Page 48 of Nothing to Fear

“I have to go to the hospital.” She drummed her fingers on her leg, almost mindlessly, uncontrollably.

“No.” He shook his head. “Whoever set you up did this. They hurt your father and burned down your house to flush you out. The hospital is a trap. You can’t go.”

“Can’t?” She sprang to her feet. Wildfire incinerated sadness. “I’m not your prisoner. I can do whatever I please.”

This emotional reflex was natural, Willow freaking out about her dad, but going to the hospital was a bad move. Fighting him on it was worse.

“I won’t let you go. It’s suicide.”

She couldn’t outmuscle him, but given the proper motivation and chance, she could outsmart him. She was motivated in spades, so he couldn’t give her the opportunity. Even if he had to zip-tie her to a chair. The hospital was a bad call. He wouldn’t let her make the play.

Lowering her head, she pressed a hand to her mouth. Reason must be sinking in. They had enough to handle without fighting over something that made no sense.

He ate up the gap between them and reached for her.

“It’s not suicide if you’re with me, Gideon.”

He reeled back, dumbstruck by her redirection.

“The firewalls of hospitals aren’t as robust as most people think,” she said. “I can hack into the surveillance system to give us eyes. Your comms equipment gives us ears.”

Determination blazing in her face, Willow closed in on him. The strength radiating from her entirely defied her lean frame as she challenged him. It took everything in him to stand fast and not give her one inch.

“I know your file inside and out,” she said in a low voice. “Every detail. Even the redacted parts.”

He squirmed on the inside but didn’t flinch. Willow came toe-to-toe with him, drawing the air from his lungs, sucking up the space around him until only she existed. She damn near bowled him over, her imposing will turned on full blast.

“You’ve pulled off dangerous jobs. You know how to evade other agents, disappear in the shadows. You even wiped out an entire paramilitary group single-handedly.”

True, but it’d been in the jungle. He’d used the terrain as a weapon. “Willow—”

“You’re good at this sort thing. One of the best. Use your expertise to help me.”

“I already am.”

“If the real traitor was waiting at the hospital to kill me or turn me in, you’d stop them. It’d give you an opportunity to catch them and bring them in. You’ve done this sort of thing for Sanborn plenty of times. Now, I’m asking you to do it for me.”

Breathless. She left him utterly breathless. Listening to her, you’d think he had the power to move heaven and earth, to redirect the orbit of the sun.

For a moment, he believed her. Almost considered how to pull off the impossible and get her out alive. She made him want to be that man. A better man, one capable of all she claimed.

She was dangerous, planting insidious ideas that were sure to get them both killed. Couldn’t she see the truth? He was no savior. Just a man who was good at killing.

“No telling what’s waiting for us at the hospital,” he said. Baiting her by using her father was a smart move. “Gray Box operatives could be lurking in an ambush. Circumventing our own is possible.” He knew what to anticipate from them and had an advantage with comms. “But the X factor might be in play. That’d be worse. We’ve no idea who or what we’re up against. Going to the hospital is reckless. Your father is in a coma. There’s nothing you can do for him.”

Her lip curled in disgust or disappointment—he couldn’t be sure. Both were bad. “I expected you’d say that.”

Ken winced at her harsh words and slunk away to the makeshift office in the dining area, but moving ten feet didn’t give them privacy. Gideon’s gut burned.

“You’d never jeopardize a mission,” she said. “Even if it was the right thing to do.”

“The right thing is to protect you.” He was risking everything for her, and she was acting as if he were the enemy. “If anything happened to you, I…”

He clenched his jaw at the flare-up of weakness and beat down the thought of losing her. Nothing was going to happen to Willow. Not while he was breathing.

“If anything happened to me, it’d ruin your chances to catch the traitor.” She wrapped her arms around herself as if she were cold and glanced at the television. The flames consuming her house dominated the screen, while a ticker about an elderly man in a coma scrolled across the bottom. “Finding the mole is all you care about. Not me. Not my father.”

“They’re one and the same.” To help her and keep her safe, they had to find the mole. Were they even talking about the same thing? “Whoever is framing you is capable of anything. Nothing is off-limits. You can’t help your father. The risk of going to the hospital isn’t worth it.”