Rogue Alliance (51 page)

FIFTY-FIVE

             
She was dreading it,
but she had to make the call, even though t
he idea of ignorin
g the Champlain case altogether and forgetting all about Victor
was enticing.

             
The only things she wanted to focus on were
Carmen
,
awake
and alert,
and the urge to delve into her frightening yet glorious feelings as she started to wonder if she was fa
lling in love with Brennan
. She wanted to clear her head, sort through the emotions and chaos
of her fears and doubts and
explore the idea of holding onto those people who were stirring such things within her, rather than running away from them.

             
She was tired of
running away, tired of drinking, though her
body
was still craving it. I
t ached for it, a deep ache that started at her core and spread out through her nervous system, making her senses heightened, almost the point of pain. The instinct to numb that pain was nearly overwhelming at times. But
,
unlike other times when she’d tried to quit, there was an equal and opposing force to that craving
- the desire to stay clean and change the course of her life. Never before, other than her drive to go to the police academy, had she had such clarity and confidence about what she wanted to do with her future.

             
Brennan and Carmen. They were her future now.

             
The fact that her innate sense of responsibility and obligation was driving her to seal up and finalize this case was really pissing her off. Why couldn’t she just let it go?

             
“Hey, Shyla,” Carmen called out, interrupting her thoughts.

             
“Yeah?”

             
“Can you tell these nurses to stop poking and prodding at me? It’s driving me nuts. They wake me up at all hours of the night. They ask me the same lame questions over and over again. And the food here stinks. Hey that reminds me, do you think you could smuggle me in a bitchin’ burger or something? Yeah that sounds good.”

             
Shyla
bit the inside of her cheek and fought off the urge to giggle.

             
“First of all,
” she said,
“
watch you
r
mouth. Second of all, these nurses work their damn asses off to take care of your sorry butt, so you better show some res
pect.
But as far as the burger goes…yeah, I’ll see what I can do.”

             
Carmen gave a huge smile. Shyla left the room. She still had a phone call to make.

             
Thirty minutes later, she got off the phone with Eli Straton, with a fairly solid plan to end the case once and for all. She just hoped Ricardo’s information was solid
,
or else the drug bust of the decade wa
sn’t going to end so well. S
he shoved that
thought
aside and f
ocused on the next task at hand;
there was one specific person she wanted to speak to face to face
- Quentin Solero, her favorite forensics guy.

FIFTY-SIX

             
Brennan decided make
a detour past the hospital. He wanted to see Shyla before he left town. It bothered him to know that he was deliberately keeping information from her, evading the truth
of where he was really going, b
ut it was in her best interest to leave her in the dark. Besides, it was the last job he intended to ever do for Victor. They’d go down to LA, secure this last shipment, and then he’d wipe his hands of it. All of it.

             
He hadn’t had the conversation with Victor yet, but he knew that he could sense it, see it in his eyes, ever since he’d returned from the visit with his mother. How could he not? If he was disgruntled about it, he wasn’t overtly showing it. Yeah, he could tell it bothered him a bit, but they weren’t addressing or discussing it, yet. That was fine with him.

             
Fatigue and guilt were plaguing him. His footsteps were heavy as he walked down the long, sterile hallway of the hospital. His skin still crawled whenever he was any type of facility that resembled the institute. It was the smell. It seeped into his nostrils and reminded him of ugly, ungodly amounts of abuse and hopelessness.

             
Before he even reached Carmen’s room, he saw Shyla standing just outside the door with her back against the wall as she spoke on the phone. The first thing he noticed was that her hair was down. It looked silky and shiny, like she had spent time carefully brushing it out.

             
She was nodding and the look on her face was of concentration. But as she sensed his approach, her head jerked toward him. Her whole face lit up and she quickly ended her phone conversation. All fatigue and worry left his body as he was filled with a divine love for her. He could see the love she had for him, whether she was willing to fully acknowledge it herself. And that feeling, that knowing that she loved him as completely as he loved her, filled him with an energy that he had never experienced before. With it, came a determination to overcome his dire diagnosis. Who said it had to end that way?

             
She walked toward him and he held his hand out to her. Slowly and after a moment’s consideration, she took it.

             
“
You’re wearing your hair down,” he said,
“i
t looks nice.”

             
“It feels weird. It might take some getting used to, but yeah, I’m trying it out. I guess I’m trying a few new things lately.”

             
“Well, you look exhausted, too” he said
,
planti
ng a light kiss on her forehead, “d
id you get any sleep at all last night?”

             
Shyla
sighed and rolled her shoulders.

             
“Not much. I was too thrilled with Carmen’s recovery. And I don’t know how she does it, but that girl woke up from a coma lik
e she’d never even hit her head,” she chuckled,
“t
he first hour was slow as she realized where she was and remembered details of how she’d got here, but after that she picked up where she left off and hasn’
t shut up since.”

             
It was good to hear her laugh, Brendan thought, as Shyla looked over his shoulder. Her face shifted and s
he pulled away.

             
He turned to see Shawn strolling toward them, his long-legged gait covering the length of the hallway quickly. The look on his face was so easy to read. With jaw clenched and lips drawn tight, he looked like he was trying to control his temper or any reaction at all, but he was having a hard time hiding his true emotions to seeing Shyla in his arms.

             
Shawn paused with a wide stance, folded his arms and gave them a smirk.

             
“No need to stop the
love fest just because I’m here,” he said,
“
I saw this coming a mile away. I’m not shocked. I just wanted to check in on Carmen. See how she’s doing.”

             
Shyla was clearly uncomfortable and
Brennan knew she was regretting the public display of affection. He should have known better. There was still a lot going on around them and it would have been better had they kept the change in their relationship from the rest of the world, at least until after he had cut ties with Victor.

             
“Go on in,” Shyla offered, “s
he’s awake and lively. I was just having a word with Brennan. I’ll be right in.”

             
“Sure,
”
he snorted, “o
kay.”

             
With a curt nod, he looked directly at Brennan
before walking
into Carmen’s room.

             
“That was awkward,” Shyla
said.

             
“Ah, don’t worry about it. He’ll get over it.”

             
She furrowed a brow and gave him a sour look.

             
“So I’m that easy to get over, huh?”

             
“Not at all,
”
Brennan chuckled, “
but I’m keeping a positive attitude. Besides, he doesn’t love you like I do.”

             
The expression on he
r face sobered instantly. S
he
shifted the weight on her feet back and forth; i
t looked like she was fighting the urge to run away.

             
“What made you drop by?”

             
So she was changing the subject. That was fine.

             
“I wanted to let you know that I’ll be out of town for a few days. With Victor. O
n business.”

             
Tilting her chin, Shyla
nodded her head.

             
“You’re not telling,
” she said,
“
and I’m not asking.”

             
“Good. I like that plan.”

             
There was something changing between them again and he didn’t know if it was because she was doubting his commitment to quit working for Victor
or if she somehow knew that the ‘business’ he was talking about
was so much b
igger than he was suggesting.

             
“Look, I need to get back in there,” she said with a nod of her head toward the door. There was still an uncomfortable gap between them. He wanted to close the
distance and pull her to him, b
ut he knew she wouldn’t want that. There was something agitating her.

             
“Sure,
” he said,
“
I should get going anyway. I’m glad that Carmen is recovering so quickly. I’ll get in touch with you as soon as I get back.”

             
“Sounds good,” she nodded, before turning
away.

             
“Shyla,” Brennan
said. She turned.

             
“Don’t shut me
out just because you’re scared,” he said,
“
I’m gonna do this job, cut ties, and then I’m coming back. To you. And together we’re going to figure out all the rest of this crazy life, no matter how much time we have.”

             
She softened and gave a slight smile.

             
“I’m counti
ng on it.”

FIFTY-SEVEN

             
Jesus, Shyla
thought. She was up to her eyeballs in emotion. If this was how it felt to be sober and in love, then maybe she didn’t want any of it after all.

             
Not only had Brennan’s declaration of love burned into her soul,
and she felt guilty for not telling him she knew about her business trip
was going to be down there right i
n the middle of it
. This was not a good way to start a relationship, she thought. But she knew he was deliberately not telling her specifics either. They were protecting one another.

             
She just hoped that when he saw her on the docks of LA, with a gun in her hand, on the other side of the law, that he could forgive her the betrayal of not letting him in on that piece of information.

             
What he
didn’t and wouldn’t understand
was that it was in his best interest for her to be there. She could help ensure his safety. In fact, she already had. Eli hadn’t been thrilled with
the idea;
the promise to give Brennan immunity in exchange for the drug bust, but he’d agreed nonetheless. It was a
deal he couldn’t pass up. T
hankfully
,
he didn’t question her motivations.

             
When she said goodbye to Carmen that night before heading home, Carmen whined in response to learning that she would be out of town for a few days.

             
“Why do you have to leave? The doctor said all the swelling is almost gone and I might get to go home in few more days. He just has to run few more tests tomorrow.”