Page 65 of Baby Take Me Home

He kissed my hand. “Yes.” He closed his eyes. “Jesus, I’ve seen a lot of injuries and blood in my time, but this one threw me for a loop, Ash.”

“But you’re going to make a full recovery,” Samantha reiterated, I suspected for his sake as much as for mine. “It will take some months, and it’s going to be a while before you can get back to kickboxing, but you’ll get there.” She pressed a button and moved me to a slight incline. “Is that okay? Any tugging on the stitches?”

I shook my head. “I feel fine. Just a little groggy.”

“You feel finebecauseyou’re a little groggy and quite medicated,” she said.

I took in my surroundings, including the darkness outside the window. Panicked, I glanced at TJ. “What time is it? This morning, Jayne arranged for me to do an interview on a 9 p.m. cable news show.”

“We know. Jensen is getting a connection set up so you can do a phone call from here.” He frowned. “Your friend, Magellan, said the producers will want audio clips from the recording of Calder and Kovac.”

I nodded. “Good to get it out onto the airwaves and into the public record. He’s not my friend, by the way. More like my newsroom nemesis. But this weekend he was a good ally.”

“He was your friend when he kept pressure on your wound while I carried you to the roof for transport.”

“Shit.” I grimaced. “Are you saying I owe Magellan?”

“I would worry about it too much,” TJ said. “He made good on the nemesis part when he offered to do your interview for you. I offered to break all his limbs for him if he tries to take undue credit for your scoop.”

I laughed, and for the first time felt a tug in my lower abdomen.

“Okay,” Samantha told us, “this evening’s course of events will be to rest until it’s time for the interview, then speak on the phone for a very short time, and then sleep for the rest of the night.” She glanced at TJ. “Before you ask, yes, you can stay, but only as long as you behave yourself.” She hung the chart over the footrail of my hospital bed. “I’ll let the team know you’re awake, and send them all home except Jensen. He and I will be in around 9 to get you set up for the call. They tell me you’ll go live at 9:23. Very precise.” She nodded. “I like it.” She waved and left the room.

When we were alone, I gripped TJ’s hand tighter. “The team is still together? Does that mean the Subcommittee meeting went well? Is HEAT still in business?”

“So many questions. You heard your doctor. You need to rest.”

My stomach turned over itself. “TJ, is it bad?”

He shook his head. “The meeting went as well as could be expected.”

I didn’t understand why he wasn’t smiling. “But?”

He shook his head. “No buts.” He stopped, then narrowed his eyes. “Just so we’re clear, all of this is off the record.”

I sniffed as though offended, but it was a fair statement. “From here on out, everything between us is off the record.”

He smiled. “Good to know I can share all my secrets with you.”

Heat flushed my skin and his grin widened when he realized he’d made me blush.

“You were saying?” I prodded.

“I was saying, Alpha Team is dissolved, but HEAT remains funded, and everyone from Alpha Team will land on their feet. Penn will lead his own team, and he’ll take Jensen with him as his tech crew lead, and Sparks as his logistics crew lead. Alder will be transferred to a more permanent spot in our LA office.”

“Jason and Kate won’t work together anymore?” That made me inexplicably sad.

“Not directly, but their paths will cross. Kessler and Li will stay together, but they’ll be floaters, joining teams that are on active ops as needed, which will be great for them. I didn’t realize until the past month or so just how antsy they get, waiting around between missions or sitting out active ops.”

“That leaves you and Samantha,” I said. A sense of uneasiness was building in my gut.

“Samantha is moving into a new role,” he said. “A few months ago, HEAT’s last medical director was turned by the Carbonados, and he’s been in a prison cell awaiting trial ever since. The only good thing to come out of that is Samantha’s promotion. She’ll set medical policies and hire and train all the field medics.”

“Wow! She’ll be great at that.” I waited for him to continue, but he stared down at our joined hands and didn’t speak. “Tell me the rest. Tell me where you’re landing.”

“Where I was supposed to land. Where I’ve been heading for a while now.” He turned his head and met my gaze. “I’m out of HEAT. The Subcommittee needed a sacrificial lamb and I made X swear to me that I would be it.”

“TJ, no. No! This is so unfair.”