Chapter 61
Nina
My lids grated against my eyes like sandpaper as I tried to open them. A steady beeping noise cut through the fog in my head, giving me a headache.
Where am I?
If I didn’t know any better, I’d think I spent the night before overindulging. But that wasn’t who I was.
Like a slideshow set to triple time, images flashed through my mind.
The car chase.
Ryan getting shot.
Austin’s head being slammed onto the trunk.
The beeping increased.
I squeezed my eyes shut, hoping to stop the flood of images.
The back of a van.
Austin bleeding.
Tied to a chair.
Austin hanging from a hook.
Beep.Beep.Beep. Please God, let this be a bad dream.
Blood dripping down his black and blue face.
His knee blown to shreds.
They killed him.
My bloodcurdling scream shocked me out of my nightmare.
Only it wasn’t a nightmare. I was in a sterile white hospital room, and the beeping was the sound of a machine monitoring my pulse.
“Nina, it’s okay. You’re safe.”
“Austin?” My voice sounded frantic as I turned my head. Things were blurry, but not so much that I could confuse Ryan for Austin when I saw him.
“He’s alive and in surgery.”
“Alive?” My voice hitched at the end. “How?” I heard them shoot him. My heart broke all over again at the thought of Austin dying to protect me.
Ryan told me about the miraculous rescue by Shepherd Security.
But that didn’t make any sense. John and his sons named their business Sheppard two of the three shots hit my vest. The other tore up my arm a bit.”
It was then I noticed that one bicep looked thicker than the other.
“What about Jay, Cate, and AJ?” I asked.
“They’re fine,” John said. “I promise.”
Ryan added, “Once they were out of the chase, they weren’t deemed important enough to kill.”
“Gibson,” John growled.
“Sorry, Nina. If it helps, it’s the same reason they left me in the ditch instead of finishing me off.”
It did, and it didn’t. Everyone who’d helped me had been in danger, and I my guilt piled higher.
“Luckily, John had backup on the way as soon as Cate called in our tail. SSI picked us all up, and we met up with the Shepherd team,” Ryan said, changing the subject.
John’s phone buzzed. After glancing at his screen, he said, “I need to go. I’ll come back later and check on you.”
“Thank you,” I said around a yawn.