Page 87 of Call Sign: King
“That’s different. I’m your husband.”
“Yes, and Trevor is my best friend. My Royal Guard. There are some weeks I spend more time with him and Madison than I do with you when you’re away on BSO business.”
“Not anymore. I’m never leaving you again,” he said, hugging her waist tighter to make his point.
Khloe smiled and then called his bluff. “I know you think that, but eventually, things will get back to some semblance of normal and you’ll need to travel for business again. Are you planning on taking your international movie star wife on missions with you?”
She paused, giving Ryder time to think through the future they would now be lucky enough to have together before adding. “Maybe it will be Trevor who is with me when you’re gone, but after this fiasco, I wouldn’t blame Madison if she is going to want him to retire because protecting me will always come with danger. Danger you and I gladly choose because we want to stay together but that Trevor may no longer be able to risk.”
When her husband still didn’t answer, she reached up to cup his face before pleading, “Please. I need to see him, and he needs to see me even more. He must be as frantic as you were before you saved me.”
Just thinking about Trevor resigning as her Royal Guard hurt Khloe’s heart, but she knew that was selfish. The only important thing was that he made a full recovery, something she knew he’d never do if he was still worried about her.
“Say we stop in Toronto,” Ryder said, pausing to reiterate, “I’m not saying we are… but if we stop there, just how do you propose we get you into the hospital without the throngs of news cameras and paparazzi parked outside and clogging the entrance from recognizing you?”
“Didn’t you know?” Khloe teased, flashing one of her smiles she knew melted her husband’s heart. “I’m an award-winning actress. I think I can pull it off.”
* * *
“This is a bad idea,”Ryder’s voice came through the small earpiece Khloe had in her left ear.
Before they’d left the Condor back at the small airport south of Toronto, Torch and his team had gotten her connected into the BSO comms link, calling her the honorary special ops agent of the day.
She knew her husband was not entirely happy with their present mission, but that was only because it called for him being more than two feet away from her. That she’d convinced him to turn her protection over to several of his team members this soon after being kidnapped was nothing short of a miracle.
Still out of ear shot of the throng of media personnel and police ahead, Khloe replied. “This is a good idea. I promise.” Taking a deep breath and leaning closer to Doc walking beside her, she added. “Okay, time to start the scene. Action!”
Khloe had a bit of fun giving their go signal, mimicking something she’d heard directors on set doing for years and more recently, the BSO team when they were starting a new phase of a mission.
On her right, Doc launched into the fake medical conversation they’d planned out. Dressed in a white doctor’s coat with a hospital employee’s badge pinned to her pocket, Doc looked the part of a Toronto General Hospital doctor.
On her left, Hawkeye was dressed in blue scrubs, looking every bit like a medical student. Considering he was the team’s most skilled medic, it wasn’t a stretch to envision him as a doctor, even if he carried a hidden weapon instead of a stethoscope today.
Between them, Khloe played the role of nurse. After a few jokes about the crew finding her a sexy nurse’s uniform that she might use in bedroom fun later with Ryder, they’d gotten serious and scored a legit nurse’s uniform for her from the Toronto hospital where her friends were recovering.
But the most important part of her costume design was the awesome hair and makeup job Rosa, her makeup artist working with her on the set of her most recent movie, had done. Axel had arranged with her director to have Rosa meet them at the airport with the red-headed wig and her makeup case. Within thirty minutes, not only had she covered up Khloe’s bruises, but she’d transformed Khloe from a twenty-nine-year-old blonde to a forty-five-year-old red head.
While the quick makeup job would never pass muster on a movie set, or even to fool her fans if she let them get close enough, she was sure it would be at least a good enough cover to get past the entrance. The fact that the trio walked right through the heart of the throng of reporters without being recognized proved how talented Rosa was.
“This way,” Hawkeye said, guiding his companions toward an elevator across the lobby, bypassing the information desk. “This is the long way, but it also avoids most of the security check points they’ve had to set up thanks to the media circus.”
Khloe should feel guilty, knowing all of these added headaches the hospital staff was going through were because the media was desperate for any tidbit on the salacious story of her kidnapping, but she was just too relieved that her friends were alive to care.
Once they got off the elevator, she was grateful to have Hawkeye leading the way through the maze of corridors. Hearing the whispers as she passed by one of the many nurse’s stations, she glanced up to see all work had stopped. The doctors and nurses had gathered into a small group, watching as if they knew Khloe would be passing.
While she didn’t want photos snapped for the gossip rags, she didn’t have any problems letting the people caring or her friends know she’d come for a visit. Deciding they were far enough away from the paparazzi, Khloe smiled, giving the medical staff a quick wave as she called out, “Thank you all for taking such good care of my friends,” as she passed. For a minute, it looked like some of them might approach her, probably asking for an autograph, but Hawkeye handled them.
“I’ll see if we can bring Khloe back here later to meet everyone, but I’m sure you understand that she’s anxious to visit Mr. McLean first.”
“Thanks,” she whispered to him as they successfully skirted around the crowd, letting him lead her to a stop just in front of heavy double doors where two familiar armed guards stood.
She recognized MacGyver immediately, rushing into his arms and giving him a huge hug.
“I already thanked Hawkeye outside, but I’m so glad I got to see you too. Ryder told me how much you two have been handling back here in Toronto while the rest of the team was in Moscow. I can’t thank you enough.”
“It’s my pleasure. I’m just damn sorry any of this happened in the first place.”
Pulling out of his welcoming hug, MacGyver held his arm out toward the second guard. Only then did she recognize it was Arrow. Khloe hugged their only female special agent.
