“Finley! Finley get out of there,” Merida yelled through a momentary lull in the gunfire.
She was supposed to be out, getting away.
He twisted.
She and Elias were there, behind that damn tree just outside the front doors.
“Shit,” Finley muttered.
Merida and Elias lifted their weapons and fired, through the glass, aiming beyond Finley.
The bombs were going off any moment now, and he couldn’t let this kid die here with him.
Finley glanced over his shoulder.
“Finley, come on!”
He grabbed the young man’s arm. He was someone’s son. Someone’s friend. And he didn’t deserve to die here. He’d hung on, he’d saved Finley, now Finley would save him.
He hauled the young man over his shoulder.
Through the dust and debris he caught Elias’ eye.
The other man nodded and jabbed Merida with his elbow.
They both raised their guns and began to fire.
Now or they died.
Finley began to run. He heard the bullets hitting the tile and felt the sharp slice of debris cutting through his skin, but he kept going.
“Hang in there, buddy,” he said to his new friend.
Instead of using the door he ducked through where a window had been.
“Run! Go!” he shouted as he cleared the front of the building.
Both Merida and Elias were focused on their targets, keeping the wolves at bay.
“Time’s almost up,” Finley snarled. “Move.”
In the distance red and blue lights danced. Were the cops finally coming?
Finley scooped Merida up under his free arm.
A bullet tore into his leg, sending him crashing to the ground. He took Merida with him. His limbs weren’t cooperating. He couldn’t stop his fall or brace himself. All three of them went down in a heap. The best Finley could do was roll over the both of them, giving them some cover with his body.
He felt the explosion before they came to a complete stop. It was the concussion wave rippling out followed by the boom. Heat and fire licked the sky as the earth trembled and shook. Finley wrapped himself around Merida and the boy, holding on as debris pelted him.
So long as she was safe, that was all that mattered.
It seemed to go on and on forever, this vortex of rushing air and rumbling. His skin felt as if it were being peeled away, and he knew they weren’t out of the woods yet.
Everything grew fuzzy and dark. He knew he was losing consciousness. His hand tightened on what he thought was Merida.
No.
He couldn’t.
He had to hold on.
Just a little while longer.
For her.
He wasn’t sure how long he hovered there, clinging to awareness with his fingernails. It felt like hours, but could have only been minutes. Hands hauled debris off him and then a paramedic was there, putting a mask over his face.
Flames licked toward the inky black sky.
They’d been blown a good twenty feet from the building. Or more accurately from where the building had been. It was a pile of rubble now.
He pushed up, looking around him, and saw his hand still clutching Merida’s. Her bleary eyes were open, but he doubted she actually saw him. Not yet at least.
Blood trickled down her brow and dust coated her hair, but she was alive.
They were both alive.
Somehow.
Finley swayed toward her before catching himself on his elbow. He wasn’t ready to be apart from her. The paramedics tugged at him, asking questions, but Finley couldn’t hear them. His ears still rang thanks to the explosion.
He pulled his oxygen mask down and leaned toward Merida. She still lay on her back, looking at him. He kissed her brow, lingering there.
Her hand slid up through his hair.
What the hell?
They’d survived.
He nudged her mask out of the way and kissed her. Like he wanted to. Because he was alive. Because they’d made it. And he was done pretending they were just friends.
7.
Thursday. Merida’s Home, Seattle, Washington.
Merida had thought she was tired when she dragged herself home to her flooded house earlier that evening. That level of tired had nothing on her exhaustion now. The only reason she was upright was because the nice paramedic had propped the gurney into a sitting position.
The right thing to do was probably to allow the ambulances to take her and the others to the hospital, but Merida couldn’t let herself be taken away from the scene yet. She had to know those men were dead.
So far she’d only answered a handful of questions from the cops. The FBI had swept in and shut that down very fast. Even those agents weren’t even asking her questions. The two FBI agents clearly knew the level of sensitive information Aegis Group was dealing in and weren’t keen on discussing it here. Which meant instead of having a few days to recuperate she’d be answering questions in a frigid room somewhere.
At least she liked the FBI agents. They’d probably even let her bring some good coffee with her.
Now came the part she’d been dreading since the moment she understood what was going on back in the security office.
She had to tell Zain everything was gone. On her watch. And why.
She stared down at her phone. Elias had been cleared first and had retrieved her phone for her. Thank goodness it was safe in Finley’s truck.
It was still some sort of crazy Christmas miracle that all of the good guys had come out of this.
Evan Sai.
God, she couldn’t believe Sai was alive. She’d been certain he was dead. But he was alive. Banged up and worse for wear, but alive. If she had her way, Sai would get a job with them wherever they went. But that was for later. She didn’t have any ground to stand on right now.
Here went nothing.
Merida pressed her phone to her ear and peered at the other ambulance. The paramedics had taken Finley out of sight to bandage his wounds. It still boggled her mind how he’d kept going despite the number of holes punched in him.
“Merida? Merida, are you there?”
She shook her head. Damn it, she had a job to do still. “Yes. Yes, I’m here, Zain.”
“Christ, you’re okay?” His voice was tormented and worried.
“Yes. Yes, I’m fine.” She got the words out before the sob constricted her throat.
“Oh, Merida, I’m so sorry...”
She closed her eyes and breathed deeply through the oxygen mask. Her head tingled and everything smelled of plastic, but it was better than the alternative.
“What happened?” Zain asked. “I’ve heard from the hospital. They said Sai’s in surgery. It looks good. How did this happen?”
“I can’t really answer that right now,” she said softly. “The short version is that they wanted to know about...”
“Ethan?” Zain supplied the name so she wouldn’t have to.
“Yes. So I followed disaster protocol.”
“I... I can’t believe... Merida, I’m sorry.”
“I am, too.”
“Was anyone else there? The cops said there were three of you, but I only had one clock-in.”
“Yeah, my neighbor gave me a ride.” She rubbed her temple. This was going to be a fun explanation. “Finley dropped me off, had a bad feeling and came back. We couldn’t have gotten through this without him.”
“Sounds like I owe him.”
“You aren’t the only one.” She swallowed around the lump in her throat. “At the last minute he managed to get out of there with Sai. Zain, I thought Sai was dead. I was going to leave him.”
“Hey. He’s not dead. He’s going to be fine. We’ll take care of him. I can’t believe... I just... Merida, I’m sorry. There was no warning. No chatter. No hint of a threat. You know—”
“You would have never have left the office if there was one. Whoever these people were,” she glance
d at the rubble, “they were good, Zain. They were professionals.”
“Well, they’re probably dead now. The pictures I’ve seen of the site look like you did a thorough job. You did the right thing, Merida.”
She nodded despite knowing he couldn’t see her. The snow had stopped, but the air was wet and cold. Her bruises ached.
“What did you think about Elias?” Zain asked.
“He was good under pressure. I suspect he’ll beat himself up for getting taken hostage, but... It was like fourteen on three. Those are bad odds, even if we took out a few of theirs.”
“I had a feeling about him the moment he walked in the door.” She could hear a smile in Zain’s voice. “Now, tell me more about Finley.”
“W-what do you want to know?” Her throat tightened.
“Why is this the first I’m hearing about him?”
Merida squirmed a bit on the gurney. She hadn’t mentioned Finley because he was hers. At least in her mind. She gave everything to the job. This one thing she’d kept for herself. Not that Finley was hers, but...
“Merida?” Zain’s voice brought her back to the moment.
“What?” She shook her head. “Sorry. I spaced out.”
“You’re exhausted and banged up. Get some rest and call me when you get up and moving tomorrow. No rush, though I would prepare yourself for a lot of questions. A lot of people are going to want answers. I’ll get on routing everything through the head office here for now. Once we get through the damage assessment your job is going to be project managing our new site. I think we need a temporary office while we build something. We’ll talk more. Have this Finley guy take you home and call me later.”
“Did you mean what you said?”
“What?”
“About Sai?”
“He got hurt because of us. Of course I’m going to take care of the kid. That’s what we do.”
She blew out a breath. “Thanks.”
Was she supposed to call him later? Or Finley? Why did it feel like Zain was her dad all of a sudden?
“Shouldn’t you be on vacation with your wife?” Merida grumbled.
“I was then someone went and blew up my office.” Zain chuckled. Actually laughed.
“Merry Christmas,” she growled out then hung up the phone.
Merida sucked down air and huddled under the blanket they’d draped over her. The first responders were all giving her a wide berth, probably thanks to the FBI. She wasn’t really hurt, just shaken up and exhausted. Right now she welcomed that moment to just breathe. Ever since they’d dragged her out from the rubble it had been one thing after another.
Her wounds.
The cop’s questions.
Then the FBI.
When she couldn’t tell them anymore, she’d spoken to Zain.
Now, she just wanted a damn moment.
It was over.
The danger had passed.
She hugged her arms around herself.
During her career in the Navy she’d been in some fairly dangerous situations. But she’d never been on the front lines. She’d been behind them, handing down orders, scurrying around, getting answers. Though she’d been trained to protect herself and how to handle a weapon, she’d never needed to fire at anything more deadly than a moving practice dummy before tonight.
There’d been a lot of firsts tonight.
First time shooting at people. First time blowing up a building. First time making love to Finley...
Her heart began to beat a crazy rhythm against her ribs.
She swung her legs off the gurney and clutched the sides, sucking down air.
“Merida?”
Her head snapped up and she blinked at the man striding toward her.
Elias.
This she could handle.
“You okay? What did Zain say?” Elias’ face was creased with concern, which wrinkled the adhesive sutures on his brow. His clothes were dusty and she could see a dozen injuries she hadn’t noticed before.
They were all in bad shape.
“I’m fine. Zain is handling things.” But she was the boss on the ground. She had to act like it.
Merida slid off the gurney to her feet, spine straight. Her legs only wobbled a bit. She imagined that she looked a lot like Elias, only she could feel the dozen or so fine slices on her cheeks from the glass.
Elias nodded at the two men in suits Merida had already spoken to. “The FBI, they said we could go, but stay close.”
“I’ll handle them. We know each other.” Truth was Merida was half surprised they hadn’t poached the two agents. They were good guys and she wouldn’t mind having them on the payroll. Tonight she was glad they hadn’t. “Go home. You’re going to feel worse in a few hours.”
“Yeah. You’re right.” Elias scrubbed a hand across one cheek then winced. “You okay?”
Finley came to mind and her stomach knotted up again. “Yeah.”
Merida slid the blanket off her shoulders and placed it on the gurney. She regretted it almost immediately. Her thin clothes were no match for the damp chill, but she’d make do.
“Merry Christmas, Elias,” she said.
“You, too.” He nodded and began walking toward a Jeep with a busted out window, likely from the blast.
Merida swallowed and walked slowly toward the other ambulance. Of the three of them, Finley’s wounds had been the worst. Considering he hadn’t been taken to the hospital she hoped the wounds were superficial and that the man wasn’t being stubborn.
She rounded the corner and bit her lip.
Finley sat on the tailgate of the ambulance, shirt off and several bandages wrapped around his arms, adhered to his chest and one on his leg where his pants had been ripped away. He had his eyes closed and she was fairly certain his jaw was clenched. The female paramedic was smiling as she swiped something over his skin and batting her eyelashes.
Merida smiled.
Okay, it was more like baring her teeth, but the woman had her hands on Finley and after the night Merida had just endured this was not something she wanted to see. Maybe it was silly or presumptuous, but it was the way she felt.
“You’re treating him well, I hope?” Merida said with far more cheer than she actually felt.
The woman turned her head, mouth open, giving her the look of a fish caught out of water.
Finley’s eyes locked on her and suddenly Merida wished she hadn’t spoken. There was an intensity behind that gaze she didn’t know what to do with. She was wrung out, too exhausted to muddle through whatever this was.
“We’re done here,” Finley announced and stood.
The paramedic stammered. “But I’m not...”
He took a step toward Merida and everything else seemed to fade away. She swallowed hard, looking up at him, so glad they were all still alive, but him most of all.
Finley took her hand. “Come on.”
So much for being the woman in charge. Damn man.
He scooped up a bundle of what she assumed were the remnants of his clothing. Hand in hand he led her to where his truck had been moved. Like Elias’ Jeep, the windshield and passenger window were cracked from the blast, but they could at least get home tonight.
Home.
She was looking forward to locking herself in her bedroom and hiding for a while.
Finley handed her into the truck. She hated how much she needed that bit of assistance. And how was it fair? She didn’t have holes in her. He did. And yet she knew Finley wouldn’t stand to be fussed over yet. Besides, right now it was nice to have someone there for her. Too often it was just her on her own.
She settled back into the seat and closed her eyes. That didn’t change her awareness of Finley. She still knew every move he made, from getting into the truck to the little wincing noises he made.
If she could take that pain away she would. He’d only been there tonight because of her. If she’d been faster getting in her door, if she’d locked it, if she hadn’t...
Who
was she kidding?
Without Finley she’d have died and those people would have gotten what they wanted. He was the real hero here, not her.
The truck started after a little coaxing and they were on their way. Neither spoke during the short drive back to the duplex. They both winced and made similar noises of discomfort as the truck hit every bump possible.
She nearly wept when they pulled into the driveway.
Of course that was when she remembered.
The water.
Her heat.
Everything that had led to the episode on his sofa.
“Shit,” she groaned and buried her face in her hands.
So much for locking herself in her bedroom and sleeping away her misery.
A warm hand settled on her back. “I was thinking we get out of here? Find someplace with a heater? Maybe a fireplace?”
A hotel wasn’t her ideal way to spend the holiday season, but neither was freezing to death in her soaking wet house.
She lifted her head from her hands and glanced at a still shirtless Finley. The bandages and smeared blood both pissed her off and scared her. At least he wasn’t wearing the black jumpsuit. She hated that she was still wearing the thing.
“Hey?” He clasped her hand in his and tugged. “Hey, it’s okay. We’re okay.”
Merida nodded though she didn’t quite believe that.
How could they be okay after tonight? And she wasn’t talking about the crazy events at her work. The making out and sex on his sofa changed things between them in a way she wasn’t prepared for.
Finley leaned across the center console and lifted her hands to his lips. He pressed a kiss to her knuckles, all while looking deep into her eyes. “It’s going to be okay, Merida. I promise.”
God, she wanted to believe him.
She swallowed and somehow managed to hold back the tide of emotions.
“Go pack some things and let’s get out of here, okay?”
“Okay.”
Merida was too tired to argue and did she really want to be apart after nearly losing him?
She unfastened her seatbelt and they both got out. She wound up having to use a spare key hidden in a planter to get into her unit. At some point she’d lost her keys, though she didn’t know when or where. The last time she remembered having hers was in Zain’s office.
Spirit of Danger (Body of Danger, #2) Page 9
