by April Hunt
Hope.
“I’m staying, Ro. Whether you let me in on Steele Ops is up to you, but I’m not going anywhere. I love you guys. I love Zoey. And I’m not about to let anything—including myself—keep me away from all of you.”
Roman stared him dead in the eye. “Good.”
Knox waited for more, but he didn’t expect it. He didn’t need it. For now. Staying in DC, he’d have time to work on his stubborn-ass younger brother.
Wilcox’s voice came online via their comm links. “We have three heat signatures less than fifteen yards from that loading dock. Two huddled on the far south end, and one on the north, closest to the door.”
“SWAT Command’s telling me that there’s three points of entry,” Cade announced. “The main door, which puts you smack in the middle, and then two side entrances that are used for in-processing and outgoing shipments. Both lead to the main corridor from opposite ends.”
Roman grunted. “That’s more than enough entry points.”
Knox agreed, but his stomach knotted. “We don’t know who’s making up those heat signatures, so we need to tread carefully and not go in guns blazing. Chances are high that Samuel’s one of the two huddled close…and Zoey’s the other.”
“Then who’s the third?”
“Guess we’ll find out soon enough. I’m on the main door.”
Roman cleared his throat, temporarily nabbing his attention. “You think that’s a good idea? Samuel already tried taking you out once. Who’s to say he won’t try again?”
“Part of me hopes the bastard does.” Knox readied his weapon. “Zoey’s in there, and I’ll be damned if I’m not the first one through that door. I need to lay eyes on her, Ro. I need to make sure she believes that we’re getting her out of this.”
Roman waited a beat before tipping his chin in a grim nod. “Then I’ll ride on your six. Cade, you and Tank come in via the left. Ryder and Liam, you go right. General, make sure SWAT’s on our asses prepped to intervene if this goes sideways.”
“Got it,” Wilcox affirmed. “Get our girl back safely, boys.”
Knox recited a mental countdown…and then one aloud. “On my three. One. Two. Three.”
Roman tugged open the main door and dropped to a knee, providing Knox immediate cover. “Go. Go.”
Knox breached the building first, not knowing what he was about to see. He sure as hell hadn’t expected Francine to be the single heat signature closest to the door, and in an obvious stand-off with Phillip Samuel—and Zoey.
“Ro,” Knox growled.
“Got her.” His brother hauled Fran backward, and quickly out the door. Her colorful string of profanities could still be heard when the door clicked closed.
“One hostage freed,” Knox murmured into his comm. “Ryder. Change course to the south.”
“Got it.”
Knox locked his gun sight directly on Samuel and forced himself still. Cade and Tank emerged from the left. Ryder and Liam, detoured around the back, silently approached Samuel and Zoey from the rear.
Only when his team was in position did Knox slide his attention to the woman who meant the world to him.
His heart immediately stalled.
With blood-soaked fingers, Zoey clutched the arm throttling her bare neck. The dark red, in varying stages of freshness, was the only color on her pale skin. “Zoey.”
“Do not say her name! You don’t have the right!” Samuel tightened his grip around her neck, his eyes skating around the hall like a penned animal. “She’s not yours! She’s mine! Mine!”
Knox dragged his gaze back to Samuel. “Is that how you treat what’s yours?”
“Jesus, Knox,” Grace’s voice chimed in from the tactical van. “Do not piss him off. You need to placate him. Make him think you understand. Use his name. Sympathize.”
“How good of an actor do you think I am?” Knox murmured. But hell, she was right. “Look, Samuel, we all want everyone to walk away from this safely, right?”
Samuel dragged Zoey back a step, deeper into the corridor. “Then let us go.”
“You’re not leaving with her.”
“You’ve done nothing but taint the precious life that I’ve given her,” Samuel hissed, spittle flying from his mouth. “But I can make her happy. I can make her healthy.”
“Take a look at her, Samuel. Does she seem happy and healthy to you?”
His steps faltered. “I did it once and I’ll do it again.”
Zoey let out a soft moan.
Knox whipped his attention toward her.
Lips parted, she audibly struggled for each breath. Her complexion had morphed from sickly pale to gray-tinged in the seconds since he’d first laid eyes on her, and it darkened the longer this took.
“We need an ambulance on standby. Now,” Knox murmured into his mic. Oblivious to Liam and Ryder approaching cautiously from the rear, Samuel locked all his attention and hatred on Knox.
And that was fine by him.
“Angel.” Knox prayed she was coherent enough to hear him.
Zoey’s eyes drifted close. Her chest, in a series of labored rises and falls, worked overtime.
“Zoey,” Knox softly called her. “Baby, please look at me.”
Her pretty blue eyes flickered open, and he immediately registered the knowledge glinting in their depths. They didn’t have much time.
She dropped her eyes to her feet, drawing his attention to the slight widening of her stance. Her shoulders relaxed, and she dropped her grip on Samuel’s arm. No way. No way could she do what he thought…
“Get ready to move,” Knox murmured to the team.
Wilcox, watching from the body cams, growled, “What the hell is she doing?”
“Giving us the opening we need to take him down.” By taking herself out of the equation.
Zoey’s eyes flashed to Knox, and then she pivoted left. The abrupt move freed up the left side of her neck, and not pausing a beat, she went for Samuel’s eyes. Startled, he pushed her back. She dropped to the ground and quickly rolled out of the way, giving them room.
“Move! Move! Move!” Knox shouted.
The team quickly locked the bastard in on all four corners.
“You have nowhere to go, Samuel,” Knox warned.
“You won’t get away with this.” He took a step back. “You’re not cops.” Another step. “You have no authority over me!”
Samuel backed right into Cade.
His best friend face-planted the sick bastard into the wall. The satisfying crunch of a breaking nose echoed along with Samuel’s screams.
“This is my authority, asshole.” Cade drilled his weapon into the back of the bastard’s head. “You’re under arrest. Liam? Ties?”
“With pleasure.” Liam yanked Samuel’s arms behind his back.
“I’ll kill you for this, Steele,” Samuel howled. “And I won’t miss this time! She’s mine! She needs me! I’m the only one that can help her! Me!”
Roman took over pushing his face into the wall. “The only thing that’s yours, asshole, is a four-by-four cell in a maximum security prison.”
“You got this?” Knox asked.
“Go.”
Three feet away, Zoey lay on the ground, face ashen and chest barely moving. He sprinted to her side and dropped to his knees. “Where the hell are those paramedics?”
“They’re already on their way inside,” Wilcox assured. “How’s our girl, Steele?”
“I don’t know.” He held her clammy hand against his cheek. “Come on, angel. You need to stay with me. Please, baby.”
A swell of emotion made it difficult to talk. He couldn’t lose her. Not now. Not after he’d finally gotten out of his own way. Not after she’d helped him see that happiness was his for the taking.
Her eyes fluttered as she struggled to open them. “Can’t…br—”
He brushed a lock of hair from her eyes. “I know, angel. I know. Help’s coming.”
Two paramedics rushed through the side door and
lasered in on Zoey immediately.
“Hurry!” Knox growled. “She’s having problems breathing!”
“We’ll take it from here,” the first one said, ushering Knox to the side.
“She has heart issues.”
“We know. We got a rundown on our way in. The hospital’s already on alert.” The paramedic put an oxygen mask over her face while his partner inserted an intravenous line.
Knox stood by, helpless, as the duo worked in tandem strapping her onto a gurney.
He stayed on their heels until the EMT stopped him at the waiting ambulance. “I’m sorry sir, but we can’t allow—”
“You’re not taking her anywhere without me.” Knox ignored Cade and Roman at his side, ready to pull him back.
“Look, normally I’d let it slide. But we need the extra room to…move.”
Or use extreme measures to save her life.
Knox didn’t need to hear the words to know that was what he meant. As they closed the ambulance doors, a little piece of Knox’s heart split apart. “Go. Just help her. Please.”
“Where are you taking her?” Roman asked.
“Next door. Georgetown.”
Roman held his hands out to Knox. “Give me your weapons and go.”
He didn’t need to be told twice. The second he unloaded, Knox took off in a sprint. People threw him curious looks as he navigated the medical campus, detouring through footpaths that would get him to the ER a hell of a lot faster than jumping in a truck.
Fuck keeping his distance. Fuck his damn insecurities. Fuck everything that didn’t revolve around Zoey and never leaving her side again.
Knox spotted the ambulance bay and burst through the double doors.
“Zoey Wright,” he barked at the volunteer behind the counter. “She was brought in…hell, I don’t know when they got here.”
Behind him, the bay doors flew open. Medical staff ran to meet the two familiar EMTs, one of which sat astride the gurney in an unmistakable attempt at CPR.
“Oh my God.” Knox’s knees buckled.
Roman appeared at his side, keeping him on his feet. “Think positive. Zoey’s strong. She’s defied the odds her entire life. She’s not about to stop now.”
Knox prayed he was right.
Knox prayed he’d gotten to her in time.
Knox closed his eyes and just prayed.
He paced, unable to sit on his ass another minute. Four hours into Zoey’s surgery and they hadn’t heard a damn thing. No news. No updates. Knox was one second-hand tick away from losing his mind.
“Honey, why don’t you go with Roman to get some coffee?” his mother, her tone concerned, asked for the third time in as many minutes. “Or some herbal tea.”
“I don’t want to relax, Ma.”
“Then go with the boys and get me some tea.”
He stopped pacing. “Ma, I appreciate what you’re trying to do, but I’m not going anywhere until we hear something, and even then, I’m not moving a damn inch.”
She digested his words and nodded. Next to her, Gretchen clutched tightly to a rosary, and the General, standing alone in the far corner, looked about as good as Knox felt. No one moved, because no one was about to go anywhere.
The door opened and a tall, middle-aged man in green surgical scrubs stepped into the waiting room. He glanced around, taking note of the filled room. “Are you all Zoey Wright’s family?”
“Yes,” Cade answered, stepping next to Knox. “How’s my sister?”
“I’m Dr. Benedict, the cardiac surgeon called in to evaluate Zoey. Your sister is one lucky woman.”
“So she’s okay?” Knox asked, breathless.
“I’m not going to lie. There were a few moments it was touch-and-go. Acute congestive heart failure is no small thing.”
“Heart failure?” Knox needed to sit down after all. He plunked into the nearest seat and kept his eyes on the doctor. “Isn’t she on meds to prevent that from happening?”
“She is. And I believe that if her medical records were correct, we wouldn’t be here today.”
Cade caught on to his statement too. “You think her records have been altered? By Samuel?”
“Zoey’s bloodwork indicates that she’d been taking a medication that’s been recently pulled from the market, but there’s no record of her ever having been prescribed it.”
“Why was it taken off the market?” Knox asked.
Grim-faced, the surgeon answered, “It has been proven to decrease the effectiveness of certain cardiac medications. With a decrease in cardiac function, and an overload of fluid to her heart, Zoey’s replaced valve couldn’t keep pace with the demand.”
Knox’s fists bunched at his side. “Samuel knew this med could equal a death sentence for her, and yet he put her on it. So she’d be forced to go back to his office.”
“It would appear that way, yes.”
Nausea churned Knox’s gut. “I wish I would’ve shot him.”
“You and me both,” Cade said, furious. “So what happens with Zoey now?”
Benedict nodded. “The fact she’d been healthy before Amplify, and the relatively short period of time she’d been subjected to it, works in her favor. With proper monitoring and careful post-operative care, she’ll make a full recovery.”
Knox leaped from his seat. “Can we see her?”
Asking was just a formality because he’d find his way to her regardless.
“Once she’s finished with her recovery and taken to the Cardiac Care Unit, you can see her in groups of two. For a limited amount of time. But I need to warn you, we’re keeping her intubated and in a medically induced coma for the night.”
“Why?” Knox questioned. “If the surgery went well, why not let her wake up?”
“We want to make sure she can maintain a sufficient cardiac output while the vent does a large percentage of her respiratory work. Taking her off too soon could erase all the progress we’ve achieved to this point.”
Gretchen wrapped the doctor in a bone-crushing hug, and immediately following, Knox’s mother did the same.
Dr. Benedict smiled for the first time since entering the room. “I’ll be around if any of you should have any other questions.”
As everyone around him cried and hugged, Knox dropped his head to his hands and didn’t bother to hide his overwhelming tears of relief.
Chapter
Thirty-One
Bright overhead lights seared Zoey’s retinas as she blinked her vision into focus. Stark white walls surrounded her, one of which consisted entirely of clear glass. Nurses hustled up and down a long corridor, some alone, some in pairs, and some with purple-gowned patients.
Georgetown Med.
Zoey registered the sound of her cardiac monitor just as her door opened. A young nurse with a stethoscope around her neck cleaned her hands with wall-mounted foam, and glanced up.
Zoey recognized her immediately as one of the nurses who’d taken care of her last year. “Nickie.”
“You’re awake! That means those meds are working.” She hustled to the monitor and adjusted the settings. “Your oxygen level’s near one hundred percent. How are you feeling? Any residual shortness of breath? Do you want to see if we can ween you a bit?”
“That would be great.” Zoey sat up, making it halfway before a sharp pain ice-picked through her chest. She sucked in a quick gasp. “What happened?”
The nurse shifted her gaze to the monitors. “I have some pain medicine for you, and then I’ll tell the doctor that you’re up. And that sweet friend of yours from last time around should be back any second.”
“You’re not going to tell me what happened, huh? Then I guess it’s not exactly good news.” Zoey tried un-fogging her memory, but every attempt left her even more confused.
The nurse smiled compassionately. “What’s important is that you’re exactly where you need to be. Now, how about those pain meds?”
Zoey nodded and watched her push the medication into her IV. A minute lat
er, she lost the battle against her droopy eyelids, and when she cracked them open again, the lights had been dimmed and noticeably fewer people roamed the hall outside her room.
Something flexed around her right hand.
Knox sat hunched in a chair pulled close to her bed, his head resting next to their entwined hands. Asleep.
The sight of him brought a rush of emotions—and tears—to her eyes. She tried sniffing them away but it didn’t work.
Knox jolted upright. His startled gaze fastened on hers before a rush of emotions flickered over his face. “You’re awake.”
Zoey smiled tiredly. “I am…unless I’m dreaming.”
Knox brushed away an errant tear with his thumb. “Not dreaming. How are you feeling, angel?”
“Like an elephant used my sternum as a foot rest.” She grimaced as she shifted in bed. “Or maybe a parade of elephants. A circus? Is the circus in town and I didn’t know it?”
“I’ll call the nurse for more pain meds.” Knox reached for the call bell.
She dropped her hand over his. “No. No more meds. That’s why I slept for…how long has it been since I was last awake?”
He glanced at his watch. “Nickie said you were up briefly around four o’clock, but when I came back five minutes later, you were fast asleep. But that’s okay. You need your rest.”
“What happened?” She gestured to the bulky bandage beneath her patient gown. “I mean, other than the obvious.”
“All you need to know is that it’s over. We can talk about the rest once you’re feeling better.”
“Knox.” Zoey squeezed his hand. “Please. I keep saying to myself that what I remember couldn’t possibly be right…that Dr. Samuel couldn’t have been the Cupid Killer.”
He blew out a heavy sigh. “Well, he was. The question we couldn’t answer was how you found out, and why you were at his place.”
There wasn’t any accusation in his voice. Just concern. Zoey rewound time until her memory finally came back into focus. Her walk. His house. The album. Zoey spilled it all, noting that not much seemed a surprise to him.
