Chapter 11

A marylis slept like a log. When she woke the next morning to find herself curled up in her own bed, warm and carefree, she smiled happily and stretched, enjoying just knowing that everything was okay in her world for once. It seemed the stress had been never ending over the last few days, the chaos coming at her nonstop from all directions. She was happy that, for the moment, she could just chill and take a breath.

She checked her phone for messages, and, sure enough, one was from Tristan. It was short and sweet.

Heading to bed, a bit late. Tons of new intel. I’ll call you in the morning.

She looked at the time his message had been sent—two in the morning, just as she had suspected his night to go. She swore at that because he would never get any restorative sleep at this rate. She got up slowly, noting she was a little on the sore side—standing too long over her tables—and headed to make coffee. She wasn’t even sure who all she was making coffee for because she didn’t know whether her guard was outside her door or not.

As she stepped into her kitchen, she looked to see if anybody was around, which didn’t make sense as Scott was outside. She made coffee and had a quick shower. After she got dressed, she poured herself a cup and sat down to relax but couldn’t. She still had heard nothing from Tristan or the guard. So she got up, checked her peephole but saw nothing. Then she looked through her front window.

No sign of Scott or anybody. Maybe he’d been called away, or maybe he was sitting in his car or walking around the perimeter of the building at the back right now. That would make sense.

She sent a message to Tristan, sharing that she was up, and she hoped he got some sleep. With that, she quickly rummaged in her kitchen and found enough bread to put on some toast, but that’s about all she had for food. Just as she was buttering the toast, her phone rang. “Hey,” she answered cheerfully. “How are you feeling?”

“I’m doing pretty well,” he murmured. “Got a bit of a headache, but that’s life.”

“You’re right. Life is that way sometimes,” she agreed. “Everything go okay last night?”

“It did. How about you?”

“I caught some sleep, which for me is starting to feel like something I never, ever get, but the wine last night at dinner helped, I think,” she shared. “So I’m doing just fine.”

“Oh, good. Sleep helps, doesn’t it?” he said, with a laugh.

“I haven’t seen Scott yet this morning, but I presume he’s outside somewhere.”

“I’ll check in with him. Do you normally talk to him?”

“Yeah, some. After spending a day with him at work, we interacted a bit, even if he wasn’t in the morgue itself. Plus, he drove me home last night, so we have been talking. Normally when I’m at home, he’s outside my door, but not this morning,” she said, yawning, “I’m just checking to confirm everything is still okay.”

“I’ll find out for you.” And Tristan quickly hung up.

She didn’t think anything of it, just sat here enjoying her coffee, until Tristan called her back.

“When did you last see Scott?”

“When he brought be home after we left the restaurant. Why?”

“Nobody’s heard from him this morning,” Tristan shared. “You need to lock yourself inside your apartment and stay put.”

“Oh, no. No, no, no,” she wailed. “Hurting Scott is not allowed. He’s just a nice young kid.”

“I get that, but we need to find him first. Don’t panic. For all we know, he’s sound asleep somewhere. We couldn’t get him relief on time last night, so he had to work a double shift. However, someone should have shown up later, and I’m not sure they did. I’m still tracking people down, so please don’t panic yet. I just don’t want to track you down too, if you leave the apartment.”

“Right,” she muttered, as she sat back and looked down at her toast that no longer had the same appeal.

She didn’t want anything to happen to that young man. Scott was a good kid, but he was still just a kid. She waited tensely for another twenty minutes, and, when no return phone call came, she bolted to her feet and started pacing inside her apartment.

She didn’t know where Scott could have gone or what trouble he could have gotten into, but, with all the chaos going on here at the base, it didn’t take much imagination to think that something bad may have happened to him.

She paced for several moments, and, when Tristan finally called her back, he said, “So, I just got off the phone, and Scott is in the hospital.”

“Oh my God,” she cried out. “What happened?”

“He’s alive, but he took a blow to the head.”

“When? Where?”

“We think it happened sometime last night. The security detail that was supposed to relieve him got their wires crossed somehow, and nobody showed up. So we don’t know what time Scott was attacked. As it is, someone was sent to check on him when they realized this morning that nobody had relieved him overnight. They couldn’t contact him via phone, so they searched around for him earlier this morning, and that’s when they found him.”

She sat there, tears running down her face. She thought she might have been able to hide it, but Tristan heard her sobs.

“He’s alive, Amarylis,” he reminded her.

“Yes,” she murmured, “and, for that, I’m damn grateful, but what the hell?”

“I know. I will head to the hospital first, and then I’ll come to your place.”

“No, pick me up. I want to go to the hospital with you.” He hesitated and she added, “Either that, or I’m going there myself.”

“Of course you are,” he muttered, a note of humor in his tone.

“Just as you would,” she pointed out.

“I’ll be there in five,” he said, “but remember. Don’t open that damn door to anybody.”

She didn’t say anything but waited at the door, fully dressed, ready for Tristan to show up. When he didn’t show up on time, she texted him several times.

Finally he called her back. “Look. I’m stuck out here near the parking lot. The traffic’s been a bitch. I promise nothing’s wrong. I’m just running late.”

She sagged back in place and waited for him to get to her door.

When a knock finally came, Tristan called out, “It’s me. Let me in.” She hurriedly opened it. As he walked in, he saw the tears in her eyes. He just opened his arms, and she raced into them.

“Oh my God,” she whispered, when she could finally talk. “This is just too harsh.”

“I know, and it’s definitely something we’re still sorting out.”

“Why would somebody even do that?”

“Obviously they didn’t want him here, and that would mean that they were doing something that they wanted hidden, but I just don’t know what,” he admitted. “With any luck, the scout coming to find Scott ran off whatever bad guys were here. Come on. Let’s lock up and head over to the hospital, so you can see him.”

And that’s what they did. When they got to his room, Scott was awake and pissed. He took one look at Amarylis and asked, “Jeez, are you okay?”

She nodded. “I’m fine, but what happened to you?”

He frowned. “After I dropped you off, maybe a couple hours later, I went out into the trees to take a leak,” he explained, “and I didn’t even see it coming. I heard this weird whoosh and lights out.” He gingerly put his hand to the back of his head. “When I woke up, I was terrified they’d gotten to you.”

“They didn’t.” Then she winced. “At least not yet.”

“And they won’t,” Tristan vowed, standing at her side.

“Jeez, you’ve got to look after her,” Scott said. “I don’t know what the hell these guys want, but they’re adamant.”

“A little more than adamant, considering we had a break-in at our investigation offices last night too.”

“They must want whatever it is they’re looking for pretty badly.”

“Oh, they want it pretty badly all right,” Tristan agreed, with a nod, “but they aren’t getting it.”

“Good,” Scott snapped. “And, after this knock on the head, now I for sure don’t want those assholes getting it.”

Tristan smiled. “What you need to do now is get better and get yourself out of here.”

“I would love to,” Scott muttered, “but the doc won’t let me go.”

“Of course not,” Amarylis noted. “Head injuries can be very tricky.” Scott scowled at her, and she shrugged. “Don’t glare at me. You have to talk to your doctor about setting you free, but, if you were my patient, I wouldn’t let you go either.”

Scott pointed a finger at her. “That’s because you see me as a kid, and you don’t want me to get hurt.”

She glared at him. “I don’t want you to get more hurt,” she retorted.

He smiled. “Hey, this one was pretty easy. I took a knock, but it’s not as if he was gonna kill me.” At that, he turned and looked at Tristan. “Wait. How come he didn’t kill me?”

“I don’t know, Scott. I just don’t know—maybe because you’re young.” Tristan shook his head. “However, we’ll take it as a good thing regardless.”

“Yeah, well, that’s a pisser in itself, isn’t it?”

Amarylis frowned at him. “What? Now you wanted to get killed?”

“No,… I obviously don’t want to get killed,” he scoffed. “Yet, if they didn’t do what they would normally do just because they see me as kid,… it’s insulting.”

She shook her head, then looked over at Tristan, who was grinning wildly. “Christ, you’re all nuts,” she muttered.

“Yeah, we probably are,” Scott admitted cheerfully.

“Now you’ve got your first war wound,” she snapped, glaring at him, “but you shouldn’t be quite so happy about it.”

“Hey, you’re not hurt, so it’s all good.”

She smiled at that. “I do thank you for taking such good care of me.”

He glared. “I’m just surprised he didn’t come up after you.”

“Me too,” she replied.

“So, what is our theory on that?” Scott asked, looking at Tristan.

“Maybe our guy scouting around for you disturbed the bad guy’s plans or maybe they thought she would be under guard inside her apartment as well,” Tristan suggested.

“Yeah, either makes sense. So then what? They just sit back and see what happens next at her apartment or at her office—or yours?”

“Maybe,” Tristan replied, with a nod. “That could very well be it.”

She glared at the two of them. “They sure as hell better not come after me again,” she snapped. “I’m pretty fed up with this whole thing.”

“Yeah, we all are too,” Scott noted, with a smile. “So, we need this to come to an end, one that finishes it, not just an end that leaves us with no answers.”

Tristan nodded. “We have the two guys who broke into our offices last night,” Tristan shared, with a smile, “We got some information from them, and we’re hoping to get more.”

“Good.” Scott snarled. “Any assholes come back after me, I’m taking them down.”

They left him still in his feisty mood, which in some ways relieved Amarylis. As they walked outside, she asked, “Is that all talk coming from Scott?”

“Not all of it,” Tristan replied. “Some of it is just relief, and, whatever happened, he did survive. Now he’s got something he can brag about,” he added, with a chuckle.

She shook her head, “That head wound is nothing to laugh about.”

“No, it isn’t, which is why he’s damn happy to be where he is. Nobody’s releasing him anytime soon,” Tristan said, “so don’t you worry about that.”

She smiled. “He’s a good kid, and I hate to see him get hurt.”

“He’s already been hurt, and he’s damn lucky it wasn’t a lot worse. So, with any luck, he won’t come up against something like that again.”

She nodded and smiled, as they headed out of the hospital. “Now what?”

“You’re not going to work.” She stopped in her tracks and frowned at him. He nodded. “Dr. Cox has already been briefed on all that’s happened, and he’s the one who doesn’t want you bringing that shit to work.”

She groaned. “Oh, great , so now I’m bringing this crap to work, am I? How come it’s all on me now?”

“It’s not that you’re responsible, but we must consider other people who could get caught up as collateral damage,” he pointed out. “Your coworkers at the morgue.”

She sighed. “So where am I going then?”

“You’re coming with me to my office.”

“Oh, great ,” she muttered. “What is this, take your kid to work day?”

He stated, “I don’t know what kid you think you might resemble, but you’re all woman to me.” She flushed bright red at that, and he chuckled. “Come on. This isn’t how you wanted your day to go, but—”

“Definitely not how I want my day to go,” she grumbled.

“But you’ll behave because you know people are out there, ready to take a hit to protect you. Therefore, you’ve got to do your part to make sure it’s not in vain.”

She glared at him. “That, sir, was a low blow.”

He gave her an infectious smile. “Hey, whatever works. Right about now everybody in my world would just as soon see you locked down and going nowhere, until this is all sorted out. So don’t expect too many people to give you any leniency to be out and about.”

“It’s not about leniency,” she clarified. “I just don’t want to be a prisoner.”

*