Gabe (In the Company of Snipers, #8)(25)
He diverted the downward tempo of the conversation. “I’ve been by your house to feed your dogs. Whisper and Smoke will be happy to see you again.”
“They’ll be happy to see Alex, too.”
Gabe shifted uncomfortably in his chair. Without a doubt, every conversation with Kelsey would lead back to her dead husband. For the first time since meeting her, Gabe almost wished Nurse Sullivan would return.
Chapter Eight
“She won’t stay in the hospital any longer,” Libby whispered to Mark before they entered Kelsey’s hospital room. “It’s been four days. She wants to go home.”
“Not going to happen,” Mark replied, even as he pasted a smile on his face and pushed the door open. This woman was on her way to a safe house out of the country, if he had anything to say about it. France, maybe. Or Japan. Whether she knew it or not, she’d become the heart of The TEAM, and it just plain couldn’t function without its heart.
Alex might not have bequeathed her with the business side of the elite covert surveillance company, but Mark intended to remedy that soon. Legally. Once and for all. Undercover operator or not, Kelsey would soon become part owner, if in name only. Harley and David agreed. They wanted to keep her close to the only family she knew.
Taylor and Izza were about finished with their initial rundown on the gang of ten. The FBI hadn’t released the crime scene across the street yet, but Mark had no doubt that was imminent, and the sheriff’s department had taken Kelsey’s story seriously instead of brushing it off as hysteria. A hint of normalcy just might be around the corner.
Gabe lifted out of his chair as Mark and Libby entered. “Hey, Mark. Hi, Libby. How are things?”
“Better now that Connor and Rory hauled Kelsey’s car into our garage this morning. They’ll give it a thorough onceover. Where’s Zack?”
“Right behind you,” he answered, one big hand splayed on the door, the other holding a paper cup of coffee. “I went out to grab my favorite girl a good brew. Here you go, Kels.”
She accepted the covered Starbucks cup, but her gaze remained on Mark. “I want to go home.”
Damn. She went straight for the throat. Her request melted Mark’s heart. Despite the determination in her voice, everything about her spoke of loss, from the missing sparkle in her eyes to the once shiny hair she’d pulled back into an I-could-care-less ponytail. All the more reason for her to stay.
“Sure. As soon as you’re ready. I’ve got a few safe houses where you can recuperate. Two on the beach in Hawaii. Would you like that?”
“No, Mark. I said home. I don’t need oxygen anymore. I’m getting better. I want to leave today.”
Gabe stared at the floor between his boots, not saying a word. Zack was unusually quiet, too. They had to have known this was coming.
“Kelsey, I’m sorry, but I can’t risk taking you back to your place. It’s too dangerous.”
“But my dogs are there. Besides, it would be just like a safe house. Gabe and Zack will be with me, won’t they?”
“Of course, but it’s not the guards that make a safe house, Kelsey. You know that. It’s the secrecy of the location. Whoever targeted you knows exactly where you live and how to get you to do what they wanted.”
Her gaze dropped to the cup in her hands. “I still want to go home.”
This wasn’t going well. Libby stood silently at Kelsey’s bedside. Gabe and Zack weren’t much help either, not speaking up, as they should’ve done.
“Harley and Judy had their twins today,” he said, hoping to shift the conversation.
“Oh?” Kelsey looked right through him, the joyous news another tidbit she couldn’t seem to comprehend, or perhaps she didn’t want to. She rattled her splintered fingers on the paper cup. The silence in the room stretched. At last she said, “That’s nice.”
“I’d really rather you were in one of our safe houses, Kelsey.”
“Home, Mark. God, you can’t take everything away from me.”
Ouch. Low blow.
“We’ll keep her under lock and key,” Zack offered. “Besides, she lives close to the office. We’ll set up so many security cameras in the neighborhood, it will feel like you’re right there with us.”
Gabe never said a word, just lifted his head and met Mark’s gaze with those piercing green eyes that declared he’d give everything to protect this woman.
“Am I the only smart one here?” Mark asked, on the verge of relenting.
“Not so,” Libby spoke up. “But you are the only one who can keep Kelsey safe wherever she wants to be, and she wants to be home.”
Aw, shit. Logic.
Mark growled. He had no legal right to override Kelsey’s wishes. He’d just hoped he could’ve talked some sense into her. “Then Libby and I will take you home first thing in the morning, but if you get so much as one prank phone call, I’m moving you to the moon whether you like it or not.”
Mark leaned in to give her a gentle hug, but Kelsey’s breath caught at his small act of kindness. She pulled herself into his neck, and he couldn’t let her go. One trembling arm circled him. He held on, careful not to bump her fingers or squeeze her ribs too tightly.
“I miss him,” she sobbed.