Operation Swift Mercy (2 page)

“
I'll get her back to my vehicle, and meet the ambulance,
”
he told
the
woman on the phone, making a snap decision. In
a
few
hours,
her condition could deteriorate
drastically
. He
wasn't
going
to take
that
chance.

Carefully,
he lifted the woman in his arms
—p
raying she didn't have major injuries internally, but leaving her out here
any
longer
wasn't
going
to help her cause. She
was
pretty
much
screwed
either
way
.

It
was
slow
going
over the rough terrain even though she weighed next to nothing
,
and he tried not to jostle her about too
much
as he made his
way
to his rented four-wheel
drive
.
It
was
with a huge sigh of relief
that
he
was
able to lay her
carefully
on the
back
seat and
drive
the remainder of the trip to the more accessible main road
,
to rendezvous at the new location
he'd
relayed to the operator.

As he
watched
them load her into
the
ambulance
he told the paramedics
he'd
follow them back into town.
He'd
need to
give
the police a statement.
There
was
no identification on her, nothing to
give
a clue as to who she
was
or how she got
there
. For the moment at least,
it
appeared they
had
a mystery on their hands.

Chapter
Two

Mercy
D’Silva felt the wind as it rushed past her face and
saw
the approaching ground
. Her eyes opened and she let out
a terrified gasp. Pain like she’d never felt before
,
immersed her senses. Everything hurt. Her head thumped in time with her heart beat and she struggled against the glare of light
.
Where am I?
She thought frantically. Images raced through her mind in
jarring flashes. His face. T
he gun
. T
he bridge…the water far below and the oxygen as it was ripped from her lungs as she fell.

“Easy there
.
You’re okay.”

The deep voice that floated toward
her
gentled her panicked state. There was something in the confident tone that made her trust it. Moments later she felt
the
gentle warmth of a hand on her arm and a small measure of the
tension
uncurled from her aching body.

She heard the flat droll of a buzzer somewhere in the distance
,
and slowly
,
other sounds began to emerge.
Trolleys, voices, phones ringing…
a page
for a doctor over loud speakers,
muted but audible from where she lay.

“A Doctor will be in soon. Just rest until he gets here
,
”
t
he voice told her.

“I’m in hospital?”
S
he asked, even though everything around her was telling her that she was.
Why was it so hard to focus
?
She
frowned
a
nd groaned
when
the simple movement caused pain.

“You’re safe.”

Safe
?
Her heart suddenly lurched at the word. No
. S
he
wasn’t
safe.

“Hey
—w
hoa,” her guardian angel
’
s voice seemed to move closer
,
and as she opened her eyes
,
she saw a large dark form before her. Panic made her gasp
,
and she tried to squirm back in the bed away from it
.

His calm voice penetrated the fog of panic in her mind and her eyes focused on the
man, now
standing a
non-threatening distance away from her bed.
Her gaze locked onto his face
.
It was a nice face…a
very
nice face,
she amended,
then blinked to clear the thought.
Focus Mercy!
She scolded herself firmly. The racing beat of her heart once more reminded her of the danger she was in.
She couldn’t stay here
.
He could be here—he’d track her down and finish the job.
H
er gaze swivell
ed
around the room
, the
movement caus
ing
her head to protest in agony.
Crap!
E
ven her eyeballs hurt!

“I didn’t mean to scare you, I just wanted to make sure you were okay,”
t
he voice said gently.

“Who are you?”
S
he asked.

“My name
’
s Chase Maloney. I found you out near the river
,
”
h
e told her in his deep, calm tone.

She searched his candid gaze and saw that he seemed every inch as unthreatening as his tone. She took in his casual clothing
. H
e looked like the outdoors
—w
holesome and clean. He wore a faded shirt with the sleeves rolled up
,
and she noted with a strange fascination
, his
thick forearms
which were
exposed. The men she knew would
never
be seen with sleeves rolled up
. O
ne suit would probably cost more than this man made in a year
.
Strangely t
he thought did not bring her any pangs of nostalgia for her old life at all.
Actually, i
t made her fe
e
l sick. How could she have never seen how far she’d sunk until now?

Forcing her thoughts back to the man by her bedside, she wet her dry lips nervously with her tongue
,
and forced a calming breath into her lungs. “Thank
you for finding me.”

She saw his concerned gaze soften
,
and a grin materialise.
“Well you weren’t exactly the kind of catch I had in mind when I went out fishing today
—b
ut you were too big to throw back in.”

A
faint
smile, which ended in a grimace of pain, crossed her face. “Well thanks anyway.”

Through the open door
,
a round doctor in a white lab coat bowled into her room. Without a smile, he introduced himself briskly and began flashing lights into her eyes, pulling her forward and listening to her chest and making notes on the clipboard he took from the pocket on the wall beside her head.

She noticed
—b
etween gasps of pain that her rescuer was standing a
t
the foot of her bed wearing a frown and sending the doctor an extremely hard look.

“You might want to go easy there
,
Doc
. S
he’s a little tender,” Chase said in a soft
,
yet dangerous tone.

The Doctor glanced up from his notes
,
and eyeballed the bigger man arrogantly. “Are you a relative?”

The slight bunching of Chase
’
s jaw was the only movement in his threatening glare. “No.”

“Then kindly remove yourself from the room
.
I have to speak with my patient,” he said in a
pompous way that brought a matching f
rown to Mercy’s face at his rudeness.

She thought for a moment
,
Chase was go
ing to ignore the doctor
but after a terse few moments
,
he
dropped the glare he’d aimed at the doctor and
gave
her
a small nod. “I’ll be outside.”

The
d
octor waited until the door closed behind the big man’s departure, before turning to face her. “You’ve a very lucky young lady,” he announced bluntly.

A flash of the gun and the memory of that endless free fall made her feel
nauseous
.

“You’
ve suffered a few bruised ribs—t
hankfully
,
none broken. Had you punctured a lung you would have died out there.
” He went on to ask her name, the date and what day it was
,
all cognitive questions geared to determine the extent of her brain functioning and any problems due to a possible head injury.

She hadn’t been aware that she was without identification, which meant she was also without money
or means
to buy anything to replace this delightful white hospital gown she was wearing.

“So when can I leave?”
S
he demanded as he turned to replace her notes by the bed.

“You were unconscious and had a slight concussion. We’d like to keep you in overnight for observation,” he said with a notable lack of emotion before leaving the room.

A few moments later
a soft knock sounded on the door
,
and
Chase Maloney came back in, although
he
seemed a little less sure of himself this time.

“I hope I’m not overstepping any boundaries or anything, but I don’t feel right leaving you here, until I know you have someone to come for you. There
was no ID on you
,
and until you woke up they weren’t sure if you’d have any memory loss,” he said, coming to a stop beside her bed.

A funny tingling sensation at his words made her lift her gaze to his apprehensively. “It’s ok
ay
.
I don’t seem to have amnesia,”
unfortunately
, she tacked on silently
.
“You don’t have to waste your time here. I’ll be fine.”

She saw his glance flick up to the notes on the wall above th
e bed and then settle upon her once
more
.
“So you have family coming to get you?”

At his choice of words, she felt the colour
drain from
her face. “I…”she opened her mouth to tell him she would be fine, but nothing came out. She was so
not fine
, in fact
;
she was as far opposite to
fine
as you could get and the shock of it all falling back on her shoulders made her quiver in fear. “
N
o, I…I don’t have family here, but I’m fi-” the tears began to slip from her eyes before she could force out the lie
.

“That’s it, you’re not fine
,
and I can’t just leave you all by yourself, like this,”
he growled.

“
Y
ou don’t even know me
. T
his isn’t your problem,” she managed miserably through the flood of tears she
had
no control over. “I don’t know why I’m cr..crying, I’m sorry.”

“It’s just shock. You’ll be okay, it’ll pass soon. I’m not going anywhere, so
you lay
back and relax and I’ll be right here.”

Handing her a steady supply of tissues, he was true to his word, sitting silently by her side
and offering nothing but his quiet
, reassuring presence.

Chapter
Three

Chase’s
gaze returned to the place above her bed where the pompous assed doctor had scribbled her name after his initial visit. Mercy D’silva.
Mercy
.
T
hat’s exactly what his heart seemed to be echoing as he stared at her tiny form in the bed, looking
fragile and
more beautiful than anything he’d ever seen in his life.