Chapter 11
Something was lying on Kam's arm. The explosion had flipped their truck. He needed to get to his men. Where were they? Kam tried to open his eyes, but the lids refused to lift. The weight on his arm shifted, and he heard a faint voice.
"Kam. Can you hear me?"
Taylor? What was Taylor doing in Russia? He needed to open his eyes. His mind couldn't be trusted if it was tormenting him with Taylor's voice. Where was his team?
The smell of burning rubber seared his nose.
Kam just needed to crawl over Preston's body.
His vision wasn't in focus, but he knew that Preston was there as he dragged his legs behind him.
He shook his head and coughed. Blood sprayed the ground, and Kam wiped his mouth with his hand.
No strength left to go another foot, Kam rolled onto his back.
When he blinked his eyes, the night sky was replaced by a concrete ceiling.
What in the world was going on? The convoy carrying the Russian mob defector just blew up. How did he get here? Realization washed over him, and Kam slowly rose. The concrete surrounded him, and the faint drip of water pinged through the room.
A tortured scream echoed off the walls. Kam knew that voice. Max. How did he get back to Ian's bunker? Something wet dripped on his face.
"Kam. Please wake up. Please." Taylor's voice drew him out of that dark place.
"No!" Kam roared. Ian couldn't have figured out who Taylor was.
"Whoa, there, King Kong." Two hands stopped him from launching upwards.
Kam's chest heaved for a few more breaths, then he blinked to bring the room into focus.
The space was small, the walls a clean, unforgiving white.
A single window high on the wall spilt a thin stream of daylight across the room.
Kam stared at the man holding him still.
Those features looked familiar, but his bunkmate from basic was KIA.
How could he be here in his hospital room? Kam closed his eyes and lay back down.
A gentle hand touched his arm. "Kam."
Kam's eyes flew open and locked on Taylor. She was here. Seeing the cut on her face sent flashes of the last day through his brain. The research vessel. Dasha Volkov. Escaping in the Zodiac.
Kam reached out to her, but a sharp tug on his hand halted the motion. He looked down, confusion flickering across his face as he saw the IV line taped to his skin, running to a half-empty bag beside the bed. His gaze stopped on the other person in the room.
"Jonas?" He croaked out past his tongue that felt like sandpaper. He needed to make sense of the situation, but his brain wasn't putting all of the pieces together.
The man stood with hands tucked in scrub pants and a navy blue polo. "Technically yes, but I'm the younger Jonas."
Kam scrunched his brow. "Teddy?"
"Only Clint calls me that." There was a hint of sadness in his voice. "Most just call me Ted."
Kam wanted to ask him a thousand questions, but the reality of the situation came crashing down on him. Kam swung his legs over the side of the bed.
"Kam, stop." Taylor took hold of his arm.
He shook her off. "We need to get out of here. I said no hospitals."
Ted grabbed his left hand as Kam attempted to pull the IV out of his right. "Calm down. When I realized who you were, I made sure I was the only one who could see you. And your wife here said your name was Cameron Ertz at admission."
Kam looked over his shoulder at Taylor, who had a blush on her cheeks.
His eyes drifted to her left hand, where his engagement ring sat on her finger.
"I figured if we were married, they would let me stay with you.
Not like I'd leave your side anyway. Neither of us has our IDs, but given our rescue at sea, people didn't ask questions. "
"We need to get out of here before they do start to ask questions." If the local police were informed of their rescue at sea, then he needed to get Taylor to safety.
Kam pushed himself to his feet, swaying, every muscle stiff and protesting. His shoulder throbbed in time with his heartbeat. Taylor ran to the other side of the bed to catch him.
"Kam, you need to rest. You lost a lot of blood." Taylor choked on the last word.
"Don't you understand? One search and they'll arrest you." His words were harsh, and Taylor flinched. He blew out a breath. "I won't let them get away with hanging this on you, but we need to get out of here."
"You can stay at my place," Ted offered.
"We can't ask you to do that." Taylor faced Ted.
"If Clint were still alive, he'd do whatever he could to help a fellow Alpha Company member. Even if he was already declared dead."
The room steadied itself and Kam took a step towards Ted with a hand outstretched. Taylor kept her arm around him and moved in sync with him. "Music Man was a good soldier. The kind you'd want by your side in any battle."
Ted shook his hand, a sheen to his eyes. "Grab your things. I'll get your discharge papers."
With that, Ted left Kam and Taylor in the small room. "Can we trust him?" Taylor asked.
"His brother was one of the best men I knew." Kam turned towards her. "Ted could have turned us over while I was still out, but he didn't. He knows who I am, yet he chose to hide me anyway."
Taylor nodded. Her eyes searched the room, but landed on nothing in particular.
Kam recognized the look as her thinking face.
There was more going on in there. He'd let her mull over it until they got out of here.
There were too many ears to overhear any plan they'd come up with here.
Ted's place would hopefully give them the privacy they needed.
Kam needed to find some clothes, preferably dry ones, if he was going to get out of this clinic. The scratch of the hospital gown had him falling back into those long days where he fought for his ability to even walk.
Taylor tightened her grip on his waist. Her fingers against his bare skin sent an awareness through him, awakening a hunger that he wanted to give in to. He cupped her face with his IV-free hand. Her eyes darkened as if the same feeling were consuming her.
"You're wearing my ring."
A smirk graced her lips. "You did propose on that ship."
He pulled the IV pole closer and turned to face her, causing her fingers to trail across his back as he moved.
Kam wanted this moment to last, but he felt his strength starting to wane.
He conjured all the control he could as he leaned towards her.
The movement wasn't slow and controlled, though, as he tumbled into her.
Taylor braced him and lowered him back onto the bed.
"How about we rest a bit more before we try those smooth moves?" She kissed him quickly, yet it held all the promise of their love forged in the absence and trials they've faced.
Ted came back with papers and a set of scrubs. "Do you need help putting these on?"
"I'll help him." Taylor's cold voice left no doubt of how much she didn't trust Ted, but he wasn't sure that having her help him get dressed would be easy on his self-control.
She picked the scrubs up off the bed. Ted started to back away, "I'll go get my car and let the attending know I'll be taking my lunch."
Once the door was shut, Kam leaned toward her. "You could give the man a chance. He is helping us."
Taylor sighed. "I just got you back, and then I almost lost you." She blinked back her tears. "I can't lose you again."
Kam pulled her against his chest, resting his cheek on the top of her head. "We will get through this together."
Taylor sniffed and pulled back. "What happens after we prove Dasha was behind all of this and we clear my name?"
Hearing Taylor voice the question he had been avoiding since he got the text about her, Kam fought the panic that wanted to rise in his chest. Panic wouldn't solve anything. "God brought us this far. He'll find a way."
Taylor stiffened. "How can you have so much faith after everything that happened to you?"
Kam smirked at her. "The one thing I've learned over the last three years is that trusting God is always the first step to any successful plan."
Kam's words rattled around in Taylor's mind as they bumped their way down the dirt road with lush green bushes that were the only things tough enough to survive here on either side.
How could he have so much faith despite everything that she knew happened to him?
If she was being honest with herself, her faith never quite recovered since the day the worst news of her life exploded her world.
She became singularly focused, determined that she would be the one to bring him back because she knew that he wasn't dead.
Kam nudged her with his shoulder. "What are you thinking about?"
"How much this road needs to be regraded," Taylor deflected. Ted snorted from the front seat.
Kam gave a short hum. He had made the same noise the night before he deployed when she said that she was fine with waiting until he returned to get married.
"Your grandmother yelled at me at the funeral." Taylor wasn't sure where that thought came from, but it was too late to take it back now.
Kam bunched his brow. "Tell me what happened." He slid his hand into hers.
Her chin started to quiver. She could feel the grip on her control slip.
For once, she let it go. "She told me that I didn't deserve your flag.
That this was a sign from God that we were never meant to be.
" Taylor laid her head on Kam's shoulder.
"She told the soldiers before the graveside began that I wasn't allowed to sit with the family and that the flag needed to go to your mother. "
Kam tensed. He let go of her hand and circled his arm around her, rubbing her back. "I am so sorry she did that to you. I'm sorry you had to deal with that."