Page 159 of Secret Service

ChapterThirty-Four

Reese

Now

Brennan spends the night at Bethesda Naval Hospital. I stay by his side. I’m not on duty, and I’m not pretending to be. I’m sitting at his bedside and holding his hand.

Nuñez steps up as my temporary second-in-command. She turns Bethesda into a fortress, every one of my agents outfitted in their full tactical rig. If anyone comes for a second try at Brennan, they won’t get farther than an inch.

No one does.

For now, the threat has passed. President Kirilov has vanished, and a general several rungs down the pecking order appeared on Russian state television, denouncing him and Henry and Quinten and the whole conspiracy. The general even offers to meet in Vienna for peace talks with the government of Ukraine in exchange for a conversation about easing those sanctions on Russia’s military officers.

Anatoly doesn’t answer when I call. Maybe that palace coup took place. Kirilov was desperate, Anatoly had said. Moves were being made, by Kirilov and by others. Maybe kidnapping Brennan was Kirilov’s—and Quinten’s—last gamble, one that didn’t pay off.

Brennan has two broken ribs, a broken hand, a split lip, a black eye, bruises and cuts over his whole body, and the lingering remnants of benzodiazepines in his system. He tells his story to the vice president, the attorney general, the director of the FBI, and Director Britton from his hospital bed. I turn over Henry’s PlayStation hard drive and give my minute-by-minute account of the last twenty-four hours.

I make sure everyone knows Sheridan is a hero.

Brennan finally falls asleep once everyone leaves. I hold his hand and watch him breathe.

Will I be able to close my eyes again?

If I do, will I see Henry in my nightmares? Not the man I worked with for years, but the monster from those last moments?

How can I ever let Brennan out of my sight after this?

Despite my fears, my eyes slip closed as I’m stroking my thumb over the back of Brennan’s hand, and I sleep like I’ve fallen into a black hole. Three hours later, I jerk awake, reaching for my weapon as I instinctively move to cover Brennan.

He’s awake, and he’s watching me. He smiles. “I’m okay. I’m right here.”

My hand shakes as I try to holster my weapon. It takes me three tries to get it in. “Bordel de merde,” I mutter. Then, “I’m sorry. Brennan, I’m so sorry—”

He cuts me off. “Stop. It’s not your fault. Henry played all of us.”

“I thought he supported us.”

But he didn’t. All that time, Henry was laying the foundation for his betrayal, setting me up so he could use my love for Brennan against me.

“I suspect we have different support now.” He nods toward the door. Three agents are standing guard, and not a word has been said about Brennan and me.

We sit in silence for a few minutes, holding hands and listening to his monitor beep a steady rhythm. He’s holding my left hand, and he rubs his thumb over my ring finger.

“Reese,” he finally says. He reaches into the pocket of his sweats, brought for him from the White House, and pulls out a ring. It’s a simple gold band, and he’s holding it out to me.

I’ve thought my heart would stop a hundred different times since 1:17 yesterday morning, when Sheridan woke me up to tell me they’d lost contact with Brennan and Henry’s SUV. I thought the next second would be my last, over and over again.

No. Now, this moment—this is what I won’t survive.

“I was afraid today,” Brennan says. “Not because I was afraid to die, but because if I did, you wouldn’t have known that I wanted to do this. I kept myself going by telling myself that when you rescued me, I wouldn’t let another day pass without asking you…”

He holds the ring at my finger.

“Spend forever with me, Reese. Will you marry me?”

I can’t say a thing. I nod, and when he slides the ring on me, I bury my face in his chest as the fears I’ve held in a stranglehold for twenty-four hours finally break free. My tears fall and soak the bandage over his ribs, and he runs his hand through my hair, kissing the top of my head as he whispers, “I love you,” and “I knew you would save me.”

Dawn’s first light slips between the blinds of his hospital room. Brennan takes my hand and kisses my ring finger and his engagement ring. “Made it.”

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