Her feet, in her nylons, pressed against the warm tile where she had underfloor heating. Kira turned on the kettle to heat water for decaf tea and changed into her comfiest pajamas. Yesterday’s mail sat on the counter in a stack she hadn’t gone through yet, but she would do that while she ate breakfast this afternoon, before her shift.
When most people were waking up and getting ready for the day, Kira was lowering her blinds and darkening the apartment so she could get a few hours of sleep.
This was what she’d needed for so many years, working overseas. Quiet space that she controlled. Minimal decoration, because too many things cluttering a room didn’t allow her mind to relax. In the hospital, she was constantly overwhelmed by sights and sounds and movement. Here, in her personal space, she found a sense of peace, enough that she could rest.
First, she would check her email for the patient’s file and do some research on the condition they had. Then maybe after that, she would turn on the audio Bible instead of reading the sweet romance she’d mentioned to Jordan.
Her friend was the one who had suggested that Kira exit the covert ops world and the contract work she had been doing. Go back to just practicing medicine and nothing else. Jordan had seen how that life was starting to affect Kira and cautioned her that things wouldn’t get better unless she made a change. Took a break.
It was like being given a new lease on life.
Probably a lot like Luca and his journey, being declared dead and then coming back to life. Getting a second chance to make a life for himself. That would take money, wouldn’t it? Especially if a person hadn’t built up a nest egg.
Maybe she shouldn’t judge him too harshly, considering the things she had done. The Bible was pretty clear about not condemning another person when she had plenty in her life that would condemn her, but for the blood of Jesus.
She used her iPad to do some research on the doctor who would be administering the procedure. She’d never heard of Dr. Torres, but recognized some of the research he had conducted from medical journals she had read. Turned out he was local to Renegade and well known for his cutting-edge ideas.
This was certainly going to be an interesting job.
Once it was done, her life would go back to its normal, steady state. Peace and quiet—something she had desperately needed after spending years in a war zone—was now a given. She’d eventually realized that her heart and soul had been battered by the constant conflict and ever-present fear, and that Jordan was right. She’d needed a change.
She’d clung to her faith as best she could, but that had felt thin as well when she finally walked away from the work she’d been doing.
The last few years working in Renegade, seeing the mountains every day and helping people who lived in this city, some of them for their whole lives, had been a kind of therapy for her. She had spent so much time just trying to rebuild who she was and sort of put herself back together.
Seeing Luca wasn’t going to set back the progress she’d made. It wasn’t going to interfere with her peace or her carefully ordered world.
At least, not if she could help it.
Her iPad pinged with a new message. Sent to her hospital email account from Saxon Investigations. She frowned and tapped the notification.
I’m sorry for how our conversation ended this morning. The answer to your question is yes, we can be professionals about this. Working together doesn’t have to mean being at odds with each other. I’m sure we can find a way to get along.
She’d been so thrown by his mentioning money that early in the conversation that when he’d asked her out for coffee, she’d immediately shut him down. How on earth was she supposed to understand his intentions?
But apparently, she didn’t need to worry about that. He was there to do his job, just like her. Which meant she’d have to stick to her word about being a professional. As long as Jordan didn’t come up with something that Kira needed to worry about, everything would be fine. They would do the job, and as soon as it was over, he would be out of her life again. A good way to test the efficacy of everything she had been building the last few years.
Otherwise, how else would she know that she was who she needed to be now?
And not the woman who had failed to save so many people’s lives.
Five
Luca tore open the packet of sugar and dumped it into his black coffee, stirring his spoon around in the small diner mug. Determining not to think about Kira or their conversation, especially since he was here to have lunch with Mack.
Luca had done a little research into her background, even connecting with someone he knew who was a tech whiz and CEO—Jamie Winters. They’d met in Alaska last year, and Jamie had helped them figure out that whole deal with the bioweapon and the terrorist group. In fact, she’d been an integral part in getting to the truth that their old teammate, Elias Redding, and his family were working to destabilize the USA.
Jamie had sent him a packet of information she’d found about Kira. Added to what he’d uncovered locally, it didn’t amount to much. She had extensive investments, and three years ago she’d signed a lease on a downtown apartment in a brand-new high-rise. She was paid well by the hospital, and every annual review seemed positive.
Jamie had told him it all came across as clean—almost too clean—but he’d told her not to dig anymore. If there were secrets in Kira’s life, he wanted to discover them himself. Preferably by getting to know her and her choosing to trust him enough to share those things herself, rather than him uncovering anything she didn’t want the world to know.
Dolly wandered past him, her sneakers squeaking on the linoleum floor. She winked as she went by, already aware he was waiting for Hammer’s half brother.
The lunchtime crowd included a couple of moms in a booth, strollers next to their table. Toddlers climbed on them and the bench seat while they chatted and caught up with each other. Two older men talked over open Bibles at their table in the corner. Dolly took the empty plates from the gentlemen and said something Luca was too far away to hear.
The door swung open, ringing the bell above it.
Dolly glanced over. “Hey, sweetie.”