And then her mind had turned off and Steers remembered nothing more. Until she had opened her eyes just now.
“Victoria-san?”
She looked up to see him standing over her. His face and white shirt were bloodied.
With my blood?
She slowly eased her head from side to side, trying to. . .She closed her eyes.
Nash looked down at her. She was alive, and he was terribly conflicted about that.
If she had died, it would be so much easier. My nightmare would be over. So why is part of me so relieved that she survived?
He pushed these thoughts from his mind and said, “The doctors stitched you up, filled you back up with blood, and your vitals are strong.”
“You brought me here?” asked Steers as she once more opened her eyes.
The same nurse who had taken care of Nash’s wound walked up to the bed. “Yes, he carried you in himself. Otherwise you would not be alive now.” She checked the wound, dispensed some meds into a port they had placed in Steers’s forearm, and left.
Nash sat in a chair next to her.
She looked at him and said, “He cut me.”
“Yes, it was Hao. I—”
“You killed him. This I remember seeing.”
“I didn’t know you had been wounded. I would have driven you straight here if I had known. It was my mistake. I’m sorry, Victoriasan. You could have died.”
She reached through the bed’s side bars and gripped his hand. “You saved my life. Like the nurse said, I would be gone but for you.”
Her touch suddenly maddened Nash. The police officer had been right. All murderers should be punished.
And yet cows, Hiroko had said. Cows are strange beasts indeed, then.
“You were hurt as well!”
He looked up to see her staring at his bandaged arm. “Looks far worse than it is.”
She relaxed and said, “I am happy it was nothing more.”
“Hao must have been working for one of your enemies.”
She released his hand and lay back. “The fact that this caught me unawares pains me even more than this,” she said, touching the bandage on her neck.
“But you’re still here and he isn’t. Which means we can find out who’s behind this.”
“My other men? They are dead?”
“Yes. All of them. They were obviously not part of it. Only Hao.”
“Only Hao,” she repeated dully. She glanced at him. “You are now my protection.”
“Me and Thura, yes. Until you hire a new team.”
“I do not wish a new team, Dillon-san. Youaremy team.”
“What, why?” he said in surprise.