“You need some sleep, Chief,” I said.
He snorted. “Sleep? What’s that? And speak for yourself. You look like hell.”
The nurse gave him the stink eye as she left the room. Disapproval must look the same in any language.
“I need to head back.” He laid a smartphone on the table beside me. “Bart got this hooked up for you. Your Mom’s been calling. Xene, too.”
“Thanks.” I paused. “And thanks for not yelling at me.”
“Oh, I want to most of the time, believe me.” His expression was sour. “But look. Assignments don’t always go right. You gotta roll with them. You did that. And somehow you pulled it off. Veena is safe, and you aren’t dead. You might be a pain in the ass girl who needs to learn how to follow a damn direction, but when you do, I think you’ll make a fine CPO, Green.”
Surprise and pride mingled in my chest.
“Now,” he said, “will you please do me a favor and keep your butt in that bed until the doctors discharge you? If I see you anywhere else but this hospital, you won’t get that glowing recommendation I’m writing so you can get yourself killed in some other part of the world that you can’t identify.”
“Yes, sir.”
But I lied. If Veena got the chance to ride for gold, I’d be there, discharged or not.
The medical staff was in no hurry to let me out. And when I heard the Committee not only decided Veena deserved to complete her final run in the halfpipe, but would give her a few days to rest first, I wasn’t in a hurry to go. In Switzerland, hospital food wasn’t bad.
A few mornings later, I laid in bed, eyes closed, when I heard the door to my room slide open. Probably a nurse.
Except, the nurses came in chirping in French or German or English, checking this or that, asking how I was. The last one had taken the IV out of my arm; he’d said they were waiting for the discharge paperwork. This one was silent.
Heavy footsteps moved toward my bed.
When whoever it was reached the side of the bed, luckily on my good side, my hand shot to his neck. The intruder yelped, and my eyes shot open. Connor.
I let him go, and he limped back a step. He wore baggy street clothes, his face was pale under the tan, and his hair looked like it hadn’t seen a comb in a while. He carried a clear plastic bag stuffed with clothes.
“Who the hell are you,” I asked, “and why did you lie to me?”
He held out his right hand as if to introduce himself. “Connor Crowley. Vail ski patrol.”
“Stop lying!”
“I’m not lying. That’s my name, and that’s what I was hired to do.” He paused. “But that wasn’t all I was hired to do.” He eased himself into the chair Brown had used, and Veena last night when she’d visited. Connor’s injured thigh was huge, like it was wrapped up under his pants leg.
I crossed my arms over my chest, wishing I could confront him in something other than a thin flowered hospital gown.
“All right. What else were you hired to do?”
“Protect Veena.”
“Whatever. That was my job.”
“And you were amazing.” He looked down at his folded hands. “But . . . her parents weren’t sure, when you were hired, if you had the chops for it. No one was. Well, no one except Veena.”
“What are you talking about?” I asked.
“Let me start from the beginning.” He closed his eyes for a second and took a deep breath, shifting his leg. “Almost everything I told you was true. I was a snowboarder. I was pretty good, and if I hadn’t gotten hurt, maybe I could have gone pro. I started helping out in the training room at my high school while I was recuperating, and I liked it.” He looked sincere, but he’d looked that way before when he’d lied his face off.
“What I didn’t tell you was that my uncle—my dad’s younger brother—is a CPO. He was military, and when he left the service, he got into executive protection. When I was growing up, Uncle Sean would come to visit, full of stories of cities he’d traveled to and interesting people he’d met. I hung on every word. Every part of it sounded exciting. Travel, adventure, even the danger. I’d been a snowboarder after all. We live on adrenaline.”
After my time at VMA, I knew that was true.
“I was young for my grade; I graduated high school at seventeen. Uncle Sean recommended an executive security training program in the Boston area. When I graduated from that, he put in a good word for me and helped me get my first job.”
I shook my head to clear it. “Wait—you’re a CPO, too?” He nodded. I didn’t know what to think about that. About any of it. “How does Veena come in?”
“I was finishing up an assignment in New York City—”
“How many jobs have you had? Did you lie about your age, too?”
“No. This is my twelfth job in the last year and a half. Most have been short, boring as hell protection assignments. A couple weeks or weekends in DC, LA, Chicago, Dallas, New York. So, I was pretty surprised when my chief called to say he had an unusual opportunity for me.” He glanced at me. “The Venkatesans had hired you, but they wanted a backup team. I had the paramedic and athletic training experience, and I could snowboard. They pulled some strings and got me on staff with the Vail ski patrol so I could be on the mountain with her, and as a volunteer trainer with the U.S. Ski Team so I could go with her to Laax.”
“Hold on . . . did my team know about this?”
He sighed. “None of us were happy about the arrangement, but the clients insisted.”
Connor worked for the Venkatesans. Brown and my team knew. Which meant all this time—all those chances Brown gave
