Hard Line - Pamela Clare Page 0,81
cheek, so she’ll be our guest for another day or so. You are both lucky to be alive.”
It touched Thor to think that Samantha cared enough to sit by his side, but she needed to heal, too. “How do you feel?”
“Now that you’re awake, I’m fine.”
“Liar.” Kristi put a pulse oximeter on Thor’s right forefinger.
“Okay, so my cheek hurts. I’ve got a perpetual headache. My fingers are all tingly, and I can’t seem to stay warm.”
That didn’t sound good to Thor. “You should do what Kristi tells you to do.”
“See? You’re a smart man, Thor. Do what the RN tells you to do.”
“I’m fine. Besides, every time I fall asleep, I have nightmares.”
“Aw, sweetie. I’m so sorry.” Kristi rested her hand on Samantha’s shoulder. “But that’s why God invented sedatives.”
“He injected me with that midazolam. I don’t want to feel helpless again.”
“Fair enough.” Kristi turned to Thor. “Do you want me to let Malik and Lev know you’re awake?”
“I want a few minutes alone with Samantha first.”
Kristi nodded. “I’ll be out here charting and pretending I can’t hear you.”
Samantha looked down at him, tears filling her blue eyes. “I was so afraid I’d lost you. I … I care about you, Thor.”
Maybe it was the morphine, but he heard the words she’d intended but hadn’t spoken. They struck something tender inside him, unleashing emotions he’d never felt for a woman. “I care about you, too, skat. I’m so happy to see your face. I thought it was over for me. I just wanted to stay alive long enough for Jones and Segal to reach you.”
A tear slid down one cheek. “I would never have gotten over it if you’d died. I would never be able to forgive myself.”
“None of this was your fault—or Patty’s.”
She nodded, but the anguish on her face remained.
“I’m sorry about the nightmares.” He knew from personal experience how rough bad dreams could be. He reached up with his good hand, brushed a strand of blond hair off her bruised and swollen cheek. “I should have kept you safe. I should have—”
“You almost died saving my life.” She turned her head, kissed his palm. “If it weren’t for you, I wouldn’t be here.”
“You saved my life, too, so we’re even.”
“When did I…? Oh. When I got him with the chisel.”
“Yeah.” Her scream as she’d jumped out of the elevator echoed through Thor’s mind. “He was about to pull that trigger.”
Her face crumpled. “I wanted to kill him for hurting you. I aimed for his eye, but I got his cheek instead.”
“I’m glad you missed.” He wasn’t sure how Samantha would have handled having a man’s death on her hands. “It’s not easy to live with taking a life.”
She sniffed. “It was awful—Vasily stabbing Hardin and cutting Vlad’s throat with that switchblade, watching them bleed and die.”
He wiped a tear away with his thumb. “I’m sorry you saw all of that—the fighting, the killing.”
Her lips curved into a wobbly smile. “I certainly appreciate your job now. You’re my hero, Thor Isaksen.”
She stood, leaned down, kissed his forehead.
From beyond the curtains came Kristi’s voice. “He’s awake if you want to see him. Just don’t wear out your welcome.”
Then the curtain was pushed back and Jones and Segal were there, the two of them staring down at him with worried looks on their unshaven faces.
“Hey, brother, how do you feel?” Jones asked.
“Like I got shot in the shoulder.”
“It was touch and go there for a while, man,” Segal said. “You are one tough son of a bitch.”
Then Jones and Segal filled him in.
Life on station was returning to normal. Jones and Segal had liberated the package from Delaney’s office safe, verified its contents, and secured it once again. Lance was no longer confined to his room. Shields was beating herself up over failing to uncover Delaney’s deception. Tower was waiting for Thor to be healed enough for the long journey home before trying to set up extract. Vasily and his buddies had fled the station a few hours ago on an unauthorized flight to Bellinghausen, a Russian station off the Antarctic Peninsula. They’d taken Vlad’s body with them.
“We heard the plane land,” Jones said. “We got outside in time to see it take off.”
“Were they Delaney’s contacts?”
“Delaney’s emails showed that he tried to make a deal with China, but his buyers backed out,” Segal said. “Then he turned to the Russians. Vasily cut a deal with him but intended to kill him. Vasily hoped to get his hands on the