‘Well, that’s life, isn’t it? That’s what it’s all about.’
‘Not my life.’
Sam scowled again and ran both his hands through his hair. ‘I owe youmylife, Goodie – have you forgotten that?’ She looked away from him and then felt his finger under her chin to turn her head back again. ‘Even if I didn’t owe you I would still have wanted to get you out. I care about you. Katie cares about you. Even bloody Geoff cares about you.’ Geoff gave a grunt of agreement from Sam’s side (which by Geoff’s standards was actually quite a display of emotion). ‘And that bloke of yours …’ Sam shook his head, a slow grin spreading over his face, ‘… you know he bought up half the artillery, light aircraft and helicopters in the southern hemisphere to help us get you out. Even insisted on coming with us – was a job to make him stay with the chopper. Had to tell him in the end that some city nancy-boy who’s never even held a bebe gun before, leave alone a submachine gun, was only going to hold us back and put you in more danger. We had to wrestle him out of the ward today – he was starting to smell, he’d been sitting here with you so long.’
‘Not … mine,’ Goodie rasped, frowning up at Sam, who just chuckled and rolled his eyes.
‘You two make a right pair of stubborn nutters, don’t you?’
‘I told Sam what you said when you left that night, Goodie,’ Geoff put in, and Goodie looked at him. ‘We need to know what you meant. What was there to finish?’ Goodie’s mind flashed to the tremble of fear in Dmitry’s voice as she’d held the knife to his throat, and she smiled for the first time in days. Coming to Colombia for this job was a small price to pay to the agency that shut down Dmitry’s security to allow her access.
Dmitry Alexandrov had been under surveillance for a while, and when Natasha had begged to do something to help, Goodie foolishly gave her his details. It was only after Goodie found out who was responsible for the knife attack in the alley and then the shooting, that she realized how dangerous Dmitry was. He would do anything to protect his overpriced flow of oil. How he thought he could buy a bloody great mansion practically next door to the Chamberses and still escape Goodie’s notice only showed just how incredibly arrogant he was. Goodie had called Natasha off, but not before Tasha had managed to make sure Dmitry was going home alone the night of the ball. The rest was taken care of by people with far more influence than Tasha and only after Goodie had agreed to go to Colombia to finish what she started nine years ago.
‘You don’t need to know,’ she rasped. ‘Is finished.’
‘Whatever you did, you didn’t need to do, Goodie,’ Sam told her, his face now serious. ‘The danger had passed for Nick and Ed. All the deals were done.’
‘Make …’ Goodie swallowed; her throat was beginning to hurt now, ‘… sure. Make them … pay.’
Sam rolled his eyes. ‘So why did you takethisjob?’
Goodie turned away from him again and heard him sigh loudly. ‘We agreed when they approached us last year that it was too high-risk, Goodie. I didn’t think you would ever come back here.’
Goodie shrugged, then winced as the movement sent another bolt of pain through her ribs. Sam narrowed his eyes at her.
‘I used to believe you were so brave, so resilient; but really, when it comes down to it, really you’re not brave at all are you? You’re scared stiff.’
Goodie grumbled some particularly unpleasant Russian under her breath and Sam smiled. ‘Give life a try,myshka,’ he said softly as he laid his hand over her good arm on the bed. ‘Just let yourself give it a try. You trained to adapt to any environment, to be anything you needed to be. Can’t you let yourself be happy? Can’t you be who you need to be to be with him?’
Goodie blinked rapidly against the stinging at the back of her eyes and turned her head away again, muttering about the dry air from the air conditioning.
*myshka– little mouse
Chapter26
Time and patience
‘We’re here,’Goodie’s eyes fluttered open and for a moment she was completely disorientated. She looked across at Bertie on the leather seats opposite her, who was giving her a big smile and a thumbs up, and then to Sam, who was looking at Bertie and shaking his head. She felt the leather underneath her good hand, and then looked up at the temperature controls and light switches above her head.
‘Hey.’ She focused on Nick’s face as she felt his large hand cover hers; he was crouching in front of her now, a frown creasing his forehead. ‘Are you okay, baby?’
Goodie swallowed; her throat was less painful, but she had yet to regain full use of her voice. ‘Private jet,’ she croaked out.
‘Yes,’ Nick smiled, ‘Myprivate jet.’
‘Flashy bastard,’ she mumbled, and he laughed as he undid her seatbelt and gently drew it to the side.
‘Not … child,’ she told him, trying to push his hands away from her lap, which was a tricky business with her right arm still in a sling.
Nick held up his hands in surrender but grinned despite her annoyance. ‘We’re at Heathrow. We have to go through customs, then we can head off back home.’ Goodie frowned and looked out of the small window onto the runway whilst Nick went about gathering all their stuff together.
She allowed herself to be carried down the steps of the plane in Nick’s arms. She’d long since given up fighting with him over this: he’d been doing it with alarming regularity since she left ICU a week ago. A wheelchair awaited her at the bottom of the steps and she scowled at it.
‘Crutches,’ she croaked out as loud as she could.
‘Goodie,’ Nick said in a warning tone, ‘it’s too far; you can’t make it on crutches. Please, sweetheart, for me.’
He readjusted her in his arms at that point, and she felt a jolt of pain through her leg, arm and chest. The chest drain had been removed last week but her ribs were still very painful. Goodie didn’t wince, she was not a stranger to pain, but she did nod reluctantly and then heard Nick’s sigh of relief. He lowered her into the chair and started wheeling her to the terminal building followed by Sam and Bertie. Goodie looked round and gave Sam a significant look and he nodded abruptly – obviously still unhappy with the decision she’d made, but prepared to see it through if it was what she wanted.
