Page 76 of Burning Secrets

And it was over.

“Trying to get dressed?”

She stepped back, looked at the tape, grimaced.

“What?”

“You sure the X-rays came out clear?”

“I’m fine.” He drank the water, and then his stomach growled.

“Sounds like there might be an animal in there.” She held open his shirt. He slid one arm in, then the other, and then she put the shirt over his head and tugged it down.

He took the opportunity to grab onto her belt loops, both hands.

“I see how it is,” she said, smiling.

But as she pulled the shirt down, her hand ran over his tape, and horror flashed in her eyes.

“You saw the fight.”

“Yes.” She shook her head. “He really walloped you.”

His mouth tightened, and he nodded. “But Tristan had to find you, so…”

Her eyes widened. “Wait, are you saying?—”

“I’m saying that you’re worth the fight. That people mess with you, they mess with me.” He touched her cheek, his thumb caressing her face. “What was that about two are better than one?”

She touched his hand. “And a cord of three is not easily broken.”

Yes. “I’d sort of forgotten what hope felt like. And then you broke in, and you reminded me that truth shines in the darkness, and the darkness can’t overcome it.”

“And you reminded me that God is bigger than my fears. He will not betray me.”

“Neither will I,” he said and ran his hand behind her neck, tugging her down, lifting his face?—

Her phone buzzed in her pocket. She’d found it in Viper’s truck.

“Hold that thought,” she said and pulled it out. “Mom.” She looked at Crew and pointed down the hall.

He nodded and she stepped out of the room.

His hand went to his side. The burning sensation suggested he had a broken rib or two, despite the X-rays. Nothing he wouldn’t survive, because he’d escaped the SOR alive. And Viper was in custody, and sure, Jer might be on the lam, but they’d find him.

And with Jo’s discovery of the larger drone that could deliver the final payload, it was over.

He’d liked the wordpardonhe’d heard from Sheriff Starr. Maybe…

What if…

He slid off the table.

From nearby, the splash of a utensil tray brightened the room, and suddenly shouts, and Crew pushed back the curtain.

Viper stood in the hallway, a cut over his eye, bleeding down the side of his face. Darren, the male nurse, lay on the floor, bleeding from the mouth.

The zip-tie cuff dangled from one wrist.

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