Page 109 of Fire and Ice

"I've felt better, but I can't complain."

"She gives a new meaning to the term 'rock head'," Derek added. "So how did you two escape anyway? Maia hasn't been exactly forthcoming."

"Boring story," Maia answered quickly. "I had a blade in my shoe to cut the restraints. Then we used the oldplaying sickgame."

Derek laughed. "Don't tell me they actually fell for the stomach ache line?"

Rick looked at Maia thoughtfully before saying, "Not exactly."

"What?" Derek frowned.

"Rick ..." Maia warned.

"Our friend here seems to have a death wish."

"What, is this a bash-Maia day?" she grumbled.

"No, it's a Maia-intervention day," Rick retorted. "She incited Sergei to beat her up."

"The bruising on her face wasn't from the explosion?" Derek asked as he looked at Maia with concern.

"Nope, and I bet her ribs are worse. Sergei kicked her good," Rick said without apology.

"Gee thanks, tattle-tale," Maia snapped and then yelped in outrage when Derek tried to raise her pajama top to look at her torso. "Hey!"

But Derek, in a rare departure from his general easy-going demeanor, out-armed her. He hissed at the fierce black and blue bruising that covered more than half of her abdomen.

"This was from Sergei?" Derek asked angrily.

"Makes you want to kill the bastard all over again, doesn't it," Rick said.

"Look, some of it may have come from the explosion. I did have a table land on me after all," Maia explained. "Doctor Anderson said none of my ribs were cracked. They did a full body MRI, I'm fine."

"He had a gun to your head too," Rick added, sounding pissed-off all over again. "And you down on the floor with blood gushing from your mouth still mouthing off and daring him to pull that trigger. Jesus, Maia you need to work on your instincts for self-preservation."

"Jack's gonna go through the roof," Derek murmured in reflection.

"You are not telling him anything," Maia ordered, then turning to Rick. "That's enough from you. If all you've come here for is to lecture me, you can leave."

Rick didn't seem deterred at all. "Maia, sweetie, I promised myself if we got out of there alive, I was going to give you a piece of my mind. It bothers the shit out of me that you talked me into letting you be the one to take the shot at the tank."

Maia rolled her eyes and groaned, "Not that again."

"You castrate a man with your take-no-prisoners approach," Rick said fiercely. "It should be me in that bed, not you."

Maia's eyes softened. It was not the first time men in her team had felt the need to be the man and protect her when they could. It had been a struggle in the beginning but after her long years at the AGS and having proven herself numerous times she didn't even think of things being a gender issue. Which was why when she made snap decisions, gender was never factored in, just the best person for the job.

"But didn't my logic make sense? You think I could have dug you out to give you CPR in time?"

Rick grunted his agreement.

"By the way, what happened to Lizveta?" Maia asked, changing the subject.

"She's under DEA custody right now, but I've weighed in and told my superiors to be lenient with her and that she may have been an unwilling participant. They're still investigating, though."

"No other survivors?"

"None. Even the guard we tied up. Reznikov's men freed him and he was part of the assault at the lab."

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