Page 87 of Dead Fall (The Quantico Files 2)

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Alex’s eyes fluttered open. A nurse stood next to her bed.

“Where am I?” she whispered.

“In recovery. You made it through the operation just fine.”

The last two days slowly came back to her. She’d had to wait for surgery because the snowstorm had trapped the surgeon, who lived well beyond the outskirts of town. She was just grateful it was over. Even with medication, the pain had been excruciating, and it was hard to breathe.

Thankfully, another doctor treated her when she first checked in and determined her injuries weren’t life-threatening. “You’re lucky,” he’d said. “Hanging can cause significant damage to your throat.” He smiled. “Your friend Logan says getting you to stay quiet will be a challenge, but you have to if you want to get your voice back.”

She’d started to respond to him, but instead, she just gave him a thumbs-up.

Then he’d laughed. “Good job. Keep it up.”

He also confirmed that she had three broken ribs, and that one had punctured a lung. “When the surgeon gets here, she’ll get you fixed up. Make it easier for you to breathe. We don’t see any damage to your internal organs, but she’ll check that out too. You’ll need to rest for six weeks or so, but you’ll be fine.”

“We’ll move you to a room when you’re really awake,” the nurse said. “The doctor will talk to you soon. In the meantime, we’ll give you lots of nice drugs to keep the pain manageable.” She pointed to the IV bag next to Alex’s bed. “Morphine now, then we’ll switch you to something else.”

“Thank you.” Alex didn’t like pain medication. Anything that made her feel she’d lost some control bothered her. But this wasn’t the time to take a stand. This was the time to shut up and let the doctors and nurses do their work. Right now all she wanted to do was sleep.

“I’ll come back in a few minutes.”

Alex thanked the kind nurse again. She reached down to touch her chest. It was wrapped tightly. She tried to take a deep breath. It was uncomfortable, but at least she could breathe easier than before.

She nodded off more than once. But she wanted the privacy of her own room, so she fought to keep her eyes open. Finally, the nurse and an orderly returned.

“Ready?” she asked.

Alex nodded.

The orderly wheeled her out of recovery and down a long hall, the nurse keeping pace. So did one of the agents who’d been with her since she arrived. When they reached her room, the agent stayed in the hall, and the orderly pushed the padded gurney inside, where he and the nurse helped her into bed.

“Take it slow and easy,” the nurse said. “We don’t want to put pressure on those ribs.”

It took a while for Alex to finally get comfortable, but when she did, it felt heavenly.

The orderly pushed the gurney out of the room, and another nurse came in to take over. She covered Alex with a sheet and blanket, then hung her IV and attached another bag to the side of the bed.

“You’re hooked up to a catheter. For now just enjoy knowing you don’t have to get up.” She frowned. “You haven’t eaten in quite some time. I can give you something light, but nothing heavy yet.”

“I’m not hungry,” Alex whispered. “But maybe some water? To be perfectly honest, I just want to sleep.”

The nurse stepped to the side table, then filled a glass with water from a pitcher. “Just a little at a time,” she said when she brought it to Alex.

Alex took a few sips, then put the glass on her tray.

“I’ll get you a specially warmed blanket. Then you can get some sleep. And if you wake up in pain, push this button.” She pointed to a machine near the bed.

“Thank you.”

Alex was already drifting off when the nurse covered her with the second blanket. At that moment, she thought it might be the best thing she’d ever felt.

Logan had finished his lunch and was watching the news when Noah walked into his hospital room.

“How are you doing today?” he asked.

“Well, let’s see. They put screws in my ankle, put this stupid cast on my leg, and stuck my foot up in the air.” Logan pointed at his leg, elevated on top of a foam pillow. “How do you think I’m doing? But at least the doctor said I can go home later today, and I’ve been able to switch to over-the-counter pain meds. I’ll be fitted for a boot before I leave, and I have to use crutches for a while.”

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