by Rebecca Deel
“You track him?”
“Tried. He knew the ship as well as Ferguson and disappeared. No identification. Dude was wearing a mask, black pants, black shirt. I sent the footage to your email and Fortress. Maybe Zane will work more magic.”
Nico scowled. “Maybe.”
Winestock returned. “Tell me the security cameras helped.”
Sam shook her head. “Joe has the footage ready in the screen room. Maybe you’ll recognize the killer.”
“It’s not likely,” Joe warned. “We have a lot of nothing to work with. Did you send Trace to the detention cabin when Farraday barged in?”
The chief nodded. “Caleb and I were on the wrong side of the ship. Trace was the closest person to help Chip. Figured he could handle one irate passenger.”
“You haven’t heard the last word from Farraday. He says he’s going to talk to you about firing Trace.”
Winestock snorted. “I’m not surprised. He and the other executives throw their weight around each time they’re on board Hollingbrook ships. I appreciate that they have a job to do. I wish they respected our jobs enough not to interfere in our operations.”
“Need me to stay longer?” Nico asked.
A head shake. “Caleb is on his way back. Between the two of us, we’ll manage. If I need help, I’ll call.” His expression grew grim. “I hope that won’t be necessary or I can guarantee I won’t be working for Hollingbrook after this cruise is completed.”
The crime team members looked at each other, then stared at their boss, shock on their faces.
Winestock motioned for them to return to work, then faced the Fortress operatives. “Thanks for your assistance. I’ll let you know what we find. I expect you to do the same.”
“What makes you think we’ll find anything else?” Sam asked.
“You have information at your disposal. Got a feeling a lot of it is not from the normal sources. I want to know what you learn.”
Nico gave a short nod. “We’ll be in touch after we do some research.” In the corridor, he glanced at Joe and Sam. “I’m going to check on Mercy. I’ll meet you at the suite. We have a lot of work to do and not much time to do it.”
“You think our man will try to slip off the boat when we dock?”
“Depends on how worried he is about another interview with the feds. I’m more concerned with the time line. The problems haven’t been this pervasive on this route over the past few months. Something triggered the escalation.”
“He’s not finished,” Sam said.
“I’m afraid he won’t stop until Mike Hollingbrook is dead and his cruise line destroyed.” Nico turned away. “I’ll see you soon.”
Joe walked with Sam in the opposite direction. “We’ll call Z and bring him up to speed on everything that’s been happening.”
Together, they entered the stairwell and headed toward their deck. Halfway to their destination, a crowd of people entered the stairwell, many grumbling about an elevator malfunction.
He nudged Sam closer to the wall and angled himself to protect her from an accidental bump. The last thing he wanted was for the woman he loved to fall down the stairs.
Joe waited for the crowd to pass before he resumed the journey toward their suite. The skin at the back of his neck tingled. As he started to turn, he caught a tall figure in black in his peripheral vision. Before he could react, a hard hand landed on his back and shoved.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
One minute Joe sheltered Sam from the crowd in the stairwell. The next he pushed her away from him as he fell. “Joe!” People scrambled out of the way as he tumbled. Joe landed hard on the next landing, his back and head slamming against the wall. He slumped to the floor and remained motionless.
Horror stricken, Sam pushed through the crowd gathering around him. “Joe.” She dropped to her knees. For a second, she remained frozen. Her medic training kicked in and she assessed him for injuries with one hand. With the other, she grabbed her phone and called Nico, grateful Fortress provided cell phones that worked anywhere.
When her team leader answered, she said, “South stairwell. Now. Joe’s hurt.” After shoving the phone back into her pocket, she resumed checking the man she loved for broken bones. By the time Nico and Ben arrived on the run, she’d ruled out broken limbs.
“How bad?” Nico asked.
“No broken bones so far. I need to check his ribs. Ben, see if the infirmary has a litter, a backboard, and a C-collar to stabilize Joe’s neck until we take x-rays.”
At that moment, Joe groaned and his eyelids fluttered.
“Joe?” Sam laid a restraining hand on his chest. “Don’t move. You had a bad fall.”
“Don’t need a litter or horse collar. Just give me a minute to catch my breath.”
“Tough,” Nico said. “You’re going to the infirmary to be checked anyway. Ben, go.” As the EOD man hurried off, Shadow’s leader thanked the passengers who lingered for their concern and urged them to clear the stairwell for the medical personnel who would respond to the accident. Once the bystanders were gone, he knelt by Joe’s side. “You’re the most sure footed of us all, buddy. What happened?”
Joe cut his eyes toward Sam. “Did you see the man in black?”
She blinked. “No.” What man?
“I didn’t fall by accident, Nico. Someone pushed me from behind. As I fell, I twisted in mid-air and saw a man dressed in black run up the stairs while everyone else in the crowd moved down the stairwell. Lost sight of him when my head hit the wall or floor.”
“Wall,” Sam confirmed. She’d never forget the sight of his body flying through the air and landing against the wall. She’d see that in her nightmares.
She dragged her attention back to assessing Joe’s injuries. She checked his head for injuries, careful to keep his head and neck aligned with his body. Joe hissed when she reached the area near his left ear.
Sam glanced at Nico. “He has a large knot and a gash. You need stitches, Joe.”
He scowled. “Great. You’re doing them. Don’t trust the ship’s doctor.”
Understandable. They didn’t know who was involved in the conspiracy. She held up two fingers. “How many fingers do you see?”
“Too many. Two or five. Hard to tell with the blurry vision.”
Concussion. She prayed that was the only injury aside from bruising and the gash.
“I know what will cure me,” he murmured.
“Four weeks of vacation?”
“As long as I was with you, that would be a bonus. I’m sure a kiss would solve my problem.”
Nico snorted. “He’s not hurt that bad if he can still flirt with you, Sam.”
She pretended to consider the cure. “A kiss, huh? Too bad I didn’t know about this miracle cure before now. Would have saved myself much stress and worry on missions.”
“Not the rest of the guys. Only cures what ails me.” Joe winked at her.
Despite her worry, his words brought a smile. “You’re something else.”
“Kiss?” he prompted.
Sam glanced at Nico.
He held up his hands. “Don’t look at me, lady. My kisses belong to Mercy.”
“Turn around.”
Nico rolled his eyes and turned his back to them. “Hurry up, will you? This is embarrassing.”
Sam leaned down. “Don’t move,” she whispered against his mouth. Tilting her head, she pressed a series of gentle kisses to his lips.
“I want a real one when the doc clears me,” he grumbled.
“As many as you want,” Sam agreed.
“I’ll hold you to that promise, Sparky.”
Ben returned a minute later with a litter and backboard in hand and the doctor on his heels.
“No broken limbs,” Sam reported. “He has a large bump on his head and a gash that needs stitches. He insists I do them.”
Martin’s eyebrows soared. “All right.”
Between her and the doctor, they slipped the C-collar around Joe’s n
eck. Nico and Ben slid Joe onto the backboard and fastened the board to the litter.
“This is ridiculous.” Joe scowled. “I’m fine.”
“Then you will walk out of the infirmary under your own steam in a couple hours.” The doctor patted his arm before leading the way to the medical facility.
After taking Joe to the examination room for the doctor to take x-rays, Nico turned to Ben. “Go back on patrol. Keep your eyes open for a man dressed in all black.”
“He’s probably changed clothes by now,” the EOD man murmured.
“He might not realize Joe saw him.”
“Not enough to ID him,” Joe said. “I saw his back and the black clothes as he ran the other direction.”
While Sam cleaned the area around the cut at the side of Joe’s head and injected the medicine to numb the affected area, Dr. Martin used the time to prep Joe for the x-rays. By the time the scalp was numb, the doctor had finished taking the x-rays and disappeared into the other room to examine the images.
Sam laid her hand on Joe’s arm. “Ready?”
“Do it. I want to be ready to go as soon as Martin says I’m clear.”
“What do you need me to do, Sam?” Nico asked.
“I need better light to work. Find a lamp or a flashlight.”
He returned with an adjustable lamp. “This work?”
“Perfect.” She washed her hands and tugged on the rubber gloves she had laid out beside the stitch kit Martin provided.
Sam sat on a stool and got to work. Five stitches later, she sat back and tugged off her gloves. “I made the stitches as small as I possible. Don’t shave your head anytime soon.”
“Thanks.”
By the time Sam cleared the last of the trash from her work, Martin returned, a smile on his face. “Good news, Joe. I don’t see signs of cracks or broken bones. Your spine and neck are fine.”
“Told you.”
“Better to be sure. I can give you pain pills. You’ll be sore and bruised tomorrow. Of course, your wife might have meds to help with that.”
“She does. I still don’t want anything.”
Sam couldn’t blame him. With a second killer still on the loose, none of them could afford to be down. “I’ll give him mild pain meds if he needs them.”
Martin nodded. “Good enough. You know what to look for, Sam. If your husband has complications, let me know.” He grinned. “I still do house calls.”
Joe held out his hand. “Thanks, Doc.”
After a shake, the doctor said, “Let’s get you out of here. I might have a run on people who need meds for nausea or a hangover.”
Nico and Sam helped Joe to sit up. His face went white and he swayed on the exam table.
Nico steadied him with a hand to Joe’s shoulder. “Easy.”
Joe blew out a breath. “Oh, man.”
“It’s the concussion.” Sam positioned herself to keep him from hitting the floor in case he went down. “You need to sleep for a while. How bad is the headache?”
“Bad enough.”
From Joe, that was an admission of a monster-size headache. She looked at Nico. “Help me get him to the suite. He needs to be off rotation for a few hours.”
“I’m okay,” Joe protested.
“You will be. Right now, you’re taking a breather.” Nico draped Joe’s arm over his shoulder and assisted him from the table. “The sooner you take a nap, the quicker I’ll have you back where I need you.”
“Yeah, yeah.” Joe stumbled along beside Nico in the corridor. “You just want more time to whisper sweet nothings in Mercy’s ear.”
“I’m a smart man.”
Sam led the men to the elevator. When the car arrived, the interior was empty. Good. If the killer thought Joe was seriously injured, the Fortress team might be able to capitalize on the mistaken notion.
Her jaw clenched. If the killer came after Joe while he was down, she wouldn’t hesitate to kill him.
Inside the suite, she directed Nico to help Joe into the bedroom. “Are you nauseated?” she asked Joe.
“Oh, yeah. I’m pretty sure I’ll embarrass myself by puking my guts out before the night is over.”
“Nico, find a soft drink, preferably one with ginger in it.”
“I’ll be back.” Once Sam handed Nico her key card, their team leader left the suite.
Sam dimmed the lights and blocked the sunlight coming in from the window. “Better?”
He sighed. “Much. Thanks.”
She went to her mike bag and found a packet of the mild pain meds the members of Shadow preferred to use. The medicine knocked the edge off the pain yet allowed them to function. She located a chemically-activated ice pack and grabbed a wash cloth from the bathroom.
Sam laid the pain meds on the nightstand and shook the ice pack. She wrapped the pack in the cloth and laid it against his head.
“You owe me a kiss, Sparky,” he murmured.
“I will happily pay what I owe when you aren’t sick to your stomach.”
A pause. “How long will I be laid up?”
“Not sure. Depends on the severity of your concussion. I’ll have to wake you frequently through the night to check. I doubt you’ll be running at top speed for a couple days.”
His expression grew grim. “I need to be mobile. This killer won’t stop. He has an agenda.”
“He must know we’re friends with Nico and Mercy. She’s vulnerable.”
Joe lifted her hand to his lips and kissed the back of it. “That’s why Curt is on board. He’s extra protection for Mercy.”
Sam hoped the extra precaution would be enough.
Nico returned with the soft drink and a container of crackers. “Courtesy of the kitchen staff.”
She smiled. “This is great.” Sam encouraged Joe to sip part of the liquid before handing him a couple capsules. “Your preferred pain killer. Do you think you can keep down a few crackers?”
He flinched. “Not likely.”
“All right. Let’s see if the soft drink does the trick.”
“Anything else I can do, Sam?” Nico asked.
“I’ve got this. Check on Mercy. We’re concerned the killer might go after her next.”
“So am I. I’ll check on you later. Joe, you and Sam are off duty until tomorrow morning. One team member will be in the other room at all times. We’ll split the shifts so no one is on duty too long.”
“I can handle the watch.” Sam could protect Joe as well as the rest of her teammates.
Nico’s gaze locked on hers. “We always have the back of an injured teammate and the medic tending to him. Knock that chip off your shoulder. No one is calling into question your bodyguard skills. This is about protecting both of you while Joe heals and your focus is on him.”
Sam’s cheeks burned, part shame and part temper, both aimed at herself. Setting up watch shifts was standard procedure. Her teammates had followed the same procedure when she was laid up. “I’m sorry. I know it’s for the best.”
After another moment, Nico nodded. “Curt will take the first watch. If you need me, contact me.”
“Thanks.”
Nico laid his hand on Joe’s shoulder and squeezed. “Rest as much as you can. I need you on your feet.”
“Copy that.”
He handed Sam her key card and left. Ten minutes later, Curt arrived, checked on Joe, and set up his laptop in the living room.
Joe squeezed Sam’s hand. “Promise to rest between checks on me.”
“Promise.” As long as he was rested comfortably and wasn’t in danger.
He frowned. “Why do I feel like there are qualifiers in that one word?”
“Because there are. Focus on you instead of me.”
“Never going to happen. I love you. You are at the center of everything that matters to me. You will always be first.”
Arguing with Joe was pointless. She brushed his lips with hers. “I love you. Sleep now. I’ll check on you in a while. If you need me, call out. I’ll be i
n the living room.”
“Resting, right?”
She gave a short nod. Resting with a weapon at hand to protect the man who meant everything to her.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
Throughout the long night, Joe slept fitfully in part because he knew Sam was awake. Bone-deep bruises on his aching body didn’t help, either. He wanted nothing more than to let Sam dope him up with heavier pain meds but he wouldn’t take a chance with her safety. Yeah, his teammates were taking turns watching over them both. Didn’t matter. Samantha Coleman was his to protect and he intended to do that even if it meant toughing out the pain for a few hours.
Near dawn, Sam returned to his bedside with another soft drink and more pain meds. “How do you feel?”
“Headache’s manageable and I don’t feel like barfing.” A blessing. He’d been aggravated and humiliated to have the woman he loved tend to him while he puked in the middle of the night.
She smiled. “Progress. Are you hungry?”
“A little,” he admitted. “Aside from that kiss you promised me, I want out of this cabin.”
Sam cupped his jaw. “You want the kiss now or after you shower?”
His heart leapt. Good thing he’d taken the time to brush his teeth after the last episode of illness. “Do you need to ask? Now.”
With a soft laugh, she leaned down and kissed him. The kiss started out as a gentle brush of her lips against his and progressed to the deep, hot kiss he longed for.
Joe groaned, lifted his hands, and threaded his fingers through her hair. Man, this woman was everything to him. He couldn’t wait to put his ring on her finger and marry the beautiful medic. But after what Sam had experienced in her past, he refused to rush the romance. She needed him to court her. Didn’t matter that he’d known and worked with her for years. They hadn’t been together as a couple for those years. She deserved the best he could give her.
Joe had seen her watching Nico and Mercy with longing in her eyes when she thought no one was looking. Sam needed time to trust him with everything. Her life, her heart, her body. The last, he knew, would be the hardest step.
