The Last Second (A Brit in the FBI #6)(106)

Mike laughed. “Nice duds, Poppy. I need to visit your designer.”

“I’ll give you her name. None of the regular gear fits me right, so I have it made. Word is you stopped the bomb from going off, you shot the sucker to death. Good job.”

“You were the ones who blew the door? I’ll tell you, I was sure it was the nuke going off. Medics? Tell me you brought medics.”

“Oh yes, we can’t have anything happen to Agent Drummond.”

Mike watched a medic, or a doctor, Mike didn’t know which, work on Nicholas. Another, thankfully, gave him morphine. A third fitted an oxygen mask over his face. Poppy said, “Grant was in touch with your New York headquarters. He told us everything that was happening. Fentriss wanted to have a backup for you, so we diverted back and sent up a relief team. When the eye hit, we flew in with a couple of medics and another team. Though it seems like all you needed was the medics. Are you hurt? You’re limping.”

“Ah, I broke my ankle a few weeks back, only a hairline fracture, and I think I’ve recracked it. It’s Nicholas who was hurt.” She swallowed down tears. She felt Poppy squeeze her arm, said, “Nicholas will be okay. These guys are great. Let’s get you looked at, too.”

Nicholas, morphine now swimming happily in his veins, smiled up at her. “Hey, Poppy? Thanks. Glad you’re here.”

“Me, too. Now, Agent Drummond, you keep quiet for the moment until John here says it’s okay for you to talk.” She said to Mike, “I saw Dr. Patel being carried out. She was, of all things, singing, well, more like humming, happy as a lark. What did you do to her?”

“I got her with the tranq gun. When she came flying at me, screaming like a banshee, and I shot her.”

“Good enough. She’s out of this world, will be for a while. Those tranqs can last up to four hours.”

“She was already out of this world,” Nicholas said, then shut his mouth at the stab of pain.

Mike took his hand, held it hard.

The medic said, “Don’t worry, he’s going to live. I’m going to reinflate his lung now. Hang on tight, boss,” he said to Nicholas, “I can’t guarantee the morphine will mask all the pain.” In went the chest tube. It didn’t seem to bother Nicholas, he smiled up at her. The wonder of morphine.

“Good, all done. Great stuff, morphine. Hang on, tough guy, we’re going to get you out of here. I predict a healthy future for you.” He said to Mike and Poppy, “Okay, he’s stable as I can make him. We’re going to have to wait out the rest of this storm before we head back to Colombo. Keep him calm, it will be over in a couple of hours.”

“Copy that,” Poppy said. “You want to take a look at her ankle?”

The medic pushed and prodded, which made Mike want to kick him in the face, declared the ankle was only sprained, and wrapped it up. He offered her a pain pill, but seeing the dreamy look on Nicholas’s face, she figured one of them needed to be solid in the here and now, and reluctantly declined.

Nicholas’s eyes were closed. She pulled his head into her lap, smoothing his hair, leaned down, and kissed his forehead. “We did it, partner.”

“I’ll never forget you shooting the motherboard to death. Got me hot.”

She kissed him again. “Everything gets you hot,” and he smiled, and she went on whispering silly things in his ear until he fell asleep.





EPILOGUE I


Paris Home of Jean-Pierre Broussard

Quai aux Fleurs

Ile de la Cité

Jean-Pierre Broussard ran up the stairs and down the long hallway toward his daughter’s room. He paused a moment at the door, breathing light shallow breaths until the pain in his shoulder subsided. Then he gave a light knock and walked in.

Her nurse was seated beside her bed, reading a book.

Emilie lay quiet on her back. She wasn’t asleep, her beautiful eyes were open. She heard him and slowly, with difficulty, turned her head to face him. Her eyes filled with pleasure. “Papa.”

He was at her side in a moment. He sat down, leaned over and kissed her. He looked down into her beloved young face, lightly ran his fingers through her beautiful hair.

The nurse started to say something, but Broussard waved her off. “Please leave us. I wish to be alone with my daughter.”

“I am so glad you are here, Papa. No one tells me anything, but I knew, I knew in my heart something was wrong, something bad happened to you—”

“Shush, ma petite, it’s nothing. I’m here and I have a grand present for you. Emilie, you will be completely well in but an instant of time.”

He gently cupped her white hands around the Holy Grail.





EPILOGUE II


Nicholas’s House

New York

The big black FBI SUV pulled to the curb, and Nicholas sighed with satisfaction. “Home at last. I’m counting on you, Mike, to protect me from Nigel’s wrath.”

Mike slapped his leg. “Not a chance I’d leave you to him, not in your current pathetic invalid state.”

“Who are you calling a pathetic invalid? You look as bad as I do.”

That was the truth.

They both stepped gingerly from the SUV and thanked their driver, Agent Franks, a dour older agent who looked like he’d rather take them to the Lenox Hill Hospital emergency room. Franks started to hand over their bags, but Nigel burst out the front door and beat him to it.