He glanced over at the jet. “That’s our flight home, angel.”
She looked up and down the tarmac. “They can’t get us here, can they?”
They’d been so close in Parakou, so close, and freedom had been snatched away.
Malik gave her a reassuring smile, lines of suffering on his face. “No way in hell.”
The Cobra guys jumped out of the helicopter, Thor and Dylan turning back to help Kristi and Malik.
A tall man with dark blond hair descended from the airplane. “Good work, men. Jones, I’m relieved to see you in one piece.”
“Thank you, sir. This is Kristi Chang. She’s the reason I’m in one piece.”
Kristi broke into a coughing fit when she tried to say hello.
“Derek Tower. Delighted to meet you, Miss Chang. I’m looking forward to the debriefing. Let’s board and head home. Doc is waiting for you.”
* * *
Malik walkedwith Kristi back to the little medical bay in the rear of the jet, Kristi and Doc Sullivan helping him to lie down in one of two beds.
“Both of his shoulders were…” Kristi lapsed into another coughing fit, her struggle to breathe worrying Malik. “Dislocated. Edema in his hands from … his elbows and wrists being tied. I suspect … he’s shocky. I can start an IV and…”
“You sit, Ms. Chang.” Doc pointed to a chair. “I’ll get his IV going, and then I’m going to check on you.”
“I can wait.” Malik’s pain wasn’t going anywhere. “Take care of her.”
Doc ignored him, starting Malik’s IV and insisting on giving him morphine. “You’ll hate me a lot less when I examine you. Trust me on this.”
Malik drifted in and out while Doc checked Kristi. “Your oxygen is ninety, and you’re wheezing pretty badly. I’m going to neb you. When you’re done, I want you to take a shower. I think it’s the dust as much as the smoke. You need to get that off your skin. The steam will help. If your O2 is still low, I’ll start an IV and give you a bolus of steroids. I’ll get Elizabeth or Gabriela to help you.”
“Thanks, Doctor Sullivan.”
“It’s just Doc.”
Then it was Malik’s turn.
Drowsy from the morphine, Malik did his best to answer questions, wincing as Doc checked his shoulders, back, elbows, and wrists. “For now, I’m going to stick with anti-inflammatories and ice. When we get back, I’m ordering an MRI of each shoulder, your neck, and maybe your thoracic spine. You might need surgery on your shoulders.”
“Will I be able to work again?”
“I can’t say. We’ll have to see.”
Fuck.
“Right.” Malik had been focused on survival. He hadn’t thought about what survival might bring—being permanently sidelined, losing his job.
Kristi loves you.
That thought was a balm to his battered body and soul, as potent as the morphine.
Whatever his future held, Kristi would be a part of it.
That mattered more to Malik than anything.
With Doc finished bothering him, Malik drifted into a drugged sleep.
* * *