Page 24 of Hacker Salvation

“I’ve seen it used in another mob case.”

My jaw hardened. “So those men leaving Nate’s office are behind this?”

Gabriel paced in front of the hospital bed. “That was my first thought, but whoever built the bomb wasn’t an expert, and when the mob tries to off someone, they do it correctly. Because if the person they hire messes up, that person is taken out. This bomb wasn’t built correctly.”

“Do you really think the mob is trying to kill me?” Annabella’s lip started to tremble. “Maybe Nate is dead and the info we found is wrong.”

I couldn’t hold back any longer. I tugged her from the chair onto my bed. Neal looked up from the laptop and smirked. She didn’t protest and snuggled up next to me.

“We still need to go to Nicaragua and look into the info Neal found,” I said. “And I’m not letting you out of my sight until we figure out what is going on. So it looks like I’m not going to complain any longer about you coming with.”

Neal tapped his fingers on the keys. “Jacob went to the private airfield to get set up. We have a four-seat cargo plane waiting to take you to Nicaragua in the morning. I picked up Annabella’s fake passport. She will need to dye her hair tonight. We don’t want any chance of her being recognized. We don’t have time for you guys to sail there on a boat. The fastest way is to try to sneak you out of the country by plane.”

Waiting until morning wouldn’t be helpful. We needed to handle the situation tonight. “Why can’t we leave now?”

Gabriel shook his head. “Dude, you have a concussion. You can’t leave until morning.”

I narrowed my eyes at him. “I can handle my concussion. And when did you go from calling me sir to dude?”

Gabriel shrugged. “It’s been a long day. I’m going to grab something to eat then go help Jacob. If you need anything, let us know.”

Annabella tapped me on the shoulder. “You should be nicer to him. He saved my life today.”

The thought of Annabella almost dying had my nerves on edge. It would be hard to control myself if we find Nate. In fact, it would take everything in me not to kill the fucker. How could someone leave Annabella with all of this baggage?

Aaron and the doctor walked in a couple of minutes after Gabriel left. They didn’t say anything about the fact that Annabella was next to me. I wasn’t about to give them a chance. She settled something inside me. Having her next to me felt perfect. We would need to discuss what was happening between us. After hearing she could have died, I had an overwhelming need to protect her. Annabella deserved to be with someone who cared about her and didn’t leave her with the possibility of being set up for murder.

“Good evening, Mr. Waters,” the doctor said.

Annabella tried to scoot out of bed, but I tightened my grip around her waist.

“When can I get out of here?”

The doctor smiled. “I can always tell when I have an ex-military man as a patient. They never even ask what’s wrong, just ‘when can I leave?’ ”

“I feel fine,” I grumbled.

The doctor opened the chart and glanced at it. “You have a concussion and were unconscious for a couple hours. I want to watch over you for a couple more hours. Then you can go home as long as you have someone to watch you tonight.”

“What do I need to do?” Annabella asked.

The doctor handed her a piece of paper with information on concussions and what to look out for. “If you need anything else, please don’t hesitate to ask.” He nodded to me. “Thank you for your service.” Then he turned and left.

“If I’m going to be released in a couple hours, I think we should leave tonight.”

Aaron leaned forward in his chair. “No. I already talked to Brock. They’re working on gathering more information before you head down. You will be fine going in the morning. You took a good hit to the head—you don’t need to be jetting off tonight. We want to make sure you have to even go. Brock has a contact down there who’s going to see if they can get a glimpse of Nate before you leave.”

Annabella laid her head down on my shoulder and grabbed my hand. “I agree with Brock, let’s go tomorrow. Don’t get me wrong—I want to figure out what is going on—but your health is more important.”

Neal cursed from the chair. “You might want to call your sister.”

Confusion furrowed my brow. “Why?”

Neal reached for the controller and turned on the TV. My face flashed across the screen. The news anchors were discussing whether Annabella and I were having an affair and if that might be the reason she’d killed him or had him murdered.

“The news media is talking about you and Annabella dating. She’s probably already arranged the wedding. We all know how much Addie loves Annabella,” Neal said as a picture of me and Annabella on the sheriff’s office steps flashed across the screen. “You know the media will be hounding her for answers.”

“I’ll call her in a few. I don’t understand why they are so adamant he’s dead.” I grumbled.

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