Chapter Twelve

Eve parked her car on the opposite side of the street from the main entrance. Alex had disappeared from her side by the time she reached the revolving door. Once in the elevator, she pulled her binder with her patient charts from her bag and clipped her ID badge to the pocket on her shirt. She opened the binder and double-checked the times for each appointment and had been careful to book them around a spot for Alex. They had come up with the idea together and agreed it would look more believable this way.

Adjusting the heavy book still left in her bag, she marched onto the seventh floor and came face to face with Alex. Intensely focused, he locked his blue eyes on her.

“Wha…” She stopped abruptly when the cool mist of her breath floated around her mouth.

“Don’t stop, keep moving,” Alex ordered. “You don’t want to draw suspicion.”

She walked to the security booth and signed in. Her bag, coat and binder all went through a metal detector and she was scanned from head to toe before she was allowed to continue.

When she was out of earshot from the guards and others moving around the floor she whispered, “What’s wrong?” She was beginning to get nervous. The area around her was still freezing. Something was definitely wrong.

“Don’t talk to me. Go to your patients.” His voice was hard and unbending, but then took the sharp edge off by saying, “I’ll be right behind you.”

Those last few words gave her great comfort as she began her day. The idea of having her own private guard protecting her from old ghosts was nice indeed. When she approached the nurses’ station she was surprised to see two of her old work friends behind the counter. Both came around the desk and gave her a quick hug, caught her up on all the gossip and then walked her down the hall to the therapy room where her first patient was waiting and her day began.

In between appointments, she took the time to see her other patients still at Memorial. As they teased and joked with her, Eve found she relaxed as the morning progressed.

By the time lunch rolled around she was nervous again. Alex was next up on her list.

“Do what we talked about,” Alex ordered gently.

She took a deep breath as she walked to the nurses’ station and began flipping through her appointment schedule.

“Relax,” Alex said next to her ear. “You’re doing great.” The area around her wasn’t cold anymore but she still shivered.

“Hey, Gloria,” she began casually. “My next patient,”—she flipped her pages—“Alex Hunter, is either new or missing because I can’t seem to find him.”

“Alex Hunter?” Jan said. “He’s east wing.”

Both nurses looked at a woman who stood close by. She wore green combats under her white lab coat. “You have an appointment to see Alex Hunter?”

“Yes, I do.”

“Under whose authority?”

Eve felt her heart race as she once again flipped through her notes. Did anyone notice her shaky hands?

“Calm down,” Alex soothed. “She would ask the same question for any other patients in the east wing. I’m no different.”

“I received the referral from Defence Health Services like I always do.” She handed her a standard request form from the Director of Military Health. “It’s a request for an initial assessment,” she pointed out.

Straight faced, the nurse asked, “May I see your clearance please, Ms…”

Eve unclipped her ID badge and handed it to her. Apparently everything was in order because the woman handed back her badge and said, “This way please.” Eve turned back to her friends and raised her eyebrows mouthing the words ‘this way please’. Both women chuckled.

As they approached the east wing, heavy metal doors blocked them from entering. The nurse punched in a code and the doors opened. The east wing was smaller than the west wing with only eight rooms. There was a very large station with two nurses working behind it. When they approached the station her escort explained the reason for Eve’s visit and left. The two nurses exchanged puzzled looks but in the end they directed her down to the last room on the left. As she walked away she heard one say, “There’s a standing order to call this number should Hunter have any visitors.”

Eve felt the area around her grow cold as she walked the short distance to Alex’s room. There was something wrong again, but she couldn’t ask him, not with people watching her.

When she reached his room she paused just inside the door. A large body was lying unmoving in the bed. Alex moved past her and went to the bed. “My chart is here.” He indicated the end of the bed. She slowly moved further into the room, studying Alex’s still form.

Once she stood next to the bed, she noticed that his black hair appeared soft, curling due to the longer length and the beard on his chin had recently been trimmed. His chest was bare except for the bandages and IV tubes. By the gleaming white dressings, all wounds had recently been changed so there was no need for her to disturb them, and there didn’t appear to be any sign of red or swollen skin indicting an infection. She reached down and felt for a pulse on his wrist, mentally taking note of the strong steady beats. Next, she bent forwards over his muscled chest and looked at his closed eyes for any type of movement.

Nothing.

She was about to lift his eyelid when she noticed the scar that ran through his left brow. It was much deeper than it appeared on his soul.

“This must have been very painful,” she said and ran her finger gently down the length.

“I don’t remember. It happened a long time ago.”

She continued on with her task and lifted his eyelid. The shade of blue that blankly stared back was so startling, so breathtakingly beautiful that she released his lid and staggered back.

“Eve?” Alex asked from the other side of the bed. “What’s wrong?”

She looked over at him and blinked. “Nothing.” Her heart pumped feverishly as she lied. “Your body is healing nicely.” She looked down, avoiding his curious gaze and noticed the mark on his arm. “You have a tattoo,” she babbled out, lightly touching his skin.

“It’s my unit tattoo. We all have it.”

She liked it, and she liked that Alex had one, it made him more of a living person than just a soul. She also happened to think tattoos looked sexy on a man’s biceps, especially this man.

“Eve, my chart.”

Eve looked at him again with a strange expression. What the hell was the matter with her? And why could he feel it when she touched his body? He hadn’t paid much attention when she had first touched his wrist, but then she’d touched the scar over his eye. He was sensitive about that scar and didn’t like anyone touching it, which was why he’d noticed when she did. He studied her as she moved around the bed, others must have touched him while he was stuck here, nurses, and doctors, why hadn’t he felt them, why could he only feel Eve’s touch?

She pulled out his chart and began reading the notes out loud giving him a narration at the same time. “You were brought in with multiple gunshot wounds. Right shoulder clean exit. Upper right abdominal with puncture wound to your liver and mid-chest with a puncture wound to your lung and it looks like it just nicked the pericardium.”

“What’s that?” He leaned over her to look at his chart.

“It’s a sac that surrounds the heart for protection.” She shook her head and flipped the page. “This doesn’t make any sense.” She flipped to the third page. “Everything looks good. Your pulse is good, blood pressure is good. CT scans on your head came back normal. You’ve responded well to the surgeries and antibiotics. You did lose a lot of blood, more than half your total amount but it’s been replaced.” She shook her head. “You shouldn’t be in a coma.”

“Then why am I?”

She looked at him worried. “I don’t know.”

“Could my injuries have caused it? Maybe the trauma of having two serious wounds was too much for me?” He wasn’t a doc but knew any damage to the liver wasn’t good and the heart and lungs was worse.

Eve sighed, pulling her lip between her teeth. “Maybe. Combined with the blood loss. I’m sorry Alex, I just don’t know.”

“What about when people are put in comas? Could they be doing that?”

She trailed her finger down the pages. “I don’t see any meds on here that would induce a coma. Besides, there is no need, your body is very strong. Unless…” She paused.

“Unless wha—” Alex froze. He could hear people talking in the hall, they were getting close. A male voice spoke. His anger rose fast and he clenched his jaw trying to contain it.

Miles.

Eve turned and looked warily up at him. He breathed.

“Miles is here,” he spoke quickly when she became stiff, keeping his voice calm. He was actually nervous. He didn’t want Eve anywhere near Miles. He saw the fear in her eyes. “Be calm. Miles will pick up on your fear right away. Just act like a physical therapist.”

“I am a physical therapist.”

“Yes, I can see that,” a male voice said from the door. Eve jumped and turned. Miles sauntered into the room as if he owned it. Alex’s partner held out his hand to her, his wide friendly smile seeming genuine.

As the room suddenly grew cold, she felt Alex put his hands on her hips. The heat from his hands seeped through her jeans, she guessed he was standing close behind her because her back was warming up too. He must be doing it for her benefit, helping to keep her calm, except it didn’t feel like it was working.

“Good afternoon Mrs…?” Miles gripped her hand and looked directly into her eyes.

“Ms Sinclair.” She forced her smile to reach her eyes as she looked back. He wasn’t a bad looking guy. He was dressed casually and wore his brown hair a little longer than Alex did. He wasn’t as tall as Alex was, but he did have more bulk across his chest.

She searched his eyes and fought against the impulse to shiver. If she didn’t know he was a killer she would like to think she would have figured it out by his eyes. The dark brown appeared almost black. Hadn’t Gran said time and again that the eyes mirrored the soul? Well the old proverb was certainly proved right by the looks of this guy.

“How can I help, Ms Sinclair?” He stood back, inspecting her.

“I was asked to come and perform an initial assessment on Mr Hunter here.” She pointed the chart at Alex’s body on the bed. Did he see that her hand was shaking? She lowered the chart.

“And who was it that asked you for the assessment?”

“He’s just probing,” Alex suddenly said. “Wants to see what you know. Calm down, I’m right here.”

Calm down! Like that was going to happen. This man was a killer. Well, so was Alex but this guy was evil, she could almost feel it.

“Who are you?” Eve pretended to be confused. “You’re not a doctor?”

He chuckled. “No, no. That’s too much school for me. My name is Remy Castillo—”

“Cover name,” Alex said next to her ear.

“—I work for the Department of Veterans Affairs. Did you know that this floor is for military personal only?”

“Yes of course. I have patients here.” She blinked up at him, hoping to appear naïve.

“Who did you say referred you here?” he asked giving her a sweet smile.

“My referrals come from the Director of Military Health.” she answered him honestly, there would be no point in lying to him when he could ask any nurse or doctor on the floor.

“Why did they send you to Mr Hunter?” He was studying her now, looking her over from head to toe. The action almost made her cringe.

“I’m a physical therapist.” She shrugged, hoping she was pulling off the innocent look.

Miles’ expression was blank.

Eve felt he was waiting for more of an answer, so she rambled on, “I get called…you know, usually after the patient has recovered from their wounds…to begin treatment.” He continued to stare at her. Confused and a little freaked out by his behaviour, Eve suddenly blurted out, “You do know what a physical therapist does, don’t you?”

Alex tightened his hold on her hips. “Watch what you say to him, you do not want to piss this man off.”

In defence, Eve threw up her hands and apologised. “I’m sorry. That was rude. I’m just confused.” She held out Alex’s chart. “This says that he is in a coma. And I’m not usually brought in until the patient is…at least awake.” She gave him a worried look. “I can’t help him…well I could I suppose.” She purposely glanced sadly at Alex’s body. “I just don’t know what good it will do.” She handed him Alex’s chart.

“I apologise for the confusion. Perhaps when Mr Hunter wakes up you will be able to help then.”

Alex’s hands dropped from her hips as she moved for the door. “I’d like that,” she replied truthfully, stepping through the door. She fought the overwhelming urge to look back at Alex’s large body one more time.

Miles walked down the hall next to her. “This is all new to me. Do mix-ups like this happen often?”

Eve shrugged. “From time to time, although coma-boy is a first.”

“Coma-boy?” Alex mumbled next to her.

Miles laughed. “You sound as though you’ve seen worse.”

“Ooh yes! When I was training, there were two patients with the same name except spelt differently. One was in for a hysterectomy and the other for a tonsillectomy. But the docs picked up the mistake before anybody was cut open.”

“How did they figure it out?”

“Because the eighteen year old boy in for the tonsillectomy was wheeled in front of a gynaecologist.”

“Oh!” He laughed out loud. “Ouch!”

She couldn’t help but laugh. “You’re not kidding.” They reached the heavy doors and Miles punched in the security code.

“You have more patients to see?” he asked casually. The area around them suddenly grew very cold.

“One more and then I’m gone.” She tried not to look at Alex standing next to Miles. The look on his face should have killed Miles on the spot. She realised right then, when Alex was back in his body, Miles was in for some serious trouble. Who was she kidding? Miles was a walking dead man. Goose bumps tingled their way to the surface of her arm. Boy, she was sure glad she wasn't in Alex’s bad books.

“Too bad. I was going to see if you wanted to grab a coffee.”

“No!” Alex growled the word. “He only wants to get more background on you. He doesn’t feel anything for you. Stop. Being. Nice.” There was a snarl attached to each word.

“Oh, well.” She didn’t have to act indifferent to his suggestion, it came naturally. Of course she wouldn’t go anywhere with him. She almost huffed aloud. She was totally insulted that Alex would ever assume she would. He had hurt Alex.

“Gotta go. Nice meeting you.” Eve faked one more smile and turned, walking away. When she heard the doors close behind her, she exhaled a shaky breath.