* * *
It took them the better part of an hour to get back to the safe house. The car wasn’t parked too far away, but with all the blood he’d lost, Ethan leaned heavily on her the entire way. Luckily, there weren’t too many people out and about yet, apart from a few fishermen or the odd jogger, no one gave them a second glance.
“Looks like you’re going to need a new car again,” Cady winced at the bloodstains he left behind once they got back to the Tenderloin district.
“I told you, I’m not all that personally invested in possessions. It’s just certain people I’m attached to,” he smiled back, bone tired.
“Yeah well, the next time you pick a safe house, you might want to choose one on the ground floor. It’s going to take us a year to climb all of these stairs.”
Ethan managed them though, forcing one step in front of another until he stumbled across the threshold, tumbling onto the bed with a weary groan. Grateful for the first aid supplies she’d stocked up on, Ethan laid back while she bathed his wounds with the healing tea. Cady patched him up expertly, clucking over the fact that the wound on his hand was already nearly healed (one of the properties of the tattoo, he explained).
What a relief it was to let her undress him down to his boxer briefs, much as she had that first night, only this time he was conscious enough to help a bit. It didn’t seem real, these mundane actions, being undressed by a beautiful woman and tucked into bed, and Ethan had the sense of it all being a dream.
If it was only a dream, he never wanted to wake up as she quickly stripped down to a tank top and panties, joining him under the covers. The danger quickly faded from the forefront of his mind, so did the memory of the pain until he reached for her and his side pulled painfully. Some things would have to wait for at least another day.
All tucked in, she turned off the bedside lamp only to have him click it back on, grabbing for his cell phone.
“I have to make a call before I can rest.”
“At this hour? Not even the donut shop’s open for business yet.”
“Trust me, they’ll be open.” The corner of his mouth tugged up into a half smile, dialing the number by memory. “Shaw,” he said succinctly, waiting through a series of clicks as he was transferred, holding a finger to his lips in warning as the feminine voice came on the line.
“Identify.”
“Shaw, sector twelve, number six five six zero nine.”
“Acknowledged, Shaw, sector twelve, number six five six zero nine,” she replied. “Report.”
“Subject Q is bound. I repeat, Subject Q is bound.” It was hard not to smile wide as he said the words, especially when Cady gave him a double thumbs up sign.
“Acknowledged, Subject Q is bound,” she replied, the highest accolade he would receive. “Casualties?”
“Minimal.” Though he knew Cady would disagree on that count.
“Any complications?”
His gaze fell to the girl on the bed beside him. “No, ma’am, nothing I can’t handle. I’ll have my final report uploaded by the week’s end.”
There was silence on the line, but Ethan wisely held his tongue. “Acknowledged, Agent Shaw. Stand by for offloading schedule. Standard protocols apply.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
Ethan hung up, not having to wait more than two minutes before he received a text, with a date, time and street address. He quickly committed them to memory and deleted the message before turning to face her. “Now, I’m all yours,” he sighed, smiling as Cady snuggled up to his side.
“I like the sound of that.” She matched his sigh with a dreamy puff of air against the side of his neck and he curled his arm around her. “Can I get you anything?”
“No, thank you,” he murmured, already drifting as the need to hold tight to consciousness slipped away.