Exposure (36 page)

Soreno…grinned. "We both know how this ends,
Caldwell." He shrugged. "How do you want her to die? Bullet to the
brain? Or…" The fucking bastard lowered the gun to her chest. "How
about the heart? Poetic, don't you think?"

Noah couldn't suck in any air. "She has
nothing to do with you. Come take me. I'm who you really want. I'm
the one who gave the feds evidence to lock Rizzoli away, not
her."

"You think I give a shit about Rizzoli? This
was a job." Soreno dragged her by the hair to his side, and for a
fleeting moment, Noah thought the asshole would take him up on his
offer. But he pressed the barrel to her chest, his soulless eyes
narrowing on Noah. "I always preferred poetry myself."

No.
Christ, no.

At the last second, Raven cried out and
twisted her body.

Noah lunged forward just as the gun went
off. The
boom
from the discharge cracked the air, so
powerful the reverberation rattled his teeth. He froze mid-step.
The wind punched from his chest.

Raven's eyes widened, locking on Noah. Mouth
open, she stumbled back. She pressed a hand to the right side of
her chest, just over her breast, and looked down. Blood seeped from
between her fingers. Confusion wrinkled her forehead. And then…she
stumbled off the edge.

"
Noooo
…"

Gunfire rang out, muting the helicopter
blades, the roar of the ocean, his own screaming.

Soreno jerked, fell to his knees, and
flopped face-first in the snow.

Noah dropped his gun and ran forward,
hindered by the deep drifts of snow. Tears burned his eyes,
blinding him. Losing his footing, he went down. Crawling, he
reached the edge and peered over. Raven was within reach, not yet
carried out by the current. Her motionless body floated between the
rocks, face up. Her eyes were closed.

Max sank down by his side. "Get the medics,"
he yelled over his shoulder.

Noah wasn't waiting. Every second she was in
the water brought her farther from him, closer to death.
Except...Fucking hell. She wasn't moving.

Vaulting over the drop off, he jumped in the
waist-deep water and snagged a boulder with one arm so the current
couldn't pull him. Needles spiked his skin, the freezing
temperature already stealing his breath and numbing his limbs. He
reached out for Raven, grabbing her around the waist.

"Drag her closer," Max called. "I'll haul
her up."

Fighting the violent shudders, he braced his
feet between two boulders. He slid his arms under hers and yanked
her up, her back against his chest.

Max lifted Raven from his arms, disappeared
from view, and came back to offer both hands. Noah couldn't move.
His breaths rasped in his lungs. Ice weighed down on him, the cold
stabbing and biting as if he was being filleted alive.

Hands grabbed his shoulders, fisting his
suit coat. And then he was back on solid ground, staring up at the
stars fighting the Northern Lights for beauty. With the little
strength he had left in reserve, he rolled to his side to get to
Raven.

Medics had swarmed her, were taking her
away.

He got up on his hands and knees, his
extremities so heavy, just as more EMTs sank next to him. He
couldn't take his eyes from the direction Raven had gone. They
tried getting him on a gurney, but he shoved them away.
Need
her.

"Mr. Caldwell." Max set a hand on his
shoulder. "Let them take care of you. We'll be in an ambulance
right behind Miss Crowne."

Shuddering, eyes wet with tears, he looked
at his bodyguard. "Was she…alive?" His voice broke.

Max's lips thinned, his eyes regret-laden.
"I don't know."

"
S
ir, you came in
hypothermic. You need to lay back."

Noah withdrew his arm from the nurse's
clutches with barely restrained homicidal impatience. "Someone
fucking tell me something! Is Raven okay?"

Sighing, the nurse relented. "Let me cap off
the IV and I'll go find out."

Gnashing his teeth, he jerked a nod.

She removed the tubing from his arm, flushed
the part still inserted in his vein, then taped the exposed
portion. "All set. I'll go hunt up a doctor for you."

As she stepped out of the cubicle, Hintz
strode in and tossed some clothes and shoes on the foot of the bed.
"They don't know anything yet, sir."

Now that he was detached from the IV and
heart monitors, Noah rose from the bed. Pain shot up his stiff
legs, but he managed to keep upright. Shoving into the sweatpants
Hintz brought, Noah shucked the hospital gown and pulled the tee
over his head.

"It's been two hours." Noah fisted his still
damp hair. He couldn't focus on anything but getting to Raven,
seeing her with his own eyes. Remembering all her injuries, her
fragile body and how it had been beaten, he slammed his eyes closed
and tried to swallow past the lump in his throat.

McCannon walked in, assessed Noah with a
once-over, and nodded. "You're looking better. Any news on
Raven?"

He growled. "No." Plopping back on the bed,
he fought the urge to trash the room in frustration. This was
fucking torture. He reached for his shoes and put them on.

McCannon sat in a corner chair. "Soreno's
dead."

Noah wanted to bring the bastard back to
life just to kill him again. Slowly. He shook his head. Scratched
his jaw. "Did you see her out there? What he did to her?" His voice
came out more like a whisper. The sight of her hurt and broken
haunted him, probably would until his dying day. "Christ, she has
to pull through. She has to."

He didn't even know if she was alive.
Figuring no news had to be good, he rubbed the back of his
neck.

Hintz crossed his arms. "She's a strong
lady, sir. She'll be okay."

Except his bodyguard didn't look any more
confident than Noah felt. Pressing his palms to his eyes, he rocked
forward.

"Mr. Caldwell?"

Jerking his gaze up, he launched off the bed
to face the doctor. "Is she okay?"

In his late forties and wearing blue scrubs,
the doctor looked around the room and back to him. He removed a cap
to reveal dark brown waves. "Is it all right to speak in front of
everyone?"

His gut twisted. Sank.
Don't be dead,
baby. Don't be dead.

Noah cleared his raw throat. "Yes."

"Let's start with the most serious first.
The bullet went through her chest, below the shoulder. It just
missed her lung and anything vital. It didn't require surgery.
Because of her hypothermia, there was minimal blood loss. But…" The
doctor tensed. "Her heart stopped once."

No.
No, no, no.

The doctor raised his hand. "We were able to
revive her in a short time, so that's a good sign. Her body
temperature was very low, but through a warm IV and heating
blankets, it's normal now." He sighed and looked down. "She has two
broken ribs on the left side. They should heal in time on their
own. The right side of her face was badly swollen, but there's no
broken facial bones."

Noah breathed for the first time in hours.
"I want to see her."

"They're getting her situated in ICU right
now. I need to warn you. She's not out of the woods. She's hasn't
gained consciousness yet and there's no telling if there will be
any brain damage from her hypothermia or her heart stopping."

Noah was at the end of his rope. Clenching
his fists, he met the doc's gaze. "I'm not leaving this hospital
without her. Get this IV out. I want to see her."

"I'll send a nurse in with
instructions."

Five minutes later, the same nurse finally
returned. Biting back a string of curses, he vibrated with tension
as she removed the capped IV. When she started blathering about
discharge orders, he cut her off.

"Raven Crowne. What room is she in?"

The nurse looked up, startled. "Um…" She
grabbed a tablet and swiped the screen, pushed a few icons.
"Four-seventeen--"

He shot off the bed and strode from the
room. At the end of the hall, he searched for an elevator, made his
way over, and punched the button for the fourth floor. Inside,
Hintz and McCannon calmly stared at the numbers while Noah
paced.

Taking fucking forever
…

With a ding, the doors opened. He surveyed
the sign to find her room and turned right.

Max sat outside one of the rooms and stood
when he saw them. "They just brought her in a few minutes ago.
She's still asleep."

There were no words to match the
gratefulness for what his bodyguard had done for Noah or Raven. One
day, Noah would find a way to properly thank him but, for now, he
just needed to see her or he'd split apart at the seams.

He laid a hand on Max's shoulder, squeezed
and let go. "Can you get in touch with Raven's mother? Let her know
what's going on. Nicole, too."

"Consider it done."

He turned toward the room when McCannon
called his name. Noah glanced over his shoulder. "Thank you for
everything. But seriously, just go the hell away until morning,
McCannon."

The agent laughed as Noah entered Raven's
room.

The drapes were drawn, the room dark save
for the dim light above her bed. Murmurs from McCannon and the
bodyguards in the hall faded with the beep of her monitor. She had
an IV in one arm and a blood pressure cuff on the other.

She was so damn pale. Her face was
disfigured from the swelling, the bruises stark against her skin.
His eyes welled and he had to choke back a sob.

"Ah, God, baby. Look what he did to
you."

Shaking, he gingerly sat on the bed by her
hip and took her delicate hand in his. The solid weight of it, of
being able to touch her warm, soft skin, cracked his chest wide
open. Gutted. And, fuck it all. He let the tears free and reached
up to brush the hair off her cheek.

"I thought you were dead." Bringing her palm
to his lips, he kissed it. Held it there. "I thought I'd never see
you again. Shaved twenty years off my life, baby. Swear to
God."

As if he needed more confirmation, he looked
at the monitors again and let the relief swallow him whole. He
swiped a hand over his face and blew out an uneven breath.

He stared at the ligature marks on her
wrists and fought a wave of nausea at what she might've gone
through before he'd gotten to her. When they'd first begun their
relationship, she couldn't even handle sex without him in
restraints. They'd come so far since then. He could only hope this
one terrible night didn't set back all their progress.

None of that mattered if she didn't wake up.
He couldn't do this without her. For as far back as he could
remember, it seemed as if every breath he took was for her. As her
friend, then her lover. He wanted to be her everything. She already
was his.

Rubbing his thumb across her knuckles, he
thought about the ring he'd bought her before leaving for the photo
shoot in Mexico. He didn't know if it was hope or idealistic
stupidity that sparked the purchase, but the ring had called to
him. Immediately upon seeing it, he'd known it would be perfect.
The unique band had silver and gold winding together to form a knot
that held a princess cut diamond. Like them, tangled in chaos.

He reluctantly let go of her hand and strode
to the doorway to find Hintz. "See if you can figure out what they
did with my clothes. There was something inside my coat
pocket…"

He trailed off when Max held up the black
box. "Thought you might ask for it."

McCannon grinned and bowed his head. Hintz
stared at the ceiling, fighting a smile.

"I'm giving you a raise." Noah took the box
from Max's outstretched palm.

Max shrugged. "How about tomorrow off and
we'll call it even?"

There would never be an "even" here. Max had
been with him, a silent protector, since before his move to Alaska.
He'd watched over Raven, had taken a bullet for her, and there was
no way to repay someone for that kind of dedication. "You can have
the whole week off. Hell, take the month. And a raise."

Before Max could protest, Noah strode back
into Raven's room, pulled a chair over to the bed, and sat. Taking
her hand in his, he slipped the ring from the box and slid it onto
her finger. Tightness pulled at his chest seeing it in place. Tears
burned again.

"You have to wake up so I can ask you
properly, baby. I'm not living a day without you, so open your
eyes. Please."

The thick, black lashes fanning her cheeks
didn't flutter, but he talked to her for another hour before
exhaustion claimed him. Setting his head down on the mattress, he
kept her hand in his and reveled in the beautiful sound of her
breathing.

"No!"

He jerked awake and lifted his head.

Raven tried to pull her hand from his. Her
eyes were pinched closed, her heart monitor going crazy. "No. Get
away from me!"

Rising, he leaned over the bed and cupped
her uninjured cheek. "Shh, baby. It's Noah. You're safe." When she
relaxed a margin, he continued. "You're in the hospital, but you're
okay. You're safe."

"Noah?" Her breathy whimper nearly brought
him to his knees.

"Yes, baby. I'm here."

A nurse strode in and narrowed her eyes.
Glancing at the monitor, she frowned. "Sir, you're upsetting her.
Please--"

He glanced over his shoulder. "Back the hell
off for a minute, would you?"

"Noah?"

When he turned back, Raven's eyes were open.
The swelling in her face was gone, leaving only purple and blue
bruises in its place. "You're okay, baby."

Her wide, confused gaze found his. "Wh-what
happened?"

"Sir, you need to leave the room--"

He stroked Raven's cheek with his thumb and
ignored the nurse. "You were hurt. You're in the hospital, but
you're fine. You almost died, so please, just calm down."