Relentless (24 page)

After arranging the flowers in their new home he set the vase on the granite island. Their natural, cheerful beauty only reminded him of how evil he'd become and the plots he'd set into motion. Pushing the thought from his frazzled mind, he strove for a light tone and called out for his wife. “Lil?”

Through the kitchen he heard the noise of the TV.

“In here,” she called out.

Eased by the sound of her voice, he toed off his shoes and walked through their cozy kitchen to find her. Intent on wrapping his arms around her and holding on tight for a few moments, he froze when he saw her shocked expression, the phone held to her ear.

“Thank you for calling us,” she said in Urdu.

Ahmed's stomach dropped like a rock. Pakistan, and not good news. When she hung up he reached for her, automatically drawing her close to absorb the shudder that swept through her. “What? What's happened?”

She raised her head, and her bottomless black eyes were haunted. “It's Mahmoud,” she said in a strangled whisper. “He's dead.”

His blood went cold. “What?”

A tear trickled down her pale cheek. “He'd been shot through the head. The police found him on a village road near the Afghan border.”

Icy tendrils of fear shivered up his spine. His arms tightened around her convulsively. Oh God, what had happened? What had Mahmoud done? Ahmed swallowed. Did it have anything to do with him?

“I'm so sorry,” Lily murmured, passing her soft palm over the side of his face, mistaking his expression for grief rather than the gut-wrenching terror it was.

“Thank you.” His muscles were tight as steel cables, making his joints ache. My God, what should he do? How could he protect them if Tehrazzi had sent one of his minions after them? The thought of someone harming his beautiful Lily because of what he'd done flooded his veins with terror. “Excuse me,” he murmured, pulling out of her embrace.

Empathy and sadness flashed across her face. “Ahmed— ”

“I have to go.”

Lily ducked her head and wrapped her arms around her trim waist, making him feel even more of a bastard for leaving her when she was hurting.

“I'm sorry, I have to— ” He almost gagged, and spun around, then all but ran to the garage. Firing up the ignition, he opened the garage door and backed out, the tires squealing as he put the car in gear and sped off down the darkened street.

His heart raced along with the powerful engine, battling an uneasy fear that he'd left Lily home alone without any protection. He drove aimlessly through his peaceful neighborhood and across the Lion's Gate Bridge with no particular destination in mind, but knew he had to get to the hospital soon.

Not that it mattered where he went. Nowhere was safe now. Wherever he ended up, it would never be far enough away that Tehrazzi couldn't find him.

Neveah stepped off the elevator a little past eleven o'clock with the results of Luke's CT images. The attending neurosurgeon was meeting her in Luke's room in a few minutes to discuss the procedure he wanted to perform. Turning left down the hall, she picked up on voices coming from the room at the far end where Luke was. Pausing at the threshold, she knocked before poking her head in. Dec and Bryn were there, along with Emily, Rayne and Christa. Her white bridal gown looked obscenely out of place in the hospital room.

As everyone else backed away to give her room, Luke met her gaze and sat up a little taller. “Well? What's the verdict?”

She held back a smile. That wasn't bravado oozing from him. That was plain in-your-face stubbornness. You had to admire a man who could face what he was without breaking a sweat. “The neurosurgeon's coming up to talk to you momentarily.”

“I'd rather hear it from you.”

“You sure?”

“Positive.”

She glanced around. “Do you want this in private?”

“No. They're gonna find out anyway. This'll save me a step, and then they can get back to the party.”

“Okay then.” Stepping to his bedside, she opened the file and held one of the clearest images in the light so he could see it.

Peering at it over Nev's shoulder, Emily leaned over and pointed to the dark occlusion over the visual cortex. “An occipital hematoma.”

“Yes,” Nev answered in surprise. “You a nurse?” She assumed Emily wasn't a doctor, because she'd asked for one when Luke collapsed.

“Used to be. Geriatrics, mostly.”

Why hadn't Emily told her that before?

Sighing, Emily shook her head at her ex-husband. “For God's sake, Luke, do you know how dangerous this is?”

Luke didn't answer her as he stared at the picture. “So what, they're gonna drill a hole in my head and take care of it?”

Nev nodded, raising a brow at his brusque tone. “Basically.”

Rayne came closer. “They got a drill bit hard enough to get through his skull?”

Everyone chuckled, except Emily, whom she shared a long look with. As routine as a craniotomy was, this was no laughing matter. “You're real lucky this thing didn't dislodge on you over the past few months.”

Luke didn't respond, though she hadn't expected him to.

“The area it covers explains all of your symptoms, but the surgeon will check everything out when he goes in.”

He folded his well-developed arms across his muscular chest and regarded her calmly. “So how long will the recovery take?”

She shrugged. “Depends. Anywhere from a few days to a few months. Let's just hope they don't find anything more serious than what's in this image, and that all goes well.”

“Any side effects afterward?”

“We won't know that until after the surgery. You still may have some dizziness and blurred vision due to the surgery site. But on the whole you should notice a drastic improvement.”

He grunted. “How long until I'm operational?”

“You're in a real damn big hurry,” the surgeon said as he entered the room with his clipboard. “Why don't we just take it one step at a time?”

“No time for that, Doc. So let's get this over with.”

The doctor's graying eyebrows shot up behind his glasses. “You got something more pressing than taking care of your brain?”

“Yes.”

The brows snapped downward. “Just because this is a relatively safe procedure doesn't mean we might encounter something more serious.”

“I understand that, but I need to get back overseas ASAP.”

The middle-aged man stood gawking at him a moment. “Well, I'll do my best to accommodate that,” he said wryly. “I've scheduled the surgery for eight o'clock tomorrow morning. That soon enough for you?”

“If that's the first opening you've got, then yes.”

The doctor shot Neveah an unimpressed look before addressing his patient again. “Visiting hours are well over,” he reminded everyone, “and whether or not he wants to admit it, Mr. Hutchinson is going to have brain surgery in the morning, so I suggest he gets some sleep.”

“I'll sleep when I'm dead,” Luke said darkly.

Neveah bit back a retort. Everyone in the room but the other doctor knew Luke wasn't going to sleep. He'd trained his body years ago to go without sleep and food and comfort of any kind, and he was way too vigilant to allow himself to take anything more than what amounted to a combat nap every few hours.

“If you have no further questions, I'll leave you with Doctor Adams,” the other doctor finished, giving her a smile. When Luke shook his head, the surgeon looked back at Neveah. “Thanks for your assistance.”

“It was my pleasure.” As soon as he'd gone, she faced Luke with her hands on her hips. “Well? Anything else I can tell you?”

His deep brown eyes lingered on hers and she could feel the power in him, as fierce and unshakable as the supreme confidence he always displayed. Stubborn man could be dying, and he wouldn't ask for help. Exactly like Rhys. Thank God she didn't have to deal with alpha males like them in her job too often. If she did, they were usually unconscious by the time she saw them. Much easier to handle that way.

“Nope,” he answered. “But thanks for sticking around.”

His words surprised her. “You're welcome. I'll let everyone say goodbye now, and then I'll come back in the morning to check on things.”

“Sure.”

Nev said her goodbyes to everyone and stepped out into the hallway where Rhys waited with Dec, their backs to her. On guard, even in the hospital. She withheld a sigh as Rhys swung his head around to look at her. “All good?”

“Yes. Just let me take this back to the nurses’ station.” Her shoes tapped on the scarred linoleum floor as she walked down the hall and hung a right. The high heels made her legs look amazing, but they hurt her feet.

Just as she approached the large desk positioned in the center of the ward, the elevator doors slid open and a man stepped off, dressed in a tailored navy suit. He turned his head, and they both froze.

She'd seen him outside her hotel and in Stanley Park.

His dark eyes held hers for a split second before he turned away and strode quickly down the hall in the opposite direction, leaving her frozen in place with her heart drumming loud in her ears.

She threw a quick glance over her shoulder, searching for Rhys. No way could it be a mere coincidence this time. Not three times in two days. Spinning on her spiked heels, she rushed back the way she'd come, and when Rhys saw her, he started forward immediately.

“What's wrong?”

Not wanting to cause a scene, she waited until she was within whisper range to tell him. “I saw someone,” she said, leaning into his strength as he wrapped a heavy arm around her shoulders. “I think he's been following me.”

“What?” After she explained, he set her away from him with a dark scowl. “Why the hell didn't you say anything until now?”

She waved his anger away. “Because until now I thought it had to be a coincidence.” She thought of how her instincts screamed when she saw him. “I just get a really bad vibe from him. I feel like his eyes are always on me.”

Rhys took her hand. “Come on, let's go.”

She had no choice but to be dragged away. “Where?”

“Back to my hotel, where I know you'll be safe.”

Safe? “All I said was that the guy gave me the creeps.”

“No, you said you've seen him three times, and that you think he's been following you. Trust me, that gives me every right to be concerned.” He continued towing her behind him, the menacing expression on his face enough to make people get out of their way in a hurry.

“Slow down, Rhys, I'm wearing heels for Godsake.” Good thing for her she was almost his height with them on, because she had to run to keep up with his long strides.

He slowed fractionally but kept going for the elevator, his whole demeanor advertising the fact he was in operational mode and not to be messed with. When they rounded the corner, they came face to face with Dr. Shirani. His eyes widened, and he stopped there in the middle of the hallway.

“Doctor Shirani,” Neveah said. “What brings you here tonight?”

Tearing his gaze away from Rhys's scars, he seemed to shake himself before replying. “I was called to help in Emergency, and heard we had a head trauma patient. I just came up to check on him.”

“Do you mean Mr. Hutchinson?”

Shirani blinked. “Yes. You know him?”

“We just came from his room. Doctor Parkes already spoke with him. The craniotomy is scheduled for first thing tomorrow morning.”

“Oh.” His eyes traveled up Rhys's intimidating frame and back to her. “Is he sleeping, then?”

“Doubt it. His whole family is still in there, and someone's staying with him until the surgery.”

His eyebrows rose. “Really? That's against hospital regulation— ”

“His security has been cleared by the RCMP, doctor,” Rhys said, still holding her hand tight in his. “He'll have a guard around the clock until he leaves the premises.”

“A guard? And the police are involved?”

“They're already here.”

The doctor's throat seemed to spasm as he swallowed. “Is there a... a threat against him?”

“It's just a precaution,” Rhys said evasively.

Poor Dr. Shirani looked like he was about to choke in alarm. Neveah aimed a glare at Rhys before addressing the surgeon. “I just took his file to the nurses’ station if you want to look at it, but there's no need now.”

Shirani seemed to come out of his trance-like state and focused on her. Then he raised his hands, almost as though he was warding Rhys off. “No no, that's fine. I'll just continue back down to Emergency then.” He gave them a quick smile. “Good night, Doctor Adams. I'm looking forward to hearing your speech tomorrow.”

“Thanks. Good night.” She glanced over her shoulder at him as he strode toward the staircase rather than the elevator Rhys was taking her to. “Could you be any less friendly?” she demanded, following in his wake. “You scared him so bad he won't even take the elevator down with us.”

“Oh well,” he said without looking at her. He hit the down button on the wall with a long forefinger and turned her so that he blocked her from view.

“You're being ridiculous. We're in a hospital. Don't you think this is overkill?”

“Nope.”

She crossed her arms over her chest and fumed while they waited in silence for the elevator car to reach them. It pissed her off he'd treated a colleague of hers like that. Her professional image was important to her, and she didn't want anyone thinking Rhys was following her around because she was too scared to be alone.

When the bell dinged Rhys wheeled her around and checked inside first before guiding her inside. His manhandling was not appreciated and she let him know it by narrowing her eyes.

He stared straight back, completely unapologetic.

What was going through his head? Possible attack scenarios? More bullet trajectories? It maddened and frightened her at the same time. What the hell was going on here? Something big, and if it involved her she wanted to know what it was.

She kept her eyes on him while he escorted her to the Escalade. His gaze never stilled, always scanning as he moved her quickly out of the hospital toward the street where he'd parked.

Keeping her next to him while he checked the truck over— for explosives, she assumed— he finally unlocked it, settling her in her seat before hustling around to the driver's side and starting the engine. By the time he pulled away from the curb, she was cold all the way to her bones.