1:00 a.m.
Grady leaned on the sill beneath the window in the isolation ward, staring at the night sky. Light trapped in towering high rises beat against the blackness, and a crescent moon speared pale swords across the dark slash of river.
He and Sabrina had stood at the central wall talking for hours. They’d shared memories…and avoided mentioning the future. When she’d swayed on her feet, he’d urged her into bed.
Wade had been by several times to check on them, but hadn’t reported their test results. The verdict had to be in by now. The fact that neither had been discharged said it all. Fear and love tangled inside Grady until he couldn’t separate the two.
He had thought he needed more time. Always believed he and Sabrina would have plenty of it. Instead he’d wasted his life trying to outrun his problems. And stupidly carried his baggage on his back everywhere he’d gone.
He couldn’t squander what might be his final hours in sleep.
“Hey, Pop.” Grady looked at the moon and far-flung stars.
“It’s been a while since we talked. I know now that a few harsh words couldn’t destroy the bond we shared.”
He blinked until his vision was clear. “Somehow, if there was some way you could let me know you hear me…that you forgive me…”
Waiting, Grady gazed up at the stars.
But no answer came during the long night.
When dawn’s pale fingers gripped the horizon and crept over the city, Sabrina stirred. Grady walked to the dividing wall. “Morning, sweetheart.”
She sat up, and his heart wrenched. Even across the room, he could see the fevered flush on her cheeks.
He sprinted for the intercom, hit the call button. “Sabrina’s running a fever! Get in here!”
The day nurse hurried into the corridor. “The doctor is donning protective gear. He’ll be right in.”
Stiff with fear, Sabrina stumbled to the partition. “Grady.”
He went to her, stabbed the speaker button. “You’re gonna be okay.”
She leaned on the glass. “I’m scared.”
“I know.” He offered his palm. “But Serpens is working on an antidote. Zoe said they were close.”
She aligned her palm with his. “Promise me something.”
His throat was as raw as if he’d swallowed ground glass. “Anything.”
“If I…don’t win the battle, promise you won’t run from your family again. Or the possibility of love. Don’t let the past dictate your future anymore. I want you to be happy, Grady.”
Sabrina was his past. His future. He would never love another. Never be happy without her. “I told you, I’m done running. Stand your ground, Sabrina, and so will I.”
Her eyes welled. “I’ll do my best.”
Outfitted in biohazard suits, a doctor and nurse shuffled into the hallway, then entered Sabrina’s room. The nurse drew the curtain.
“No!” Grady slapped the glass. “Don’t shut me out!”
He paced, waiting, watching.
After an eternity, they exited Sabrina’s room.
Grady rushed to the outside speaker. “What’s happening to Sabrina?”
The doctor turned. “She needs to rest.”
“Open the curtain so I can keep an eye on her.”
The doctor shook his head. “You need to rest, too.”
Swearing, Grady thrust his fingers through his hair. He couldn’t just sit here. He had to do something. But what?
After the medical staff checked his vitals, he prowled like a caged tiger for another twenty minutes until his bedside phone startled him to a halt. He snatched up the receiver. “O’Rourke.”
Static crackled over the line.
His fingers clenched on the phone. “Hello. I can hear you breathing.”
“Mr. Grady O’Rourke?” asked a woman’s heavily accented voice.
His pulse stumbled. “Yes.”
“I tried to reach Miss Sabrina, but the operator said she is not receiving calls. I have been seeing the news. I have…information you should know.”
Grady fought to keep his voice calm. “You can trust me.”
“Sí. My important friend, he told me this.”
“Tell me what you know.”
“I must speak with you. My friend, he said never to say over the telephone. Never longer than sixty seconds, or they trace me. I have much to tell.”
He swallowed his impatience. “I can’t leave. You’ll have to come to me.”
“People watch. I will be killed.”
“I swear on my life, my brothers will protect you.” He inhaled. He had to reassure her before she got spooked and hung up. “There are three of them, armed to the teeth, and a German shepherd police dog.”
A brief hesitation. “Ask Miss Sabrina, Genesis three, twenty-two. I will wait there thirty minutes, that is all.”
A click, and then the dial tone buzzed.
Grady stalked to the partition, hit the speaker. “Sabrina, can you hear me? Teresa Monteros just called. I need you to look up Genesis, chapter three, verse twenty-two in Bill’s Bible.”
After heart-shaking minutes, the privacy curtain parted. An IV had been inserted in Sabrina’s left arm. Bill’s Bible was open in her trembling hands. “‘Man has become like one of us, since he knows good and evil,’” she read. “‘He must not take the fruit from the tree of life and eat. Then he would live forever.’”
“The tree of life. Supposedly an apple tree. Does that mean anything to you as a rendezvous point?”
Golden brows scrunched. “Yes! The oldest apple tree in the Pacific Northwest is growing at Fort Vancouver. Granddad used to take me to the apple festival every year.”
“You go back to bed and rest. I need to call my brothers. They’ll pick her up at Fort Vancouver and bring her here.”
Call completed, Grady retrieved the duffel Kate had brought and set it on his bed. If he was meeting an informant, he wanted to be dressed. His own clothes would make him feel less a patient, more a cop. He unzipped the bag…and froze.
Pulse pounding in his ears, he stared at the garments inside. And the Swiss Army knife on top.
His Swiss Army knife.
He knew it was his because the grenade shrapnel that had left a small scar on his right hip had also nicked the casing.
Grady cradled the knife in an unsteady palm. He’d never been without it since Pop had given it to him seventeen years ago. He’d used the scissors to cut tape for Sabrina’s bandage. He was sure the knife had been in his pocket when he and Sabrina had been kidnapped. Equally sure it hadn’t been in his pocket when he’d escaped.
He’d asked his father for a sign.
His breath caught.
No way. There had to be a logical explanation. Maybe the knife had slipped out of his pocket at the houseboat, and he hadn’t noticed. His brothers’ wives knew the O’Rourke tradition. Kate had probably seen his knife lying around and figured Grady would want it.
Somehow the convoluted justification seemed more far-fetched than believing his resourceful dad had found a way to give him another gift. Something far more precious than a knife.
Hope.
Grady closed his eyes, bowed his head and finally laid his fears—and his father—to rest.
His heart lightened, and the smothering weight lifted from his chest. He tightly clasped the battered knife. “Thank you, Pop.”
Resolved and refocused, he carried his clothes into the bathroom and dressed. Then he flipped on the television for the latest news.
Forty-five minutes later, Aidan, Con, Liam and Murphy escorted in a slender Hispanic woman. A black scarf covered ebony hair and large sunglasses protected wary dark eyes.
Grady left the speaker on so Sabrina could join the conversation. Zoe revealed what her investigation had discovered.
Then Teresa told Grady everything she knew. When she finished, she frowned. “But I do not have any way to prove this.”
Neither did he. Yet. “Will you testify at a trial?”
“Sí. Enough people have died.”
A war council was held, ideas exchanged. Theories were formulated and refined.
Afterward, his brothers agreed that hiding Teresa in a safe house was the best option and departed to arrange the transfer.
Leaving the speaker on, Sabrina curled up in bed, and Grady strummed his guitar and sang to her until she fell asleep.
Grady watched the news, paced some more. Prayed a lot.
When the answer hit, he jerked to a halt. Damn, it was dangerous. And not just to himself. But hell, life wasn’t about being safe or comfortable. He would always be willing to take risks—but from now on, only for the woman he loved.
He thought everything through. Sketched a tactical plan. Reviewed details a second then a third time before placing a conference call to his brothers.
He hung up with a lump in his throat the size of a baseball. His brothers were willing to put their careers—and their lives—on the line for him.
Grady tugged the knife from his pocket. “Here’s to you, Pop. Sláinte!” He unscrewed the faceplate from the keypad door lock, snipped wires, reconfigured schematics. In less than five minutes, the glass panel slid open and he was in the corridor.
Then he finessed the lock outside Sabrina’s door…and walked into her room.
Her eyes flew open and she sat up in bed, gasped. “What are you doing?”
“I have a plan we need to discuss.”
“No!” She scrambled off the bed. “Stay away!” For his every forward step, she took one back. She flung out her hands. “Wait! The morning you saved me from getting shot, you vowed something.”
He halted. “What?”
“You said you wouldn’t leave unless I asked you to. Well, I’m asking. No, I’m begging. Leave. Get out of here.”
“Sorry, sweetheart. I can’t do that.”
Her back hit the wall. Avoiding the IV tubing, he carefully grasped her arms, and she slid to the floor. “Please, Grady, don’t!”
“Shh.” He went to his knees and gathered her into his embrace. “It’s all right.” He stroked her hair, kissed away the tears sliding down her face. “I know exactly what I’m doing.”
He explained, and her expression blanked with shock. “Grady, are you sure?”
“More than I’ve ever been. About anything.” Tilting up her chin, he captured her mouth in a gentle kiss.
She went stiff, but didn’t fight him. Her skin was warm, her mouth hot beneath his, her lips soft and pliant.
When he released her, she was shaking. “How can you take such a risk?”
“Because I have to.” He smiled. “Let’s get into bed.”
He scooped her up and settled her in the bed, then climbed in with her. She curled into him, and her heartbeat pounded against his. “Oh, God, if you’re wrong…”
“Just another calculated risk.” Grady tenderly rubbed her back. After a decade on the run, he’d finally found peace. “Even if we lose the battle, Sabrina, we’ll have won the war.”
The following morning, Grady surfaced from a dreamless sleep with a throbbing headache and his body burning. Eyes still closed, he smiled. He smelled Sabrina’s sweet fragrance, felt her soft curves spooned to his. Their combined body heat threatened to incinerate the sheets.
The medical team had freaked when they’d discovered him in her room. Since there was nothing anyone could do after the fact, they’d allowed him to stay. He nuzzled her silky hair. A National Guard squadron couldn’t have thrown him out.
Sabrina moaned softly and rolled to her back, and Grady opened his eyes, looked into hers. The warm whiskey depths were glazed, and an angry red rash scorched her limbs. His heart gave a shaky flip. “Are you in pain, sweetheart?”
“My skin stings like I have the mother of all sunburns.”
“I’ll call the nurse.” Grady rose without touching her tender skin. He slid the chair next to her bed, where he sat to await the doctor. Other than his fever and headache, he didn’t feel bad.
Yet.
The doctor entered for morning rounds, charted vitals and injected morphine into Sabrina’s IV. Grady swallowed a couple of ibuprofen to knock out the headache and reduce his temperature.
Once they were alone again, Grady phoned Aidan. “Phase one complete. Initiate phase two.”
Aidan’s gusty exhale rang in his ear. “You really did it.”
“Viper’s V-10 bombs are detonating in other cities. It’s Armageddon, bro. No surrender, no retreat.”
Grady hung up, returned to the chair and gently took Sabrina’s hand. Her gaze was sleepy from the pain meds…and dark with terror. “I’m afraid for you.”
Not half as much as he was for her. “I’m gonna be fine.”
Tears welled. “I don’t want you to die.”
“I’m not too excited about it myself.” He forced a grin. “Remember our secret blood oaths?”
“The ones we sealed with spit instead of blood because I was afraid to cut myself…only I was too squicked out to actually spit? Yeah.”
“I won’t die if you don’t.” He removed his hand from hers, kissed his palm and held it out to her.
Her wobbly smile broke his heart more deeply than the tears. “Deal.” She kissed her palm and solemnly shook with him.
Holding her hand, he leaned close. “Fight, Sabrina. Rouse that stubborn streak and stay alive. For me. For us.”
“Don’t worry, I’m not about to give up. St. Peter will have to drag me kicking and screaming through the Pearly Gates.”
Grady tenderly brushed a kiss on her sizzling-hot forehead. “That’s my girl.”
Fifteen minutes later Aidan and Con strode into the corridor wearing black battle gear and SWAT caps. Aidan carried a large black duffel. He extracted identical clothing and passed it through the air lock to Grady. “If I had any lingering doubts about you being crazy, baby brother, they’re blown.”
Grady grinned. “Nobody lives forever. Blaze of glory and all that rot.”
He changed inside the bathroom, tugged his cap low and strolled out. Standing beside Sabrina’s bed, he leaned down. “Well, honey, off to another boring day at the office.”
She chuckled weakly. “You look superb in that uniform, Dimples. If you didn’t get demerits for being late, I’d jump you.”
He touched his lips to hers. “Great idea. I’ll hold you to it.”
“Grady.” She clung to him. “Be careful. Come back to me.”
“I always will. Just make damn sure you’re here when I do.”
“I will be.” She kissed him long and slow, making his heart kick.
Grady had to clear his throat before he could speak. “Sabrina, I love you.”
She burst into tears. “I’ve waited so long to hear you say that. I love you, too.”
Unwilling to release her until the last possible moment, he held her tight. “Remember, no matter what happens, nothing will ever separate us.”
Grady stalked to the door. He didn’t jury-rig the keypad, because the company had added a tamper alarm when they’d installed a new lock yesterday. He could have gotten around it, but time was wastin’ and he’d learned the code while covertly observing the service tech. The tech had been so rattled about working in a biohazard unit, he’d set a land-speed record.
Grady turned to leave, and looked back at Sabrina. She smiled and blew him a kiss. He saluted her, then deliberately strode down the corridor. He had to banish her from his thoughts to do his job.
He had to leave her one last time in order to save her.
Liam leaned on the counter at the nurses’ station chatting up the ladies, while Murphy, his partner in charm, poured on the cute-doggy routine. Grady kept his cap low and his head down, and nobody noticed that three tall, dark-haired men in uniform left instead of two.
Around the corner, Aidan summoned the huge service elevator, used for transporting patients on gurneys and multiple medical teams to and from the roof. Con held the car for Liam and Murphy, who joined them moments later.
The wide double doors shut, and silence hummed inside the car. Grady yanked on black tactical gloves. Aidan opened the duffel, doled out weapons. Flash-bang grenades clicked into belts, pistols slid into holsters, ammo magazines snapped into assault rifles.
Each brother had his own prebattle thoughts. As the numbers ticked upward, they mentally prepared for combat.
The doors slid open, and shoulder to shoulder, the O’Rourke brothers stepped onto the rooftop.