Page 65 of Stealth Mission

Chapter Twenty-Four

One second I’m ready to tell her the truth about me, the next I’m waking up with the airbags blown, the dash caved in and my heart in my throat.

What the hell is that noise?

I shake my head, and cough, clearing some kind of dust out of my throat.

Fuck.Is that blood in my eyes?

A blaring alarm competes with the hiss of the truck’s radiator. What in the hell happened?—

Then I see her.

Holy fuck.

“Goddamnit, Marianna.”

I scramble across the seat, desperately trying to reach her neck to stabilize her. “Hold on baby. Can you hear me?”

Pain shoots through my legs as I crawl over part of the truck’s dash that’s now crumpled between us. “Please don’t be dead. Please!”

She’s too still.

My bloody hands shake as I try to find her pulse. “Oh, thank god. Come on baby, wake up.”

I lift her left eyelid as I fumble to find my phone.

Scout answers immediately. “Yo. What’s going on?—”

“There’s been a horrible accident. Send the helicopter. I know you have a tracker on the truck. Marianna is unresponsive. Hurry!”

+++

Three Hours Later

The scent of antiseptic and fear fills the room. A doomsday clock ticks. The compressor in the water fountain on the wall cycles on and off.

Minutes feel like lifetimes.

Agonizing lifetimes of regret.

I lift my head from my hands when a hand squeezes my shoulder.

“Why don’t you change your shirt and wash up?”

Elbows on knees, I return to staring at the ugly carpet, intently ignoring my boss. Trying just to survive the crushing terror. Every breath is razor wire sawing in and out of me. “Don’t even try. I’m not going anywhere.”

A female steps into the room. Her delicate throat-clearing draws my eyes up. But disappointment hits me in the chest like a sledgehammer.

Not the nurse.

I should be glad to see Beast’s woman. But I’m not. I can’t care about anything. Marianna is all that matters. All that will ever matter.

Camile is in the doorway with a small brown paper bag in her hands. She holds it toward me. “I got you some wipes and some first aid supplies.”

“I don’t need anything.”

Beast folds his tall frame until he’s on one knee and right in my line of sight. “Man, let them look at your face, you need stitches.”

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