Hostile Ground (The Arsenal #7) - Cara Carnes Page 0,142

her attention on the clock as he drew the blood. She wasn’t afraid of needles or pain. This involved both. “You should have pictures in here. Or a television.”

“Thinking I’d get more visitors if I had television in here.”

“You’re probably right, though I’m not sure how many of the commandoes actually watch television.”

“You’d be surprised.”

Right. He was a commando, too. Jesse had mentioned he was a former CIA spook. Or was it Mary who’d mentioned that? Huh.

Her mind wandered down the various possibilities about what Logan had done before he came to The Arsenal because it kept her mind off why he was drawing her blood.

Ariana cooed softly a moment, then fell back asleep. Such a sweet little girl. She and Jesse would be okay if…

Don’t invite trouble. Not yet. Confirm your fears, then get a plan. That’s what Mary would do. That’s what Kamren would do.

“I’ll be right back,” Logan said. “I’m going to run a couple of the tests right now. The rest will have to go to a lab, so we won’t have results for a day or two.”

Great. Just what she needed to know. The wait was always the worst.

How many times had she seen Mom through a wait? Tons. None had ended well.

Logan stepped out of the small room but left the door open. Ellie stared off into the corner and wondered who cleaned all of this area. She couldn’t imagine him scrubbing it down. Huh.

“Ellie?” Concern shown on Addy’s face as she entered the small examination area and looked around. She carried herself like Jesse and the other commandoes did, like she owned the room and could take on anyone in it whenever she entered.

“Addy.” She swiped at her tears. Dammit she was an ugly crier, which meant her friend would know she’d been crying. “What are you doing here?”

“I was about to ask you the same thing. Are you okay? Where’s Jesse?”

“He’s busy. I’m good. Just getting a routine check-up.”

“You’ve been crying.” Her gaze narrowed as her lips thinned. Great, Bree always warned her Addy could read lies and bullshit from ten thousand yards. Now what?

Of all the women, why did it have to be the commando one? She knew enhanced interrogation techniques and could outshoot and out-ninja most of The Arsenal’s operatives. Not that she’d ever try any of those things with Ellie.

She was a friend. One of the best Ellie had ever made.

Tears tumbled down her cheeks again. Addy closed the distance and drew her into her arms. Ellie hugged the woman close. Maybe having someone here wasn’t such a bad idea after all. And Addy was the strong commando one. She held her own with not only the women but the operatives as well.

“What’s going on?” Addy asked when she pulled back.

“I-I haven’t been feeling well. My mom ignored all her symptoms. I tried to for the past few weeks, but they aren’t going away and I need to know.”

“Ellie.” Addy drew her close.

She wouldn’t lie and offer fake assurances. That wasn’t Addy’s style. None of the friends she’d made since coming back into Jesse’s life ever played that game because they lived in the danger zone twenty-four-seven without hesitation to keep people safe.

“Let me call Jesse.”

“No. Please. Logan tried. I need to find out first. I need to be the strong one in case…” She forced a breath and swallowed back the fear clawing in her gut. “If this is bad, promise me you’ll get him through it. Promise me you’ll all get him through it.”

Jesse admired Addy so much. Of all the operatives, she was one of his favorites—not that he’d ever admit he had favorites. Nope. That was never Jesse’s style.

“We will, but we don’t even know what this is. You’ve had a lot going on with your mom and Ariana and training the new office person and everything else you’ve been doing around here. Maybe you just need a few days off to relax.”

“Maybe.” Ellie knew that wasn’t the problem. She’d lived her life on fast-forward for too many years to be bothered by sleep deprivation. She was a doer. Always had been.

Logan entered with a knock. Tears shimmered in his eyes.

No. No. No. No.

She squeezed Addy’s hand and let the tears flow. So she was sick.

“Addy. W-what are you doing here?” Logan stammered the inquiry and cleared his throat as he looked away, likely to hide the freaking tears in his eyes. God. This was bad. Commandoes didn’t cry. Commando doctors sure as heck never