Page 66 of Lethal Pursuit

What?“I thought they’d send me to Germany.” She could’ve sworn that was what they’d told her before loading her on that flight. Had she been that out of it?

“They changed their minds.”

Or he’d pulled strings for some reason and changed their minds for them. Licking her dry lips, she nodded at her cast. “Any idea what they did to me?” The ache in her wrist was way better, that was for sure. Her fingers were still swollen though. Her cheek and ribs felt pretty much like shit.

“They set five bones in your wrist with pins and screws and are treating you for pneumonia. The doctors came by a while ago, but you were still out so they’ll be back in another hour or so to give you the full rundown.”

So Jackson had been right about the pneumonia. He was going to be one hell of a doctor when he made it through med school, she thought with a twinge of yearning. It hurt too much to think about not seeing him. With him in a different country for at least the foreseeable future, she wasn’t sure when she’d be able to see him. Or if she even would. She forced the image of his face from her mind and took stock of what was happening with her body.

“How’s your leg?” she asked.

Haversham grunted and frowned at the cast. “Hurts like a bitch, actually, but thanks for asking.”

“Sure.” Now that she thought about it, it did seem a bit easier to breathe. Her chest wasn’t quite so tight. The achy feeling in her muscles and the pervasive chills told her she must still be feverish. An IV pole beside her bed held some bags of fluids that dripped into the vein in her right arm. It creeped her out, thinking of that thing sticking out of her arm. She looked over at Doug instead. “Antibiotics?”

“I’d think so. You were one sick lady.”

Yeah, but she didn’t care about any of that right now. She couldn’t stand not knowing about Jackson for another second. “What happened with Jackson? Is he here?” She didn’t bother using his rank, since Doug knew about their...attachment to each other. Maybe it wasn’t a relationship as things stood now, but she’d like it to be. Man, she wanted that more than anything. He’d gotten inside her so deep it almost frightened her. Except for Pilar, she’d never imagined caring about anyone. The thought of living without him triggered a flare of panic and grief in her gut.

“I figured you’d ask me as soon as you woke up, so I wrote downall the details to make sure I didn’t miss anything. Damn meds are screwing with my mind.” He flipped through a folder on the desk and removed a sheet of paper covered with his bold scrawl. “The surgeons operated last night soon after he was brought in. The operation went well and they stopped the internal bleeding. He’s still in the hospital back at Kandahar and they’re going to keep him for another day or two before sending him through Germany and then stateside.”

Her heart sunk a little at that, because it meant she definitely wouldn’t get to see him. “And what about his prognosis? What kind of damage did the bullet do—?”

“Hang on, I was getting to that part.” He scanned his notes. “The bullet perforated part of his bowel but missed his bladder and kidneys. Apparently they think it was a ricochet, rather than a direct hit, and some fragments from the aircraft. At any rate, they fixed everything up and are treating him with heavy-duty antibiotics to fight any infection from the perforation.” He looked up at her. “They think he’ll be up and walking today, and there’s no reason why he shouldn’t be able to recover enough to return to active duty in a few months after some rehab.”

Maya sank back against her pillow, dizzy with relief, but she didn’t want to think about him returning to duty. Hell,shedidn’t want to think about having to return to duty right now.

“What about you?”

She met his gaze. “What do you mean?”

He set the paper down, pushed the rolling table away and wheeled himself over to the side of her bed. “What are you going to do after this?”

She shrugged, then the coughing spell started. Wincing, she partially sat up and ripped the oxygen mask away to cover her mouth with her right forearm. Her ribs still hurt like a bitch, but she could feel the new binding they’d wrapped around her. Once the coughing stopped, it took a moment for her to get her breath back. This time she was happy to put the oxygen mask back on. “I assume they’ll send me back home to recover, since I won’t do much good over here for the time being.”

He nodded slowly, his thoughtful expression making her think heknew something she’d didn’t. “Where will you go?”

She frowned at the question. “Home.”

“You have a place to stay?”

“My apartment off base.” The question threw her. Where else would she go?

After staring at her for a moment, he broke eye contact and fiddled with the blanket on his lap. “I checked into your background this morning.”

Whoa, wait. Maya removed the mask and raised an eyebrow. He’d had time to dig into her information after having surgery?

A small smile played at the corner of his mouth. “Well, okay, I had my staff do that.” His expression changed, softened. “They couldn’t find a living relative to inform about your injuries.”

So her grandmother was dead then. She’d wondered about it over the years. And she wasn’t sad to hear she was gone, because that old woman hadn’t lifted a finger to intervene when she’d found out what her son had done to Pilar. No, she’d done the unforgiveable and ignored it, while her granddaughter was repeatedly raped beneath her roof.

The empathy in Haversham’s eyes made her angry. The only family she’d ever cared about was Pili, and she’d died years ago. So she was alone. A lot of people were. She didn’t need anyone’s pity. “And?”

“And so I wanted to know if there was someone who could maybe stay with you while you recover.”

“It’s a broken wrist and some banged-up ribs, not a spinal cord injury. I think I can handle it.” And the Air Force would step in to find her extra care if she couldn’t.

Now his lips quirked. “I meant being tired and weak while you fight off the pneumonia, but I figured you’d feel that way. If you change your mind, though—”

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