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Sabrina stared at the white doors, willing the surgeon to come out and tell her Amanda had made it through.
The ambulance Dingo called for had been one street away and got to the scene in less than a minute. They’d been racing away with Amanda as Sabrina pulled up.
That had been six hours ago.
Her assistant had been sheet-white when Sabrina reached the hospital in time to see her as they wheeled her in. Amanda had been with Sabrina for over a year and never hesitated to do anything asked of her.
How many people will I have to watch die before the blood stops running? Sabrina held in the agony when she wanted to scream and beat the walls.
She couldn’t see Gage, but she could feel him, standing back to give her room.
He’d be right here by her side if she’d let him, but she couldn’t face him right now. To his credit, he’d sent her ahead to the hospital and had dealt with local law enforcement. For that, she thanked him.
But he’d also been in charge of sending her team into a trap. Gage had thrown caution to the wind the moment they got a tip on Rikker making an exchange. He should have scouted the area and followed whoever took her from the schoolyard even if it had ended with the kidnappers eluding him.
No, he came roaring in with guns blazing, because he’d feared this would be his only chance. Where she’d never risk the life of one person on her team in exchange for hers, Gage had sent in everyone he could find the moment a lead popped up.
Sure, he did it because he cared, but he also did it because he had to run the show. He had to have final say on a mission and believed whatever he decided was the only way it would work.
He knew her people would do anything to get her back. He was wrong to run a half-assed mission on the fly.
Now Josh was gone.
She couldn’t breathe every time she allowed that thought to pass through her chaotic mind.
Movement snatched her attention when a double door swung open. Out came the doctor she’d spoken to for only seconds before he’d hurried to the surgical ward. He peeled his mask off, revealing a man who reminded her of the actor Terrence Howard, whose smile could instill comfort.
But she got no smile from this man.
Her stomach hit her feet.
She’d lost Josh and, based on the apologetic look hanging on the doctor’s face, Amanda might not have made it through surgery.
Dingo stepped up next to Sabrina, reminding her she wasn’t facing this hell alone. He whispered, “Amanda’s tough.”
“Let’s hope so.”
The doctor let out a deep sigh and said, “She’s alive. The surgery went as well as could be expected.”
Sabrina forced her knees to stay locked and waited as the doctor continued.
“Due to the fragments that pierced her abdomen and bounced around, I had to perform a hysterectomy.”
Sabrina took a breath to keep from breaking in half.
Amanda had told her in confidence that she might be leaving this business soon. She’d found a man worthy of being her husband and she was ready to settle down and start a family.
Dingo cursed and ran a hand over his disheveled hair, then reminded Sabrina, “She’s alive.”
The surgeon went on to explain that Amanda would be in ICU for the next twenty-four to forty-eight hours with no visitors except family, who were on their way from California. Amanda had been put into a medically induced coma.
Sabrina thanked the doctor for what he’d done. She forced her limbs to work and her mouth to tell everyone to return to Slye headquarters.
Gage walked up to her, his eyes traveling over her from head to toe as if reassuring himself that she was really in front of him.
His voice held a gruffness she tried not to notice when he said, “Ride with me.”
She thought she was too numb to feel anything, but found she could manage cold anger just fine. “No. Stay away from me.”
“I’m not leaving. I’ll help you get Josh back.”
She held his gaze so long that hope budded in his face. Then she shook her head and walked away.
Nick and Tanner rode back with Gage.
She rode with Dingo, who filled her in on what had happened since she’d disappeared. All she did was nod.
“We will get him back,” Dingo said, sounding as if he was talking to himself as much as her.
If she didn’t lock down her emotions and start thinking like a leader, she’d lose Josh. “Why would Rikker take Josh after he’d had me in hand? For that matter, if he wanted someone, why give me up?” she said, thinking out loud.
Dingo maneuvered through the light traffic of early Saturday evening. He frowned and mused, “Rikker grabbed you to pay a debt, so—”
“No, he didn’t.”
Dingo slashed a look at her. “Let’s start with what you know then I’ll tell you if anything we have fits with it.”
“Rikker called someone and said he’d make two problems go away, plus he’d hand me over for a coin. The dead guy who showed up with his gang to deliver the coin and take me in trade was called Quon. From everything I saw and heard, he brought Rikker a very old-looking coin called a stater and Rikker referenced the Orion Prophecy in his phone call. That must be one of the artifacts. He didn’t give up names.”
“The two problems Rikker referenced might have been Eva Perdido and Maxx Navarro,” Dingo said. “We heard about those hits before the tip came through that a contract on you was being closed out today.” He looked over at her. “Listen, I hate Gage so much it’s hard to describe.”
Her chest muscles constricted. Before she could come up with something to say, Dingo added, “But to be honest, Josh and I were all for going after you the minute the tip came through. Nick argued that the lead was fortuitous, which it was, but ...” Dingo shrugged. “I share some of the blame for this today. Even so, I still would have gone after you on nothing more than that.”
“No, if it’s anyone’s fault, it’s mine.” She finally gave voice to what she’d been holding inside.
“How do you see that?”
“I was ready to let Rikker go when we were back in California, to be done with vengeance. Then I heard from Ziggie and he indicated a snitch had information about Rikker and that he was targeting Slye Temp.”
“Why’d you go alone?”
Sabrina sighed. “We meet informants alone all the time. I was fine with meeting a woman in a crowded restaurant and ... I just could not pass up a chance that maybe this would be the end of it. I’d planned on bringing the intel back, grabbing Nick, Blade and Tanner to put together an op and go after him.”
She shook off the grief threatening to swamp her.
He reached over and grabbed her hand, giving it a squeeze.
“I know what you’re thinking and you’re right,” Sabrina admitted. “I shouldn’t have gone to that meeting without someone to watch my back.”
“Why didn’t you call us?” Dingo asked quietly, no accusation in his voice.
“First of all, Ziggie said this had a ninety-minute time limit.” She’d tried reaching Ziggie. No answer. Because he was in the wind or because he was dead? She let that go and finished explaining, “But even so, Josh was supposed to finally be getting married after a million delays due to working with Slye Temp.” She swallowed, now thinking about what she was going to tell his fiancé, Trish. “And you were ...”
“I was what, Sabrina?”
She slid her gaze at him, staring into the eyes that had watched her grow up. Dingo and Josh were the closest to family she’d ever had and would probably ever have. “You were finally living your life. At one time, I felt the same about Valene as you do about Gage, but after you told me what she means to you and I could see how happy she makes you, I changed my mind. You were sitting in handcuffs waiting to find out what the FBI was going to do to you in LA, and Valene came over to sit with you. I’d never seen you so happy as you were when you looked at her.”
Dingo shut off the engine and the silence sounded loud.
“You can always ask me to do anything,” he grumped.
“I know.” She let out a deep breath, ready to do something productive, anything that might save her sanity. “Finding Josh and getting him back takes precedence over everything from this moment on. No wild, off-the-cuff plans. I won’t lose another person. I can’t survive losing him and definitely not losing both of you, so promise me you will watch your ass first.”
“I’m not going anywhere,” her arrogant Dingo said. “We do have a source who might be able to help us.”
Sabrina had opened the door and swung back around quickly. “Who? They can name their price.”
“That’s the snag. This one can’t be bought and Gage isn’t keen on allowing her to be privy to what we’re doing. She’s Nick’s secret contact and he trusts her, sort of, but ... ”
“But it’s Nick.” That quashed the moment of thrill at a bit of good news. Nick had pulled some amazing tricks to save a mission, but giving him free rein was like being offered a live wire when you were desperate for power.
Too good to pass up, but it came with a hell of a shock that held the potential for disaster.
