Free Fall (Elite Force 4)

Her memory filled with the sight of him leaning over her, treating her, pleading with her to hang on. The fear in his eyes had let her know just how bad her injuries were. By that time, she’d been floating in a cottony cloud of shock.

Was she alive now? Or hovering in a limbo state?

She drew in air and could swear she was actually breathing, except there was no antiseptic scent of a hospital. Her body felt so heavy, anchored by the crisp weight of a thin blanket.

A sheet? She forced her hand to grip the sheet, then move to her face where tubes pumped oxygen to her nose. No wonder she hadn’t detected the standard hospital smell.

At least she was alive. Knowing that, she fought through the hazy pain, fought her way back so she could see Jose and tell him how much she loved him. She wasn’t missing out on that chance again.

Her eyes opened and a chair screeched back against the floor. She turned her head on the pillow and found… her mother.

A smile of relief spread across her mother’s face. “Good morning, kiddo. How do you feel?”

“Mom?” she croaked, then coughed.

Her mother passed her water to sip through a bendy straw just like when Stella had the chicken pox at five years old.

How could she have forgotten that?

Annie set the cup on the bedside table. “I’ll call for the nurse.”

“No, please.” Stella gripped her wrist. “Wait. Tell me what happened first.”

“You’re in a hospital. You were shot twice. One bullet grazed your temple. The other hit a major artery in your thigh.” She squeezed her hand. “But you’re going to be fine. Jose treated you on the scene while you waited for the ambulance. The doctor said Jose saved your life.”

Her voice trailed off and she pressed a palm to her chest. Annie blinked back tears that spoke louder than words of how close she’d come to dying. She owed Jose so much. “And the list, the names?”

“Agent Brown was the leak. It appears he was turned traitor when he built up gambling debts. An enemy exploited that weakness. I’m not privy to all the details, but I’m guessing they may offer him his life in exchange for all his contacts. Regardless, the leak has been plugged.”

Annie clicked through the high notes like the seasoned professional she was and Stella felt an uncanny sense of looking in the mirror. How humbling to think she was so much like this woman whose choices frustrated the hell out of her.

She would get the rest of the details later, once she could link up with her contacts at Interpol. She intended to press hard for the right to sift through every piece of data the analytical Mr. Brown recorded, check and recheck each piece of paper he touched. If he’d falsified so much as an order for candy bars, she would find it.

And she couldn’t help but wonder if she might have been more effective from the start if she’d stuck to what she did best.

Analyzing data.

“Uhm, Stella?” her mother asked, uncertainty looking so alien on her confident mom. “You need to know I’m coming back to the States.”

Pain meds dripping through the IV tube fuzzed regular details like the sun shining through the window and the bedpan on the rolling table.

Sifting through her mother’s words made her head throb. She pressed her fingers against her temple—and winced as she touched the bandage. She’d come that close to dying from a bullet to the brain.

Stella thumbed the remote and raised the head of the bed, wincing at the stab of pain as her leg moved all of a couple of millimeters. “What about your whole witness protection program?”

“A lot of years have passed since I was in the loop.” She smoothed back her silver-streaked hair. “I haven’t been an active agent in so long anything I know is outdated. Maybe I’ve been hiding out here in Africa, afraid to face you and your brothers. Afraid to face myself.”

“Wow, I don’t know what to say.” She reached for the cup and sipped more water to clear her throat and her thoughts.

“I don’t intend to camp in your front yard, if that’s what you’re worried about.”

“That isn’t what I said.” The thought of spending more time with her mother was scary, yes, but also… amazing.

“Sorry to be defensive.” She rubbed her bare ring finger where she’d once worn a plain gold wedding band. “I haven’t put together my whole plan, but knowing that you almost died out there and I could have missed the opportunity to see you again? I just want the chance to get to know you and your brothers again.”

“I can understand that.” She felt the same way. Second chances were rare in life. “If you need help, just let me know.”

“I’m a teacher. I can support myself, and sadly, there’s no shortage of orphan schools in the United States as well. I’ve been thinking about that a lot as your agency friends work on placing Ajaya somewhere in the States.”