“You’re a federal agent.” Her face twisted as she said those words.
“I am.”
“Have you found the person who shot me?”
“We’re working on it.”
“I suppose that’s all I can ask. For all I know I deserved to get—”
“Whoa, back up. No. You were standing there minding your own business. You didn’t deserve any of this.” He waved a hand at the room.
She lowered her eyes to her lap.
“I’m sorry,” he said.
She brought her gaze to his. “Did you shoot me?”
“No,” he choked out.
“Then why are you sorry?”
Because it should be me in that bed.
“I’m sorry it happened. That you were hurt.”
She frowned. “That’s a waste of an apology.”
He laughed. “I thought women liked apologies.”
“Not me, apparently.” She gifted him another smile. “Did you tell me what we were talking about when this happened?”
He cleared his throat and sat up a little taller. “It was a warm night . . .”
“We spoke of the weather?”
He licked his lips . . . stalled. “I was trying to get your name.”
Her eyes narrowed as she looked down her pert nose. “You were flirting with me?”
Leo repositioned himself in the chair. “Ah . . . yes.”
Now her smile was forced back, as if she were trying not to grin. “And was I flirting back?”
“Well . . .” What the hell was he supposed to say to that? No, you were trying to walk away. In this case, honesty was likely not the best route. “You weren’t running away,” he told her. Which wasn’t a complete lie.
“I was busy getting shot.” This time she chuckled.
“You’re laughing about it.”
“I’m not happy I took a bullet . . . or at least I think I wouldn’t be happy about something like that. Who would want that?”
He didn’t have time to answer before she kept talking.
“I’m much more upset that I look in the mirror and don’t recognize myself. That’s quite a bitch, isn’t it?”
“I can’t imagine.”
She moved her shoulders and started to cough. Short bouts of breathing between each eruption.
“Should I get the nurse?” He moved closer to the bed.
Olivia reached for her side and attempted to take a deep breath and started to struggle.
Leo jumped up and stopped at the door. “I need a nurse.”
The man in the chair brushed past him and looked into the room.
Both of them stepped back when a nurse rushed in. Calm and collected, the nurse soothed the anxiety swimming in Olivia’s eyes. When she lifted the bedsheets to look at Olivia’s side, she pivoted and closed the curtain between them.
Only when Leo heard Olivia’s cough start to subside did he step completely out of the room and start to pace.
“Hey?” Neil’s man stood a little taller than Leo and spent more hours at the gym. But his smile was easy, and his eyes were kind. “You okay?”
“She shouldn’t be in there.”
“And the Dodgers should have won the World Series . . . and?”
Leo stared. “What’s your name?”
“Rick. Neil and I were in the service together.”
That made sense. The men were cut from the same physical cloth.
Leo stepped closer, lowered his voice. “Do you know her?”
Rick shook his head. “I overheard the doctors. They want to transfer her out of the ICU. I encouraged them to wait until tomorrow. It’s harder to get in here than the main floors.”
Leo didn’t like the sound of that.
“If all goes well, the chest tube comes out tomorrow, and within a day or so she’ll be ready to leave.”
Leo’s heart started to pound. “And go where? She doesn’t know her name.”
Rick’s voice was a whisper. “We have it covered.”
Of course they would.
Except she was a witness . . . or could be at any moment. “We’ll bring her into the protection program,” Leo told him, knowing that would be the next step. “My superiors will insist on it. At least until she regains her memory.”
Rick paused.
Leo looked at him.
“Do you want to keep her safe?”
“I’m the reason she’s in here. I fucked up. Approached Navi, pissed the man off . . .” He ran a hand through his hair.
“Then you’ll do, tell, lie, or whatever you need to in order to get your superiors to go along with our plan. She is not safe in a protection program, or more to the point, those protecting her are not safe with her there.”
Those words stopped Leo midstep. He leaned closer. “Mind explaining?”
Rick smiled, shook his head. “Talk to Neil.”
Leo turned away. His gaze moved to the closed curtain.