Echoes at Dawn

“I have a pulse. It’s weak, barely there, but goddamn it, I have one. Get me that goddamn IV and let’s move!”

I’d do it again. Never regret.

Rio wiped at the tears running down his cheeks.

Just hold on, honey. Please. For me. Don’t give up.

Hurts.

The simple word tore his heart to shreds. Tears burned his eyes and scoured trails of acid down his cheeks.

Garrett and Nathan dumped the bag next to Donovan, and Nathan scrambled to get the IV set up. Donovan wasted no time. He inserted the needle directly into the jugular vein, taped it and instructed Garrett to hold the bag up.

He took another setup from Nathan and found a vein in her arm and plunged the needle in. He withdrew the needle, held the catheter in place, quickly taped it and tossed the other bag up to Nathan.

“There’s a hell of a fight going on, so we have to be quick about this,” Donovan said in terse tones.

Hancock rose, picked up his rifle and leveled a stare at Donovan. “My men and I have this. Farnsworth’s security is a joke. We’ll cover your exit.”

Donovan lifted Grace while Nathan and Garrett held the IV bags high over her. Rio slammed into Hancock, driving him into the wall. “You have a hell of a lot of explaining to do, you son of a bitch.”

Hancock smiled faintly. “We’ll be seeing each other again, Rio. Count on it.”

Rio shoved him away and then strode down the hallway, rifle up as he ducked around Garrett to take the lead. Nothing and no one would touch Grace without going through him first.

Once to the doorway leading to the helipad, they ducked and ran, sliding Grace onto the floor of the chopper before climbing in with her.

“Sam said he and the others will cover our exit and take care of things here. He said to take care of Grace and they’ll catch up with us,” Garrett shouted.

Nathan climbed into the cockpit and in moments the helicopter rose and flew low and fast over the water toward the mainland.

Donovan hovered over Grace, but it was Rio who held her in his firm grasp.

You’re going to make it, baby. Don’t let go. Just don’t let go. Do it for me. I need you, Grace. I need you.

“I hope to fuck someone speaks Greek,” Garrett muttered. “This could get hard to explain.”

“I can get by,” Diego said. “Languages are my thing. Besides, a gun is kind of a universal language all by itself.”

“Fuckin’ A,” Garrett agreed. Then he turned to glare at his brother. “And don’t you say a goddamn thing to my wife about my language.”

“Nathan, give me an ETA,” Donovan yelled. “She’s barely hanging on with my patchwork job. We need to be there five minutes ago.”

“I’m pushing the bitch as hard as sheˀs hard a’ll fly,” Nathan hollered.

Twenty long minutes later, Nathan landed the helicopter right in the middle of the hospital parking lot. This time Rio gathered Grace in his arms while Donovan held pressure on the wound and Garrett and Diego held the bags as they ran for the entrance.

With the combination of what was obviously a seriously injured woman, the fact that every man was packing, and Diego’s fractured Greek, they were quickly shown into a small area Rio assumed was their version of an emergency room. He just hoped to fuck he wasn’t trusting Grace’s life to a bunch of incompetent quacks.

The medical team worked fast, taking over, but Rio was reluctant to step back. At one point one of the nurses shoved him away with a stern glare that could only be interpreted as “get out of my way.”

One of the doctors let out a stream of Greek aimed at Rio, who turned to Diego. “What the fuck is he saying?”

“He says they need to take her to surgery right away. He doubts she’ll survive. He wants you to know the chances are little but that he’ll do what he can to save her.”

“Fuck that,” Rio snarled. “You tell him his best

isn’t good enough. He’ll goddamn save her or it’ll be his ass.”

Diego gave Rio a wry look and then turned to speak to the doctor. The message must have been adequately conveyed because the doctor paled and then began barking orders to his staff.

Moments later, Grace was wheeled past Rio and Donovan and the others. Rio stood there, feeling like the life had gone right out of him. He was heartsick over the thought that that might be his last glimpse of her. Broken, bloody, pale as death.

Donovan clapped a hand on his shoulder. “Come on. Let’s go commandeer the waiting room and scare the shit out of anyone there so we’ll have some privacy. We need to check in with Sam so he knows where to find us and make sure we don’t have any casualties.”

Rio nodded numbly and allowed himself to be pulled away. Nathan fell into step beside him and said in a low voice, “Shea is fighting for her too, man. I know you are as well. Grace is a survivor. She’ll get through this.”

“She has to,” Rio said, darkness seeping into his soul. “I’m lost without her.”

CHAPTER 39

RIO stood broodingly in the corner of the waiting room, staring out the window that overlooked the sea in the distance. It should be dark and raining, the sky filled with thunderclouds, but it was an absolutely beautiful Mediterranean day. Flawless, bright blue sky, the water dazzling like diamonds and winking in the sun.

Around him, the room had filled up with a steady stream of KGI members. Most left him alone to do his brooding. Terrence sat across the room next to Elizabeth, talking in soothing tones to the sobbing girl.

Rio should say something to her. Offer comfort. He wasn’t a complete bastard. But what could he say to her? He was raw and hurting, knowing that this child lived because of Grace, and that at any moment Grace could be taken from him.

The hum of conversation that echoed through the room came to an abrupt halt. The hairs on Rio’s nape prickled and he turned to see Hancock standing in the doorway, still in fatigues, blood—Grace’s blood—still smeared on his shirt and his hands.

Hancock started forward, stopping a safe distance from Rio. He regarded Rio warily, without the innate cockiness that always accompanied Hancock’s demeanor.

ȁ΀ C;Grace?” he asked.

“In surgery,” Rio said shortly. “No word. They didn’t give us much hope.”

“Take a walk with me. There’s a lot I want to explain.”

He hadn’t said “need,” because Hancock was the sort who never felt the need to do anything. If he wanted you to know something, he’d tell you. But he never felt compelled to offer anything.

Rio’s gaze drifted downward and Hancock emitted a soft laugh. “If I had any intention of killing you, you’d long be dead, my friend. I’m unarmed, which is saying a lot, since I walked in here with over a dozen men all ready to slit me from asshole to appetite.”

Rio glanced toward Nathan, who was the closest to him and Hancock. “We’ll be just down the hall. Come get me immediately if there’s word on Grace.”

“Will do, man,” Nathan returned.

Rio followed Hancock into the hall and down the long corridor, ironically into a small chapel at the end. Hancock stopped a moment in the doorway, made the sign of the cross and then passed through.

Rio also paused, reached into his pocket for the rosary his mother had once given him. He made the sign and then kissed the beads and whispered a prayer.

“I’m not a good man. I’m not worthy in so many ways. But Grace is all that’s good. She’s one of yours. A gift to so many. She’s my light and my hope. Please don’t take her. I’ll do my best to prove worthy of her and of the gift of her. Just please bring her back to me.”

He walked farther into the chapel and settled on the front pew next to Hancock. For a moment, no words were exchanged. Then Hancock turned to Rio.

“Grace was never the target. She was just a means to an end.”

Rio’s lips tightened. “She wasn’t the target and yet you damn near got her killed. Hell, you might have killed her.”

Hancock continued on in an emotionless tone. “Farnsworth was and always has been the primary objective. He was a slippery, cagey bastard who always had an eerie sixth sense when someone was closing in on him and he’d pull a disappearing act. It helped that he was one of the most paranoid bastards to ever live. He trusted no one. But he had a weakness.”

“His daughter,” Rio muttered.

Hancock nodded. “When she grew so ill, Farnsworth got sloppy. He would have done anything in the world to save her, and yet no one could give him what he most wanted. His contact in the government made sure he leaked information about Grace Peterson, whom the government also had a keen interest in.”

“So you dangled Grace in front of him like a fucking carrot.”

“Basically, yeah. The problem was that Farnsworth wouldn’t do face-to-face meetings. If he did, it would have been a simple matter when he hired Titan. I could have gotten to him then and Grace would never have been involved. But the only way we were going to get close to him was if we handed Grace over to him. And in order to do that, we had to have her.”

Rio shook his head. “Then why the fuck did you let us go that first time?”

Hancock looked away, toward the crucifix centered behind the small pulpit. “Because I owed you. You saved my life. I’m not completely without honor. I knew that Grace had been through hell. I knew she wouldn’t be worth a damn if I took her to Farnsworth in her present condition. I wanted to buy her time because I knew it would damn well kill her to heal his daughter, and if she failed, sheӀe failed’d be dead anyway because he’d kill her in his rage.”

“Who wanted Farnsworth?” Rio asked bluntly. “Who are you working for these days? Last I heard, Titan had ceased to exist even unofficially.”

A crooked grin lifted Hancock’s lips. “Don’t believe everything you’re told. I haven’t completely lost all my belief in my country or the principles that made it great. Farnsworth was an evil son of a bitch who deserved to die. He was responsible for a lot of American lives lost. Military lives. Men and women who made the ultimate sacrifice for their country. He had no honor. He had no principles. Some would say the same for you and me, and yet we know that to be an untruth. What we did and do isn’t always on the straight and narrow, but they are necessary things and they are for the greater good. The day I stop believing that is the day I die because I don’t want to live in a world where I believe that good has no place in it any longer.”

The quiet impassioned words cut straight to Rio’s soul. It was as if he’d been taken back in time, so many years before when he and Hancock had fought so hard. For a cause. Because they believed in what they were doing.

“What now?” Rio asked softly. “Does Titan exist? Are you your own entity now?”

“We’re there. We’re always there. Rarely seen. But always there. We’re a lot alike, you know. Titan. KGI. We see the world with different eyes. We fight for what we believe in. We do the jobs that no one else wants to do or has the means to. Some call us evil. Others call us heroes. But it’s what we call ourselves that matters, wouldn’t you say?”

In a completely twisted, ridiculous way, Hancock made perfect sense.

“For what it’s worth, I’m sorry. I never meant for you or Grace to get hurt. I didn’t fire the shot, but it came from one of my men. A man I trained. So it’s my responsibility. He reacted without thinking, a mistake that will get you killed every damn time. I made an example of him, but it doesn’t change the fact that the woman you love is fighting for her life because of a mistake made by one of my men.”

Rio nodded. There wasn’t much to say to that. The man had paid with his life. What else was there for Rio to do? Rage and hatred had no place in his heart right now. His focus had to be on Grace. His love for Grace. And his absolute faith that she would win the fight for her life.

“And now?” Rio asked. “What happens now? Farnsworth is dead. Grace and Shea will both still be hunted. We can sit here and talk civilly all day long, but if I ever see you coming for what is mine, I’ll kill you without any regret.”

Hancock smiled. “I’d think less of you if you didn’t.” Then he sobered. “My report will contain the following information. That Farnsworth was eliminated. His assets will be seized by the government. Many will celebrate. Included in the report will be that, regrettably, Grace Peterson died as a result of her attempt to heal Elizabeth Farnsworth.”

Rio sucked in his breath and stared back at Hancock as he processed what it would mean for Grace to have “died” while trying to save Farnsworth’s daughter. Freedom.

“It means you’d have to make her someone else entirely and that you’d have to stay off the government’s radar. I’m sure you’d have no problem keeping her hidden in that damn jungle lair of yours. And I’m sure with the connections that KGI has, getting a new identity should be a simple matter.”