“You’ve had much worse.”
“I was a soldier.” He’d willingly signed on for the risks. “Doc here tells me you can head back up to your room, but I wanted to check with you to find out whether you want to stay there or somewhere else. The janitorial crew has cleaned it up, but we’ll have to order a new mirror.”
“I told the boss here that you can’t be alone for the next twenty-four hours.”
Jenna knew head-injury protocols. “Right. Thank you so much, Sean. I guess I might as well go lie down in my own bed and leave you in peace.”
Derek helped her to her feet. “I’ll walk you up.”
* * *
Jenna spentthe rest of the day drifting in and out, Derek in a chair beside her bed. Once or twice, she jerked awake, the explosion echoing through her dreams, only to have Derek right there, comforting her, assuring her that she was safe.
He’d brought a laptop into her room and communicated with his team via text messages and emails, and she knew he must have a thousand other concerns on his mind and lots of things he ought to be doing.
She didn’t want to burden him or take him from his work. “If you need to go, you should go. I’m fine, really. Maybe Elizabeth can check on me to make you happy.”
“Shields is busy.”
“So are you.”
He shrugged that off. “Our people know how to do their jobs. Corbray is on his way. He left D.C. as soon as he got word of the bomb. He’s going to take over management of operations when he arrives tomorrow.”
She rubbed her forehead, her headache like a migraine. “What will you do?”
“Watch over you.” He studied her, concern on every feature of his face. “Do you need something stronger for that headache?”
There was a lot of evidence that giving too much pain medication after a concussion set a person up for rebound headaches, but this was getting old fast. “Yes, please. This is pretty bad.”
“I’ll get Doc up here. You just rest—and quit worrying about the rest of us. We’ve got this.”
“Derek, someone set off a car bomb right outside this building, and I might be to blame for that. Someone could have been killed. They could have done millions of dollars of damage to your company. How can I not worry?”
His brow furrowed. “Hey, this isnotyour fault. Even if the explosion is somehow tied to Kazi’s reasons for wanting to get his hands on you, it isnotyour fault.”
He enunciated every syllable of those last words.
Jenna knew intellectually that he was right, but in her heart…
Derek reached over, ran a knuckle over her cheek. “Sleep.”
She didn’t have much choice.
Sean came to check on her ten minutes later, doing a quick assessment. “Everything looks good. Here are some oxycodone and more anti-nausea meds. I’d like you to sleep tonight if you can.”
“Thanks.”
Elizabeth came up with a supper tray, giving Derek a break. “I brought all comfort food—nothing healthy. Chicken tenders. Mac and cheese. Chocolate cake. I also brought a few books in case you get bored.”
She set a stack of romance novels down on the desk.
“Thank you.” Jenna wasn’t all that hungry, but she did finish the chocolate cake, the oxycodone making her headache better but leaving her loopy.
She and Elizabeth talked for a while, just small talk—Afghan cuisine, ex-boyfriends, favorite movies. Then Jenna had to ask. “Do you know who did it—who set off the car bomb?”
Elizabeth seemed to hesitate. “Haven’t you asked Tower?”
“He doesn’t want to worry me, but it worries me more not to know anything.”