Page 18 of Black Bay Defender
A hand gripped his upper arm and he snapped his head around. Paige. His sister was dressed in blue scrubs, her face lined with both sympathy and worry as she looked up at him. He hadn’t even noticed her or the rest of the medical team who had come to meet the helicopter with a gurney in tow.
“Let us take her, Grady. We’ll keep her safe.”
He nodded. She was right. He knew she was right, but he couldn’t seem to make his arms obey.
Kong’s big hand clapped down on Grady’s shoulder. “Come on, man. She’ll be in good hands. Perrin’s lethal. She won’t let anything happen to Lark.”
Grady had no idea which one was Perrin, but he nodded again. Still, his arms refused to heed his brain’s command to lay Lark on the gurney.
“You can see her the moment she’s settled,” Paige promised.
Grady shot his sister a bleak look, his eyes hot with impending tears he couldn’t seem to blink back. His voice cracked when he admitted, “I can’t let go.”
His sister’s eyes filled with her own tears of understanding but Kong jumped in for the assist. “I’ve got you, man. Come on. We’ll do it together.”
Someone pushed the gurney closer while Kong gripped Grady’s arms and helped him maneuver Lark’s body over the waiting bed.
“You’ve got this,” Kong murmured. “Almost there.”
Finally, he released her and the medical team rushed away with Lark, those three sisters flanking the gurney as they ran alongside. Grady’s arms immediately felt the absence like a spreading hole of emptiness that would swallow him whole.
Kong stayed with him. “She’ll be all right,” he said again. “They’ll get her cleaned up, give her what she needs to heal, and then you can go see her. Okay?”
Grady nodded again. It was the only thing he could manage.
“We need to debrief the General.”
General Davies was standing there, waiting, his jaw clamped so tightly a muscle twitched in his cheek as he stared after Lark. The man looked older, his face marked with strain and grief.
The op had been a giant clusterfuck and they needed to prep for what came next, but Grady couldn’t stand the thought of leaving Lark for the time it would take for the meeting. His eyes flicked back to the doors through which she had disappeared.
“Hey.” That big paw of a hand landed on Grady’s shoulder and Kong gently shook him. “There’s still work to be done and Lark would be the first one to tell you to get your ass in gear.”
Dog with a bone…
A deep breath, a long exhale, and rolling his head on his shoulders to loosen the tightness in his muscles, Grady managed to pull himself together. “For Lark.”
“For Lark,” Kong echoed, and together, they fell into step with the General and made their way to his office.
General Davies made his way to the infirmary with stomping strides. They’d kept the debrief short and to the point before he’d ordered Kong, Leo, and Grady to get cleaned up before they went to see Lark. Christ, they’d looked like extras from a slasher movie, their faces, and clothes painted in rusty red.
He’d had the report from the cleaners he’d sent, complete with images. Not a pretty sight.
What a fucking mess. They hadn’t gotten the soldiers out, and worse, the government now knew of Black Bay’s involvement. The goddamn Deputy Director NCS of the CIA. Even if Grant Ridley hadn’t contacted anyone before his attempted interrogation – a fact they’d learn soon enough once they went through his phone records – that AI was still active.
Goddamn Artificial Intelligence. The world called it progress. He called it a nightmare. When he’d questioned Doctor Dietrich about it, she’d told him it was constantly learning and adapting. The thing could run the Resurrection project with zero human intervention if need be. The General shuddered at the very thought. Something like that – with no soul, no heart – in control of those soldiers that couldn’t deviate from an order... And Grady had been unable to shut it down. Who knew who the hell that AI had contacted and informed of Black Bay’s involvement by this point? For all the General knew, armed teams would be descending on them at any moment to take him into custody. Worse, they’d take his people for their twisted experiments. The Beasts had been through enough.
He’d already increased patrols on the walls, watching the skies, and had extra teams listening for any chatter while Mako was doing sweeps in the water. It might not be enough.
Doctor Dietrich had warned him. She’d told him to walk away and protect his own. He hadn’t listened. He’d authorized the op, knowing that if he hadn’t, his people would have snuck off and done it anyway. Stubborn assholes. All of them. And he loved them with every fiber of his being; would die to protect each and every one of them.
Entering the infirmary, he spotted Paige Carter first. The nurse waved him forward. “The bullets were removed. They’ve got her cleaned up and we’re running IV fluids.” She grimaced. “From what I understand, the rest is up to Lark.” She led him to one of the recovery rooms in the back and placed her hand on the doorknob. “Perrin and the others are still with her.”
When the General nodded, she opened the door. He marched inside, keeping his eyes trained on Perrin, Lynx, and Jayla rather than the still form on the bed. “Give me a minute.”
The women nodded, reaching out to touch his arm as each of them passed and a lump rose in his throat. Clearing it with a gruff sound, he waited for the door to close behind them before looking at the bed.
He had steeled himself for the sight, had thought himself prepared, but his body felt like it would buckle when he saw her. She was so pale, so still, and the iridescence that usually shimmered in her scales had gone gray and flat.
