Page 24 of Knight's Journey

“Do you know Dr. Masters?”

Zane abruptly released her. “No. But he’s a player. You deserve better.”

“Why would you say that? You don’t know him or me for that matter.”

“No need to get defensive. I was raised by a single mom. I’m just looking out for another single mom.”

She softened, his explanation chipping away at her defenses more effectively than a jackhammer. “Not that it’s any of your business, Mr. Wilder, but I don’t date people I work with. If you need anything, use your call button. See you tomorrow if you’re not discharged first.”

Bridget left before Zane had a chance to stop her again. She made quick work of her end-of-shift duties, hurriedly gathered her things and headed to the hospital lobby as if the hounds of hell were on her heels. She didn’t slow down until she was in her car with the door secured behind her. She rested her head against the headrest and released a long, shaky breath. Her heart continued to pound, and her stomach felt the flutter of butterflies.

Tomorrow, if Zane wasn’t discharged before her shift started, she would ask Charlotte to assign Amy to him. She needed a break from his intoxicating and unnerving presence. Her request would likely raise questions from her supervisor, but she had no other choice if she hoped to protect her peace of mind.

∞∞∞

“You can’t bench me now. This is my case.”

Zane struggled to keep his voice from rising, but he could do little to maintain a normal blood pressure. Hopefully, none of the nurses would notice and come to check on him. He wasn’t ready for them to order Jay and Tristin out of his room until he had a chance to change their minds.

When the two walked into his room, Zane sat up straighter and barely exchanged hellos with them when he began sharing all of the case details he’d jotted down. He didn’t leave out even the smallest note because until they figured out how his cover was blown, they weren’t ready to rule any information as significant or not. He didn’t expect Jay to say his involvement with the case was on hold while he healed.

“You’re in no shape to work this case, and besides, your cover was blown. De la Peña thinks you died in the warehouse, but if you put yourself out there to investigate the case, he’ll come after you or send someone after you. Our intel at this point is shaky at best. Until we know more, you’re better off laying low.”

Zane wanted to shout his frustration, especially when he couldn’t logically disagree with his team leader. “You need me on this case. Thumper and Singer are the moles, and they ratted me out to throw suspicion off them. I’m sure of it. I got a vibe from them, but then all hell broke loose.”

“Any idea who they might be working for?” Jay didn’t question his teammate’s “vibe.” He trusted the instincts of each man on the Alpha Team, and since Zane was the only one present when the attack went down, he was the one who could speak to the subtle clues he observed.

“They mentioned Cal Russo, probably to see if they’d get a reaction from me, but I don’t think it’s him. Then they threw out the name Morrison. I don’t know who he is, but the look Singer and Thumper gave each other made me think they knew.”

“There was nothing in the ATF’s file about a Morrison.”

“Yeah, and in the year I’ve been under, I’ve never heard the name mentioned at all until the night I was stabbed.”

“So the key is this Morrison,” Jay surmised. “We need to find out more about him, and maybe we can use him to bring De la Peña down.”

“Or if he’s as bad as Armando and Elian, we can take them all down. That’s why you can’t bench me.”

“Until I know they aren’t coming for you, I don’t have a choice. Think about it, Zane. If they track you down, then they can find Payton and Davi. No way in hell can I let that happen.”

Just the mention of Jay’s family was enough to take the steam out of Zane’s argument. As the best friend of Jay’s sister, Addison, Payton had been in his life a long time, but it wasn’t until a year ago, when Payton inadvertently landed on De la Peña’s radar, that the two of them became reacquainted, eventually married and included Davi in their family.

Zane hadn’t been around Payton and Davi much since he went undercover shortly after Payton and Jay married, but they were already ingrained in the KSI family. After all they’d been through, Zane couldn’t be the reason they were back in De la Peña’s sights. Though he’d never heard any mention of retaliation, he knew how close to the vest the gun runner kept his plans, especially those seeking vengeance.

“Okay, I’ll back off the case,” Zane conceded. “But let me at least help Kat and Syd in the command center. I’ll lose my mind if I’m stuck at home while you guys are chasing leads on my case.”

Tristin exchanged a glance with Jay. “I figured you would say that, but I have a different assignment for you. Brick has a case, and since we’ve called all hands on deck to investigate your stabbing, he could use some help with the case.”

“Shit, Jay. It’s one thing to take me off my case. It’s another to put me on cheating-husband duty. Why are we even taking on a new case of any kind when everyone is working my case?”

“It’s not a cheating husband. It’s a family. The details are complicated, so you just worry with taking care of yourself. We can talk shop once you’ve been discharged. I’ll keep you posted on what we find out about De la Peña.”

“This is shit, Tryst. I’ve lost a year of my life because of these people with nothing to show for it. I need to be the one to see this through.”

“Get your head out of your ass,” Jay admonished. “This is not personal, and whether you admit it out loud or not, you know this is the right move. Stop acting like a brat.”

Zane barked out a laugh. “Love you too, man.”

Jay and Tristin stayed a few more minutes before heading back to work. For the first time in a long time, Zane was left feeling helpless, and it was a feeling he refused to let stick around. Somehow he would find a way to close his case and track down the ones who put him in the hospital.

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