Mission: Her Protection (Team 52 #1)(54)

She started sobbing.

Lachlan jumped up and grabbed a sheet off a nearby gurney. “Here.”

She carefully laid the sheet over Aimee. “It’s going to be okay.”

Lachlan grabbed a towel and handed it to Rowan. “Wrap the artifact up.” The last thing they needed was for it to get accidentally activated again.

“I’m so sorry,” Kowalski croaked, grabbing Rowan’s hand. “I should never have done this.”

Lachlan pressed his lips together. “There’s time to talk about that later.”

Desperate brown eyes caught his. “I was in a terrible place.” Her voice cracked. “My daughter, the bills. It was relentless.”

“But you didn’t hand the artifact over,” Rowan said quietly. “That’s the main thing.”

“I couldn’t. I couldn’t betray my country. I’d do anything for my daughter, but I couldn’t do that.” Aimee’s grip tightened on Rowan. “A mother makes sacrifices for her child. It doesn’t matter if that child is perfect or a perfect mess. I love her so much. No matter what she’s done, I love her just as she is.”

Lachlan saw the look that crossed Rowan’s face. She looked like she’d been hit hard. He touched her shoulder and squeezed.

“Every child deserves that.” Aimee Kowalski began crying quietly.

“Mom?”

They all looked up. A wan-looking teenage girl was leaning into the stocky man beside her.

The man’s agonized gaze locked on Kowalski’s face. “Aimee?”

The pair rushed toward Kowalski, throwing their arms around her. Rowan and Lachlan stepped back.

“You all right?” he asked.

Rowan shook her head. “No. I just fully realized that all the time I’ve spent trying to get some scrap of affection from my parents was a big waste of time.”

“Rowan.”

She looked up at him, tears glistening in her eyes. “They don’t love me.” Her gaze fell on the Kowalskis. “Not like that. And it doesn’t matter what I do, what degrees I have, what man I’m with, they never will. And that’s on them, not me.”

“I think you’re pretty darn amazing, Rowan Schafer.”

She smiled. “Good, because I am.”

Down the hall, Lachlan spotted the police arriving. He caressed her jaw. “I need to sort this out.”

She nodded. “Go.”

He nodded to the artifact. “Keep that out of sight.”

“Yes, sir.” She tossed him a really bad salute.

He ran his thumb down her cheekbone. When he turned, he saw his team rounding up the last of the Legion soldiers.

Lachlan talked to the police, supervising the Legion soldiers being cuffed and read their rights. Those that were conscious watched sullenly. Blair took over managing Kowalski and her family.

Every time he glanced at Rowan, he noticed she was shivering. Damn, he wished he could hurry this along.

When Callie passed him, he grabbed the medic’s arm. “Can you find Rowan a blanket? She’s cold.”

“Sure.” Callie scanned around. “Where is she?”

Lachlan looked back to where she’d been standing. She wasn’t there.

His body stiffened and he strode forward. Lying on the floor was the towel he’d asked her to wrap the artifact in.

“Lachlan?” Blair appeared beside him, frowning. “What’s wrong?”

“Rowan’s missing.”

His team all looked around, going on alert.

The heavy thud of Lachlan’s own pulse filled his ears. Rowan was gone. And so was the artifact.





Chapter Nineteen





Rowan skirted around the empty hospital bed, keeping it between her and the scarred man she’d tangled with earlier.

He’d yanked her away while no one was looking, and pulled her into a room.

“Just hand over the device, Dr. Schafer.”

“Not going to happen,” she said.

Rowan edged closer to the window and glanced out. It was several stories to the ground below. She could probably climb out, but she was pretty sure Lachlan would lose his mind if she fell off another building.

The man edged closer and she grabbed some medical machine sitting nearby. As he came at her, she shoved the machine at him.

He batted it aside.

“The others will be here soon,” she said. “You have nowhere to go.”

“I’m used to moving quietly and making sure no one sees me. No one saw me grab you.”

“I’m not giving you the artifact.” She shook her head. “You know, I survived a terrible attack, I’ve fallen off buildings, I’ve been kidnapped multiple times, and I just realized that I’m loveable just as I am, and have a super-hot guy who I think has feelings for me. I am not letting you screw up my life!”

The man looked at her like she’d lost her mind, but took a step closer.

“Leave her alone.”

The tremulous voice came from a nearby bed. Rowan glanced over at the elderly woman glaring at the man. When he spun to look at the woman, Rowan lunged, kicking him.

She’d fight. Lachlan would come. She knew he would. She wasn’t alone anymore.

With a growl, the man charged at her. Rowan leaped over the empty bed.