Oscar
They hadn’t expected an ambush.
It was clear in the lack of real security in place that whoever had set up this hellhole operation hadn’t expected for anyone to find it, much less breach its measly defenses. I wasn’t complaining about the oversight since it gave us an advantage as we made quick work of the four guards standing watch outside the compound.
Our observation over the last day and a half had shown us that someone checked in with the outside guards every half hour. We’d just heard the call several minutes ago, so we had plenty of time before whoever was inside decided to touch base with the men who were now lying dead on the pavement.
Levi motioned me forward, and I tried the knob to the door, just to make sure it was locked. We could attempt several ways to breach the compound, but explosives gave us the quickest access. The door would blow inward, and we’d be right behind it. Our enemies wouldn’t know what hit them. Plus, it had the added bonus of being a crap-ton of fun.
Showtime.
I attached the explosive strips to the door carefully, and then glanced over at the team, giving them a nod. When the strips were in place, we all took several steps back to be sure we’d cleared the blast zone, and ducked down.
Boom!
The charges went off, and we followed right behind the falling debris of the door as it swung open and allowed us entry.
Levi led the way into the room, followed by Cade, Cruz, Ryder, and myself. The entryway opened to a small lobby area, with a security guard sitting at the front desk. Of course, the desk was empty at that moment, due to the large explosion we’d just caused. So I assumed the guard was either under the desk or injured.
Levi stepped to one side as I stepped to the other, waiting for Cade, Cruz, and Ryder to check behind the desk. A man stood with his hands raised as Cade cold-cocked him on the side of the head with his gun. The man crumpled to the floor as we reset to enter the door leading to the inside of the building.
On Levi’s count, he threw open the door, and Cade tossed in a flashbang. Levi slammed the door shut as we waited for the stunning blow and light to go off. When the boom sounded, we pressed in behind Levi and Cade into the fatal funnel. Several guards stumbled around with their hands over their ears, clearly disoriented from the blast. Cade secured the door to the other building, while we took out the guards one by one.
When the smoke cleared, we saw three large rooms on the left. The one nearest us held medical staff, a couple of orderlies, and a nurse.
“Get down!” Levi yelled the command as the two orderlies hit the floor. The nurse was at the desk fumbling with something. “I said, get down!” Levi pointed the gun at her head, but the nurse continued to rummage.
“Lady, I’m giving you one more shot. Get on the damn floor, or I will shoot!”
Finally, she dropped to the ground, her hands over her head.
We started with the other two large open-bay rooms on the left side, repeating the commands to get on the floor. Each time, Cruz secured their hands with flexicuffs before we moved on. When we reached the last room, a single nurse stood there, her hand on a remote.
“Don’t come any closer!” Her voice was frantic, and panic shone in her eyes.
“What is that?” Levi asked in a calm voice. “Listen—don’t do anything you’ll regret. Hand that to me and everything will be okay.”
The woman shook her head, then, as if she’d made a decision, she pressed down on the button. Alarms went off in the building, medical alarms. Levi tackled her to the floor, attaching cuffs to her arms, and motioned us to go on.
“The hostages!”
Frantically, we started at the last door on the left side of the building. It opened into a lounge area of sorts. We cleared the room quickly, finding no one in there, and moved to the right side of the hallway.
The doors were locked from the outside, so it was easy to open them and gain access. The first room contained a young man in a hospital bed hooked up to IVs and all sorts of tubes and gadgets. His eyes were red-rimmed and coated with dried blood. He had dried blood under his nose and the sides of his mouth as well. And he was clearly dead.
The monitor by his head screamed as the flatline moved steadily across the screen.
“She killed them! Check each room. We’re running out of time.”
My fear for Ivy was overwhelming, and I just wanted to find her. To hold her and never let her go. I swore if I found her alive, I wouldn’t be stupid enough to lose her again.
We repeated our dance of death in each room until we reached the last one. I opened the door, and Ivy lay there as still as death. Emotion clogged my throat as I rushed to her side. She looked so beautiful and yet so terrible at the same time.
Like the other patients, blood stained her face, and I didn’t even want to think about what caused someone to bleed out of every facial orifice they had. Unlike the other patients, the monitor next to her head still beeped with the regular peaks and valleys of the rhythm of her heart.
I rushed over, taking her limp wrist in my hand and pressing two fingers to her neck. She had a pulse.
“Thank God!”
Levi had joined us and watched my back, while Cruz and Ryder stood on the other side of the door standing guard. I gently shook Ivy to wake her. She moaned and whimpered.
“Please, no. Please, no more.”
Agonizing pain struck my heart at her desperate pleas. What had they done to her?
“Oh, dear God, Ivy. What have they done to you?”
Her eyes blinked open, and a smile tugged at one side of her face. “Oscar. It’s you. I always knew you’d come back for me.”
Then her head dropped to the side, her mouth popping open with a quiet exhale, and she was unconscious again.
“Carry her out and get her into the van. Cruz will go with you to cover you, while we take care of the other side of the building.” Levi nudged my arm with his elbow and nodded. He understood. I had to get her out of there and fast.
I swung my gun to my back and reached down, lifting Ivy from the bed, disconnecting her quickly from the tubes and monitors. She barely weighed anything, and I could feel every bone in her body. She was skin and bones and nothing else. Emaciated. Dying.
That thought had me holding her just a bit closer as I made my way into the hall and out of the building. Our exit was, thankfully, uneventful, and as soon as I reached the van, Cruz took off back to the building at a jog to help the others clear the other side. From our thermal-imaging cameras, we’d determined only a handful of people were left on that side right before we’d made our move, so hopefully they’d clear the building, and we’d be on our way in minutes.
Lydia and Jolie opened the doors to the back of the van. They had a makeshift stretcher on the floor, and Lydia was already reaching for Ivy as I laid her down.
“She’s unconscious. She woke up briefly and recognized me, but then she was out again.”
Lydia nodded as she pulled blankets over Ivy and slapped a blood-pressure cuff on her arms. “That’s a good sign.”
“You can help her?”
She smiled sadly. “I’ll do everything in my power, Oscar. I promise.”
I nodded, knowing the odds were stacked against us. We had no idea what drugs they’d given her or what sickness she had. And we wouldn’t know much until Ivy woke up and could tell us what she’d endured.
“Any other patients?” Lydia asked as she poked a needle into Ivy’s arm to start an IV.
“No. They killed them all. Must have been some sort of kill switch they had in case the compound was breached.”
Lydia paused, her hand coming to her mouth as shock radiated over her. Jolie gasped as tears filled her eyes. Lydia dipped her head in a nod and went back to work.
Lydia had been a prisoner of Chavez, a Venezuelan drug lord, and had been beaten and tortured herself. She knew the evil that existed in the world, and yet, the thought of someone killing people by lethal injection or whatever it was they’d done, was absolutely horrifying. It was like something out of a terrible sci-fi movie.
Cruz shouted from behind me, and I whirled around to find him and Ryder jogging closer, another young woman in his arms.
Lydia jumped up, and I helped her slide Ivy over to make room for the new victim. Jolie kept her hands on Ivy as Lydia hopped back into the van and pulled out a blanket, laying it down on the van floor. Cruz laid the woman on top, and I was struck with horror.
Ivy looked like death warmed over. This girl looked like death had already knocked on her door, and she’d answered.
“Her breathing is shallow. I barely got a pulse,” Cruz said as Lydia started to work on the girl.
“Let’s start CPR.” Lydia barked out orders as Cruz jumped up beside her to help resuscitate the young woman. Realizing I was just in the way, I jogged back to the building, wishing I could stay with Ivy, but knowing she was in the best hands.
Levi was standing inside the lobby when I entered. “All clear. One of the back windows was busted out, so it’s safe to believe some of them escaped that way. The office has been cleaned out. No computers. No files. Nothing. I’ve already called Will, and his team is on their way to take care of the medical staff remaining.”
“Geez. What in the world is going on here?”
Levi shook his head, his hand resting on his hip, weariness wrapping around him like a boa constrictor choking its prey.
“I don’t know, man.” He sighed heavily and ran a hand through his hair. “Go on to the clinic with Ivy. Ryder, Cade, and I will catch a ride back with Will. We’ve got this.”
Grateful for the team I’d been lucky enough to find, I slapped Levi on the shoulder and took off back to the van. Cruz was just climbing into the driver’s seat as I slid into the passenger side.
“They’re good?” He nodded back to the building.
“Yeah. Where’d you find her?”
Cruz shook his head. “She was strapped into this chair. It looked like a cross between a dentist chair and an electric chair. She’s in bad shape.”
Again the evilness of the world hit me like a punch to the gut. I hated that Ivy was wrapped up in all of it.
“You going to call her sister?” Cruz took the curves as carefully as he could at breakneck speed.
“I’ll wait till Lydia has a chance to figure out what’s wrong with her. If she dies… well, it might be better if we wait.”
Cruz nodded, and I looked out the window, watching as the trees blurred by.
The last few weeks had taught me that life was not a guarantee. Sure, I’d known that before. I’d had friends and comrades who had died at the hands of the enemy while in the army. But when I’d seen Ivy’s picture among those who had been taken, it had hit me how fragile life was.
All this time I’d thought I had, well… time. I’d wasted the last two years since I’d been a part of Shadow Force. Instead of going after the woman I loved, I’d allowed fear and doubt to creep in. I’d waited, hoping to create the perfect scenario for our reunion. Hoping that maybe, if I had all my crap together, she’d give me another chance.
But now, with her lying with her life in the balance in the back of that van, I realized it didn’t matter. All that mattered was her. And us. And being together. Loving each other. Making a life together.
I swore, if Ivy lived, I would spend my life making her happy. I’d have babies with her, and we’d raise them together. We’d go anywhere she wanted to go, and I’d do anything she wanted me to do. All that mattered was her.
The van stopped in front of the clinic, and we both jumped out to carry the two women inside. Dr. Esteban Ayala, along with two women dressed in scrubs, stood at the door waiting for us. Cruz took the unknown woman in first, knowing she was the most critical.
“I’ve given her Narcan as well as IV fluids. Let’s get her inside. No idea what kind of state she’s really in. Her blood pressure is all over the place.” Lydia tossed out directions to her father as I lifted Ivy in my arms, careful with her IV. Lydia came back to me.
“First room on the right. I’ll be right there.”
I carried Ivy into the exam room that had been outfitted with a bed and monitors much like they’d have in a hospital. I laid Ivy down, and she stirred, her eyes popping open in fear.
“No! Leave me alone!” She tried to scramble backwards to get away from me, and I was terrified she was going to fall off the bed.
“Ivy, it’s me. Shh. Calm down. I’m here.”
She shook her head, clearly not in the here and now. Her mind was elsewhere. Then the coughing started.
Violent, horrible coughs that sounded as if she were going to expel a lung. Lydia rushed in.
“What’s happening?”
“I don’t know. She woke up and started yelling for me to leave her alone and then started coughing.”
Ivy screamed. The sound would haunt me for the rest of my life. Utter and terrible pain shone in her eyes as she wrapped her arms around her middle, still coughing, still hacking.
Blood bubbled up along her lashes as her face was red and contorted with pain.
“What is happening?”
“I don’t know. I’ve never seen anything like it. Let me get something to sedate her.”
Lydia rushed over to the cabinet and grabbed a syringe. “I stocked these rooms with everything I thought we might need,” she explained as she filled a syringe with a vial of medicine.
Ivy continued to cough, blood running from her eyes like tears. A dribble had started under her nose, and when she coughed, blood splattered the front of her hospital gown. Whatever had been done to Ivy, it was truly horrible. I was going to lose her. No one could survive this. No one.
Lydia moved to her side to give her a shot in her IV, but Ivy fought her off, kicking and screaming in pain and terror.
“Hold her down!”
I lay partially on top of Ivy, using my weight to hold her down as Lydia injected the IV with the medicine. Ivy cried, horrible sobs that perforated the coughs. As the medicine ran into her veins, the coughing slowed, and Ivy’s cries died down. Just before she fell into oblivion, she opened her eyes and peered into my soul. “Oscar?”
Then she fell asleep.
Lydia breathed out a sigh of relief.
“I’m going to have to keep her sedated. The coughing, it’s so bad. I bet she has bruised ribs.” Lydia lifted the hospital gown to reveal Ivy’s black-and-blue ribs. She pressed along the bones.
“I can’t be sure. Looks like maybe that one is broken, and the rest are severely bruised. Monsters.” She followed her remarks with a string of curses that would make a sailor blush. She bustled around Ivy, drawing blood, checking her vitals, and taking a moment to stroke her hair back and whisper something in her ear. Then she stood and took me in.
“You need rest. And food. And a change of clothes. Go home. I’ll take care of her.” I’d forgotten how bossy Lydia could be when she wanted.
“Not a chance.”
She sighed heavily. “I figured you would say that. I had Cruz grab some clothes for you earlier today. There’s a shower in my office. Go change. Get showered. Food is in the break room. I’ll come get you if there’s any change.”
I didn’t want to leave. If I left, she might…
Lydia moved to my side and wrapped her arms around me in a sisterly hug. “Go. You’re no help to her like that. I won’t leave her side. I promise.”
I hugged her back, moisture filling my eyes. I couldn’t help it when it leaked over, but I choked back the sobs that threatened to overcome me. Lydia held me close. “She’s going to be okay. She’s strong. I can see that already.”
I sniffed and pulled back, nodding once before disappearing out the door and down the hall to Lydia’s office. A duffel bag sat on her desk, and I unzipped it to find my clothes and a few toiletries inside.
Moving into the bathroom, I closed the door behind me and turned on the shower. After I undressed, I stepped under the hot streams and let the sobs I’d held back loose. The sounds that tore from my throat were those of a wounded animal crying out in agony. And I was in agony.
Guilt of all the years I’d wasted washed over me like the water running over my skin. So much time gone. And now, I may not have a chance to make it right.
Why had I waited so long? Why had I stayed in the army? I could have gotten out after my four years were done. But no, I’d stayed, convincing myself there was no other way. Convincing myself that I wasn’t good enough for Ivy. That she’d never want me back.
I’d been a coward.
And now, she was dying. It was clear that Lydia was sugarcoating it for me. I had no idea how much time I had with her, no clue if she’d even be awake or coherent for me to tell her how sorry I was. Sorry for leaving her. Sorry we lost Zachary. Sorry I didn’t come for her sooner. If I had, she wouldn’t be lying in that bed, moments away from death.
I dressed and ran back to Ivy’s room. Lydia stood by her bed and smiled when I walked in.
“She’s stable. We’re running some blood tests, hoping we can figure out what’s wrong with her. Will pulled some strings, and we have a few lab techs working only on this case. We should have preliminary results in a couple of hours.”
I squeezed Lydia’s hand. “Thank you.”
“She’s a fighter. I’m impressed. Already her color looks better.”
I glanced down at Ivy, and she did indeed look better. That wasn’t saying much, since the purple circles under her eyes and dried blood still made her look like a zombie from an apocalyptic film. But better. Less pale.
Lydia patted me lightly on the shoulder. “I’ll be back soon. I want to check on the other patient.”
When she was gone, I sat down on the chair next to Ivy’s bed and lifted her hand into mine. I pressed my lips to her knuckles and held on tight.
Maybe, if I didn’t let go, if I held on to her all night, she’d stay here with me. In this world. On this plane.
“I love you, Ivy Bell. I never stopped loving you.”
Maybe she’d live long enough to tell me she loved me, too.