Page 27 of Shattered

“I want to see him.” She had to, before she lost her mind with worry. She wouldn’t believe Sawyer was going to be okay until she saw him with her own eyes. Andgoingto be okay was not the same asbeingokay. Did he have broken bones? A concussion? Did he need surgery of some sort? Not being able to be there with him when he was injured and in pain was like a knife in her chest, slowly twisting.

Ethan rubbed a hand up and down her back. “I know. I’ll take you up as soon as they give us the okay.”

She expelled a deep sigh, cleared her head. “How’s Schroder doing?”

Ethan’s entire face tightened. “Still in surgery, last I heard. It doesn’t look good.”

“Poor Taya. Has she got anyone with her?”

“Yeah, Briar.”

Carmela leaned back to stare at him, raising her brows. “Briar?” She’d been a loner for so long, even social get togethers like last night’s barbecue were still hard for her. Not that Briar would ever admit it. Probably not even under torture. That woman was as tough as they came, just one of the things Carmela admired about her.

Her brother nodded. “Rest of the team is waiting down there too.” He ran a hand over the back of his neck. “Just before takeoff, Schroder told us Taya’s pregnant.”

“Oh,” she breathed, covering her mouth with one hand. “Oh, that’s just so sad…”

“Yeah, this fuckin’ sucks.”

She shook her head, trying to take it all in. “What the hell happened, anyway?”

“Nobody knows yet. Sounded like we were taking ground fire. Bam-bam-bam-bam-bam, all these impacts hitting us just after takeoff. I doubt anyone was shooting at us, so the only other possibility that makes sense are multiple bird strikes in the props that got sucked into the engines or something.”

Ethan took her to a small lounge off the main hallway where his fiancée, Marisol, was waiting. As soon as they walked in Soli jumped up and embraced Carmela. “You okay?” her friend asked her.

Carmela squeezed her hard. “Much better than I was for the past half an hour, yeah. Where’s everybody else?”

“In another waiting room with Taya.”

“Ah. God, poor Taya.”

“Yeah.”

Ethan pressed a cup of hot coffee into her hands. Together they sat killing time, watching the minutes tick past on the clock beside the door as they waited for word on Sawyer’s condition.

Carm’s phone rang with her mother’s distinctive ringtone. “Hi,Mami,” she answered, and immediately got a barrage of frantic Spanish in her ear. “I haven’t seen him yet, they’re still doing tests.” She paused while her mother launched into another worried burst of words, did what she could to calm her. “Yes, Ethan’s fine. I’m sitting with him and Soli right now.”

Ethan and Marisol were both watching her as she hung up a few minutes later. “She’s coming straight here from the airport,” Carm told them, then added to Ethan, “And you’re on her shit list for not answering your phone—”

She broke off when the door opened and a nurse poked her head in. “You must be Agent Vance’s family.”

Carmela shot to her feet. “Yes. I’m his fiancée.”

The nurse nodded and gestured for her to come toward the door. “He’s up in his room now. All the tests are done and we’re just waiting for the results. He’s conscious and alert, which are both good signs. You can go up and see him if you want.”

“Yes.” She barely refrained from bulldozing the nurse over on her way into the hall, Ethan and Soli right behind her.

Her heart thudded against her ribs as they rode up to the fourth floor and started down another hallway. Trepidation twined inside her, tying her stomach in knots. She was desperate to see Sawyer, but afraid of what she’d find. They’d been on the cusp of making their dreams come true by getting married. This would impact everything.

She drew herself up, raised her chin. When she walked into that room she was not going to fall apart. She would be strong for him. Stand by him no matter what happened.

The nurse paused before a door and gave a sympathetic smile. “He might be a little groggy from the medication.”

“That’s okay.” As long as he knew she was there and could respond, that’s all that mattered to her right now.

Turning the corner, she held her breath. Beneath the thin blanket covering the bed, the outline of feet came into view. Her gaze traveled up the legs, to the strong arms, an IV taped to one of them, and finally up to his face.

She smothered a gasp, fought to hold it together, and approached the bed. His eyes were swollen shut, the bruising all around them evident even with his dark skin. He had a line of stitches that extended down the left side of his scalp that veered over to his forehead. A bandage started at the top of his sternum and disappeared beneath the light blue gown he wore.

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