Chapter Two
IONA BYRNE SKIDDED to a stop in the parking garage of Vanderbilt Hospital, backed into a space, and scrambled out of her SUV. She locked her vehicle with the key fob as she ran toward the emergency room entrance.
She rushed toward a clerk. “An ambulance crew brought in Elias Knight a few minutes ago. I need to see him.”
“Name?”
“Iona Byrne.” She was prepared to insist. No one would keep her from his side. If she had to, she’d slip in the back and get to him that way.
“Your relationship to the patient?”
“Girlfriend.” He probably wouldn’t mind her claiming a relationship that wasn’t real.
“Have a seat while I see if he’s allowed to have visitors.”
Sit down? Her hands fisted. There would be no sitting until she saw for herself Elias was alive and kicking. Instead, she paced the length of the waiting room and back until her name was called a million minutes later.
The clerk left her cubicle and motioned for Iona to follow her.
The woman approached a locked door and waved her identification card in front of the scanner, and the door’s tumblers shifted to allow them to pass through to the ER bays.
“This way.” She led Iona into a corridor that soon intersected with a hallway, where they turned right.
Straight ahead were double doors that also required an ID card to allow access to the interior rooms of the ER. “He’s in Bay 7.”
“Thanks.” Iona walked into a long hallway with numbered bays. She followed the signs to Bay 7 and settled herself before she entered the bay. She knocked lightly on the door and peered inside without stepping into the room.
There he was. Elias Knight in the flesh, pale, bloody, and arrayed in a hospital gown on top with his cargo pants and tactical boots covering his lower half.
He opened his eyes, and his gaze locked on her. “Iona.” Elias struggled to sit up, grimacing at every movement.
Iona rushed inside. “Hey, stop. You shouldn’t do that on your own. They gave you a remote for a reason. Take advantage of it.” When she reached his side, she picked up the remote and pushed a button to raise the head of the bed enough for Elias to see anyone who walked into the bay.
He gave a nod of thanks, then studied her face.
She knew what he had seen. Pale skin and eyes filled with worry. She ought to know. She’d been looking in the rearview mirror plenty while she raced across town to get to Elias. “Are you okay?”
He dragged a hand down his face. “Nope. They’re scheduling me for surgery in the next hour when one of the operating rooms opens up.”
“The bullet is still in there?”
“That’s what they tell me. What are you doing here, Iona?”
She stared. Really? They were playing this game now? “You need someone to watch your back and stand guard during surgery and while you recover. Grant will be here in a few minutes to give me a hand.”
“You’re staying?”
“Of course I am.”
“That’s unnecessary. Grant can handle guard duty alone.”
“He can’t be inside the room and in the corridor guarding the door at the same time. I’m staying.”
“I don’t need you, Iona. You should go.”
Ouch. That hurt. Good thing she was as stubborn as Elias Knight. “Tough. Suck it up and deal, Knight. I’m staying in your room. That’s the end of the discussion.”
His eyes narrowed. “Hand me my phone.”
Oh, she knew where this was going. He was in for a surprise.
Keeping her mouth shut, Iona picked up his phone from the nearby rolling table and handed it to him.
Instead of leaving to give him privacy, she remained in place, arms crossed over her chest. She wouldn’t give Elias any wiggle room to get rid of her. She wasn’t leaving. Period.
Elias hissed in pain as he took the phone from her outstretched hand. Teeth clenched, he called up his contact list and hit one number. As soon as the person on the other end answered, Elias put the call on speaker. “This is Elias. You’re on speaker with Iona.”
“Sit rep.” Maddox practically barked the command.
Elias took his time updating their boss, Brent Maddox. The Fortress Security CEO remained silent throughout the recitation of events.
It took everything Iona had to remain silent when she longed to ask more questions. There would be time for that. She had to be patient. Besides, Elias might convince Brent to relieve her from duty for her own safety. Like that would stop her from doing what she knew was right.
“Sir, you need to relieve Iona of duty.”
There it was, the one request she knew Elias had been building up to. Would their boss do as he’d promised and keep her on the security detail? He had to know she was interested in Elias, and she believed he was interested in her.
But she could stay focused. She’d been coping with interest in the black ops warrior for months.
This wouldn’t be any different. A total lie, but she was going with it for now.
When the time came that Brent called her on the lie, she’d come up with another argument to keep herself on the security detail protecting Elias.
“No.” Maddox said nothing else.
“But, sir….”
“Don’t finish that sentence, Knight. You know how this works. You’ve been injured enough times on the job to know that we protect our injured warriors with two operatives. Iona volunteered for your protection detail, and so did Grant.”
“I’m not arguing about the need for protection. I don’t want Iona to be part of it.”
“Why not?”
“It’s too dangerous.”
“All the more reason for you to have one of the best bodyguards we have on your detail. I don’t know what your problem is, Knight, but my order stands, and you will cooperate fully with your detail. Am I clear on that point?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Good. Iona?”
“Sir?”
“Let me know if you have any problems out of your principal.”
“Copy that, sir.”
“Maddox out.”
Elias growled and tossed his phone onto the bed. “This is a terrible idea, Iona. You should be a million miles away from this.”
“Why? You heard Brent. I’m more than qualified to guard your battered body.”
“It’s not about qualifications.”
She studied him for a moment. “If you don’t doubt my ability to do the job, then what is the problem?”
He stared at her, his eyes seeming to burn a hole through her skull. Finally, he sighed. “Never mind. Just keep your eyes open, all right? I don’t want to be responsible for someone else dying on my watch.”
“That should be my line, not yours. You’re my responsibility. I would never endanger you or any other principal.”
He pointed his finger at her. “That is the last thing I want from you. I don’t want to be your principal.”
Iona tilted her head. “What do you want?”
“Doesn’t matter. I’ll never have what I want anyway, so why dream?”
What a sad outlook on life. She had never known him to sound depressed. What was causing an almost fatalistic attitude toward life? “What’s wrong?”
He snorted. “I have a bullet in my shoulder for starters, and I have teammates assigned to my protection detail. My boss isn’t making logical choices, and I’m afraid I’ll be benched far too long while my shoulder mends.”
She made a production out of rolling her eyes, but inside, she cringed at being classified as a teammate. She wanted to be in an entirely different category. “Get over yourself, Elias. Grant and I volunteered because we care about you.”
Iona cared more than she’d admitted to her friends, much less Elias.
And that was a problem, since she didn’t know if Elias felt anything for her other than friendship.
He’d never let down his guard, not even once.
The only things she had to base her suspicions on were the heat in his eyes when he looked at her and his choice to spend every spare minute in her company.
They’d gone to dinner multiple times, but he never classified them as dates, and she’d been afraid to ask for clarification for fear of destroying what they had, whatever it was.
“Maybe I don’t want anyone to care too much.”
She stilled. He didn’t mean that, did he? A careful perusal of his face told her that he meant every word. The question was why? “Will you answer a question?”
He looked wary. “Maybe.”
Iona wanted to laugh, but knew if she did she’d have no answer at all. Knowing Elias, he would clam up, and she’d learn nothing. “Why don’t you want us to care too much?”
“It’s not safe.”
She blinked. That was as clear as mud. “You’re kidding. Elias, we’re your friends. Of course we care about you, just like we do the rest of our teammates. You can’t tell us not to care.”
“Didn’t you hear what I said? It’s not safe to be around me.”
She planted her fists on her hips. “Get over yourself. All of us have targets on our backs. You aren’t a special case, Elias.
Did you hear what Brent said? You need backup.
Someone painted a target on your back, and unless you’ve grown a set of eyes in the back of your head, you need someone to watch your six. ”
“I don’t want it to be you.”
“Why not?”
“I just don’t.”
Iona planted her hands on the bed and leaned toward Elias. “Too bad. I care enough that I’ll ignore your cranky attitude and do my job. How’s the shoulder?”
He scowled. “Feels like a bullet’s lodged in there.”
“That good, huh? Tell me what happened.”
“I went through it a minute ago with the boss. Unless you tuned me out, you heard every word.”
“Indulge me. Tell me what happened. I have some questions about the incident.”
“Don’t you always?”
She waited in silence.
He settled back against the pillow and blew out a breath. “Fine. I had an appointment in downtown Nashville at 9:00.”
“An appointment with whom?”
“None of your business. Do you want to hear what happened or not?”
She motioned for him to proceed.
“The appointment took about fifteen minutes, then I left the building to return to the parking garage where I had left my SUV.”
“Any sign of trouble to or from the building?”
He hesitated.
“Nope, you don’t get to do that, Elias. Spill.”
“I had the feeling someone was watching me go to and from the office building. Satisfied?”