Carter slumped into the front seat of Rica’s car with a faint groan. “Jesus. She’s not happy with us.”

“I got the feeling she’s well versed in cop bullshit,” Rica said as she headed toward town.

Carter smiled faintly. “Yeah. I got that too.”

“I’m going to get you settled first, and then I’ll pick up your prescription.”

“I don’t need it. Tylenol will be fine.”

“Uh-huh.”

Carter narrowed her eyes against the bright sunlight and checked the street signs. “Where are you going?”

“I’m taking you home.”

“This isn’t the way to my apartment. “

“No,” Rica said calmly. “But it is the way to my house.”

Carter swore. “Rica, you can’t be seen with me.”

Rica turned her head briefly, gave Carter a measured look, and then turned her attention back to the road. “Carter, you are in no position to be giving orders.”

“You don’t have any idea how dangerous the situation is. If these guys come back…Christ, I don’t even have my weapon.”

“Somehow,” Rica said conversationally, “you’ve gotten the wrong impression. I’m not a pampered rich girl. I’ve had to protect myself my entire life. And I know how to do it.”

“Why are you doing this?”

“What makes you think I’ll tell you the truth?”

“Because there’s no point in lying anymore,” Carter said wearily.

“I suppose you’re right.” Rica turned into her driveway and shifted to meet Carter’s eyes. “I don’t know why. Let’s just say I don’t want any more of your blood on my hands.”

Carter wasn’t certain what she had hoped to hear, but she was in no position to ask for more. “Twenty-four hours. Maybe that will give us enough time to sort this out.”

“Maybe.” Rica shrugged. “Either way, tomorrow we say goodbye and call it even.”

“Right.” Carter watched Rica come around the front of the vehicle to help her out. They could pretend all they wanted that none of this had ever happened, but she wasn’t going to be able to forget.

Chapter Twenty-Four

“It’s probably just as well that we don’t see one another in the future,” Rica said as she slowly guided Carter upstairs to her bedroom. “Our relationship doesn’t seem to be very good for our health.”

Winded, Carter settled onto the side of the bed. “You think?”

Rica forced herself to relinquish her hold on Carter, even though she had an almost obsessive desire to keep touching her. The terror of finding that photo and thinking for an instant that Carter was dead still haunted her. She folded her arms around her middle. “The last forty-eight hours would indicate that.”

“What happened to me isn’t your fault,” Carter said. “It’s mine.”

“Someone nearly beat you to death because of me.”

“We don’t know that.” Carter closed her eyes, absurdly glad that she hurt in more than one place so that she couldn’t actually focus on where the pain was greatest. “I need a shower.”

“You can barely stand. Get some sleep, and you can shower later.”

“I’m not getting into bed without one.”

“God, Carter,” Rica exploded. “Can’t you do anything the easy way? Do you have any idea how bad you look right now?”

“It looks worse than it…”

“Don’t. Just…don’t.” Rica walked quickly to the other side of the room, afraid that Carter would see the tears that had taken her by surprise. God, she didn’t want to feel any of this. She flinched at the light touch on her shoulder.

“I’m sorry. For all of this.”

“I don’t want to talk about it now,” Rica said, her back still turned. “Can you manage the shower by yourself?”

“Yes.” Carter hesitated. She should contact Kevin and tell him what happened. She should heed Allen’s call to come in. She should be anywhere but in Rica Grechi’s bedroom. And all she could think of was easing the pain she could hear in Rica’s voice. “I never lied to you about how I feel about you.”

“Just about everything else.” Rica couldn’t keep the bitterness from her voice. She turned, refusing to allow the sight of Carter’s injuries to assuage her anger. “Is that supposed to make it all right that you deceived me for weeks?”

“No,” Carter said quietly. “I can’t make it all right. I should’ve backed off when I realized I was falling in love with you, but I didn’t want to admit it.”

“I don’t care what you feel or don’t feel about me.”

“I know.” Carter touched her fingertips lightly to the bruise on Rica’s cheek. “This is looking a little better.”

Rica said nothing as Carter slowly made her way into the bathroom and closed the door quietly behind her. She wanted to follow. She wanted to help her undress and bathe her wounds. She wanted to wash the blood from Carter’s hair and from her own memories. She forced herself to stay where she was, because she wanted so badly to touch her.

“Here you go, babe,” Bri said with a flourish, sliding an only slightly burned grilled cheese sandwich onto a plate in front of Caroline, who sat at the breakfast island with Reggie on her lap. “You sure you don’t want one, Tory?”

“No. I’m fine. Thanks.” Tory stood at the open door to the deck, staring at the cloudless blue sky and wondering if Reese could see the sky from wherever she was. It was night there already. Dark. Forty hours. She’d been missing forty hours.

The cell phone on her belt chimed. Tory snatched it off and stared at the readout. Private caller. She knew it could be anyone. Her mother had promised to call at midday to see if there was any news after Tory insisted that her parents not make the ten-hour drive just yet. She’d given her private number to quite a few patients in case they had questions about new medications or needed to report a change in an unstable medical condition. It might just be a wrong number. Her hand shook.

“Hello?”

She heard a garbled voice. A male voice, she thought. Then faint static gave way to silence. Something in Tory’s face brought Bri hurrying around the counter, but Caroline caught her arm and stopped her.

“Hello,” Tory said urgently. “This is Victoria King. Hello?”

“Hi…baby…me.”

Tory covered her mouth to stifle a cry. She stared at Bri and Caroline, both of whom seemed to be frozen in mid-motion, like figures in a snapshot.

“Reese?” Tory’s voice trembled. “Sweetheart? Reese?”

Six thousand miles away, Reese Conlon motioned for the medics to hold off lifting her stretcher into the UH-60Q Black Hawk medivac helicopter. “I’m okay. Tory, baby, can you hear me? I’m okay.”

“Where…you?”

“Germany. I love you.”

“Hurt? … you hurt?”

“Nothing much. Don’t worry. Tory, I love you.”

The connection went dead and Reese swore.

“Time to go, Colonel,” the medic said.

“Just try again,” Reese pleaded.

“Load her up. Now,” a familiar voice snapped.

Reese turned her head, gritting her teeth as the movement pulled at the burn on her shoulder and arm. Her father’s face was in shadow, his body outlined against the night sky by the spotlights from the helicopters. “If I could just try the call one more…”

“We need to move. You got your call.” Roger Conlon squatted beside the stretcher and rested his hand on the blankets covering Reese’s thighs. In a softer tone, he said, “And you need to have those wounds seen to.”

“I’m fine, sir. How are my Marines?”

“The others are already airborne. They’re all going to make it.” He touched her hair, then drew his hand back. “You did a fine job. I’m proud of you.”

“Thank you, sir.” Reese fought to stay awake. “Thank you for the call, sir.”

“I’ll see you in Germany, Colonel.”

Reese fumbled for her father’s hand. “Call her, Dad…please.”

General Roger Conlon stood and waved to the medics. “Get this Marine to the hospital.”

“Yes, sir,” the men called back.

By the time the medics secured her stretcher and the last of the Special Ops Black Hawks were in the air, Reese was asleep.

Tory stared at the phone, afraid to believe the words she had just heard. What if it was a dream? Her legs suddenly felt rubbery and she braced a hand on a nearby chair. She looked up, dazed, when Bri gently removed the phone from her hand and cupped her elbow.

“Was it Reese?” Bri’s voice was a hushed whisper.

“It was.” Tory’s eyes glistened with tears. “Oh my God. She called me.” Laughing now, she threw her arms around Bri’s neck. “She called me.”

Letting loose with a whoop of joy, Bri lifted Tory and swung her in a circle. “Oh yeah. Oh yeah oh yeah.”

Reggie giggled and clapped as Caroline danced her about.

Breathless, Tory gasped, “We have to call Kate and Jean and…”

“Not on your cell phone.” Bri reverently handed it back to Tory. “Reese might call again soon. Caroline and I will call everyone on ours.”

“She’s alive.” Tory sat on the sofa. “My God. She’s alive.”

Caroline slid down beside her and handed Reggie to her. She slipped an arm around Tory’s waist. “Did she say where she was?”

“I…Germany, I think,” Tory said, puzzled, still replaying the fractured call in her mind. Then she stiffened. “That’s where the main military hospital is.”

“Hey. You just talked to her, remember? She’s all right.”

“She must be hurt.” Tory jumped up. “Reese wouldn’t tell me if she was hurt. She must be, if they’re taking her to the hospital.” She stared around the room as if seeking an answer. “God. This is driving me crazy. Why can’t they just tell us what’s happening?”

“It’s probably only been a little while since they found her,” Caroline soothed, grasping Tory’s hand and tugging her back down to the sofa. “Reese’s father said he’ll call. Do you think he will?”

“He raised her. He taught her some of the things I love most about her,” Tory said almost to herself. “He’ll call.”