“The nurse who saved my life. He untied me so I could activate the tracker, and then he knocked out my IV so that I woke up when they were going to operate on me,” she explained.
“I'm sure he’s fine, we knew to be prepared for some of the doctors and nurses to be victims,” he reminded her.
When they reached the boat, the others helped him get Teresa back up to the top deck. By the time he joined her, she was lying on her back, propped up against some blankets someone had collected, with one draped across her. She was shivering from the cold, unlike him, she wasn't wearing a specially designed dive suit, she was virtually naked, and water was streaming off her hair and puddling beneath her.
“You okay?” he asked, dropping to his knees beside her and cupping her cheek in his palm.
Immediately, she leaned into his touch. Tears shimmered in the brown depths of her eyes, but he knew Teresa well enough to know she was going to do her best not to let them fall with an audience. Always so strong, so determined, so stubborn. His girl didn't show weakness to anyone.
But it wasn't weak to be shaken after you’d almost died, to have survived hell all over again, to be grateful that you were alive.
“I-I’m okay,” she whispered.
“She’s hurt, they tried to cut her back open,” a young man hovering close by spoke up. Micah assumed he was William.
Lifting up the blankets, he spotted the red staining the hospital gown that was thoroughly soaked and sticking to her skin. Someone handed him a towel, and he pressed it against thewound, making Teresa wince. While there was enough blood for him to know the wound was serious and would have to be tended to as soon as they got medics there, it wasn't gushing blood in a way he had to worry about her bleeding out on him.
“You scared the life out of me with this little plan of yours,” he told Teresa as he kept one hand pressed to her wound, and with his other tucked the blankets up and over her again to try to prevent her from going into shock.
“Sorry. I didn't want to scare you, but I had to take advantage of it if they got their hands on me again. It worked, too,” she said, her gaze shifting to the young nurse. “He knows the woman running the ring.”
All eyes snapped to William, his own included. The young man’s cheeks heated, and he shuffled nervously from foot to foot, but he nodded his head to confirm what Teresa had just told them.
“You did it, pretty girl. Because of your bravery, we’re going to demolish the trafficking ring. I'm so proud of you.”
The smile she gave him was watery, but it was still a smile. “Then you better hurry up and kiss me.”
“Nothing I’d rather do.” As his lips pressed against hers, Micah felt a weight lift off his shoulders. Teresa didn't seem to blame him for her getting caught, and while he hated that she’d been in danger, her plan had ultimately worked out and paid off. As soon as the ring was no longer a threat, he was putting all his effort into convincing his girl he would never let her down again.
CHAPTER 22
May7th
11:54 P.M.
The quiet asshe stepped inside the empty apartment had Teresa letting out a breath.
She hadn't realized how badly she needed some peace and quiet until this moment.
The whole day had been a whirlwind of activity, and it was hard to believe that it hadn't even been twenty-four hours since she was snatched in the stairwell of her apartment building after the fire alarm was set off.
That seemed impossible, and yet it was true.
In the last twenty-four hours, she’d been abducted, drugged, tested her tracker and found out that it worked as intended, almost been operated on, escaped, hidden as gunfire raged around her, been thrown off a boat, almost drowned, and then been rescued all over again.
After that, she was checked over by medics, received stitches, and gave her statement over and over again to different people who all asked the same questions. Then there were the happy,angry reactions from her friends and teammates when she got back home. They were furious with her for putting her life on the line, while also admiring her bravery, and being relieved she was alive and relatively unscathed.
It hadn't felt brave while she was doing it, but she was so glad everything had worked out the way it had. So many things could have gone wrong, and if any one of them had, she wouldn't be standing there right now, drinking in the peace of the quiet apartment.
“How’re you doing?” Micah asked from behind her.
As much as she’d been ready for a break from the others, appreciating them wanting to celebrate with her that she was alive, and that they finally had a name they could use to bring the organ trafficking ring down, but overwhelmed, that didn't extend to the man standing behind her.
When his hands landed on her shoulders and he began to knead the tense muscles there, Teresa sighed and let her head fall forward, giving him better access. While she’d been given a mostly clean bill of health, she was achy all over, her muscles tired and full of tension.
“I'm okay, just tired,” she murmured, allowing his magic fingers to work the stress out of her a little bit at a time. Honestly, she could stand there like that forever. It didn’t matter that the restitched wound in her stomach ached, or that exhaustion pressed down upon her. Tired as she was, Teresa wasn't quite ready to go to sleep yet.
“Want me to get some waterproof bandages so you can take a bath and then go to bed?”
