But nice didn’t mean he wasn’t trying to kill her.
He sat on the couch next to her, perched on the edge as he examined her cast, took her pulse, looked over the cuts and bruises that had already been tended to in the hospital. He’d bandaged the small wound from the ripped-out catheter, and now he was offering her innocuous white pills. White pills that could be anything.
She closed her eyes. She couldn’t be called paranoid if there were actually people after her, right? And now she knew why. She was at risk. Her family was at risk.
She sought out Ethan, her anxiety rising when she saw him standing just a few feet away. In the midst of hell, she remembered the gut-wrenching discovery of the divorce papers: Ethan’s anger, his accusations, and the knowledge that her marriage was over.
What was he thinking? There was so much unresolved between them, but somehow it didn’t seem so important now. Did he love her? Did he really want things to be different between them?
She wished she had the answers, but she was too exhausted to pick apart her feelings and her emotions. Way too tired to try to guess what Ethan might be feeling.
She looked up and caught his gaze. His eyes were a raw storm. She flinched at the pain she saw there. Unable to maintain the contact, she ducked her head and looked away again. It was a rejection. She knew it, and she hated that she couldn’t do more than just sit there so helplessly. She squeezed her eyes shut and prayed that she didn’t completely crack open for all to see.
“Rachel?”
The doctor’s voice shook her from her thoughts, and she turned back to see him holding out those innocent little pills in his palm.
Panic leapt into her throat.
Garrett was there in an instant. Ethan started forward but then hesitated.
“Let me have them, Doc,” Garrett said. “I’ll make sure she takes them in a little while.”
She looked gratefully at him. He understood.
The doctor reluctantly stood and held out the pills to Garrett.
“If you need me for anything, just have Marlene call. I’ll come right over no matter what time.”
Ethan shook his hand as he started out. “Thank you for coming so quickly.”
The buzz of activity overwhelmed her. Everywhere she looked, people stood. No one paid her any attention except Ethan and Garrett. They were all busy processing information.
She leaned back against the cushions and propped her cast on her chest. She’d never felt so tired in her life. So completely and utterly beat down. Only fear kept her from succumbing to the deep need for sleep.
“Can you talk to us now?” Garrett asked.
Behind him, Sean and Sam both closed in. Sean motioned for the other officers to stand back. Sam stood off to the side, and for the first time, she made an overt invitation to him. She looked up and then held out her hand.
His eyes widened slightly in surprise, and then he came forward and sat beside her on the couch. Ethan eased down on her other side.
Sam reached for her fingers and squeezed. “You know we’re not going to let anything happen to you, right?”
It seemed like an absurd statement in light of all that had happened to her, but she still took comfort in the quietly spoken vow. And she believed him. Believed them all. Now that they knew—or they would know—the threat, they would do whatever was necessary to protect her.
“Can you tell us what happened, Rachel?” Sean asked.
She slipped her hand from Sam’s, raised it to her temple and massaged deeply as she sorted through the barrage of information pouring through her mind.
“I recognized him,” she said simply. “When he came into my hospital room. I saw him a year ago in South America. He was talking to Senator Castle and two other men.”
None of them looked surprised by her statement. Maybe they’d already figured out a connection between her supposed death and the most recent events.
“Do you remember what they were talking about?” Garrett asked.
She nodded. “Drugs. Senator Castle outlined a trade-off of sorts. The drug cartel would ‘give’ him a few victories. He’d take his ‘tough on drugs’ campaign to the heart of Colombia, score a few huge victories in preparation for his bid for the presidency. In return, he’d open up the drug lanes into the U.S. The cartel also sold out a few of their competitors. It was a win-win situation. Castle looked good and the cartel got unfettered