Page 104 of Ricochet

CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN

Nothing that Adelia saw inside Delta’s safe house came close to what her wildest imagination could’ve come up with before she walked in the door, arm in arm, with Colin. He, however, bleeding far more than she’d realized and choking down grunts of pain, didn’t notice as they stepped into another world.

An entire medical team awaited Colin, prepped for surgery, with amakeshift operating room set up in the middle of the large house’s empty living room. The plastic tent draped tall and wide enough to support medical equipment and the gurney that they quickly moved him to, taking readings and undressing him before she could get a word in to say good-bye.

“Wait.” He pushed a mask away from his face. “Adelia.”

She scurried over despite the protest of the medicalteam around him. It wasn’t the first time she’d seen a man shot, but it was the first time it almost killed her too. He’d taken a bullet for her, and now that his chest was bare, wet and dry blood covering his skin, she realized how much he’d almost sacrificed. “My armor is off. I promise.”

His smile flickered then the mask went over his face again, and she was shooed from the makeshift operatingroom with strict orders to stay out.

Each step away from him made her cold as she moved down a hall that had been transformed into biohazard safe zone with labeled trashcans and into a kitchen stocked with special soap, scrubs, and towels.

The kitchen had a cutaway over the counter and sink, and numbly, she stared through the blurred plastic draping wondering how the entire set-up could havebeen pulled together by the time they arrived.

Noises beeped. Doctors chattered. This could be a medical drama movie set with actors in costume, but it wasn’t. The machines were real. Their talk and jargon, their assessments and moves, everything that she’d expect to see if she’d made a list based on a TV-checklist was well under works as IVs dripped and nurses passed tools for the surgeon andteam who operated and flowed at the whim of Colin’s vital signs.

This was what she’d wanted to avoid—Colin hurt. She didn’t want anyone who she cared for to be sucked into this screwed up headache. Adelia wanted to call Seven or Victoria. One of them would know what to say, or maybe not, because even with all the protections and training that Delta team offered, Colin lay in surgery now becauseof her.

She pressed her blood-stained fingers to her temples. The beeps and buzz saving his life poked at her guilt, tightening the anxiety in her chest. Every second ticked on, and she felt worse. He could’ve died.Dead. Dying.The morbid words echoed in her head. “What’s wrong with me?”

Adelia threw her hands down, holding them in front of her face until her stomach turned, and she slappedon the sink faucet and covered them in soap and suds. A river of dark red washed away, but no matter how hard she’d scrubbed, she couldn’t get the darkness from under her nails.

The more she stared, the more she wasn’t sure it was there. “I’m losing it.”

Even her tongue felt out of place in her mouth. Her voice seemed fuzzy, and reality was too much. She swayed, needing to sit. Probably tosleep. Yet, she couldn’t pull her gaze away from the fingernails she couldn’t rid of Colin’s blood.

Was she ready to face the punishment for her crimes against Mayhem? Could Colin really talk them down?

What did it matter?

It didn’t. Not anymore, not when she had lived this long for a reason, Colin had bled for her, and now Lenora had given her a taste of that addictive, dark need for revenge.Monster hunting. Removing Gloria Astor was taking out a figurehead. Taking her out meant the possibility of crumpling a regime, and Adelia had never been an addict until she now. Knowledge was power, and the cold hunger hit and multiplied. She clung to the edge of the sink, buzzing from a sleep-deprived, adrenaline-fueled high that made her thirst desperately to see Gloria fall from her untouchablereign.

The plastic tent parted as a scrub-covered man emerged, pulling off a surgical mask. His sharp eyes assessed her as he tore off gloves and tossed them into the medical waste bin, and he walked to the kitchen.

“How is he?” she asked, having no idea who this man was or what he did.

The man came beside her at the sink, and they both stared through the kitchen cut into the living room atthe ongoing surgery. “He’ll be fine. They need to cauterize an artery, and then he needs to take it easy for a day or two—as much as you folks take it easy.”

“I don’t work with him.” Guilt stabbed her tired muscles. “I’m just the reason he was shot.”

“Bet he didn’t appreciate that.”

She would’ve laughed, but the man was right. Everyone she loved should stay away from her. She had already hurtTex in a way that he would never admit, and now she had risked Colin’s life, all because of her choices. “I have to leave before he wakes up.”

“You can’t.” Disgusted confusion twisted his lips. “Who will be here?”

Panic twisted around her neck, strangling her with a leash tied to the man she wanted to protect. “What about you? Or those people?”

“That’s not how this contract works. We showup when we get the call and then we disappear. No questions asked.”

She didn’t get it. “What am I supposed to do?”

“Not my problem.” His intelligent eyes assessed her. “Call the people who contracted us?”

“I don’t know them.” But that wasn’t true.

“You know them enough they took a bullet for you, and you’re here. That doesn’t happen often.”

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