Page 28 of River

“Of course. Tell me about your brother,” I said. He told me about his missing brother and the Russian woman.

“They are probably drugging him. If he’s smart, he’ll figure that out and hide the pill in his mouth. I’ll tell everyone about Michael, and we can investigate everything before we meet with you and your brother Jason.”

“Two days later, Kat woke up. I was sitting next to her when she suddenly jerked and looked around.

“Where am I?”

“You’re in a hospital in Germany.”

“Germany,” she repeated, her brain working to catch up. “Oh my God, Steven—I put him in the closet before I went for help, but I didn’t make it far. How did you get here? Are my vacation days up?”

“The Golden Team rescued you after your neighbor came to us. You were late getting back, and she was worried. And yes, your vacation days are up. Steven has gone home. He said he’s sorry he let you get shot.”

“I couldn’t call because my phone died. I’m sorry for causing so much trouble. You don’t have to stay with me. Did you call my family?”

“I wanted to, but I didn’t. I knew you’d live and figured you wouldn’t want me calling them.”

“Thank you for not calling them.”

“Tell me, what made you decide to go to Afghanistan to rescue a little girl? Especially when they hate us there.”

“I thought Captain Jackson had it more planned out. When we got there, I realized he was using me to navigate because I knew the area. By then, we were already there, so I took him to the town center where the girl was. I thought we had more backup—that was my mistake. I assumed we had backup, but I was never told we did.”

I knew Captain Jack was going to get a visit from me. “I don’t understand why he never came back for you.”

“Yeah, I have a problem with that too,” she said as her eyes began to close, signaling she was about to sleep.

Damn, I wanted to wring her neck. At the same time, I wanted to pull her into my arms and never let her go. From now on, we will be open with each other. I should have never let her think I was with Charlotte. Even taking the next day off work, I knew she would think I was still with Charlotte. Is that why she left? Was she so angry at me that she didn’t care what happened?

That was something I was ashamed of—letting her believe I would kiss her like that and then leave with someone else.

13

Kat

I was runningfrom all these Taliban who wanted me dead, and they were going to hang me where everyone would be sure to see me. I looked around for Brenda, but she was gone. I stopped; I had to go back for her.

I saw her lying dead on the street, and the men were kicking her. I screamed, and they shot me. I couldn’t stop crying. Brenda is dead. When arms wrapped around me, I hung on to them. It took a while before I realized it was a dream. I wiped my face off with the sheet and took a deep breath.

“I’m sorry. I was dreaming about my friend Brenda. The last time I was in Afghanistan, they murdered Brenda. When I went back to get her, the men were standing around, kicking her and spitting on her. I screamed, and they shot me, but I got away. Brenda didn’t have that chance.”

“Hush, I have you now. Everything is going to be alright. I know how that country is. I’ve had the same nightmares. It’ll be okay. I’m staying right here with you.”

“Will you please lay with me for a while?” I wouldn’t layback down until he laid with me. It felt so safe and cozy with River beside me; I finally slept without any dreams.

When I opened my eyes, I was surrounded by heat, and an arm was across me. I smiled, remembering River was here. His arm tightened.

“I have to get Penny. She won’t even know me.”

“You get to go home today; you’ll see her soon. I need to talk to you about something. When Charlotte came into the office, I didn’t know she was coming over, but I thought that would be the perfect time for you to think something was going on between us.”

“I walked her to her car and then got in mine. Nothing is going on between us. In my stupid head, I thought if you and I got together, then when we broke up, you would quit the job, and I wouldn’t see you anymore.”

“Why did you think we’d break up,” I whispered, turning towards him. “I would never break up with you. I waited too long to be yours and for you to be mine,” I said, looking into his eyes. He kissed my forehead, my nose, and then my lips.

“How about we do this? I’ll take you to dinner in three days at my house.

“Are you going to cook dinner?” I asked.

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