“He’s… is he okay?”
His voice was barely audible in the silent car and I resisted the urge to snatch the phone from him and demand that the caller tell me what was going on.
Everett sucked in a harsh breath and then let out a mix between a gasp and a sob. When he lowered his hand, I reached between the seats to the back and grabbed the phone and put it on speaker.
“Everett?” I heard a man’s voice say.
“This is Special Agent Jonathan Nash. You’re on speakerphone. Who is this?” I demanded.
There was a beat of silence and then a man’s voice said, “Agent Nash, this is Dr. Ronan Grisham. Is Everett with you?”
The concern in the man’s voice eased a little bit of the initial anger I was feeling. “Yes. What’s happened?” I asked, not caring about formalities anymore.
“Reese,” Everett managed to get out. “Reese is hurt.”
I’d never met Everett’s son, but I knew of him. My eyes met Everett’s devastated ones. I held them as I spoke into the phone. “Where is he?” I asked. “We’re on our way.”
“Missoula, Montana,” Ronan said. “I’m sending a plane for Everett, Vincent, and Nathan.”
“What the hell do they have to do with this?” I asked.
“Agent Nash, in order to get that plane to you guys, I need to call Vincent and get a location for the pick-up. If Vincent doesn’t debrief you in the air, I or one of my men will when you land.”
It went against my nature to walk into any situation blind, but one look at Everett’s face and I knew what my answer would be. “We’re an hour outside of Arlington, Virginia. We’re turning around now. Call us with whatever airstrip Vincent decides on and we’ll meet him there.”
“Will do. Everett,” Ronan said softly.
“Yeah, I’m here,” Everett whispered. He still looked shell-shocked.
“He’s strong, Everett. He’s going to pull through this. I’ll call you as soon as I get to Missoula.”
Everett nodded, but didn’t answer. Ronan didn’t seem to be expecting a response because he addressed me next. “Take care of him, Agent Nash.”
“I will,” I responded.
With that, the call ended.
“Mr. President,” I began, but then thought better of it. “Everett…”
The use of his first name seemed to get his attention and he lifted his eyes from where he was staring at the phone in my hand.
“I don’t know what happened, but I’ll get you there, okay? No matter what.”
Everett nodded. I was about to turn back around when he said, “My boy… he saved a man’s life.”
“He’s a hero,” I said softly.
A small smile graced Everett’s mouth, even as his eyes began to fill with unshed tears. “He is.”
A few tears slipped unchecked down his face before he said, “I can’t lose him, Nash. Not him too.”
“You won’t, Everett. I promise.”
It was a promise I had no right to make, just like I didn’t have the right to reach out my hand and wrap my fingers around the ones Everett had resting on his leg. But I did both anyway. Everett managed a shaky nod, but nothing more. I quickly released his hand, then turned and got us back on the road.
I had a promise to keep.
Chapter 4
Everett
“He’s okay, Everett.”
I’d heard several versions of those words over the course of the painfully long flight to Montana, but none mattered more than when Ronan Grisham said them to me within moments of stepping off the plane. I’d have collapsed right there on the tarmac if Nash hadn’t been holding my elbow. Vincent was on my other side, his big body offering support as he fired off questions to Ronan.
Questions I wasn’t capable of asking at the moment.
I would have liked to say I held it together well on the plane, but I probably hadn’t fooled anyone. I’d managed to stay in my seat, despite the crazy need to keep moving, but it hadn’t been until halfway into the flight that Nash had put his hand on my shoulder to stop the rocking motion that had taken over my body at some point. He’d handed me a drink, which I’d downed without any care to the fact that I rarely drank hard liquor and that it was still too early in the day for it.
Nathan hadn’t fared much better than me. The second I’d boarded the airplane, Nathan had jumped up from his seat, though he hadn’t approached me. The younger man had just started repeating over and over how sorry he was. He’d had his arms wrapped around his body and Vincent had been standing next to him, his hand on Nathan’s back, but Nathan hadn’t seemed to notice. All he’d done was apologize to me.
His guilt had made it possible for me to function like my normal self for a few minutes, and in a weird way, I’d been grateful for that. I’d wrapped my arms around Nathan and told him he had nothing to be sorry for. I’d held him for a long time until he’d stopped shaking, then I’d handed him over to Vincent’s care and found myself a seat so we could take off. After that, I hadn’t been aware of much. Vincent had tried to talk to me a couple of times, but I’d been too far gone to really listen to him.