Page 225 of Silent Target

Only slightly.

But I feel it.

The medic injects a local anesthetic and begins closing the wound.

“You can wait outside,” Caleb tells me.

“I’m not leaving.”

“Evie.”

“You came into a parking garage while three men were trying to kill me. I can remain while someone gives you stitches.”

Something moves behind his eyes.

Warm.

Unprotected.

“Fine.”

The word is barely audible.

A phone rings in the adjoining treatment bay.

Cobra answers.

His voice carries through the divider.

“Blaze.”

Caleb goes completely still.

Cobra listens for a moment.

Then laughs.

“You did what?”

A pause.

“No. I’m not criticizing. I wish I’d seen it.”

Caleb pushes himself upright.

“Is he safe?”

Cobra appears around the divider.

“Blaze and Felicity are fine. So is Eagle River.”

The breath leaves Caleb.

Not visibly.

Not to anyone who doesn’t know where to look.

I see it in the sudden lowering of his shoulders.