Page 31 of Guarded

He peered through the windows as they descended through the clouds. The lights of the darkened city finally appeared.

As they moved lower, Matt spotted the hospital and the landing pad on top of the roof. It was empty, saving him the trouble of having to fast rope out of the helo. Which he totally had been prepared to do if the pilots couldn’t land.

His heart beat faster as the pilots came in to land, lowering into a hover above the large red H marked on the concrete. The instant the wheels touched, the crew chief threw the door open. “Good luck,” he shouted, slapping Matt on the back.

He didn’t even look back at his team as he jumped out and ran for the door marking the top of the stairwell, realized only belatedly when a hand reached out to jerk the door open for him that Tuck had hopped out with him.

Matt looked at him as the rotor wash from the helo beat against their bodies, nodded once in silent thank you before he turned and ran down the darkened stairwell. He needed to get into the OR in time to be there for his wife and see their baby born.

Chapter Eight

The operating room was freezing, but it didn’t come close to the arctic level of cold inside her.

Briar shivered as she lay on her side, a pad wedged between her thighs to absorb the blood still coming out of her as the anesthetist pushed the needle into her lower back. She used the bite of pain to center her, push back the building wall of emotion that grew higher with each passing minute.

“Okay, spinal’s in,” he announced.

The door swung open and the female doctor walked in dressed in scrubs, a surgical mask loose around her neck. “Your friend said to tell you she contacted your husband. He’s on the way.”

For some reason that pushed her precariously close to losing the fight against the tears scalding the backs of her eyes. She could do this alone but she would much rather have Matt here. “Where is he now?”

“I’m not sure.” She glanced at the anesthetist, gave Briar a smile. “Almost ready. Let’s get this baby born.”

It had been less than a minute since the spinal went in but already her lower body was numb and unresponsive when she tried to move. A weird, unsettling feeling. She hated feeling trapped and helpless, and right now she was both.

The team positioned her on her back and began putting up the privacy barrier across her middle that would hide the procedure from her view. She didn’t mind blood and guts, but didn’t want to see her own as they operated.

As she lay there, the numbness in her lower body seemed to creep higher, reaching her lungs. All of a sudden it was harder to breathe.

A burst of panic flashed through her. “I can’t breathe,” she blurted out, breaking into a cold sweat. She couldn’t move. Couldn’t get enough air.

“The sensation you’re feeling is normal,” the anesthetist said behind her. “Just try to relax and keep breathing.”

Relax? Was he fucking kidding right now? Her baby’s life was in danger and she couldn’t do a damn thing about it.

But she did as he said, struggling through each breath, hating every second of this yet more terrified that her baby wouldn’t make it. Or that it wouldn’t survive long after being born.

That was too horrible to think about. She didn’t know what she would do if the baby died, and Matt… He would be leveled.

She wished he were here. Trinity had offered to come in with her during the operation and the doctor would have allowed it but Briar didn’t want anyone except her husband and if he couldn’t be here then she would do this alone.

The slow blip of the baby’s heartbeat beeped in the background. It seemed even slower than it had a few minutes ago.

Hurry, she urged them, battling the inclination to snap it. She was numb from the chest down. She just wanted the baby out so they could help it.

“All right, Briar. Can you feel this?” The doctor had her mask on now, a surgical shield over her face as she looked at Briar over the top of the blue curtain. A team of nurses stood by, ready to assist and whisk the baby off to the NICU once it was born.

Briar shook her head, unable to feel a thing but the heaviness in her lungs and the fear eating through her carefully constructed control. Each breath was an effort, like she had to force her lungs to inflate every time she inhaled. The shock made everything worse.

In a few minutes, she was going to be a mother. It was so hard to wrap her mind around that, or to move past the fear of what she would do if something was wrong with the baby.

“Okay, then we’re ready,” the doctor said.

Briar braced herself for what was coming, closed her eyes.Almost over. Stay calm. You can do this. Just please let the baby be all right.

Nausea welled up out of nowhere. She opened her eyes. Swallowed repeatedly, willing the sensation to pass, and clenched her teeth to keep them from chattering while she worked to breathe. Everything about this was worse than she had imagined.

Motion to the right caught her eye. She turned her head in time to see another nurse push the OR door open. “Hang on, we’ve got a last minute addition to our group,” she said, smiling at Briar.

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