He missed. I didn’t. Not with the first or second shot I got off.
Diesel came up directly behind me and trained his gun on the guy we both believed was dead. I raced past him and rounded another corner. There, I saw a door. It was the first we’d come to.
I moved into position at the left side of it, Buster was on the right, and Onyx kicked it in. I followed them in; Wasp was right behind me.
I saw the outline of a body, too big to be Maisie, who appeared to be asleep on a cot. Onyx and Buster woke him by shoving the barrel of a gun into his side and against his head.
Beyond him was a second door. I raced toward it, more terrified of what I’d find than I had been during any other extraction. I kicked it open and saw Maisie’s body on the floor, wrapped in a blanket. I rushed to her and checked for a pulse. She was warm and breathing, thank God, but even through the limited light of the NVD, I could see she’d been roughed up. When I gathered her into my arms, the blanket fell open. She was naked underneath.
“I’ve got her,” I said into the mic. “Doc, what’s your twenty?”
“In the tunnel, headed your way.”
Doc was given his code name because he was a physician’s assistant—one of the best I’d ever worked with. We needed to add one to the Shadow Ops team before our next mission. The role was a vital one.
We met near the tunnel’s exit. “Her breathing is shallow, pulse weak, and she hasn’t come to.”
“Copy that. Let’s get her out of here so I can take a look. There’s a bus on its way.”
I saw the paramedics pull up to the carousel entrance when I came out of the trapdoor. I rushed toward them at the same time they lowered a stretcher, and I took a step back when Doc reiterated what I’d said about her pulse and breathing.
“Get in, Ranger,” said Doc.
“Sir, we don’t allow—”
“He’s riding in the back with me.” I’d known Doc a long time, but when he used that tone of voice, he intimidated the hell out of me. The EMT looked like Zeus had just rained his wrath down on him.
“Yes, sir.”
Doc and I removed Maisie’s blindfold, the gag in her mouth, and untied her arms and legs. When the EMT got out two other blankets, I put one over her, removed what had been wrapped around her, and tossed it to Diesel. “Bag it.”
“Roger that.”
I put the second blanket over her and held Maisie’s hand as the driver sped toward Johnstown and the nearest hospital. We were five minutes out when her eyes opened and she looked into mine.
“Hey, beautiful,” I said, bringing her hand to my mouth so I could kiss the back of it.
“Ranger?” Her voice was hoarse.
“I’m right here, Maisie.”
“What happened?”
“You were lost, but I found you.”
“He…he…” She closed her eyes, and I stroked her hair.
“It’s over. You’re safe,” I whispered.
When she started to tremble, I got on my knees and wrapped my arms around her.
“You stay with Maisie. I’ll head in and talk to the triage team,” Doc said when we pulled up to the hospital’s emergency room.
I moved out of the way while the EMTs eased the stretcher from the back of the ambulance and wheeled her inside. Doc had a medical team ready and waiting in a bay to evaluate her condition.
He put his hand on my arm and motioned for me to follow. When we were a few feet away from where Maisie was being examined, he turned to look at me. “I’ve suggested a tox screen as well as a rape kit.”
The words were like a punch to my gut, but I knew they were as necessary as evaluating the rest of the injuries she’d sustained. “Edwards?” I asked.
“In custody.”
“Whose and where?”
“Ours, and that information is need-to-know.”
“I’m the one who asked he be kept alive. I’m not going to kill him—yet.”
“Understood. Trust when I say the Shadow Ops team will get every ounce of information they want out of him.”
I knew they would, especially with Onyx’s and Diesel’s participation.
“What about the other guy?”
“Dead and yet to be identified.”
I looked back to the doctors and nurses who were tending to my wife.
“She’s in good hands,” said Doc. “And she’s alive.”
“I know. I just need to be with her.”
A woman carrying a clipboard approached us. “Are you Mrs. Messick’s husband?”
“I am.”
“I just need you to sign a couple of these forms, giving us permission to examine her and run the necessary tests.”
I scrawled my name where she pointed.
“Maisie may have issues with memory,” said Doc when she walked away. “We’ll know how much to anticipate once the initial toxicology report comes in. We’ll take it slow, not force her to talk about anything she isn’t ready to.”
“Has someone contacted Al and Mary?”
“Merrigan is bringing them here now.”
“Thanks, Doc, for everything.”
“It’s what we do, Ranger, and you’re welcome.”
22
RANGER
As soon as Doc and I finished talking, I rushed back to the bay where Maisie was being examined. She’d already had too many strangers’ hands on her, from Doc to the EMTs, and now the doctors and nurses. I didn’t want her to face anyone else without me by her side.
When I walked in, Maisie turned her head in the direction of the doctor who was entering notes into a computer. It seemed odd. I expected her to reach out to me, at least look at me, but she didn’t. I pulled a chair closer to the gurney and attempted to take her hand, but she moved it out of my reach.
Rather than doing anything to make her more uncomfortable, I leaned back in the chair and waited for the doctor to finish his notes.
He closed the laptop and bent over the bed rail. “We’ll start an IV to replenish your fluids. I’ll be back in an hour to see how you’re doing,” was all he said.
Maisie nodded and the man left. Rather than rush after him for an update on her condition, I walked around to the other side of the bed so I could see her face. “Hey, there,” I said, brushing her hair from her forehead. She flinched.
I stood by the bed, watching after she closed her eyes. She needed rest—God knew what kind of drugs were in her system.
I sat in a chair, checking messages and emails until I nodded off like she had. I woke when I felt someone’s hand on my shoulder. I turned my head and looked up at Doc, who motioned for me to follow.
I was about to say I didn’t want to leave Maisie alone when Swan arrived and waited for me to vacate the chair so she could be seated. A nurse also came in to start the IV.
Doc led me into a room with a sofa, two chairs, and a side table. He closed the door behind us. “Have a seat.”
I did and leaned forward with my elbows on my knees.
“What I have to tell you is going to be very difficult for you to hear, Ranger. Although, I doubt it will come as a surprise.”