Page 110 of Ruthless

The DGSE and other agencies had taken over the building where she and Gideon had been. Dirk Bennett would be headed to a CIA black site in Virginia as soon as he was treated for his injuries. As an escapee from a federal prison where he’d been serving a life sentence for terrorism, he would be thoroughly questioned about how he had escaped and who had aided him.

Eve hoped he rotted there.

Alexandre was being transported back to the palace under heavy guard. Her father hadn’t yet made a statement to the public about his youngest son’s involvement in the effort to oust the king. And while her heart hurt for the pain this was causing her father, she knew he would not shirk his responsibility to his people. Alexandre would be severely punished for what he had done.

“This may sting.”

She had barely felt the antiseptic being applied to the cuts on her face and hands. The first tug of a stitch was a surprise.

“I need stitches?”

“You do, indeed. At least five on your right arm and perhaps three on your left shoulder.”

She hadn’t felt the wounds earlier, but now that she was aware of them, pain quickly followed.

As if reading her mind, the nurse reassured her, “As soon as I’m done here, you can take something to ease the pain.”

“I don’t want to sleep.”

“We’ve already arranged a cot for you so you can stay with your love.”

The sudden, frantic beeping of machines behind them had both of them turning. The monitors hooked up to Gideon were going crazy as his body jerked uncontrollably in some kind of seizure. The nurse pushed Eve briskly into a corner as a team of doctors and nurses rushed in and surrounded his bed.

Her heart in her throat, she watched as they once again worked to save Gideon’s life. When they began to roll his bed out of the room, Eve yelled, “What’s going on?”

The nurse who’d treated her wounds came to stand beside her. Patting her hand, she said softly, “The doctors believe there is internal bleeding. They’re taking him back to surgery.”

Eve followed them out of the room and watched helplessly as they disappeared with Gideon behind closed doors. She wondered once again if this was the last time she would see him alive.

CHAPTER FORTY-TWO

She sat in the hallway, staring at nothing. She was as close as she could get to Gideon without actually being in the OR with him. It had been over an hour since they’d rushed him into surgery, and still no word.

“What’s going on?”

Numbly, she turned to see Serena and Liam headed her way. Serena had gone out to purchase Eve a change of clothing. Hers had been shredded in the attack, and she’d been wearing a pair of scrubs one of the nurses had lent her.

Liam had stepped away to talk to Ash, who, along with Jazz and Xavier, had gone back to the building to help contain the prisoners and begin their transfer to various sites. Everyone had believed that Gideon was stable and would wake up soon. And now everything had changed.

She gave them what details she could, which admittedly weren’t a lot. Every fifteen minutes, she went to the nurses station and asked for an update. Each time, they’d told her he was still in surgery. She was almost certain they were afraid of her, since not only did she still have debris and ash clinging to her hair, but she likely had a terrifying, wild look in her eyes.

Serena sat on one side of her and wrapped her arm around her shoulders. Liam sat on the other side and took her hand in his. She knew they were almost as upset as she was. Gideon was loved deeply by everyone at OZ.

Blowing out a weary sigh, Eve forced herself to think of something besides the horror of losing Gideon. “What did Ash say?”

“Your brother is already back at the castle. Bennett has been transferred to a prison hospital, then he’ll go to a black site in Virginia.”

“What about the others? Did they give any intel?”

A darkness slid over Liam Stryker’s face. “They’re all dead.”

Eve shook her head in shocked confusion. “That’s not possible. I know we weren’t able to kill them all.”

“Between you and Gideon, along with what we managed to do when we arrived, there were twenty-two dead. We know several escaped because we saw a couple of vehicles tear out of the parking lot.”

She cocked her head, knowing there was something else. “What?”

“Eight of them were wounded, but instead of allowing themselves to be taken alive, they committed suicide.” Mimicking a gun, he put his finger to his temple.