Oxblood (21 page)

Hands were suddenly on my shoulders, dragging me, leaving a trail of blood in my wake. My side was on fire, and I was immobile, defenseless. Panic filled my chest until Claudia moved into my vision and gave me a firm nod as if to say, “We've got this.”

Then she turned around and punched Bianca in the face, dodging the retaliatory fist Bianca threw back. A knock to Bianca's stomach and then another to her chin sent the former Rogue agent flying. She hit her head on the counter and her body went limp.

On the other side of the shop, Eva gave a roundhouse kick to one of Damon's thugs and then turned to right-hook another one. He punched her in the stomach, knocking her to the floor. Carter finished him off by twisting and snapping his neck.

I heard a gun fire again and knew it had to be Adam shooting from the rooftop across the street. The only intact front window shattered, and the thug whose nose I had broken took a bullet to his temple.

I couldn't see Damon anywhere. Had he been taken down or did he get away?

Claudia swept the floor with her leg and knocked Paolo down, stomping on his injured hand. Then one of Damon's thugs came behind her and got her in a chokehold. She fought hard, and I recognized some of the basic self-defense moves she used, but the guy had arms like tree limbs. Carter gave him a swift kidney punch, loosening his grip. When she was free, Claudia kneed him in the crotch and then palmed his nose.

Gil finally came into view. He was crouched down in the opposite corner of the room, and Ian was fighting off anyone who tried to get near him. Ian must have left his fight with Paolo to protect my brother. The last of Damon's men were coming at Ian relentlessly. Blood trickled down his face, and there was a gash in his cheek. Carter pulled one of the men off and slammed his head into the exposed brick wall. Ian took the last man down with a final punch to the face that sent two teeth flying from his mouth.

Finally, with his chest breathing heavily, Ian stared down Damon, who had been hiding like a coward and waiting for the dust to clear so he could grab Gil and run.

“Give it up, Damon,” I heard Ian say. “You've got nothing left.” Carter, Eva, and Claudia had each picked up a gun and had it pointed at Damon. Their faces and clothes were covered in blood. The shoulder of Eva's jacket was torn, and half the buttons on Carter's shirt had been ripped off.

Ian held his arms out to draw attention to the defeat of Damon's minions. Paolo was a disheveled mess on the floor, and most of his thugs were dead. Bianca, however, was nowhere to be seen.

“Not a chance.” Quicker than anyone could respond, Damon aimed his gun at Ian. At that point, my head became too heavy to hold. And as everything began to go black, I watched my brother's body fly out across the room.

I tried to keep my eyes open as long as possible. I needed to know that Gil was okay. That Ian was still alive. I needed to tell them both how much I loved them before I died. It didn't hurt as much anymore. I was cold and could still feel the warm blood oozing from my side pooling next to me and soaking into my pants.

As if from a long shaky tunnel, Ian was calling to me. “Stay with me, Victoria. Please stay with me.” I could feel myself being picked up. We must have walked outside because suddenly the light got brighter, too bright. I closed my eyes, my ears ringing with the echoes of gunshots or sirens, the bodies left to die in the obliterated pastry shop, my own life winding down.

“You didn't leave me,” I managed in a breathy voice and laid my head on Ian's warm shoulder.

“I'll never leave you, Victoria,” he said softly. Then everything went black.

Chapter 21

The first thing I heard when I came to was a steady, rhythmic beeping. I breathed deeply through my nose, but something scratched against it annoyingly. My eyes fluttered open, disorientated in the bright white light. I lifted my arm to rub my nose, but I couldn't bring it very far—it was covered in tubes and wires. It also made my side hurt. I had actually shot myself. But I was still alive.

I surveyed my surroundings. I was in a small room with tiled floors. A wooden door with a narrow window was to my left, and I could see people in lab coats and scrubs walking past. A hospital.

It wasn't until I tried to move my other arm that I realized Ian was attached to it. He was resting in the chair next to me, his body hunched over, his head on the bed, his hand clutching mine.

“You're not drooling on my bed, are you?” I asked in a raspy voice. My throat and mouth were dry.

“Oh my God! Victoria!” Ian darted up. “You're awake!” He stood up and looked like he was trying to figure out how to give me a hug. When it was clear that was going to be difficult, he leaned down and kissed my forehead. “Let me get a nurse.”

Ian opened the door to my room and called out to someone. “
Infermiera! È sveglia
!
”

A middle-aged nurse with a tight bun in her hair came in and took my vitals. She said something to Ian, who then quickly turned his back to me, then checked my wound.

“
La ferita si stia rimarginando. Sta guarendo bene
,” she said to Ian. He must have told her I didn't speak any Italian and not to bother talking to me. “
Ha bisogno di
riposo. Il medico la controllerà domani e le fa sapere quando lei potrà tornare a casa
.” She smiled kindly at me and nodded to Ian before she left the room.

“What did she say?” I asked.

“She said your wound is healing nicely, and that the doctor will check you again tomorrow and let you know when you can leave,” he answered as he brushed the hair back from my forehead sweetly.

“Where are we?” I asked.

“Salvator Mundi International Hospital in Rome,” he answered.

“Rome? That's hours away from where we were in Venice. How did we get here?” Feeling stiff, I shifted in the bed, but my body screamed out in pain. I grimaced.

“We had you airlifted.”

“Airlifted? How?”

“I know people, Victoria.” Ian smirked playfully, which made me smile. “I'm glad you're okay. You had me worried.” Ian took my hand in his again. He lifted it to his lips and kissed my knuckles.

“How long was I out?”

“Three days,” Ian said quietly. He sat carefully on the side of the bed. “And you are officially the luckiest person on the planet. You managed to miss every major organ and your spine. You lost a lot of blood, but they were able to stabilize you in the helicopter and then replace what you lost when we got you here. I want to be furious with you—but you're still alive. And since that's all I've prayed for over the last three days, I guess I can't be too mad.”

“Have you been here the whole time?”

“Yes.” He nodded bashfully, making me smile just a little.

“I'm so sorry, Ian. I couldn't be the reason the team didn't do their job. And there was no way I was walking out of there with Damon.” I took Ian's hand and squeezed it.

“You made a call, Victoria. That's what we do. Sometimes it works out perfectly. Other times, not so much.” He ran his thumb across the back of my hand and gave a small, reassuring smile.

“How is everyone?” I asked of the team. “They looked pretty roughed up.”

“They're good, and tough. They've encountered worse, so they'll bounce back just fine.”

“Ian?” I began. “What happened with Gil?”

He looked at me for several long moments, unsure how to answer. I could practically feel his heart pounding through our gripped hands. He looked down, forming his words carefully.

“When Damon took his shot, Gil stepped in front of me. I tried to stop him, but it was too late. There was nothing I could do.”

“So is he okay? Is he here in this hospital?” My heart was beating wildly in my chest, and it was all I could do to not rip the wires and tubes from my body and leap out of bed and find him.

“Victoria,” he said softly, looking me straight in the eyes. “Victoria, I'm so sorry. Gil didn't make it. I promise you we did everything we could.”

“No! He can't be dead. I just saw him, he was right there. . . .”

“You knew how much he loved you, Victoria, but he told me to tell you.”

“What . . . What else did he say?”

Did it matter? No, nothing mattered. Not anymore. My world was over. I had one job to do and I had failed. I failed everyone, especially Gil.

“He told me to take care of you.”

“And what did you tell him?” I asked.

“I promised him I would.”

Gil throwing himself in front of Ian to save his life replayed in my head like a nightmare. It was brave and selfless and stupid and reckless all at the same time. How could he do this to me? Why didn't he let Ian do his job? Why didn't Ian protect him?

“How could you let this happen?” The beeping of the heart monitor was rapidly increasing.

“Victoria, you need to stay calm.”

“Calm? You want me to stay calm? My brother is dead, Ian. After everything I went through, I still lost him. I failed.” Tears were beginning to sting my eyes. I pulled my hand away from Ian's hold. “You were right there and you didn't save him!”

“I would have gladly taken that bullet to spare you this heartache.” Ian's eyes were glassy with tears. “As soon as Gil's body hit the ground, I was focused on him. I tried to keep him alive, Victoria. I swear I did.”

“What happened to Damon? Please tell me you at least got him.” Panic began to rise in me that the entire mission was a complete loss.

“I wish I could.” Ian's voice conveyed every bit of his disappointment. He looked at me with sad eyes like he was more concerned about letting me down than anything.

Instantly, tracking Damon became my one and only focus in life. Damon would pay for what he did. “So what happens now? How do we find him?”

“He'll go underground for a while. Then he'll move to another part of the world. That's the thing about human trafficking. Its global reach makes it easy to run from anywhere,” Ian explained.

“So he's just going to relocate and terrorize people somewhere else.” I closed my eyes for a moment to regroup. How could someone so evil kill my brother, get away with it,
and
go back to destroying people's lives?

“We'll get him, Victoria. It may take some time, but we will get him.” Ian took my hand in his. “I will make Damon pay for what he did to you, to Gil, if it's the last thing I do.”

“I need to be alone.” I turned my head to the other side of the room, away from Ian.

“Of course. I'll be back in the morning. I'll bring Claudia and Adam. They've been begging to see you,” he said. He walked toward the door and stopped. “Victoria,” he said softly as he turned. “Gil said one more thing.”

I didn't want to look at him, but Ian was the only person who knew my brother's final words. I had to know what they were. I moved my head and caught Ian's eyes.

“Sky.”

Ian turned and left the room without another word.

Sky
. It was our mother's word for peace. “There's nothing more peaceful than the color of the sky on a beautiful day.” She used to tell us that just looking up at a blue sky would make all the worries of life disappear. I wished there was a window in my hospital room. I needed some sky right then.

Tears came and they came hard. I closed my eyes and let my life with Gil play through my mind like an epic documentary of every meaningful moment we ever shared. Riding bikes in our neighborhood as kids. Family day at the beach when Gil would hold my hand in the water because he didn't want me to get swept away. The day he rescued me from that awful foster home. Watching television from the floor in our crappy apartment. Saying good-bye at the airport.

Tears began to flow, streaming down my face in every direction. I didn't care. I was just glad I was already in the hospital. I wasn't sure how strong my heart would be by morning.

Chapter 22

“Hey, kamikaze!” Carter shouted cheerfully as he walked through the door of my hospital room.

It had been three days since I'd woken up and I was finally being released. Ian had been back every day, but I refused to talk about Gil. I didn't know what to say, so I said nothing.

“Hello, Carter,” I smiled. “What are you doing here?” I threw the toothbrush and the last of the clothes Claudia had brought me into my bag and zipped the top.

“A guy can't come see his favorite girl?” he said as he flopped himself onto the hospital bed and crossed his ankles.

“Sure he can. Would you like me to call her for you?” I smirked.

Carter got up from the bed and came around to the side where I was. “No, really. I wanted to come see how you were. You were pretty badass the other day. I mean, I'm
totally
badass, but I've never shot myself to create a distraction before.”

“I saw some of your moves in there. You could have fared better,” I teased.

“I probably should have kissed you then, huh?” We both laughed, but Carter turned serious.

“I thought what you did in the alley was something, but what you did in the pastry shop was nothing short of brave and heroic. You need to know that, Vic,” Carter said.

“Yeah, well, it got my brother killed, so . . .”

“Your brother was killed because he took a bullet meant for another man. You two were clearly cut from the same cloth. He made the choice he did because he knew in a second that if he didn't, we'd lose one of the greatest leaders INTERPOL has ever pretended not to know. He knew that if we lost Ian Hale, this world would not be as safe.”

“Wow. That's the first nice thing I've ever heard you say about Ian,” I replied.

“Look, we've all got our own crap. Sometimes we put that crap on other people. Ian is a good man, and he's an excellent leader. I would be honored to stay on his team. But if you tell anyone I said that, I'll call you a liar.” Carter smiled and threw his arms around me. I winced, and he quickly let go.

“My lips are sealed,” I chuckled.

“What are we keeping under lock and key now?” Adam asked as he opened the door to my room. Claudia, Eva, and Ian followed him in. Adam was carrying the biggest bouquet of flowers I had ever seen. He handed them to me and then gave me a gentle hug and a kiss on the cheek.

“We were just discussing your awesomeness, Mr. Sharpshooter,” I said, returning the hug and kiss.

“Oh, well, no need to keep that to yourselves!” Adam held his arms out to the side.

“No, really. Thank you for what you did. Actually, I need to thank all of you. I already apologized to Ian, but I wanted to make sure you all knew—”

“Stop,” Eva said. “Part of being a Rogue agent means making judgment calls. I don't know many agents who would have taken as big a risk as you did.”

I sighed, not sure how to respond to another congratulations when it just felt like I was the one who had screwed everything up—and lost my brother. “Tell you what—let's just move on. How does that sound? I won't apologize or even say thank you again, and you don't tell me how brave I was for shooting myself. Deal?”

“Deal,” they all said together.

I grabbed the small duffel off the bed and started for the door.

“I've got this,” Ian said, grabbing my bag. “You: Get in the wheelchair.”

Before I could protest, the whole team was giving me the stink eye. Deciding to skip this battle, I sat.

“Thank you,” Ian said. We nodded to one other and Carter pushed me as we all made our way out into the hall, down the elevator, and out onto the sidewalk.

“Good news, everyone. You're all on vacation,” Ian declared.

“Vacation? What is this ‘vacation' you speak of?” Adam joked.

“Go. Get away from me. Take a month and do whatever you want. Wait.
 . . .
Do whatever you want that is
legal
. Please don't make me pull strings to get you out of jail . . . Carter.” Ian looked at Carter over his nose and raised an eyebrow.

“I resent that you would think I'd actually get caught,” Carter replied with a straight face.

“Let's go, troublemaker,” Eva said as she pulled Carter down the street. “Thanks, boss! See you in a month!” We watched as the two of them made their way down the street and off to whatever adventure awaited them.

“What are you two going to do?” I asked Adam and Claudia.

“You ever been to Monte Carlo?” Claudia asked Adam.

“Nope.”

“Wanna go?”

“Sure.”

“We're going to Monte Carlo,” Claudia answered back to me.

I smiled. “Well, have fun! Win big and bring me back a present.”

Adam and Claudia walked down the street in the other direction and got into a parked car.

“God, I hope that belongs to one of them,” Ian said with a laugh. “What about you, Miss Asher? What are you going to do?”

“That's a good question. I don't have any family. No home to go home to. Maybe I'll just hang out in Italy for a while,” I mused. “Or maybe I'll travel the world since the psycho leader of a human-trafficking ring is probably after me.”

“Well, as long as you're here,” Ian said as a black limousine pulled up next to us. Ian opened the door and invited me inside.

“This is a bit much, don't you think?”

“It's a company car. Get in.”

I climbed in and Ian followed.

“Where are we going?” I asked.

“Here. You need to stay hydrated.” Ian handed me a bottle of water while conspicuously not answering my question. I took the bottle from him and held it in my hands, the condensation soaking my palms. “Victoria, I really am so, so sorry about Gil. If I could have changed places with him, I would have.”

“It's not your fault, Ian. And,
I'm
sorry. I shouldn't have blamed you. It was Gil's decision to seek justice for Maria. He could have studied his ass off in Miami and pursued his mission there. But clearly, we Asher kids don't take the easy way. When we're in, we're all in.” I laughed to keep myself from crying. I would be sad for a long time, but I had already spent enough in a hospital bed soaking my pillow.

We drove for a while and I watched the city pass by through the tinted window. Rome was beautiful; everything looked like a postcard. The buildings were detailed with ancient stone, stained-glass windows adding dashes of color.

I wondered how long I could stay before the guilt of using the settlement money would begin to weigh on me. But maybe it was time to let that go. I was alone now. After meeting Ian and being a part of his team—even for a short time—how could I return to a life of TV movies and the diner's daily specials? And what could college possibly teach me about life that a mob shootout hadn't already? I could see now that the world would become my classroom.

I could start a new life, tour Italy, or France, or both. Hell! I could tour all of Europe if I wanted to! I know Mom and Dad would have wanted me to see the world, and I'm sure they would be happy for me to use the money to begin my adventure.

The car stopped in a busy section of the city. Ian got out and helped me exit carefully. He took my hand as we walked. I didn't protest.

“Where are we?” I asked. We were approaching a huge fountain and an insane amount of steps that led to a church high in the distance.

“These are the Spanish Steps. The one hundred and thirty-eight steps lead to the Trinità dei Monti, a church that was built in the 1500s. And this,” he said, pointing to the fountain where we had stopped, “is the Fontana della Barcaccia. It means ‘Fountain of the Ugly Boat.'”

“Wow. Italian really
can
make anything sound romantic,” I chuckled. “What else is around here, oh personal tour guide of Italy?”

“Some famous people lived and died around here. Oh, and the Spanish Steps were made famous to non-Europeans­ in—”

“
Roman Holiday
with Audrey Hepburn!” I said excitedly.

“Very good,” Ian said, applauding my limited knowledge.

“Tiffany and I have watched that movie about a dozen times,” I explained.

“There are some shops down there. Feel like walking a bit?”

“Sure. I'm just happy to be outside again,” I said.

As we walked, I tried not to think about our time together ending soon. Ian would go back to his Rogue team and I would go . . . somewhere. Preparing myself to say good-bye forever was becoming even more painful than the shot in my side. But at least that was already healing—I wasn't sure if the hole in my heart would ever heal. I took a big breath and tried to be grateful. I was walking through Rome holding the hand of a gorgeous Rogue agent. At least it would be a good story to bring home to Tiffany. I forced myself to smile at the thought, even if it made me sick to my stomach.

We passed in front of another clothing store. I gave it a cursory glance as I had a few of the others, but I certainly wasn't in a headspace for shopping. Plus, this was Italian fashion at its worst. But behind the loud blouses and tight leather pants, something caught my eye. I stopped and stared at them like they were the answer to an unspoken prayer and walked into the store.

“You like them?” Ian asked.

“Not as much as my friend Tiffany.” Sitting on the display table were the grommet, suede, peep-toe Prada booties Tiffany had been coveting since they came out earlier that year.

“You should buy them,” Ian said as if money were no object. He had also clearly forgotten that being wiped off the face of the planet meant not having access to my bank account.

“You haven't given me my bank card back,” I said.

“Then Command will buy them for you.”

“Why would Command buy me an insanely expensive pair of Prada shoes?” I asked curiously.

“Because they take care of their agents,” Ian answered simply.

“I'm not a Rogue agent, Ian. I'm just a girl who impetuously charged into your team like I had any business being there. Now that Gil is gone, I don't have any reason to stay.”

“Now that Gil is gone you have
every
reason to stay.”

“I don't know what I'm doing!”

“We'll train you. Help you hone your skills,” Ian countered.

“I'm not a mutant with superpowers, Ian. I'm just observant. It's not that big of a deal.”

“It's a bigger deal than you realize.” Ian paused and looked around the room. “Tell me what you see.”

I sighed and looked around the small shop. There were a few women shopping. Some were trying on clothes while others were just browsing. “I don't know.”

“
What
do you see?
”

I scanned the store again, looking for anything that seemed out of place. “Her,” I whispered. “She's not here to shop. She's dressed the part, but she doesn't have a bag.” The woman I was assessing was wearing a light-blue pencil skirt with a white cap-sleeve top that flared at the waist and yellow floral stilettos. Her hair was pulled back in a ponytail, and for a woman who appeared to be in her early fifties, she pulled off the young-and-modern look flawlessly.

“Maybe she's just looking. Or maybe her husband is meeting her here with his wallet,” Ian suggested.

“No. If she were just browsing, she wouldn't have gone to this much effort with her wardrobe. Women who shop in stores like this come dressed the part from head to toe, earrings to shoes. She would want a bag to complete her outfit,” I explained to him.

“She's as good as you said she was, Mr. Hale,” said the woman I had just detailed, her British accent adding to her elegance.

“Victoria, this is Penny Thatcher. She's the director of the Command division for INTERPOL, also known as Rogue,” Ian said by way of introductions.

I extended my hand and noticed how beautiful she was. She had fair skin and green eyes, and the most perfect bow to her lips. She smiled back at me warmly as she shook my hand. “It's an honor to meet you, Ms. Thatcher.”

“I've heard a lot about you, Miss Asher. I'm very sorry to hear about your brother. He would have made an excellent intelligence agent. We would have been proud to have added him to our team, as we would be to add you,” she said.

I volleyed my eyes between Ian and Ms. Thatcher. “You want me to join the team? My skill set includes cutting pie and pouring coffee. I'm not strong or brave, and I'm so afraid of flying that I'm fairly sure the air marshals are going to have to sedate me the next time I board a plane. Of the more qualified people around the world, why on earth would you want
me
to be a Rogue agent?”

“I can train anyone to use a gun, hack into a computer, or gather intelligence. I cannot train someone to do what comes naturally to you. But I
can
help you fine-tune those skills and turn them into more than a party trick,” she said confidently.

“But I missed the mark with Damon. Had I been as observant as you think I am, I would have seen it all coming,” I said uncertainly.

“No one saw it coming. I spent a year with Damon, and he had me fooled. He played the part because that's what he was trained to do.” Ian shoved his hands in his pockets. “He played all of us, Victoria. Now, I don't know when he's going to rear his ugly head again, but if you stay with me, train with me, then one day, we'll get him.”

I watched Ian as he spoke. He was serious and passionate and soft all at once. And I
definitely
heard him ask me to stay with him. Not with Rogue. Him.

“Well, I can see you two have some things to discuss. I have a meeting. After the incident with Mr. Pazzia, we're going to be revising some policies within the division. I do hope you'll stay with us, Miss Asher. From everything Mr. Hale has told me, and just the little bit I saw today, I believe you'll be a great asset to our organization.” She smiled and extended her hand. “It was lovely to meet you.”