Page 160 of Haze of Obedience
25
Dirk
Five Weeks Earlier
"Stop crying,my Little Diva, everything will be okay," I tell her repeatedly, but her sobs never end. "Tell me where you are. I can't see you."
Her anguish is heart-wrenching. I can't escape her pain, and all hours of the day, it's the only thing I hear. But I can never see her.
I'm in a tunnel of blackness forever, but then it becomes lighter. A gruff voice breaks through Zoe's.
"Dirk, time to wake up. Come on, son, you can do it."
No. I need to stay with my girl.
A rocking sensation consumes me, and I realize someone is shaking me.
"Dirk, come on."
Against my will to stay with her, I open my eyes, and sunlight blinds me, so I shut them.
"Dirk, time to get up. Our woman's out there."
Our woman? Zoe isn't anyone's woman but mine.
My eyes fly open, and I sit up, but pain floods my back and leg.
"Easy there."
It takes me a few moments to register who he is.
Clayton sits on the bed next to me. "You've been asleep for over a week."
"Where is she?"
A line forms between his eyebrows. "She hasn't surfaced yet."
"What do you mean?"
"They took her."
"Where were you?"
"I was in the shower. I heard the gunshots and got outside as soon as I could."
My blood boils. "You didn't go after them?"
"They shot you in the back and thigh. Blood pooled around your body, and you were already passed out."
"You should have gone after her," I bark.
"And let you die?"
"She's more important."
He sighs and reaches for the table. "Here's the bullets I removed. My stitches aren't pretty, but they didn't teach plastic surgery tips in the Marines." He drops them in my hand.
"Who were those thugs? They came to see you. Why didn't you go after them?"
