Page 22 of Shattered

Rubbing at his forehead, Matt tried to process everything. “Is he en route to the hospital now?”

“Yeah. Surgical team is standing by. They’ll take him straight to the O.R.”

“What about everyone else?”

“Mostly okay, except for the flight crew.” Tuck cleared his throat, his voice a little rough, and Matt understood perfectly. It felt like he had a small boulder lodged in his own. “Cruzie just called Carm to let her know about Vance. I was wondering if you wanted me to call Taya, or…” A harsh sigh filled the line. “Doc told us just before we took off that she’s pregnant.”

Ah, shit.Shit. This was fucking heartbreaking. Taya had already been through hell twice before. It was beyond cruel that anything should happen to Nate now. “No. I don’t want her to hear it over the phone. I’ll have someone go to her.”

“Want me to ask Celida to do it?”

“No, I’ll handle it.” As soon as Celida heard the news, she’d be frantic to get to Tuck. Understandable. “Are you going to the hospital?”

“Yeah, all of us are, just to get checked out, then we’ll wait to find out what’s going on with the other two.”

“I’ll be there as soon as I can find a flight. I’ll take care of Taya, make sure she gets to the hospital, and meet you there as soon as I can.”

“All right. What are you gonna do about the situation in Atlanta?”

“Don’t worry about any of that. I’ll take care of everything.” He’d call SA Grant and have Gold Team deploy there as soon as possible.

Tuck let out a hard exhale. “All right.”

“Tuck. You tell the boys I’m coming, okay? I’ll be there as soon as I can.”

“I will.”

Nausea washed over Matt as he disconnected and immediately dialed his wife. His heart slammed against his ribs as it rang, almost bruising. Was this some kind of revenge act? Maybe by Sanchez or theVenenos? If someone had brought that plane down, Matt would personally ensure they paid for it dearly.

“Hey, I was just lying in bed thinking about you,” Briar murmured, her voice husky with sleep.

“Something’s happened,” he grated out.

“What’s wrong?” Her tone was sharp. Alert.

“Blue Team’s plane went down just after takeoff. Vance and Schroder were critically injured. Tuck doesn’t know if Schroder will make it.”

“Oh, Matt, no.”

He drew in a deep breath, locked his jaw for a moment to get himself back under control. “It’s a real shitty favor to ask of you, but I need you to go to Taya’s right now. I want you to be the one to tell her and take her to the hospital. She’s gonna need a friend.” He and Briar had been the only ones from the team at Taya and Schroder’s wedding. Briar was closer to Taya than she was to any of the other women, and they would all be worried about their guys. It had to be this way.

“Of course,” Briar said. No hesitation. No questions. He could hear her already moving around. “I’ll be out the door and on my way in five minutes.”

“Thanks. I’ll be there as soon as I can.” He hesitated a second. “One more thing.” He rubbed a hand over the back of his neck. “They just found out she’s pregnant.”

“Oh, man. Okay, I’m on it. See you soon. And, Matt?”

“Yeah?”

“Love you.”

He closed his eyes, a sweet ache filling his chest. “I love you too.”

Chapter Eight

The chime of the doorbell dragged Taya through the heavy blanket of sleep to consciousness. Blinking, she automatically glanced beside her. But Nathan was gone. She only vaguely remembered him saying goodbye. The early morning light filtering through the edges around the blind told her it was still early. Who would be at their door at this hour?

Grabbing her robe from the foot of the bed, she shrugged it on and dragged herself to her feet, bracing for the inevitable wave of nausea. Early morning seemed to be the toughest for her, when her stomach was empty.

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