Finding Home (29 page)

At one point, all the members of his
former team came into her little area of the ER and she got to meet all of
them.  The two men who had come in after her were Riley and Mike. 
Both were handsome men, Riley having an open, fun-loving face.  His eyes
were bright and happy and she couldn’t help smiling at him.  Mike, however,
was a different story.  Colt had introduced him as his team leader. 
Sarah thought he was easily the most handsome man she had ever seen, and
standing in a room with Colt, that was saying something.  Mike had dark
hair, tanned skin and eyes of such a pale, pale blue they almost looked white,
except for the dark blue ring around the iris.  His gaze was direct and chilling;
quite frankly, the man terrified her…but, she could clearly see that his
presence had a calming effect on Colt, and for that she was grateful.  He
was speaking to Colt, his voice low and soft, the same tone he’d used with her
earlier.  Even though he scared her, she could easily see why this man had
been the leader of their group of elite soldiers.  He had a controlled,
competent way about him that the other men were naturally drawn to.  It
was the first time since she met Colt that she saw him defer to someone else.

“Sarah, this is Dr. Nichols,” her
nurse said, “He’s a plastic surgeon; he’s going to be stitching that cut on
your head.”

“Plastic surgeon?”

“Because of where it is, scarring is
going to be an issue.  We want to make the stitches as fine as possible to
minimize scarring as much as we can.  Plus, the cut is all the way down to
the skull, so there are several layers to stitch.”

She nodded, squeezing Colt’s
hand.  “OK.”

“This is more than normal stitching,
we will have to put you under for this,” he told her.

Alarmed, her eyes shifted to Colt,
who leaned down and kissed her cheek.  “Hey, it’s going to be all
right.  Nothing to worry about.”

“I’ve never had surgery before,” she
whispered.

“I’ve had several,” he told her,
“piece of cake.  And I’ll be right here when you wake up, OK?”  She
nodded.  “I love you,” he told her, kissing her lips.

He watched the orderlies wheel her bed
out of the examination area, then, just realizing he still wore his Kevlar,
unzipped it and peeled it off.

“Wayne isn’t naming any names. 
If Sarah is right and there is a fourth man, he’s not talking,” Mike told him.

“There would have to be someone else
involved,” Buck said.  “Wayne Robinson would not be capable of
manipulating computers the way you say someone did, bouncing that signal around
everywhere.”

“The police are working him,” Mike
said, “hopefully he’ll crack before long.”

Colt rubbed the back of his neck to
relieve some of the tension that had been building there. 

“How is Coop?”

“He’s in surgery now.  Bullet
lodged in the back of his shoulder.  Should be fine, though,” Riley told
him.

“I need to find Claire.”

“She’s in the surgical waiting room
around the corner,” Mike said.

Colt nodded.  “OK.  Let’s
go wait with her.”

Sarah felt a pair of lips and the
scrape of stubble on her cheek just before she opened her eyes.  Colt was
just sitting back in his chair after kissing her cheek.

“Hey, Sleeping Beauty,” he said to
her, making her smile.  “Welcome back.”

He took her hand into his and raised
it to his lips, kissing her fingers.

She looked at him for several
moments, just drinking him in.  She wondered if she would ever get tired
of looking at him.

“How is Coop?” she asked.

“He’s fine.  Got the bullet
out.  He’ll be good as new in no time.  Claire is loving getting to
fuss over him.  How do you feel?”

“Sleepy,” she replied, making him
chuckle.

“I bet,” he said, again kissing her
hand, “I’ve never been so scared in my life as I was when I heard you
screaming,” he confessed, his voice thick with emotion.  “I thought I was
losing you.”

She tugged on her hand, pulling him
closer to her and placed her free hand on his cheek.

“I knew, the whole time they had me,
I knew you would come get me.  The only time I was scared was when that
truck wrecked.”

“I’ll always be here for you, baby,”
he vowed.

“I know you will, Colt.”

“Do we hear voices in here?” Vivian
asked, stepping into the curtained area, the rest of the Bainbridges behind her. 
“How do you feel?”

“Good,” Sarah said, smiling up at her
older sister.

Colt stood and offered his seat to
Charlotte, then leaned down and kissed Sarah’s cheek. 

“I’m going to go check on Coop,” he
said, but Sarah’s hand grasped his shirt.

“Don’t leave,” she whispered.

He pulled back slightly to look down
into her eyes.  “I’ll be right back, I promise.”

She closed her eyes a moment, then
nodded.  “OK.”

“I promise, baby,” he repeated,
kissed her lips, then walked away, leaving her with her family.

He walked past the room where he knew
Coop was recovering, past the waiting room where various members of his team
were gathered and went into the men’s restroom.  He stood in front of the
sink and splashed cool water on his face, then just stood for several moments,
hands braced on the sink, head bowed, taking several deep, calming
breaths.  As much as he wanted to relax, he knew he couldn’t.  Sarah
said there was a fourth man there; a fourth man who was not in the cabin when
they’d gone in.  His knee-jerk was to take her and run; go to the beach in
Cabo and just let the others handle this.  Take her away and lounge on the
beach, clothing optional.  That’s what he really wanted to do.  He
looked up and met his own gaze in the mirror.  Bottom line, though, it
wasn’t about what he wanted, or really even what Sarah wanted.  The Bainbridges
deserved time to get to know her, especially now after she was just taken a
second time.

If he were honest with himself, he
had to admit that it wasn’t just that there was a fourth man on the loose and
what had happened to Sarah the last few days that was bothering him. 
Sarah’s reluctance to admit she loved him was also eating away at him.  He
knew she loved him.  He could see it in her eyes every time she looked at
him.  He’d been telling himself that was enough, but after the stress of
the last few days, when he told her he loved her earlier, he’d have really
liked to hear the words from her.

He looked toward the door in the
mirror, seeing Mike walk in.

“How you holding up?”

Colt shrugged, then took a deep
breath.

“I’m fine.”

“No, you aren’t,” Mike countered.

“Doesn’t matter.  The important
thing is that she’s all right.”

“That is important.  You are
also important, Colt.  How you feel, what you are thinking.”

“What are we on Oprah now?  Dr.
Phil?  Come on, Boss-“

“Mike,” he corrected.

“Fine, Mike, whatever.  I’m
fine.  This isn’t about me.”

“What affects her, affects you. 
You’re fooling yourself if you think otherwise.”

“Yeah, well, what if what is
bothering me is
her
?”

“What’s wrong?”

Colt looked up to the ceiling. 
“God, am I really going to do this?” he mumbled.  “Look…let’s just say, I
have pretty much laid my heart at her feet.  She’s it for me.  I know
she is.  But every time I tell her, I get nothing.  The one time I
pushed her on it, she asked for more time.  Before all this hit about her
so-called adoption, she told me she was falling in love with me, but since all
this hit, she’s been holding back.  I feel like a freaking girl talking
about my feelings…but, when I looked at her in there and told her I loved her
and she just smiled at me…”

“Understandable…what you got to
remember, is, guys like us, who have lived on the edge the way we have for so
long…everything we feel is intense.  It almost has to be for our way of
life, but the rest of the world, they don’t live the same way.  And, as
for Sarah…she just found out that the people she thought loved her weren’t at
all who they said they were and so now she is questioning what love really
is.  I can see why she’s having issues with love and trust.”

He raked a hand through his
hair.  “Yeah, I can, too…and that’s another problem.  I feel guilty
for being upset that she hasn’t given me the words.  But it does bother
me.”

“Enough to walk away from her?” Mike
asked, and then smiled when Colt’s eyes flashed angry.  “Then there you
go.  You’ll get past it and she’ll come around.”

Colt cursed under his breath. 
“I can’t believe I’m standing in the restroom talking about my feelings and
relationship with my C.O. like we’re a couple of girls.”

Mike chuckled.  “I won’t tell if
you won’t.”

Sarah appreciated the care and
concern of the Bainbridges, but she was anxious for Colt to come back.  Her
eyes kept drifting to the curtain to see if he was on the other side.  She
knew she needed to call Janine and Terry and the others at work, too, but she
really needed to see Colt.

“Tag, go find Colt, please,”
Charlotte said, drawing Sarah’s attention.  “Sarah’s looking for him,” she
said, giving Sarah an indulgent smile.  “I may not have raised you, but I
know when one of my girls is looking for her guy.”

Sarah felt heat infuse her
cheeks.  “He looked a little stressed when he walked out earlier.”

“He’s worried about the fourth guy
you were talking about,” Buck said.

“I never saw him, and they never
called him by name, but I heard his voice.”

“They’ll get him,” Vivian assured
her.

“I hope so.  How is Coop? 
Colt’s brother-in-law who was shot?”

“He’s fine.  He’ll probably get
to go home the same time you do,” Buck told her.

“Speaking of that…we would love for
you to come to the ranch for a few days,” Charlotte invited her.

Before she could answer, Colt stepped
through the curtains.  She felt her heart accelerate as it always did
whenever she saw him.  His hair was damp, as if he’d splashed water on his
face and got the edges of his hair wet, causing his curls to stand out a bit
more.  His presence in the room made it suddenly seem small, he so
overwhelmed everything.  He came directly to her and leaned down to place
a quick but tender kiss to her lips. 

“I heard the nurses talking about
cutting you loose as soon as the doctor comes back to check you over,” he said.

“We were just saying how we would
love for you to come stay with us for a couple of days,” Charlotte told him.

He looked down at Sarah and she tried
to convey to him how nervous that made her but she didn’t want to say anything
out loud. 

“We probably need to stay in town for
a couple of days at least anyway, so we can deal with all the paperwork, so
that would be good,” he said, squeezing Sarah’s hand.

She hadn’t thought of that. 
Darn!  She just wanted to go home.

“I need to call Janine and Terry and a
few others,” she told Colt.

“I have your phone in my bag. 
When you get out of here you can call them.”

“OK, thank you…I just want to get out
of here, Colt.”

“I know, baby,” he said, kissing her
hand.  “Want me to go –“

“No!” she said, clutching his hand,
“Don’t leave me again.”

He chuckled, “All right, I’ll stay
right here with you.”

“Promise?”  He nodded. 
“Thank you.”

Lewis was furious.  For the
second time, the Bainbridge girl had slipped through his fingers.  Now
Sammy and Carl were dead and Wayne was in custody.  He wondered if Wayne
would keep quiet about him or if he’d give him up to save himself.  Prior
to this fiasco, Lewis believed that Wayne would never turn on him, but after
the way Wayne was with the girl Lewis wasn’t quite so sure any more.

He began to hedge his bets; he
started erasing all evidence of his involvement from his computers.  He
knew that the Bainbridges had access to someone who was just as good if not
better than him with computers working with them now: the girl’s boyfriend, Colton
Harris.  He knew from previous run-ins with Orion Securities, where Harris
worked sometimes, that they were the best of the best in their line of
work.  He knew he’d have to destroy all evidence of his involvement and
hope that Wayne kept his mouth shut.

Of course, then there was the girl
herself.  He’d been careful not to show his face to her but he knew she
was aware that there had been a fourth man in the cabin.  Without Sammy
and Carl, he no longer had the muscle to go after her, and without Wayne, he
didn’t have the brain behind planning tactical operations.  Not that he
couldn’t, but it wasn’t his strong suit.  For now, he decided he’d have to
bide his time, and hope the girl was too traumatized to recall much about what
she may or may not have seen or heard about the fourth man.