Cody Walker's Woman

Both men looked at each other, hostility slowly fading.

Cody glanced at Callahan, silently asking a question. Callahan said, “It’s your call.” He smiled faintly. “It’s a hell of a situation if you can’t trust the FBI...at least partway.”

Cody looked at Agent Holmes again. “We could pool our resources.” He heard the grudging note in his voice, and deliberately toned it down. “We’ve got a couple of leads we’re willing to share, if the FBI will do the same.” He held out his hand. “Truce?”

Agent Holmes stared at the hand, then at Cody’s face. “Sounds like a good plan to me,” he said finally, shaking Cody’s hand. “What do you say we go back in here and talk about it?”

“Works for me.”

Callahan said, “I’ll get Keira.” He turned and headed for his four-by-four.

Keira watched Callahan coming her way, wondering what was going on. She’d witnessed the confrontation between Cody and FBI Agent Holmes, had seen Trace step between them, and then had seen the two men shaking hands. Maybe they finally realized we’re all on the same side, she thought, smiling.

The sun hadn’t set completely, but shadows fell across the parking lot in long, angular lines. Callahan was halfway there before she saw him signaling her to join them. Keira waved in acknowledgement and began jogging toward the hospital entrance, and Callahan turned back. Just then a truck slowly pulled into the parking lot on Keira’s left. She turned in its direction automatically...and knew...

Everything happened in the space of three seconds. The truck accelerated, and Keira raced forward, her hand already on her Glock. “Callahan!” she shouted as she drew her weapon, reaching him just as the truck’s passenger-side window rolled smoothly down, and the barrel of a rifle appeared in the open window. “Federal agents! Freeze!” she called out, stepping in front of Callahan and drawing a bead on the man in the window. She squeezed the trigger.

Cody turned sharply when he heard Keira call out Callahan’s name. Saw Callahan reach for his .45...too late. Reached for his own gun and started running...also too late. Simultaneous gunshots rang out, and Keira was spun around like a rag doll.

“No!” Cody shouted. Callahan was already firing, and the truck swerved. Then Cody was firing at the truck, too, obliterating the windshield as the truck headed straight for him. He darted out of the way at the last minute, still firing until his Glock locked open on an empty clip. The truck veered, then crashed head on into a light pole.

McKinnon and Holmes were racing toward the truck, weapons drawn, and Cody knew they didn’t need him. He turned and saw Keira sprawled on the ground in a pool of blood, Callahan kneeling beside her. An instant later he was there, too.

On autopilot, his hands worked feverishly alongside Callahan’s. The bullet had entered through the unprotected armhole of Keira’s bulletproof vest, he realized, and had ripped through the right side of her chest. Suddenly McKinnon was there, and Cody ordered, “Get an emergency team here now!” He didn’t even look up to see if McKinnon had obeyed. Since Callahan already had pressure on the entrance wound, Cody felt around with his right hand until he found the exit wound in the back and applied pressure there while his other hand reached for a pulse.

Her skin was cool and clammy to the touch, and her pupils were dilated; Cody knew she was already going into shock from loss of blood. But she kept whispering something, the same thing again and again even as her body shivered. Cody bent over her and heard, “Spec...sev...”

He knew then what she was trying to say.

Chapter 22

The waiting was the worst, Cody thought as he leaned against the wall in the antiseptic hallway outside the intensive care unit. He’d been in this same hospital himself six years ago, fighting for his life just as Keira was now. But he’d been in and out of consciousness, and the struggle to breathe then was nothing compared to what he was going through now.

If Keira didn’t make it—No! his heart insisted. He wasn’t going to think that way. Keira couldn’t die.

Cody looked up and saw Callahan walking down the long hallway toward him, rolling down his sleeve over the cotton ball taped to the crook of his left arm, and he knew the other man had just donated blood.