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The EMT checked Jaia’s temp again and asked her a bunch more questions that she didn’t feel like answering. She didn’t want to talk to anyone period. Not until she knew Brandon and the others were okay.
When the EMT left her sitting in the back of the ambulance for a few minutes, Jaia clutched the ends of the blanket tighter around her shoulders, watching the chaotic activity happening around her. The entire marina parking lot was a mass of emergency vehicles, their flashing lights strobing everywhere.
The ambulance had been waiting when she, Callum and Boyd had arrived back at the marina. Two paramedics had taken charge of her as soon as she’d stepped out onto the dock with Callum’s help.
They were going to transport her to the hospital, but she didn’t want to go until she’d verified that Brandon was okay. It had been over thirty minutes now since he’d jumped out of the boat, and neither he, Travis nor Groz had shown up yet.
Anxiety burned a hole in the pit of her stomach. The waiting was agony, fear for them eclipsing everything else, while she was safe here, surrounded by people trained to protect and take care of her.
She glanced up as a woman pushed her way through the crowd of people ringing the secure perimeter the police had set up. About her age. Blonde. She had a walking cast on one leg.
The woman hurried over in a clumsy gait, a bag slung over her shoulder and a to-go coffee cup in her hand. “Jaia?” she said, peering up at her.
“Yes.” She straightened, tugged the blanket tighter around her as another shiver sped through her. She was starting to forget what being warm felt like. The medics had stripped the sodden sweats off her and given her a pair of scrubs and socks, but she was still freezing.
“I’m Kerrigan. Brandon’s sister.” The woman gave her a tense, sympathetic smile. “I brought you some warm clothes and a hot tea.”
“Oh, thank you.” A lump formed in her throat at Kerrigan’s thoughtfulness even though she herself was under so much stress. “Have you heard anything? Are he and the others okay?”
“Nothing yet, but Noah’s here and trying to find out what’s happening. I heard the Coast Guard’s involved too.” The worry was clear on Kerrigan’s face.
Jaia didn’t know what to say to her. It wasn’t just Brandon out there facing trained killers, but Travis as well. She accepted the bag of clothes with a murmured thanks, awkwardly tried to get to her feet with the blanket still tangled around her.
“Here, let me help.” Kerrigan climbed up onto the deck of the ambulance and unzipped the bag, took out the clothes and then plucked the blanket from Jaia’s frozen fingers. She held the blanket up like a shield at the ambulance doors, giving Jaia some privacy.
Her cold hands made stripping and dressing much harder than it should have been. She couldn’t stop shivering, the cold having penetrated to her bones. But the sweatpants, thermal socks and thick sweater Kerrigan had brought her instantly made her feel warmer.
“I’m decent,” she said. “Thank you for this.”
“Of course.” Kerrigan lowered the blanket, pulled some running shoes and a down jacket from the bag and offered them with a little smile. “Here. Put these on and then we’ll get some hot tea into you.”
Jaia slid the shoes on and bundled up in the jacket, shuddering in relief. “I can’t seem to stop sh-shivering.”
Kerrigan sat down beside her on the gurney and began rubbing her hands over Jaia’s back and arms through the quilt. “Little better?”
Jaia nodded jerkily. “How did you know to bring me this?”
“Boyd. He called Ember, and she called me.” Kerrigan rubbed faster while Jaia huddled against her. “I’m glad you’re okay.”
Maybe it was the shock of everything, or the exhaustion, but Kerrigan’s kindness to her, a complete stranger, threatened to break the dam holding back her emotions.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered, fighting tears. Kerrigan might resent the hell out of her for all of this danger she’d caused, yet she’d come to help her anyway. “This is all my fault.”
“No,” Kerrigan said, sounding horrified as she wrapped both arms around her and squeezed tight. “It’s not. It’s the psychopaths behind all this.”
Jaia nodded, because of course she was right. Logically she knew that. “But Brandon and T-Travis wouldn’t be in danger right now if it wasn’t f-for me.” They, Groz, Callum and Boyd had risked their lives to rescue her. If any of them got hurt, or worse, she’d never forgive herself. She might never forgive herself even if they all made it through this okay.
“Shhh, don’t talk like that. And any of them would go after you again in a heartbeat, because that’s just the kind of men they are.” She switched to rubbing Jaia’s arms now. “We have to think positive. They’re trained, they’re smart, and they’re together.”
Jaia nodded again, not knowing what else to say. The numbness that had shrouded her like a fog on the harrowing return to the marina was gone now. She almost missed it. This fear, this uncertainty, was horrible.
Just then Boyd appeared at the back of the ambulance. “Just heard from Noah. They’re safe.”
Jaia exhaled and shut her eyes, relief washing through her in a dizzying rush. She leaned her head against Kerrigan’s shoulder and pressed her lips together, letting everything else around her funnel out.
“There they are.”
She jerked upright. Kerrigan slid off the gurney and Boyd helped her down to the ground. A flurry of movement rippled through the crowd. She saw Kerrigan’s bright hair as she rushed toward someone. A tall man with dark, short hair. She flung her arms around him.
Travis.
Jaia stood on wobbly legs to search for Brandon. She spotted Groz first, his tall frame standing out amongst the crowd as he spoke to Callum beside him. Then her gaze moved right and found Brandon.
She hitched in a breath, watched as he moved toward Travis. Kerrigan grabbed hold of him, and they hugged. Then he released his sister and his eyes cut to the ambulance, locking on her.
Jaia dropped the quilt and moved without conscious thought, her rubbery legs absorbing the impact as she jumped down from the back of the ambulance and started toward him.
Brandon was there in seconds, grabbing her and lifting her off the ground in a bear hug, his steely arms contracting around her.
“You’re safe,” she choked out, burying her face in his neck. “You’re okay.”
“Yeah, I’m okay,” he said in that deep, wonderful voice she’d been terrified she would never hear again.
She clung to him, basking in the feel of him, relief and joy threatening to overwhelm her. “Is it over?” she finally whispered, half-afraid to even ask.
“Yes, sweetheart. All over now.” He kissed the top of her head and set her down, then cupped her face in his hands.
His drawn expression made her heart stutter. Something was wrong. “What?” she asked, already dreading his response.
“Your boss was with the team in the boat.”
Her eyes widened. “My boss?” she repeated, sounding like a robot.
He nodded. “Robert Giesbrecht. I wounded him just before the Coast Guard took over. He and all the others are in custody.”
She stared up at him, trying to process it. Robert, taking part in an armed operation to kill her and Brandon? It made no sense. He was in his late fifties, had been out of the military for damn near fifteen years now.
“I know,” he murmured. “Come here.” He bent and scooped her up with one arm around her back and another beneath her knees.
She curled into him as he carried her back to the ambulance and settled her on the gurney, wrapping her in the blanket before easing back onto his haunches. “Let me take a look at you,” he said.
“I’m fine, j-just cold. I don’t want to go to the hospital—”
“I’ll come with you. I want to make sure we get your core temp up,” he said, rubbing his hands over her like Kerrigan had. “Noah’s here, coordinating with the local sheriff. They’ll want to talk to us.”
“And the bloody FBI,” she muttered.
They had failed her and Brandon. Nearly gotten them both killed. She was furious with them, and the thought of having to deal with all of that right now just made her want to curl into a ball. It was too much. She wanted time to decompress and be alone with Brandon somewhere quiet.
He nodded, jaw tightening. “One of them’s in on it,” he said grimly. “Has to be. There’s no other way anyone could have found you so fast otherwise, and timed it so that I was away when they struck. I’m betting Forster, and that they’ll find a link with him and Giesbrecht.”
“I knew it had to be a coordinated effort. He must have been trading information with Robert. And it probably goes right up into the military and intelligence community too.”
It made her feel sick to say the words, she already knew in her gut that they were true. There was no way this could have all been covered up, and kill orders issued on both her and Brandon if the cost of the truth coming out wasn’t exactly that high. Heads were going to roll when all of this was exposed, and she was so damn glad the truth was finally going to come out.
“We’ll find out soon enough,” Brandon said. “Your boss is going to tell investigators every last thing he knows to get a reduced sentence.”
“I hope he dies in prison.” But she didn’t want to think about any of that now.
Against all odds, Brandon was still okay, and right in front of her. It was a miracle. Maybe Sukhi had been pulling strings for them up there, after all, because she didn’t know how else this was possible.
She ran her gaze over him, studying every tiny detail of his face. To her he seemed larger than life. Brave and strong and full of life. He’d risked his over and over again to protect her. Save her.
He’d saved her. More than once.
Thinking of how many times he’d come close to dying today wrenched her heart. “Brandon,” she managed.
“Hmm?”
Her chest felt tight, some invisible restriction around her ribcage pressing inward. There were too many feelings for her to sort through them and put them into words.
She let go of the quilt and took his face in her hands, staring into those endlessly blue eyes, her heart tripping all over itself. Breaking through the protective walls she’d put up and opening it wide even though she’d sworn to stay detached. It was too late for that now.
“I’m so glad you’re okay,” she whispered huskily, afraid to say more right now.
A grin flashed across his handsome face. He covered her hands with his. “Me too,” he said, and leaned in to kiss her cold lips.
When he eased back a fresh rush of emotion slammed into her, so intense she feared her heart might burst. It was over. They were both safe. Robert and everyone else involved with all of this would be exposed and brought to justice. She should be ecstatic.
But instead, she somehow felt acutely alone.
She swallowed, blinking fast. Brandon was the only person who had stood beside her through this whole nightmare. The only person who could possibly understand all she’d been through.
And now she was supposed to leave him behind and go back to Tampa to pick up the shattered pieces of her empty life when there was nothing there for her?
“I don’t have anyone left,” she whispered finally, her heart cracking. She couldn’t bear to lose him too.
“Yes, you do,” he vowed, and crushed her to him. “You’ve got me.”
