Page 35 of Black Bay Protector
Paigecouldn’tsleep.Herbody was exhausted, but her mind refused to quiet down. While she understood why she couldn’t go with Jace on an active mission, not knowing what was going on was driving her mad. What if the government had discovered what they were up to and sent teams to stop them? What if they underestimated the guards they’d be facing? What if the information that the doctor woman had given them had been wrong and the upgraded soldiers were waiting for them? What if he had to fight Grady? What if he was killed?
Jace may have amazing healing abilities but there had to be a limit to what even he could recover from and if he faced her brother, he might hesitate where Grady, in his current state, wouldn’t. Too many variables. Too many things that could go wrong. She should have told him she loved him too… It was stupid of her to get distracted and leave the words unsaid. She should have shouted it to him as he was leaving.
With a quiet sound of frustration, Paige gave up trying to sleep and wandered around the apartment. While the place was bigger than hers had been, there wasn’t much to see. Everything was tidy, but there were no personal touches anywhere. No pictures on the walls or snapshots of Jace with his friends, no throw pillows or lap blankets scattered about, and no candles or knickknacks to add a touch of whimsy.
To distract herself, she imagined the changes she would make to give this space a homier feel, but instead of making her feel better, all it did was remind her of what she’d be losing if Jace didn’t come back. No, she couldn’t think like that or she’d go crazy. He would come back. He would.
God, how she missed him. He hadn’t even been gone a handful of hours and she missed him so much it was hard to breathe. She’d never missed anyone like this. In her past relationship, days would go by with them seeing each other only in passing when they were slammed with work and it never bothered her. What she felt now – like a piece of her was missing – this was the difference love made.
Throwing some clothes on, she grabbed the keys to the Jeep she’d been loaned and headed out. People. She needed to be around people. Maybe she’d go find the General and see if he’d heard anything or had any type of update.
As soon as she got outside, she wished she had a jacket. Without the sun to warm things and the ocean breeze blowing in, it was quite chilly outside and she immediately started shivering.
At least the cold gave her something else to think about. The drive was a frigid one and cranking the heat did little to warm her with the Jeep being open. If it had a top stored somewhere, she had no idea where. Nor did she even know where she was heading, but someone had to be awake aside from her. And hopefully that someone would indulge her with a bit of conversation to get her mind off all the potential dangers Jace was facing.
Arriving back at Black Bay’s central core, Paige saw that the same building she’d been in earlier was still lit up. Parking in front, she turned off the engine and strode with purpose toward the door. Like earlier, as soon as she opened it, she was hit with the sound of someone yelling, only this time it was an unfamiliar male voice loudly demanding, “Hold still, you big baby.”
Curious, Paige followed the sound down a hallway and spotted the red cross on white above the door. The infirmary. Peeking in, her mouth popped open in shock. There were a good ten men in there and all of them were visibly injured. While some were laid out on gurneys, others were sitting in chairs, a few of them looking like they were cradling broken arms. And there were only two medical personnel, as far as she could tell, trying to deal with all the injured. What the hell had happened?
There’d be time for answers later. They needed her. Moving swiftly inside, Paige announced, “I’m a nurse. How can I help?”
The man who was currently stapling a nasty gash near his patient’s hairline looked up with an owl-eyed look of surprise. Spotting her, that surprise immediately turned to relief and his shoulders sagged slightly. He waved at the number of injured. “Pick a body and do what you can.”
Without hesitation, Paige leaped into action, visibly assessing and then switching effortlessly into triage mode. It reminded her of her days and nights in the ER, the scent of antiseptic, the hustle, and the urgency that was so different from the job she’d taken at Bellock Medical. A job she probably didn’t have anymore. She’d only been there a month and for her to have not shown up without any sort of call – even if it was an emergency – wouldn’t fly. Not to mention, now that she knew what they were up to in the R and D department, did she even want to go back? Nope. They’d sent people to try to kill her.
Besides, going back to Ithaca, even if she didn’t stay at Bellock, would mean leaving Jace and everything inside of her revolted at the very idea. He was hers.
It didn’t take much prompting to discover what had happened to have so many injured. Her first patient happily volunteered the information as she patched him up. Apparently, the bunch of them had provoked a brawl with someone named Leo.
“Idiots,”she heard the doctor quietly hiss.
“Why would you purposely pick a fight?”
While she gently cleaned up a nasty cut on the bridge of his badly broken nose, the guy shrugged. “Have you met Leo?”
“I don’t think I’ve had the pleasure.”
He let out a sardonic bark of laughter. “Pleasure is not the word I’d use. He’s an asshole. All high and mighty because he’s stronger than us.”
“So you decided to slam your face against his fists to prove him wrong?”
“Hey, we almost had him,” another of the injured men chimed in.
“I see.” Paige nodded her head solemnly. “So he’s here getting patched up too?”
“Stupid healing ability,” was the grumbled reply and Paige almost chuckled.
Over the next few hours, Paige learned a lot about the soldiers that called Black Bay home. Despite the brawl, they were quite fond of the Beasts, as they called them, and enjoyed the rather unique opportunities this posting afforded them. What she hadn’t discovered was why the infirmary was short-handed. In the time she’d been there, no one else who might have been on-call had arrived to help.
The doctor, who eventually introduced himself as Chad Johnson filled her in while she helped him and the other nurse clean up and resupply. “We’re it,” he told her to Paige’s surprise. No wonder they both looked exhausted.
“How is that possible?”
“Well, it helps that a large majority of Black Bay’s residents heal on their own, so we don’t see much in the way of traffic here. Tonight wasn’t the norm.”
“Still. The two of you can’t be on call twenty-four-seven.”
The doctor nodded. “The other doctor recently retired and the General’s had a hard time getting anyone in to take his place. As I’m sure you’re aware, this base is top secret so it’s not like they can advertise to the public. Plus, whoever they get has to live here so that makes it tough for people with families.”
