Page 144 of Viral Justice

He sank down to his knees and leaned his forehead against the rail of the bed. “I love you,” he told her. Her heartbeat sped up once more and tears rolled down his face. “I love you,” he said again. “You’ve shown me every moment since the day I met you what courage was. I thought it meant keeping your word and causing no harm to anyone, but you’ve shown me real courage has to be ready to fight for what’s right. I’ve been so afraid of fighting, afraid I wouldn’t be able to think through the rage. You showed me how to stay me and still fight. I want to wake up next to you every morning for the next forty or fifty years. I want to be your partner, your friend, and your lover.”

He wiped the wetness away, but there was no stopping the waterfall of grief. “Fight for me, Ali. Fight for us. Don’t go.”

He hadn’t cried since his father had destroyed their family.

Now he did.

Chapter Thirty-Three

Max woke to someoneshaking his arm.

“Sir? Colonel Maximillian, sir?”

He looked up into the masked face of a nurse he didn’t recognize. “Yes? What is it?” He sat up and realized he’d fallen asleep on the floor in Alicia’s intensive care room. “How is Ali?”

“Her oxygen saturation started to go up about twenty minutes ago. It’s at ninety right now... Wait, it went up again to ninety-one.”

Max got to his feet and looked at all the monitors. He put his stethoscope in his ears and listened to her lungs. They sounded less congested. “Can we get X-ray in here to do some chest pictures? I want to see if her lungs have cleared at all.”

“Yes, sir.”

They’d done a chest X-ray only eight hours ago. It was probably going to look the same, solid white lungs instead of ghostly, but increasing oxygen saturation was a good sign.

The tech came, took the chest X-rays then showed him the images on a tablet. Max stared at them, shock holding him frozen for several seconds.

Her lungs were clear.

They’d been completely congested only eight hours ago. “How is this possible?” he whispered to himself.

“She’s a fighter,” one of the nurses said behind him.

Exactly what General Stone said ten minutes later when Max gave him the news.

“She’s a stubborn thing, my daughter.” The general patted Max on the shoulder. “I told you she’d pull through.”

“She’s remarkable.” Max didn’t care that he sounded as far from detached as a man could get.

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