Hard Instincts

by Chloe Fischer

  Uh oh…

  “What difference does that make?”

  Paige gritted her teeth.

  And he’s going to be difficult too. Excellent.

  “The health care standards vary from country to country,” she explained, trying not to sound irritated. “If you were cared for in a third world country, the risk for infection, staph – “

  “He wasn’t.” Cee spoke and the patient glanced at him quickly. “The health care was top tier. Great doctors.”

  Paige sat back, snapping her latex gloves from her hands and glared at Cee.

  “Well either that’s a blatant lie or something happened in the travel because he has an infection in his stomach.”

  “What?” the man on the bed demanded. “No way! I don’t feel any pain at all.”

  “Sir, I don’t mean to argue with you but I’ve been a doctor longer than you have. If you’ll notice the redness, swelling and pus around your treated wound, it indicates that you have an infection. We need to get you started on an aggressive round of antibiotics immediately. I would also like to do a full blood work up to ensure that you don’t have parasites.”

  She reached for her tablet and punched in the information she had just explained to him.

  “Can’t you just give me some pills and get us the hell out of here?”

  Paige lifted her hazel eyes.

  “No,” she replied flatly. “You will need them intravenously before the infection spreads any more and you’re not going anywhere until I get the labs that I am ordering back.”

  “Jesus Christ. How long is that going to take?”

  “Two days, maybe three, depending on the damage. I still have to do a full work up on you so don’t start planning your boy’s night out yet.”

  The patient scowled.

  “A party was not the first thing on my mind,” he snapped.

  Is your wife on your mind? She wondered, her gaze resting on his ring finger. She did not see any jewellery but that meant nothing. He might have forsaken it for whatever mission he was on.

  Obviously, secrecy was paramount.

  Uncharacteristically, she found herself wondering who he was.

  Is he a double agent? Or maybe in witness protection?

  A shiver of apprehension and excitement burned through her.

  “Cee, leave us alone for a moment.”

  The superior blinked and began to shake his head.

  “No. I must be in here at all times,” he insisted.

  “Just leave us for two minutes. You promise not to kill me, right Doc?” Patient X sighed.

  Paige grinned.

  “It goes against my oath,” she sighed. Cee looked at them uncertainly.

  “Two minutes,” he said, shaking his head. “And then I’m coming back in.”

  He sauntered out of the room, leaving them alone.

  As the door closed, X turned back to her, his sea colored eyes wide with pleading.

  “I can’t stay here for three days,” he told her. “I have business to take care of.”

  Paige nodded understandingly.

  “Listen, I understand. No one wants to be laid up for days. It’s disheartening and – “

  “No,” he interjected. “It’s not depressing, it’s serious. Every day that I’m in here, I am not out there. I’m a sitting duck and it’s not safe for anyone.”

  Paige did not ask him to elaborate because she knew he wouldn’t.

  “You are well protected and no one knows you’re here,” she reminded him. “You are not going to do anyone any good if you end up worse. You’ll only have to come back. Just let us do our job and you’ll be on your way.”

  “Please, I really don’t have the time for this.”

  Paige stared at him, her mind racing.

  Is he really in danger or is he paranoid?

  She told herself she didn’t want to know even though she really did.

  “I will do my part but you have to do yours too,” she told him. “Your part is to heal. Medicine can only do so much. You need to be willing to rest and recuperate.”

  His jaw seemed to lock and he turned his head away.

  “I will likely not be here tomorrow,” she told him. “Dr. Hunter will attend to you.”

  He jerked his head back around, his eyes glimmering with an emotion which Paige could not identify.

  “You won’t be here?” he demanded. “Why not?”

  She found herself growing angry.

  Is this guy really that self-absorbed? Oh, sorry, master of the universe. I will drop everything to tend to your non-life-threatening injuries. How stupid of me to think I should take a day off.

  “I have a scheduled day off.”

  “Then unscheduled it.”

  The words were an order and Paige’s mouth dropped open in shock.

  “Pardon me?” she demanded. “I don’t know who you think you’re talking to, but I don’t answer to you. Your case is not serious. There is nothing going on here that Dr. Hunter can’t handle.”

  He bit on his lower lip, his brow furrowing and Paige turned to leave.

  I don’t need this. I have patients with real problems to attend to.

  She reached for the door when his voice rang out.

  “Please.”

  She turned her head slowly and peered at him.

  “What?”

  “Please come back for me tomorrow.”

  She stifled a sigh and pivoted.

  “Sir, there is nothing that I can do which Dr. Hunter – “

  “I trust you.”

  The words were strange and unprompted. They plucked a string in Paige’s heart because she heard the sincerity in his tone.

  “That’s good. You should trust me. You should trust all your doctors,” she babbled. She knew what he meant and yet she could not shake the bizarre feeling sweeping through her again.

  I feel like I need to help him.

  He shook his head.

  “No,” he said quietly. “I trust you like I’ve known you from before. Please, just see my treatment through. I know you will make me right.”

  Paige chewed on the insides of her cheeks, her heart hammering furiously in her chest.

  There is going to be hell to pay for this, she realized but she pushed the thought out of her mind.

  Nodding slowly, she forced a smile.

  “Okay,” she agreed. “I will come back if you think I can help you more than Dr. Hunter, sir.”

  “My name is Ryder,” he told her and Paige felt the blood drain from her face.

  Why is he telling me this?

  He sat up slowly and stared at her intently.

  “Now you’re in with me,” he whispered.

  Chapter Seven

  Leesburg, Virginia – Present Day

  Gunshots rang out in the closed study, eight in total.

  He jumped as if it was the first time he had seen it but it was not.

  Drake had been playing and replaying the emailed video of his son, his first born being shot, since the day he had received it.

  He worried he might be losing his mind, watching it over and over but he could not tear himself away from what he was seeing.

  Is he dead? What happened to him? Where is he now?

  The note attached to the email explained that the footage was from Berlin.

  Berlin. Where Oculus had just attacked. Is this a coincidence?

  Something told Drake there was no such thing as coincidence.

  The questions swirled around in his mind endlessly but he was no closer to finding out anything as he had been for twenty-eight years.

  All he knew for certain was that Ryder was certainly alive – or at least he had been.

  Again, he picked up his burner phone, staring at it intently as if willing it to ring, but of course, it did not.

  A watched pot never boils, he thought, cringing at the silliness of the adage. He felt like a boiling pot, ready to spill over and explode.

  Why did he send me this i
f he has no other information? What good can this possibly do for me?

  It had been days since he had heard from The Contact, each day dragging on like molasses as he waited for news but there was nothing but silence to fill his ears and prolong his days.

  He finally pulled himself away from the desk and rose, his knees cracking as he did.

  He could not recall the last time he had moved from the leather chair in his office, ignoring all work-related calls and holding his breath as he stared in horror at what had happened to his son.

  Slowly, he walked toward the door, his mind aimless, unfocused.

  He was not himself.

  Drake Conway had disappeared and a shadow had taken over his solid, football player form.

  Stuffing down a sob, he dropped to his knees, lowering his salt and pepper head in woe.

  He clasped his hands together before him and for the first time since he was a young boy, Drake began to pray.

  Chicago, Illinois

  She opened the door tentatively, peering inside.

  Exhaling slowly, she slipped inside the condo, closing the door at her back.

  “Your shift was over two hours ago.”

  She froze in her tracks, turning as her eyes attempted to adjust to the darkness.

  “Noel, what are you doing sitting there without the lights on?” she asked exasperated, flipping the switch to the lamp in the hall.

  “Waiting for you,” her boyfriend replied, rising from his spot on the wing chair and closing the space between them.

  Instantly, his arms were around her and his lips found hers like a magnet fusing to a metal.

  “I feel like I haven’t seen you in a month,” he sighed into her ear. “And then when I expect you home, you’re still not.”

  “I got a – “

  She paused. Paige knew she was forbidden from discussing the covert patients but if Noel were to learn about it…

  “I got detained.”

  He chuckled quietly, gently exposing her smooth neck for his mouth.

  “It’s the life of a doctor,” he replied. “Especially an attending.”

  She tensed slightly, hearing the bitterness in his voice.

  Wisely, she said nothing as his lips made their way down her neck and toward the vee of her scrubs.

  Swiftly, the green shirt was over her head, Noel’s hands cupping her full C-cups and drawing her toward him.

  “I miss you so much,” he sighed, shoving the lacy material of her bra aside. His tongue teased over the tight skin of her nipples and Paige twitched slightly as he bit her.

  Suddenly, he pushed her against the wall, the hall table rocking at the impact as Paige’s keys fell to the ground.

  His hands roughly yanked down the thin material of her pants, a palm rubbing against her crotch.

  “You don’t miss me, baby?” he murmured, his teeth gnashing against her again and Paige heard the zip of his pants as he undid his jeans.

  “Of course I do,” she murmured. He pulled her thighs up, her legs wrapping around his waist and without preamble, his hardness was pushing against her center.

  She wasn’t ready for him, not by a long shot.

  The exhaustion, the unexpectedness of the encounter, nothing was right about it but she did not voice her objections.

  Noel grunted in frustration, adjusting himself to push his way inside. She wriggled to help him in and finally he pushed inside her, forcing her against the wall in a vicious thrust.

  Paige gasped, her hands closing around his neck, trying to pull him in for a kiss but he resisted, groaning as he jerked himself in and out of her, his movements growing harder and more tense with each jab.

  Paige mewled slightly, her back hitting hard against the wall. She closed her eyes and tried to put herself in the proper mood but it was no use.

  Noel was not hoping for her pleasure, and she was somewhere else, somewhere a few miles away in Northwestern Memorial, staring down at a pair of sea green eyes.

  As Noel pumped into her, Paige was hearing Ryder’s voice telling her how he trusted her, how they were in on it together.

  Who is he? Why do I feel so connected to him? She wondered.

  Noel moaned then and spasmed, hotness flowing from his unit into her core but Paige barely noticed, her mind fixated on the handsome and mysterious man who had unexpectedly appeared in her life.

  Stop it! She scolded herself. You are not eerily connected to this man, whoever he is. You are looking for something to help you escape your life. Your Patient X is not it.

  “What the hell are you thinking about?”

  Noel’s voice forced her back to reality.

  “What?” she mumbled and Noel withdrew, dropping her unceremoniously to the floor. A stab of fear swept through her as he glowered at her.

  “What were you thinking about?” he asked again, pulling his jeans up around his slender waist. “You weren’t even here right now.”

  “Sure I was,” Paige protested. “I was just basking it the afterglow.”

  She should have predicted the kick but she did not and it landed squarely in her ribs.

  Through her pain, she marveled at the wonder that Noel could execute such damage without any effort whatsoever.

  He doesn’t even need to see what he’s doing. He just inherently knows what will cause the most pain.

  “Get up,” he snapped. Slowly, she lumbered to her feet, her breathing jagged.

  “I don’t know why you have to be such a smart ass. We just made love.”

  “I wasn’t – “Paige gasped but he cut her off.

  “We’re going to dinner with Kyle and Alison tomorrow.”

  Paige inhaled sharply and instantly regretted it. The searing pain coursed through her entire body.

  “I can’t,” she whispered. “I’m working.”

  Immediately, she threw up her arms to cover her face which was silly; Noel would never hit her in the face. That would create too many questions around the hospital.

  He punched her in the kidney instead and she dropped to the ground at his feet.

  “You have got to be fucking kidding me, Paige!” he roared. “I have been blowing them off for months because you always have a fucking excuse! No, you’re not working tomorrow. Forget it.”

  He spun to saunter back toward the bedrooms.

  A spark of rage flew through her at that moment and before she could stop herself, she yelled out.

  “I am working tomorrow!” she screamed. “And you can’t stop me!”

  In the pale light of the moon dappled condo, Paige choked in fear as he deliberately turned to face her.

  “What did you say?” he snapped.

  “I am going to work tomorrow,” she said again but there was much less conviction in her voice as he moved toward her, his face contorted in fury.

  Shut up! Stop talking! She yelled at herself but something inside her remained strong. It was as if someone else was inside her mind, controlling her words.

  Again, Ryder’s face appeared in her head.

  “I have had enough of your attitude, Paige. Ever since you got promoted to head of surgery, you think you’re better than everyone else.”

  “Maybe I am better - which is why I got promoted,” she replied with smugness she neither felt nor possessed under normal circumstances.

  Paige did not know from where the words had come but she didn’t regret them for some reason, despite knowing what was going to occur in seconds.

  Of course it had been the wrong thing to say; the fury on Noel’s face was indescribable as he lunged for her.

  When Paige regained consciousness, bloodied and laying in the same spot where he had left her, it was dawn and time to start her shift.

  --

  Riverville stared at him as he flipped through a magazine.

  Ryder had not read one word on any of the pages, his mind preoccupied with many thoughts but he was distinctly aware of his superior’s intense gaze.

  “What?” he demanded finall
y, throwing the magazine aside and returning his look. “Why are you looking at me like that?”

  “She’s beautiful,” Riverville replied quietly.

  “Who?” Ryder snapped but he knew exactly who the man meant. He had not been able to get the doctor from his mind since the second they had locked eyes on the helipad.

  “You are not going to be here long, Ryder,” Riverville reminded him. “Don’t form attachments.”

  Ryder snorted.

  “When have I ever formed attachments anywhere?” he replied, retrieving the book. The conversation was unnerving him and he didn’t know why.

  He had so much on his mind since Germany, so many things of which he could not make sense.

  Am I Ryder Conway? Who was I? Why was I raised by the Quinns? Was that memory real?

  “I am telling you because you are the best special operative I have, Ryder. I don’t want to lose you because of this.”

  His head whipped up.

  “What are you talking about, Major?” He was genuinely confused by the statement.

  “Ryder, we almost didn’t get you out on time. You died on us. Twice.”

  He had not known that information but it did not surprise him.

  “But you did and here I am,” he replied flippantly. “And as soon as they finish pumping me full of drugs, I will be back on my feet. This is all overkill if you ask me.”

  “Keeping you alive is not overkill.”

  “It is if it keeps me from returning to work.”

  Riverville regarded him pensively.

  “You truly feel that way?” he asked.

  Ryder was filled with consternation.

  “Are you trying to shrink me, Major? Are you worried about my mental state?”

  Riverville shook his greying head.

  “I have never worried about you, Ryder. You are the last operative I have ever felt needed my concern.”

  “And suddenly because I got hurt, that’s changed?”

  “That changes everyone,” he told his protégé. “It changed me.”

  A heavy silence hung in the air and Ryder wondered if he was supposed to question his superior’s words. He opted for quiet on the matter.

  “It hasn’t changed me,” he assured him. “I am ready to get back to work when Dr. Steward gives the go ahead.”

  Riverville’s mouth formed a fine line.