Page 62 of Her Faithful Protector

By the time he watched Camilla settle into a pain-free sleep, Nic realized he was exhausted. He damn near stumbled to the waiting room, remembering he had left his backpack with Jack Preston.

Jack stood up and smiled.

“Here’s your room key,” Jack Preston said as he handed Nic a key card.

“Huh?” Nic looked down at the piece of plastic in his hand like he had never seen anything like it before.

Jack put his hand on Nic’s shoulder and started to push him out of the waiting room toward the elevator. “It’s night-night time for you. I’ve got you checked in at the hotel two blocks away. You, young man, need some shut-eye. A shower and a change of clothes wouldn’t be a bad thing either, because you kind of stink.”

Nic blinked at the other SEAL, trying to make sense of what he was saying. Jack kept on talking as he led him through the hospital lobby and out into the parking lot to a big truck. “Hop on in,” he motioned.

Jack put the truck into gear and started to slowly make their way through the parking lot. “So was that your future mother-in-law that I saw chewing up some poor doctor?”

Nic shook his head, trying to clear it. Damn, he was tired.

Jack laughed. “Never mind, just flipping you shit. It’s really not fair in your condition. Let’s get you to the hotel and in the morning I’ll get you the information you wanted about Lisa Garcia.”

“Oh right,” Nic remembered. He felt bad that he hadn’t checked up on her status. He was totally losing it.

“I checked up on her,” Jack said as if he were reading Nic’s mind. “She’s still being pumped up on antibiotics while the docs watch her status. They don’t see any reason she won’t make a full recovery.”

“That’s good,” Nic said as he yawned. He refused to close his eyes.

Jack pulled up to the front of the hotel and waved off the valet. “Okay, sleeping beauty, this is your stop. Your pack is in the backseat. I put in some clean clothes for you to wear. The room is paid for through the end of this week.”

Nic was getting out of the front seat when Jack’s last words sank in. Those woke him up.

“Man, I can cover the room.”

Jack grinned. “Trust me, it’s not a problem. Look up the Preston Ranch in Texas some time, and you’ll see I can afford it. I need to get back to the ranch, then I’m back to Coronado.”

Nic leaned in and offered his hand. Jack shook it. “Take care of yourself, and take care of your woman.”

“I intend to.”

19

Raiden slipped into the seat beside him. On some primal level, Nic had been expecting this. Still, he had to ask.

“I thought the team was going straight back to Little Creek.”

“I wanted to check up on some things,” Raiden said. His trademark smile was nowhere to be seen.

“You want the four-one-one on Lisa?”

“Kane’s already given me everything there is to know about her status here at the hospital.”

“I’ve got more info,” Nic said.

Raiden raised his eyebrow. “Tell me.”

“Nobody ever came here to claim her. It was pissing me off, so I had Midnight Delta’s version of Kane do a deep dive. Her parents are dead, she was raised by her grandmother, who passed three years ago. No siblings. No boyfriends or girlfriends. She’s your quintessential loner.”

“How about people from her old work?”

“The wilderness trekkers?” Nic asked. “No, that was a dead-end too. According to the woman who ran the company, Lisa did have a lot of friends, but nobody really close. Then she just up and quit two years ago. Nobody knew where she went.”

“Hmmm.”