at the audacity of his question.
Cole coughed and rubbed his hand over his mouth to hide a smile.
“Those broken ribs might be a problem for you.” Mike chuckled. “But just to play it safe, if at all possible, I’d prefer you hold off at least until after your follow-up appointment.”
Boone lifted Luna’s hand and kissed her palm. “I’ll try, but I’m not making any promises.”
A sly, knowing smile spread across her face, along with that beautiful rosy color he loved so much.
“Thanks, Mike.” Boone couldn’t wait to get the hell out of this hospital.
“Thanks, doc.” Cole shook his hand, and the doctor left the room.
Boone waited until the door closed behind him. “Mike knows about what we do?”
“Yeah. He and Burke go way back to when they served together in the Marine Corps. Mike also took care of Burke’s little girl after we got her out of that embassy.
” Cole leaned his butt against the nearby windowsill and crossed his arms. “He helps us out whenever one of our people gets sick or injured.”
“Dawn almost flew out here to take care of you herself, but Caleb talked her out of it,” Luna said. “He assured her that Mike was more than capable of handling the job.”
“Was Caleb in the ops center with you when this whole thing went down?” God, he hoped she wasn’t alone, having to deal with what happened.
“Not at first, but he came in later.” Luna exchanged a quick look with Cole. “I’m so glad you’re awake.”
“How did I end up here?” Boone started to check out the room but stopped when he began to feel nauseous.
“You were airlifted to the hospital at Ramstein Air Base. They stitched you up, set your arm and wrapped your rib cage. They kept you there for a few days until they felt you were well enough to travel. After that, you were flown to Joint Base Langley-Eustis, transferred to our helo, and since they have a helipad on the roof, Lucas and Calliope brought you here.” Cole rubbed the back of his neck.
“Speaking of your sister, you might want to touch base with her. She’s tried not to show it, but she’s been really worried about you.
You know how protective she is of the people she cares about. ”
“She’s been here to check on you every day.” Luna stroked her fingers carefully through Boone’s hair. “If you’re up to it, we can call her after you’ve eaten something.”
“Yeah, that sounds good.” He dragged his gaze from Luna to look at Cole. “Did you get him?”
There was no need to explain who he meant.
“No, but it looks like he never made it out.” He pushed off the windowsill. “The team flew out with you, but some locals went in to search for him. Apparently, the explosion generated a ripple effect, and large sections of the tunnels collapsed and became inaccessible.”
“You think he’s dead?” Boone asked.
“We don’t have a body, but I’m not sure how he isn’t dead,” Cole said.
“They’ve been clearing away tons of debris and keep discovering natural caverns, some of which have lakes of water in them.
They’ve discovered it’s like a damn maze beneath those ruins.
Their efforts have been hampered by additional cave-ins, and according to Khalim, the locals aren’t too keen on risking their lives trying to find a dead American who wanted to sell their daughters. ”
“Understandable.” Boone fought against the urge to sleep. “How about the girls?”
“They’re all back with their families.” Luna propped her hip on the bed next to him. “Get this: Lucas hid them beneath one of those willow trees by the ruins.”
“Sounds like the perfect hiding spot to me.” He winked at her and rested his hand on her thigh.
Being back with her, being able to touch her after thinking he would never see her again, went miles toward making him feel better.
“What about the threat to Luna? Boone asked.
“There’s been nothing so far,” Luna said.
“We think he was fucking with you the same way he did when he had your mom send you those pictures.” Cole’s confidence helped bolster Boone’s.
“Speaking of your folks, they wanted to come see you,” Cole said. “I suggested they wait until you wake up.”
“We can call them, if you’d like.” Luna put her hand over his.
“Yeah, I’d like to do that,” Boone said.
His parents were used to him being in harm’s way, so it was only natural for them to worry about him. But they never, not once, said the words out loud. He guessed it was because they didn’t want him to be distracted.
“Udall’s photo has been shared with all of the international agencies,” Cole said. “He was already a fugitive from the US. If by some miracle he did survive, he’ll have to hide from the rest of the world, too.”
“I hope you’re right.” To believe the threat to Luna was truly gone, Boone would prefer to see the man’s body but understood that might never be possible.
His primary concern was that the threat to Luna had been eradicated.
“Okay, I’m going to head out.” Cole walked around to stand next to Luna and pointed at Boone. “Get some rest, and I don’t want to see you at the compound until after your two-week follow-up. Got it?”
“Yeah, I got it.” He intended to spend that time with Luna. “Thanks, Cole, for everything.”
“You’re family—it’s what we do.” He slid his phone from his pocket as he left them alone.
“Come up here.” Boone patted the bed next to him.
“Really?” She glanced toward the hallway. “Do you think it’s okay?”
“Frankly, I don’t give a shit.” After what happened, he wanted—needed—to feel her body against him.
She toed off her shoes, sat on the edge of the bed, and carefully settled in next to him.
“Is this okay? I’m not hurting you, am I?” she asked.
“This is the most comfortable I’ve been since the morning I left you sleeping in my bed.” He kissed the top of her head.
“I love you so much.” She propped herself up on an elbow, and her chin began to quiver. “When I thought you—”
“I love you, too.” He didn’t want her to have to say the words. “Now kiss me.”
She leaned close, and finally her lips were on his. He wanted to make love to her, to reaffirm their connection, but he kept it nice and easy, recognizing that his injuries and the less-than-ideal location were obstacles they couldn’t ignore.
Luna snuggled up against him.
“I’m glad he is dead.” Her hand rested on his chest, her fingers fiddled with the front of his hospital gown, and she yawned.
“Have you been here the whole time?” Boone hadn’t missed the dark circles beneath her eyes.
“Of course.” She sounded appalled that he even asked. “At first, the nurses tried to tell me I couldn’t stay, but Mike worked his magic and even had a nice reclining chair brought in for me.”
“Well, I’m okay, so you can rest now.” Boone set his hand over hers on his chest, and they lay there in silence.
A few minutes later, he felt her body completely relax and knew by her steady breaths she was finally sleeping.
Careful of his IV, he cautiously curled his arm around her and held her close. His last thought as he drifted off to sleep was how fucking grateful he was to be alive and to have this incredible woman by his side.