about the pain Megan had suffered.
Jack pulled a thermal blanket from his pack and wrapped her in it, then picked her up and held her. “It’s me, Megan. I’m right here. You’re safe.”
Matt approached, his face tight and grim. “How is she?”
“Alive.”
That was all that mattered. They would overcome what happened tonight because Megan was alive, and they were together. He wasn’t letting her go.
“The medics will be here in two minutes,” Matt said. They’d been waiting a half-mile down the road.
Matt touched Megan’s wet hair and cold skin. “What did Standler do to her?” he asked, his voice hard.
J.T. said, “Ice water. Needles. We need more blankets.”
Both J.T. and Matt removed their thermal blankets and Jack wrapped those around Megan as well. “Come on, Blondie, talk to me.”
She didn’t open her eyes. Her body was still shaking uncontrollably.
“She doesn’t know we’re here,” J.T. said, his tone clipped with restrained worry. He glanced at Matt with concern.
“Jack.” Megan’s voice came out a faint, hoarse rasp.
“I got you.” He held her tight against his chest.
She didn’t say anything else, and Jack felt her entire body relax against him and grow heavy. She’d passed out again. He had to get her to a hospital. He didn’t know what else Standler had done to her …
Jack carried Megan out of the cabin, side-stepping Karin Standler’s bloody body without a glance. The ambulance approached, the red twirling beams casting odd swaths of light against the breaking dawn. A generator roared to life and lights came on around the periphery.
Padre lay in the dirt fifteen yards from the front door. Dillon was there working on him. Jack ran over and squatted, still holding Megan tight against his chest.
“Dammit, Frank! You promised you wouldn’t get shot.”
“I’m okay.”
“She missed the damn vest,” Jack said.
Dillon was holding a field dressing hard against Padre’s left upper arm, where the shoulder met the bicep. The dressing was already soaked red. Blood had spread under him, soaking into the earth. “He’s lost a lot of blood,” Dillon said.
“We have the same blood type. I’ll give in the ambulance.”
“He’ll need it.”
“I’m okay,” Padre said again. “Megan?”
“Alive.”
“Is she okay?” His voice was weak, his breathing labored. J.T. strode over to the medics to push them to move faster than they already were.
“She will be.” Jack had to believe it, even as she lay unconscious in his arms.
“And Karin Standler?”
“Dead.”
“The plan worked,” Padre said, closing his eyes.
“Not well enough. Don’t you dare die on me, Frank.”
A half-smile crossed Padre’s lips, but he didn’t say anything. When the medics rushed up to them, he was unconscious, too.
CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
Megan sat in the hospital room feeling like an old woman. Sore and so bruised she could hardly move, she was finally being released. Six days was five days too long to stay in a hospital.
The door opened and she thought it was Jack; instead, it was Hans.
She hadn’t seen him since her first night in the hospital. Jack told her he’d flown back to Quantico the next morning. She’d been pretty much out of it.
“Megan.”
“Hi.”
“I heard you’re being released.”
“Finally.” She tried smiling, but faltered. Hans wasn’t the same man she’d begun this investigation with.
“You’re looking better.”
“Better is kind of relative.” She’d lost too much weight, had had borderline hypothermia, and then a severe fever from infection. She didn’t feel like her old self, but she had turned the corner. She was going home. Jack was flying her back to Sacramento today. He hadn’t left her room except to check on Padre.
Hans sat next to her on the bed.
Several minutes passed before Hans said, “I owe you an apology.”
“You don’t. Hans, whatever it is … we’re friends, right?”
He took her hand. “Always.” He paused. “I used to be married.”
Megan was surprised. She certainly hadn’t known that, or even suspected it. “Why did you keep it a secret?”
Hans stared ahead at the white wall of her room. He didn’t answer her question directly, but said, “Her name was Miriam. She was eight months pregnant with our daughter when she was killed in a robbery.” His words were choked. On a sob he said, “Because I didn’t … I didn’t get her ice cream.”
Everything came clear. Hans’s reaction and preoccupation after learning about the pregnant Loretta Hoffman being gunned down. Seeing her body, remembering his wife.
Megan wrapped her arms around Hans. She murmured sounds, not words, in his ear, to soothe him, and her. She’d never known he’d suffered such a violent tragedy. But he still should have trusted her with the truth.
“You could have told me.”
“I should have told you. I was having a hard time and I didn’t realize it. I didn’t see it right away.”
“Why did you go to the morgue to see Loretta Hoffman? You didn’t need to do that.”
He took a deep breath and pulled away. His voice caught. “I had to. Miriam … she was alive for a few hours after the shooting. I told her the baby was okay. I named her Jennifer, just like Mimi wanted to. But the baby didn’t live, never even took a breath, and neither did Mimi. She died there, after telling me to take care of our baby girl. I couldn’t stay-I didn’t want to see her dead. I didn’t want her to be dead! We were only twenty-one. We had our whole lives ahead of us. After she died, I couldn’t look at her, I couldn’t say good-bye. Now … I wish I had. I wish I had seen her one last time.”
Megan took his hand. “Maybe she wouldn’t have wanted you to see her like that. Isn’t it better to remember her as she was when she was alive?”
“Maybe you’re right. But …” He kissed her hand, tears in his eyes. “I’m here for two days to work with Detective Holden to finish the reports.”
“You can call me. I want to help.”
“I probably will.”
Jack stood in the doorway. “You’re not supposed to go back to work for another week.”
“I won’t. Just a phone call or two.”
“I’ll be watching you, you know that.”
She smiled. “I know that.”
Hans shook Jack’s hand. “Jack, take care.”
“You too.”
Hans left and Jack sat down. He gently pulled Megan into his lap and kissed her. “How are you?”
“Ready to get out of here.”
He held her close to him. “Sweetheart, I’m so sorry I couldn’t stop her from hurting you.”
