Rescuing Jenna - Anna Blakely Page 0,87

minutes and has lost a shit ton of blood. Ortiz…the bastard said he didn’t aim for anything vital. He, uh…” His voice broke, but he cleared his throat and tried again. “He wanted her to die slowly.”

Gabe’s face turned red, the vein in his forehead bulging at the thought of what that fucker Ortiz had done to their girl.

As the others waved the Delta men a quick thanks and farewell, Adrian kept his eyes on the one good thing to ever come into his life.

The bird took air, and they began their trip to the airstrip. Once they boarded Homeland’s jet, the pilot would be instructed to fly them as fast as possible back to Gulfside Harbor, which happened to have the nearest stateside hospital.

Adrian slid down to the floor and settled himself at Jenna’s side.

Taking her limp hand in his, he willed her to live. Since Matt was the medic of the team, he set about packing her wound with a specialized clotting agent Gabriella Turner—a crazy-smart scientist who was also Matt’s wife—designed for the U.S military.

The powder drastically slowed the body’s response to wounds, allowing for longer timeframes between extractions and care, which was why the military had paid Matt’s better half big bucks to continue researching and fine-tuning her formula.

There was a time, back when Adrian had been working undercover, that he’d aided in Gabby’s abduction for a man of foreign political power in order for the man to attempt to steal the formula.

As was his plan, though they didn’t know it at the time, Bravo team and Delta had worked together to get Gabby and her formula back safely. Knowing that same formula was helping keep the woman he loved alive was something he couldn’t really wrap his mind around right now.

“Damn.” The man he once served with frowned.

“What?” Adrian’s heart stuttered. “What’s wrong?”

Without looking up, Matt continued working on the IV. “She’s severely dehydrated. Bastards couldn’t have given her much to drink since bringing her here. Looks like she hasn’t eaten in days, either.”

The man’s words had Adrian’s nose burning and Jenna’s prone image blurring. He watched her closely, blinking away his tears as he swallowed a giant knot down his throat.

“She’s tough.” Gabe put a hand to his shoulder and squeezed. “She’ll get through this.”

He wasn’t sure who the other man was trying to convince more.

Please, God. Let him be right.

Adrian prayed that silent prayer to a god who’d most likely given up on his sorry ass a long damn time ago. And he continued praying.

Because a world without Jenna Shaw wasn’t a world he wanted to live in.

After what felt like the longest flight of his damn life, he and the others finally landed back at the private airstrip just outside Gulfside Harbor. They’d used their time in the air to clean up and change back into their civilian clothes.

Adrian hadn’t wanted to leave Jenna’s side for a second, but the others finally convinced him to use the plane’s miniscule shower and change so he wouldn’t scare the doctors off when they got to the hospital.

Matt had managed to keep Jenna stable and her IV fluids flowing. He’d cleaned and dressed the gash on her forehead and had given her what he described as a super-dose of antibiotics often used on gunshot victims.

Once again, Ryker had come through for them by arranging for an ambulance to be standing by when they landed, as well as an SUV big enough to accommodate them all.

Following the emergency vehicle, they’d raced to the Gulfside Regional where Jenna was whisked off to surgery to remove the bullet and hopefully repair the damage.

That was four and a half hours ago.

Since then, he’d been stuck in this private but suffocating waiting room with Ryker, Gabe, and the other Bravo Team members constantly trying to reassure him that Jenna was going to be okay.

Not that he didn’t appreciate their positive vibes, but fuck. The guilt of what she’d been through was eating him alive from the inside out, and every second that passed was worse than the moment before.

I need to get out of here.

Adrian spun on his heels and was heading for the door. He needed to go into the hallway…the parking lot…someplace where he could fucking breathe.

Gabe stepped into his path.

“Hey, you okay?”

“Yep.” He nodded, hoping like hell the guy bought the bullshit lie and let him pass.

“Listen, Adrian. I can tell you really care about Jenna. And as much as it burns my ass to admit it—”

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