Long Road Home by Maya Banks
felled the senator. But all Manuel could focus on was the blood. God, there was so much blood on her.
He ran for her as she sank to the ground. His heart pounded furiously. Time slowed. He couldn’t get to her fast enough. His damn feet felt like they were encased in cement.
Finally he flung himself to the ground beside her and gathered her in his arms. Blood. There was blood everywhere. Oh God. His throat swelled. Pain lanced through his chest. Despair pounded him relentlessly
“Jules! Jules, wake up, baby. You have to wake up!”
He buried his face in her hair and rocked her back and forth in his arms.
“Goddamn you, Jules. Don’t die on me. Don’t you dare die.”
Sobs welled and tore from his throat. He couldn’t breathe. He couldn’t think. He couldn’t live without her.
He touched her cheek, shook her gently, covered her chest wound with his hands, anything to try and save her. He felt for a pulse and found only the slightest whisper of one in her neck.
“That’s it, baby. You hang on,” he said fiercely. “I’m not giving you up again.”
He gathered her closer in his arms. “Someone get a goddamn ambulance!” he yelled. He’d never felt so damn helpless in his life.
“Manny.”
The barest whisper filtered to his ears.
He drew away and saw her eyelids flicker weakly. She’d said his name.
“Jules, sweetheart, I’m here.”
She licked her lips, the action seeming to take every ounce of her strength.
“Let me go, Manny,” she whispered. “The things…the things I’ve done. I’m beyond redemption. Just let me go.” Her voice cracked and blood bubbled from her mouth.
“Never,” he said fiercely. “You’re so all-fired determined to protect me. Well, you can’t protect me unless you live. Now fight, damn it.”
An eerie smile curved her lips, completely incongruous with all the blood and the mask of pain she’d worn just seconds ago.
“I smell…vanilla.” Her eyelids fluttered weakly, and she stared seemingly beyond him, through him. “Mom? Pop?”
Panic flooded him. “Shhh. Don’t talk. Save your strength.” He turned and looked back to where Tony stood a few feet away. “Where’s the damn ambulance!” Desperation raced up his spine.
She arched her back, her lips working up and down. “I love you.” It slipped from her lips in the frailest of whispers. Then she closed her eyes, and her head lolled to the side.
No! No! No! No!
He gripped her tightly to him uncaring of all the blood. “Live, damn it! Don’t you give up, Jules. I love you too much to let you go.”
Tears streaked down his cheeks.
“Don’t leave me,” he croaked out.
He was pushed aside as two paramedics bent over her. In quick succession, one of them intubated her while the other started an IV. Within seconds, she was hoisted on a stretcher and hustled into a waiting ambulance.
Manuel stumbled after them, watching as they squeezed oxygen into her lungs with an Ambu bag.
Tony shoved him toward the SUV. “I’ll drive you.”
“The senator?
“He’s being taken to the hospital. He’s alive.”
“He deserves to die.” Manuel only wished he’d done it.
He climbed numbly into the SUV and stared blindly out the window as Tony raced after the ambulance. He’d failed Jules. Not once but twice. Twice he’d not been there when she needed him most. And now she might die because of it.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Manuel paced the surgery waiting room, about to go insane. She’d been in surgery eight hours. The longest eight hours of his life.
He knew it wasn’t good. A bullet to the chest, all the blood she’d lost. But still, he wouldn’t allow himself to lose hope, to admit that he might lose her.
Tony had been on the phone nearly the entire time. They hadn’t trusted anyone at the CIA. Not over something this big. Hell, they’d had a hard enough time spilling the story to the feds, but they had to trust someone.
He glanced over as Tony got up from his seat, shut his phone and walked over to where Manuel stood.
“They’ve got warrants for the senator’s office and home. I’m going over. I don’t want anyone touching his computers but me. I’ll let you know what I find out.”
Manuel nodded, red fury washing over him all over again. While Jules fought for her life on an operating table, the senator was undergoing surgery to remove a bullet from his shoulder. The bastard was expected to make a full recovery.
He finally sat down, fatigue taking over. He leaned forward and buried his face in his hands, and for the first time in longer than he remembered, he prayed.
He’d lost the Trehans to the senator’s machinations. He couldn’t lose Jules too. He prayed she wouldn’t give up.
Hours came and went and still he sat, refusing to budge. Finally, fifteen hours after Jules had been rushed into surgery, the doctor appeared at the door.
He looked tired, haggard, and worst of all, there was no spark of hope in his eyes.
Tears stung Manuel’s eyelids, and he swallowed back a moan of despair as he rose to hear what the doctor would say.
“I’ll be honest with you, Mr. Ramirez. I expected her to die in surgery. But she hung on. I have no explanation.”
“Will she…will she make it?” Manuel asked, his voice cracking.
“She made it through surgery, so I’d say she has a better than average chance of recovering. She’s in ICU, where she’ll remain until she’s stable. The bullet missed her heart, but she lost an enormous amount of blood. She’s got a long recovery ahead of her, but she’s made it through the toughest part.”
Manuel’s heart began to pound. His knees shook and threatened to buckle underneath him.
“Maybe you should sit down.” The doctor said gestured toward the chair closest to him.
Manuel sank into the chair and stared at the doctor in disbelief. “She’s alive?” He needed to hear it one more time.
The doctor nodded. “She’s very fortunate. When she came in, I gave her less than a five percent chance of pulling through. With the amount of blood loss, it didn’t seem likely she’d survive the first hour of surgery.” He shrugged. “But then in this profession, I’ve witnessed some pretty amazing things. I’d say Miss Trehan has friends in high places.”
“Thank you.” Manuel reached out to shake the doctor’s hand. “I appreciate all you did for her.”
The doctor smiled. “You should get some rest now.”
“When can I see her?” Manuel asked, ignoring the doctor’s suggestion.
The doctor’s face softened. “You can go up to ICU and see her for a few minutes. But I warn you, it will be a shock. We’ll have her hooked to a respirator until I’m comfortable she can breathe on her own.”
Manuel nodded then got up and walked past the doctor. He followed the signs to the intensive care unit and checked in with the nurse at the desk.
She escorted him back to the corner cubicle. He sucked in his breath when he saw Jules lying there, so still, so pale.
“I’ll give you a few minutes,” the nurse said. “Then you’ll have to come back tomorrow.”
Manuel nodded and moved closer to the bed. The respirator echoed eerily in the otherwise quiet space. Jules’s chest, heavily bandaged, rose up and down with the sound of the machine.
A series of tubes and wires extended from her to a heart monitor and an IV pump. He could see the steady rhythm of her heart displayed on the small screen. She was alive.
He stood at her bedside and reached down, curling his hand carefully around her fingers. They felt cold. He rubbed her hand soothingly, wanting her to somehow know he was there beside her.
“Jules? Baby, I’m here.”
Silence greeted him in response. Only the steady whooshing of the respirator could be heard.
He leaned closer in, afraid to touch her. He brushed his lips lightl
A single tear rolled down his cheek, and he sucked in his breath to control the grief that threatened to explode from him.
“Mr. Ramirez,” the nurse said softly from the end of the bed. “It’s time for you to go now. You can come back tomorrow.”
Reluctantly, he removed his hand from Jules’s and backed away from the bed. He didn’t want to leave her. Not even for a minute.
As he walked with the nurse out of the enclosure, he saw two men standing nearby. His hackles rose, and he stopped in front of them.
“Who are you and why the hell are you here?” he demanded.
“I’m Special Agent Farrow,” the first man said. He turned and gestured to the other man. “This is Special Agent Redding. We’ve been assigned to Ms. Trehan.”
Fear churned in Manuel’s gut.
“I assume you’re Manuel Ramirez?” Agent Redding asked.
Manuel nodded.
Agent Redding stuck out a hand to shake Manuel’s. “We’ve been talking to Tony. He’s cooperating with the investigation into the senator’s participation in the NFR.”
Manuel relaxed.
“We’re here to ensure Ms. Trehan’s safety,” Agent Farrow said.
Manuel studied them for several long seconds. Then he reached for his phone. He wasn’t leaving Jules, not until he talked to Tony.
Tony answered on the second ring.
“Tony, there are two guys here. Said you spoke to them. They’re assigned to protect Jules?”
“Yeah, sorry, I was going to call you. How is she?”
“She’s…she’s alive.” It was all he could say. “What are the agents’ names, and what do they look like?” Manuel asked, staring at the two men standing there.
“Agent Redding and Agent Farrow. Agent Redding is tall, blond hair, medium build. Agent Farrow is shorter, dark hair, mustache, stocky build. You can trust them, Manuel.” Tony paused for a long moment. “I know we don’t know who to trust in our own ranks, but these guys I handpicked myself. I go way back with them.”
“Okay. Just making sure.”
“I understand, man. Look, I’m right in the middle of sorting through all the shit we seized from the senator’s office and residence. I flew out to his home in Virginia and found some stuff in his safe. Why don’t you come over and have a look? I have a man there to drive you over.”
“I hate to leave her,” Manuel said quietly.
“I know. But Manny, you’re going to be in for a long vigil. Come over here. I’ll order some takeout, we can go through these computer files and you can get some rest. I have a guard detail on the senator so he’s not going anywhere.”
Manuel sighed. “All right.”
He hung up then pinned the agents with his stare. “No one is allowed in that room except medical personnel.”
Agent Redding nodded, his eyes softening with sympathy. Manuel wondered just what Tony had told the agents about his relationship with Jules.
With one last look in Jules’s direction, Manuel walked toward the nurse’s desk. He wrote his number down on a piece of paper and handed it to the same nurse who’d escorted him in to see Jules.
“If her condition changes or if she wakes up, call me immediately. Please.”
The nurse smiled. “I will.”
Manuel walked out of the unit, glancing back to see the two agents standing on either side of Jules’s cubicle. He was met in the hall by yet another agent, who flashed ID at him.
“I’m supposed to take you to Tony’s,” the agent said.
Manuel sighed. “Yeah, Tony told me.” And in truth, he wasn’t in any shape to drive, so he nodded and followed the agent out of the hospital.
The afternoon sun blinded him as they walked through the parking lot. The agent gestured toward the Ford Expedition parked a few spaces away.
Manuel slid in as the agent started the vehicle, and soon they were winging their way through the Washington streets. He closed his eyes and leaned his head against the headrest. He couldn’t get the image of Jules lying so helpless in the hospital bed out of his mind. The only spark of life he’d seen was the zigzag line flashing across the heart monitor. His only reassurance that she was alive.
A few minutes later, the SUV pulled to a stop, and Manuel opened his eyes. He mumbled his thanks to the agent who’d driven him then climbed out of the vehicle.
He strode up to Tony’s door and knocked once before opening it. He found Tony in his office, surrounded by two laptops and a desktop computer, stacks of files and papers and other assorted boxes.
“Hey, man,” Tony said in greeting. “How are you?”
Manuel shrugged. “Fine, I guess.”
Tony grimaced in sympathy. “She’ll make it, Manuel. She’s a tough girl.”
“What did you find?” Manuel didn’t want to delve too deeply into a conversation about Jules. It was all he could do to maintain his composure as it was.
Tony gestured toward the computers. “The senator is up to his neck. I hacked into his secure files and found a list of all the hits he’s personally ordered over the last twenty years. Including Jules’s parents.”
Pain stabbed him in the gut. “You mean Mom and Pop?”
“No, her real parents. Apparently Jules was to have been included in the hit. What I don’t know is if the Pinsons somehow dropped Jules off in order to keep her safe or if Jules survived the hit and someone else dropped her in Tennessee where the Trehans lived.”
“Who killed Mom and Pop?” Manuel asked. “Was it Sanderson?”
Tony nodded.
“Son of a bitch.”
“The senator decided it would be more beneficial to him if he shut the NFR down. He planned to launch a sting operation against his own creation and take down the network and Sanderson with it. He had greater ambitions than just being the Director of Homeland Security. He planned to use the position as a launch pad for a presidential bid. His platform? Tough on terrorism. He would have been a shoe-in with the removal of the NFR as a threat.”
“I take it Sanderson didn’t like the idea.”
Tony shook his head. “He wanted to use Jules to kill the senator. There were several reasons. One, with the senator gone, Sanderson would take over the NFR and continue operations as usual. As twisted as it sounds, Sanderson considered himself a solid patriot and the NFR, in his opinion, upheld the ideals and interests of the U.S.”
Manuel clenched his fist. Patriot, his ass. The bastard had played him and Jules from the very beginning. Worse, he’d taken advantage of an innocent girl and turned her into a cold-blooded killer.
“Two,” Tony continued, “after killing the Trehans, Sanderson knew he’d have leverage to make Jules do just about anything. That leverage was you. Here was a girl who only had one person left in the world who meant anything to her.
“And three, Sanderson realized some of the other operatives might balk at killing a U.S. senator. Sanderson counted on Jules’s hatred of what the senator had done to her to make her carry out her mission.”
Manuel’s jaw tightened in rage. “He raped her.”
Tony nodded, his expression grim. “The bastard kept a detailed journal in his safe. Recruiting Jules was personal. Payback for her parents deserting the cause. He also wanted to keep very close tabs on her. He was afraid of what she might know, what her parents might have somehow passed down to her. Apparently the Pinsons planned to blow the NFR wide open, taking the senator with it.
“Jules disappeared from the NFR for a time. Just before she surfaced in Colorado. I think that scared the senator. He ordered