Ashfall (13 page)

Mally laughed softly. “What’s wrong, Adam? You don’t have a feminine side?”

Adam’s temper rose a notch. “Hell no.”

Mally gasped. “Stop!”

Adam glanced in his rear view mirror quickly. No one was behind him. “What is it?”

“There’s a woman flagging us down. The alleyway you just passed,” Mally said.

“She’s right,” Mark said. “I just saw her. Now she’s running down the alley.”

Adam put the SUV into reverse and glided backwards until they came flush with the alley opening. Adam saw the woman halt halfway down the alley.

A niggling sensation made Adam’s breath catch and his suspicion heighten. “Something isn’t right.”

“Someone’s at the end of the alley,” Mark said, suspicion clear in his voice.

Adam noticed a male figure several yards behind the woman, and the guy lifted something big onto his shoulder.

“Son-of-a-bitch,” Adam said as he slammed on the accelerator.

The vehicle leapt forward. A whoosh came seconds before the rear of the SUV lifted off the ground. Amid the deafening noise he heard Mally’s yell and Mark’s virulent curse. A flash of light brightened everything as a roar pounded at Adam’s ears. The SUV crashed back to earth, rattling his bones. Despite the disorientation, Adam went into combat mode.

“RPG!” Adam roared the warning. “Get out now!”

If that bastard planned to lob another grenade on them they wouldn’t stand a chance. He whipped off his seatbelt and saw Mally do the same.

Mally grabbed her weapon and secured it to her body just as she gasped. “Mark’s hurt!”

Fear sliced a deep gash into Adam as he swiveled to look at Mark. Mark’s seatbelt had kept him in place, but he listed to the side, his head forward. He was unconscious. No visible blood but that didn’t mean there weren’t other injuries. Adam’s attention leapfrogged between two modes. Battle ready and medical. He had to help Mark but if that asshole with the RPG came at them again—

“Are you hurt?” he asked Mally, his gaze frantically assessing her. He grabbed her shoulder when she stared at Mark and said nothing, her lips parted. “Mally, answer me. Are you hurt anywhere?”

She peeled her gaze from Mark and put full attention on Adam. “No. I’m fine. I’m good. You?”

Anger burned a hot path through him. “I’ll be better when I shove my boot straight up the shooter’s ass. Come on. Mark needs us.”

Sirens split the air as another SUV, this one a National Guard vehicle, rolled up behind them. Yet another one came alongside with a red cross on the side. At least they’d have some help if the excrement hit the oscillating device. Adam didn’t have to tell Mally what he planned to do as he jumped out of the vehicle and opened the back door to get to Mark. She did the same on her side.

“Asshole had an RPG!” one of the Guard guys, decked out in full battle rattle, said from the rear.

Other voices mixed with shouting as army soldiers ran down the alley, presumably to capture the suspect. Sirens wailed.
What a fucking mess.
Chaos went on around Adam as he crawled into the back of the SUV to assess Mark’s injuries. He checked for a pulse.

Relief replaced stark fear. “He’s alive.”

“Oh, thank God,” she said.

Assessing Mark’s injuries didn’t take long. “He might have a concussion. I don’t see any sign of broken bones but we have to get him to the hospital. He could have internal injuries.”

A fire truck roared up a moment later, sirens blaring, and so did a regular ambulance. Adam felt a headache starting near his ears, and he shook his head. He’d gotten his bell rung, but he didn’t care. Mark needed him on his game right now. The next few minutes went by in a blur.
You’d think world war three had started with all the action and attention.
Paramedics assisted Adam in checking on Mark. Mark’s vitals were fine, but he hadn’t regained consciousness, and that worried the shit out of Adam. Before long paramedics had loaded Mark into an ambulance.

“Mally, go with him and get yourself checked out while you’re there,” Adam said.

“What about you sir?” asked one of the city paramedics who stood by Adam.

Adam shook his head. “I’m fine. I need to stay here and deal with the authorities.”

“Adam.” Mally climbed into the ambulance with Mark. “Are you sure?

Adam’s muscles hurt so much now he wondered if he’d done more damage to himself than he thought. “I’ll get a ride to the hospital as soon as I can.”

Mally’s frown was as wide as Grand Canyon, but she nodded and soon the ambulance carted Mark and Mally away. All Adam could do was hope they would be all right. The mess continued at the scene with police and National Guard all in the mix. Adam’s head pounded and his stomach churned. Time stretched to a crawl. The asshole with the RPG was caught and so was the woman with him. Though Adam wanted to get in their faces and bash the man to a pulp, he obviously couldn’t. Instead, he called the General and told him what happened. The General promised to head to the hospital ASAP. The man was a rock—not only were his daughter and Ian missing, his team was in shambles. At this rate, there soon wouldn’t be a team left.

* * * *

Mally stood in one corner of the overflowing emergency room. The noise pushed against her senses and threatened to overwhelm her. A television high on the wall across the room was silent, but closed captioning gave a continuous barrage of bad news. She scanned the room quickly, feeling as hypersensitive as she’d ever felt in her life. Hairs on the back of her neck prickled. Her insides still felt like gelatin, rattled from the vibration of the RPG explosion. Since she’d started working with Sentry Security, she’d already experienced far more danger in a short time than she’d expected. So this is what it felt like. To have your entire world centered on a moment, on doing nothing more than being alive. Staying in the compound bunker would have been safer.

She glanced around the room. No sign of danger from the parents with sick kids, the elderly couple in one corner, and the mixed bag of others waiting for treatment. The talking and kids crying brushed across her nerves. What she wouldn’t give right now for an isolated room where she could quietly go insane. Worry gathered in the pit of her stomach and tightened her muscles. She leaned against the wall and crossed her arms, but even that casual stance couldn’t erase her concern for Mark and for Adam.

As if she’d materialized him from thin air, Adam strode into the emergency room main area. They locked eyes, and Mally thought she saw relief in his face. She also noted everyone else’s reaction to him. His height and obvious strength made him a formidable-looking man. In normal circumstances hospitals wouldn’t allow weapons on the property, and at the entrances metal detectors had been set up. She’d had to check her weapons at the door and put them in a locker room for that purpose, and obviously so had he.

Men and women gave him wary looks. He didn’t appear to notice, or if he did, he didn’t care. She smiled, but he didn’t smile back as he reached her in seconds.

“Hey.” He palmed her shoulders, his gaze worried. “You all right?”

“You asked me that before. I’m fine.”

“I know.” His gaze scanned her, and he leaned in close enough to whisper. “But you’ve never been blown up before.”

That
sounded weird. “No. But we weren’t really blown up.” She smiled. “Thanks to your quick action we’re alive right now.”

Emotions flashed through his eyes, and she couldn’t say for certain which ones. They looked like anger or maybe regret.

She smiled and couldn’t resist cupping his face with one hand for a moment and noticed how hot his skin felt. “What about you? You were in the same blast, you know.”

He nodded. “Pissed but good.” She didn’t believe him, but before she could pile on more questions he asked, “Any word on Mark?”

“He woke up in the ambulance. He’s all right. The doctors are doing more tests right now, but it looks like a mild concussion.”

“Mild? He was out cold and it wasn’t just for a few seconds either.”

“I know. They want to keep him overnight for observation.”

Some of the concern eased from his face. “Good.”

She considered, just for one crazy moment, kissing him right there in front of everyone. Before she could act on it, Adam released her and leaned on the wall next to her.

“General should be here any minute.” He filled her in on what had happened after she’d left.

They went silent until a few moments later, when the General walked in. He reached them swiftly, his gaze hard but concerned. “You two all right?”

“Yes.” They both echoed at the same time.

Even though the older man appeared skeptical, he didn’t press them. They filled him in on Mark.

“Damn,” the General said softly. “Well this means we’re down two men. There’s no way I’m letting Mark work for at least a week or more. Depends on what his doctor says. I’m worried about TBI.”

“TBI?” Mally asked.

“Traumatic Brain Injury,” the General said.

She hoped not. “Oh. Right. I thought it sounded familiar.”

“Not just for Mark either. Both of you need to get tested for it as soon as possible,” the General said.

Adam crossed his arms, his stance and tight lips saying he didn’t care for the idea. “That isn’t going to happen for a while with all the people in here. We’ll have to do it later when it’s convenient.”

Mally’s thoughts went to everything Sentry Security had to deal with now. “Your business…it’s off line for at least a week, isn’t it?”

The General nodded. “At least. There’s no way you two are back to work for the rest of the week. You’re restricted to the compound.”

Her mouth opened automatically, ready to protest, but Adam spoke first. “Are you sure you want to do that? It invalidates our contract, doesn’t it?”

The older man rubbed the back of his neck and sighed. “Yeah. But what choice do we have? I’m not sending just one of you out to work by yourself. We’ll have to play this by ear.”

“Have you heard from your daughter yet, sir?” she asked.

His rock-solid expression didn’t change. “No.”

Time crawled for what seemed forever but perhaps was only thirty minutes when Mally caught sight of a middle-aged nurse with gray hair coming toward them. When the nurse smiled, Mally hoped the woman had good news. Thankfully she did. Mark had no other injuries and they could see him. The General stayed back to call his government contacts and tell them what had transpired. Mally and Adam entered the curtained area where several emergency room individuals were lying. They found Mark lying on a bed hooked up to all the standard medical equipment measuring pulse, blood pressure and oxygen. He looked healthy—his color was good.

When he saw them a big smile broke out on his face. “Hey guys.”

Mally went to his right side and Adam to the other. Adam and Mark exchanged one of those handshakes that had military written all over it.

“How do you feel?” Mally asked.

Mark smiled like he didn’t have a care in the world. “I’m good. I just survived almost getting blown to bits. And so did both of you. Best news ever.”

“Good.” She returned his grin.

Adam explained what the General had said and that they’d have down time for a week.

Mark’s cheerful expression altered. “We
should
be out making sure Ian and Penny are alive.”

“I agree.” Adam sighed and gripped the railing around the bed. “The General doesn’t seem to be in any hurry to send us looking for them.”

“Ian is dependable, isn’t he?” Mally asked.

Mark said, “Damn right. He’s one of the best soldiers I know.”

After talking a little longer, Mally felt achy and tired. She rubbed her right shoulder.

“Hey.” Adam’s stern voice broke in. “What’s wrong?”

“Huh?” She broke out of her stupor. “Tired I guess. I don’t get blown up every day.”

“We need to get you checked out.”

Adam’s firm insistence made her dig her heels in. “Well, unless you plan on staying here for hours waiting I don’t think that’s going to happen. For either of us. You were in the SUV, too.”

“She’s right,” Mark said. “Just because you didn’t get knocked out doesn’t mean you aren’t rattled.”

Adam’s stern gaze eased into a smile. “Hey, I’m the one with medical training here.”

She wouldn’t back down. “I’m not a delicate flower, Adam. Do you want to wait around here for several more hours for tests or whatever it’ll take to make sure we’re in one piece?”

Adam’s lip curled for a moment, and a little shock of challenge went through her.

“Look,” Adam said, “your health is non-negotiable. You didn’t volunteer to get blown up.”

“You did?” she asked.

Mark amusement showed in his eyes, but he didn’t smile. “Why don’t you guys head back to Sentry Security? I’ll be okay here. I’ll call you tomorrow when they’re ready to spring me.”

The General stepped into the area, his face stern. “Take my vehicle.” He tossed the keys at Adam, and Adam snatched them out of the air. “I’ll find my own way back to Sentry.” Adam almost looked as if he’d rebel. The General said, “Don’t argue, man. If either of you starts feeling serious effects from the blast, then get back here.”

Adam’s gaze scanned them all, then he nodded. “Right.”

As they went down the hallway, she threw glances at Adam’s profile. Tension radiated off him and so did anger she didn’t understand. “What’s going on with you? You’re strung up like…” Words escaped her. She held her hands up. “I don’t know what. But the grumpy act is—”

He gripped her upper arm and steered her. “We’re going to have a talk.”

“What?” She practically trotted to keep up with him because he moved so fast. “The front door is that way.”

He didn’t say a word, just kept walking until they reached a door that led to the outside. Obviously he knew where things were in this place. They stepped out into a dreary sky with a gentle mist in the air. The area appeared to be a place to rest and escape from the hectic scene indoors. Two picnic tables were unoccupied. He moved her until her back came up against the wall. He edged in close, his palms flat on the wall and caging her in place. Surprised and puzzled, she caught the hot, intense expression in his eyes. He’d left his cap in the damaged SUV, and his short hair spiked up here and there. He looked rough, tumble, in need of…something.
Hungry.
A tingle started low in her stomach, an equal desire that begged for recognition.