Page 32 of K-9 Confidential

“Unfortunately, that’s not uncommon. Family and friends rarely have answers when something like this occurs, but I’m happy to request his medical records if that will help.” The doctor bounced her gaze to Granger and back. “What’s important is that you take care of yourself right now. You’re injured and running on fumes.”

“I don’t care.” The tears were back, and she hated them. She hated that she still felt something for the man who’d turned her into…whatever it was he wanted her to be. She hated that he still had this control over her, that he could get her to grieve for him. And she hated that he’d taken his deal with the people who’d abducted her into that body bag with him.

“Charlie.” Granger placed a supportive hand under her elbow. “Dr. Piel’s right. You look like you’re about to collapse. You need some sleep and a few thousand calories to help you recover.”

“I don’t want to sleep, and I don’t want to eat. I want to know what he meant by what he said.” She turned all that building anger onto the man who deserved it the least. It flooded through her, out of control. Her heart rate spiked. She couldn’t breathe, couldn’t think. The only thought in her mind was that last image of Henry Acker holding a razor blade to his neck. Over and over. She’d fed off her drive to stay one step ahead of her father for the past ten years, and now he just got to leave? That didn’t seem fair. “Stop them. What the hell is that supposed to mean, Granger? I have spent my entire life following his commands and cleaning up his messes. And now I’m just expected to…what? Take down an entire cartel at his suggestion?”

A rush of dizziness threatened to take her down. Charlie stumbled back into the wall. Low voices warbled in and out as Granger and Dr. Piel reached for her. Her legs gave out, and she collapsed. There were others closing in on her. Too close. “He wasn’t supposed to die.”

“She’s likely dehydrated. We need to get her to my exam room for an IV. Now.” Dr. Piel shoved to stand as strong arms threaded behind Charlie’s shoulders and along the backs of her knees. “Let’s go.”

“I’ve got you, Charlie. It’s going to be okay.” Granger held onto her, and she couldn’t help but want to bury herself in his strength. Walls and overhead lights blurred as he somehow managed to run with her weight at a full sprint. No matter the threat or the injury, he refused to back down, and she needed that right now. She needed his innate belief that the things they’d sacrificed could actually make the world a better place, because she was losing her grip. “We’re going to get through this.”

Her body hurt. She was tired. She didn’t want to do this anymore. Every decision that’d led her to this point had been to get justice for the lives Henry Acker had ruined, but there was no justice to be had anymore. There was nothing she could do to give them closure. Except to make sure her father’s deal withSangre por Sangrenever saw the light of day. “Put me down.”

Her voice barely carried over the pound of her own pulse. Charlie held onto consciousness by a single thread as exhaustion pulled at her muscles and brain. Time seemed to slip by. Second by second, minute by minute, and she had no control over it. Her head ached, and she couldn’t fight against the pull as her body tried to give up its fight.

Dr. Piel rushed ahead. “In here.”

Maneuvering her headfirst through the door, Granger angled her down onto the examination table. Bright lights bleached Charlie’s vision a split second before Granger centered himself over the source. “The doctor’s just going to give you a saline drip. You’re dehydrated and exhausted. You’ve got to give your body some time to recover.”

“No.” That single word slurred in her own ears. She tried to peel herself off the table, but Granger’s hand held her in place. “I can’t stay here.”

Confusion deepened the three distinct lines between his brows. “Charlie, you can barely stand on your own.”

“I don’t care. I have to leave. Please let me leave.” She fisted his shirt to haul herself upright.

“Granger, I need you to hold her still, or I’m going to puncture something I’m not supposed to.” Dr. Piel moved in close. Stinging pain pricked at the soft skin of Charlie’s inner elbow.

Her fight-or-flight kicked in. She ripped her arm back, tearing free of whatever the doctor had stabbed her with. Momentum forced her to overcorrect. The exam room blurred, and she hit the floor on the other side of the table. Adrenaline surged hot and fast. It replaced the pain spiking along her calf, and she managed to get to her feet.

“Charlie.” Granger moved to intercept her, but the doctor held a hand against his chest.

“Don’t, Granger. Give her space. She’s not thinking clearly,” Dr. Piel said. “Charlie, why do you need to leave?”

A massive migraine spread from the base of her skull. Charlie dared a step forward. Then another. She was capable of ordering her limbs to follow her commands, but something didn’t feel right. A numbness had taken hold. Not just in her body, but her mind. Using the end of the exam table to steady herself, Charlie took in the concern etched into Granger’s face. “Because my father was right. I’m the only one who can stopSangre por Sangre.”

“I told you before. You’re not in this alone. I know it feels that way, but it’s not true.” He raised his hands out in front of him, as though approaching a wild animal, and maybe he was right to do so. Maybe Granger should think about himself first for once. “Every operative in this place will do whatever it takes to make sure the cartel never regains power. Especially me.”

He wasn’t going to let her go. That was clear now, and the tears burned down her face. Walking away from him had been the hardest decision she’d ever made in her life. Not becoming his CI. Not choosing to betray her father and everything he believed in. But leaving Granger behind. Because she’d been in love with him. Was still in love with him.

She wasn’t sure why it’d taken her so long to realize that was the reason she’d survived her abduction. Something deep inside of her had wanted what they’d had back enough to fight for her life when the chances of surviving were the lowest. It’d been the possibility of being in his orbit that had driven her to attack the driver of a vehicle exceeding sixty miles an hour in the middle of the desert with no concern for the consequences. All she’d wanted these past ten years was to feel him again, to know she wasn’t alone.

And she had to save that.

Because the longer he sided with her in this battle, the higher chance she’d lose him all over again. They’d come too close to death. He wouldn’t survive the next time. She felt that truth in through the numbness, deep down into her bones.

So she had to hurt him. She had to make him see the truth. That there wouldn’t be a future for them as long as she kept running. Was that what her father had been trying to tell her?

Charlie spotted an array of surgical tools on a rolling cart a few feet away. She darted for the scalpel, and both Granger and Dr. Piel backed up. There was only one way out of this, and damn it, he was going to force her to use it. She recalled the turns they’d taken to get to this room despite the fog working to shut down her cognitive function. She had to go. Now. “Let me leave, Granger.”

“Why?” Understanding seemed to hit, and his expression crumbled right in front of her. Granger lowered his hands, facing off with her as he had the night they’d met. “Why are you doing this? After everything we’ve been through together, why can’t you trust me?”

Her hand shook around the scalpel. Four words formed in her mind, and it took everything in her power to force them out. “That’s the first lesson they teach you in Acker’s Army, Agent Morais. I don’t trust anyone.”

Charlie rounded the end of the exam table and headed for the door. Without so much as a glance backward, she ran.

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