Nothing Left to Lose (93 page)

I shook my
head. “I’m not leaving her.”

“You’ll just be
down the hall,” he encouraged, looking at me like I was stupid.

“Are you not
fucking listening to me? I said I’m not leaving her!” I shouted,
making him shrink back from the anger in my voice. He sat back down
and didn’t speak again. The pain in my upper body was excruciating,
but I just didn’t care, it didn’t matter, the pain was
insignificant when compared to the pain that I felt in my
heart.

After about ten
or fifteen minutes, I heard a commotion down the hallway. I looked
up to see Anna’s mother and father almost running towards me,
surrounded by six secret service agents. They both looked grim so
obviously they’d heard. I stood respectfully as they got to me.

“Agent Taylor,
what the hell happened?” President Spencer cried as he gripped my
hand tightly.

I gulped. “I
followed a lead that turned out to be right. Carter was there, he
stabbed her and she got banged up pretty badly. She’s losing too
much blood, I don’t know if they can stop it,” I rambled, all my
words slurring into one where I spoke too quickly. My heart was
breaking as I said the words out loud.

“Where is she
now?”

“Treatment
room. They’ve been in there for ten minutes working on her.” I eyed
the heavy-looking wooden door, watching for signs of news, but
there was nothing.

“I was told
Carter was killed, is that correct?” President Spencer
inquired.

I nodded
weakly. “Yeah, he’s dead. She’s safe now.”

He seemed to
breathe a sigh of relief as he nodded. “What were you doing there?
You aren’t assigned to her anymore. Why were you even there?”

I smiled
weakly. “Sir, I love your daughter. I couldn’t very well stand back
and do nothing.” I shrugged, immediately wishing I hadn’t because
the pain tripled. “I’m just sorry that I couldn’t protect her. I
couldn’t even stop her being hurt. I’m so sorry,” I croaked,
looking down at the floor. I bowed my head. He could do what he
wanted to me, it didn’t matter anymore; all I cared about was in
that room, fighting for her life. I was probably going to be in
trouble for getting emotionally involved with my charge, but I
couldn’t care less.

“You mean, you
and my daughter are really together?” he asked quietly, running a
hand over the back of his neck.

I nodded. “Yes,
sir. I love your daughter more than anything in the world. None of
that matters though if she doesn’t make it!” My legs gave out, and
I slumped into the chair, putting my head in my hands as I squeezed
my eyes shut.

Melissa scooted
up next to me, wrapping her arm around my shoulder. “She’ll make
it. Annabelle is one of the strongest people I’ve ever met. She’ll
make it,” she cooed.

I bit my lip,
not believing a word of it. Anna was going to die, deep down I knew
it, and there was nothing anyone could do about it. While we were
all sitting there in silence, the door to Anna’s room flew open and
she was wheeled out on a gurney and rushed up the hall with four
medical staff running along at her side. I gasped and jumped to my
feet. “Where are they taking her?” I cried, shaking my head.

As I went to
follow after her, a doctor stopped in front of us and held up his
hands, smiling sadly. “Annabelle’s had extensive blood loss. The
knife didn’t penetrate cleanly and has caused a lot of internal
damage. The team are prepping her for surgery right now because she
has some internal bleeding.”

My heart sank
at his words. Melissa burst into sobs next to me, and President
Spencer stepped forward, confidently asking the question that I
didn’t dare ask because I wasn’t sure I could handle the answer.
“Will she be alright?”

The doctor’s
face was unreadable – probably from years of practice. “Honestly,
it’s touch-and-go at the moment, Mr President. She’s lost so much
blood that the surgery is going to be extremely dangerous, but we
can’t
not
do it. By all accounts, we almost lost her in the
ambulance, but luckily she has a strong heart and the medic was
able to resuscitate.” He nodded behind him where Anna had been
wheeled up the hallway. “I’d better go and scrub up, I’m assisting.
As soon as there is any news, someone will be out to you. Please
just wait here.” Without another word he turned and dashed up the
hallway. Wordlessly, we all sat back down, just waiting.

“Agent Taylor,
have you had treatment? You look like death warmed up,” President
Spencer observed a few minutes later.

“I’m fine. I
want to wait for Anna.” My whole body hurt, but I wasn’t leaving
her again.

The agent that
I’d walked in here with stepped forward, looking at the President.
“He’s refusing to leave here, sir. I’ve tried to get him to have
some treatment but he won’t.”

President
Spencer sucked in a breath through his teeth. “Go get a doctor,
tell them to come now, they’re needed,” he ordered one of the
agents.

I shook my
head. “I’m fine, I just need to be here for Anna,” I protested.
They would have to drag me kicking and screaming away from here,
there was no way I was walking away from her room of my own accord.
He didn’t say anything in response.

The doctor
arrived a few minutes later. President Spencer nodded to me. “My
daughter’s boyfriend needs some treatment please, Doctor,” he
requested. My head snapped up to him at the words. Did that mean he
was giving me permission to date his daughter? He wasn’t going to
have me shipped off to Antarctica or something?

“Okay, well,
let’s get you to a treatment room,” the doctor suggested, holding
out his arm to help me up.

I frowned. “I’m
fine; I’m not going anywhere until I know she’s okay.” I flinched
away from his hand.

“Doctor, please
treat him here,” the President stated.

“But we don’t
treat in the hallway,” the doctor replied, frowning.

“Treat him
here,” President Spencer repeated sternly. The doctor hesitated for
a few seconds, then nodded and walked off to fetch supplies.

I looked at
President Spencer gratefully. “Thank you, sir.”

He nodded.
“That’s okay, son. You really should go and get looked at properly,
but for now, they can just check you over,” he replied,
nodding.

The doctor came
back with a nurse and a little cart full of medical supplies; they
pulled a chair slightly off to the side and motioned for me to come
over. “Take your shirt off,” he instructed, helping me to pull it
over my head. I heard Melissa gasp behind me, and I grimaced
apologetically, thinking of what I must look like.

“Sorry,” I
mumbled.

“You got shot?”
the doctor asked, shaking his head. “I can’t treat this here, I
need to do x-rays and make sure everything’s out. You could have
shrapnel in there.”

I sighed
because this guy just didn’t seem to want to give up. “Look,
Doctor, it’s all out, it didn’t hit anything major I can tell. I
also have a broken rib or two. Please just patch me up so I can go
back to worrying about my girl. I’ll get some proper treatment
later,” I snapped, frowning.

He sighed but
nodded and started to clean my wounds. I needed stitches in the
back of my head, and butterfly stitches across the bridge of my
nose. “Okay, that’s all I can do for now, do you have any cuts or
anything on your legs?” he asked. I shook my head, I was pretty
sure I had some bruises but no cuts. “But you’re covered in blood,”
he protested, looking at my jeans.

“That’s not
mine,” I answered quietly. That was Anna’s blood from when I’d
carried her out of the building.

He nodded
apologetically. “Right, well, I’ll order a chest x-ray and a scan
for your bullet wound when you’re ready.”

“Thanks. You
might want to go for a hand x-ray too, I think I’ve broken a couple
of fingers,” I admitted sheepishly.

“Right okay, a
hand x-ray too then.” He smiled weakly, scribbling on a pad.

The nurse
handed me two pain killers so I swallowed them gratefully before
moving to sit down outside Anna’s room again. I didn’t bother
putting my shirt back on considering it was still wet with blood. I
could see Anna’s parents staring at my two week old tattoo on my
chest, but they didn’t say anything.

Melissa turned
to the side. “Agent Franks, do you think you could get Ashton some
clothes to change into?” she asked, smiling politely. He nodded and
walked off, coming back a couple of minutes later with a surgical
scrub set. I laughed humourlessly and quickly went to the bathrooms
to change, washing my face at the same time. I was going to have
wicked black eyes tomorrow – no wonder Anna thought I wasn’t a
pretty boy anymore. I smiled for a split second before my heart
broke again at the thought of her saying she’d marry me. I wanted
to be her husband more than anything; I’d never let her down or
hurt her. I sighed and went back to the chairs outside her
room.

After about two
hours of working on her, the same doctor came back down the hall.
He didn’t look as tense as he had done earlier, and a spark of hope
ignited inside me. My heart was beating erratically in my chest as
I looked at him; waiting for them to say that words that would
either make everything fine, or kill me. I felt like I was going to
pass out.

The doctor came
over to us, still in his scrubs. “Mr President, Mrs Spencer, your
daughter has suffered immense bleeding, but we’ve managed to stop
it at the source now. We had to remove part of her spleen, but she
can cope without it. We’ve put her into an enforced coma to limit
the damage and to give the site time to heal because we don’t want
to have to go in again, that would be too risky. The operation was
a success, and we’re very hopeful that she should make a full
recovery, providing there are no post-operative complications,” he
said, smiling.

I breathed a
sigh of relief and closed my eyes; she was going to be okay. I
couldn’t speak, I didn’t know what to say, this man had just saved
her life and mine.

Melissa burst
into happy tears and President Spencer put his arm around her,
smiling. “Thank you, Doctor, can we go in and see her?” he asked,
rubbing his wife’s back.

“We’re just
going to have her transferred to a different room, after that you
can go in to see her for a few minutes. She’ll be in the enforced
coma for twenty-four hours to be on the safe side, and then we’ll
bring her out of it slowly tomorrow. It’ll just give her body a
chance to catch up,” he replied, smiling and turning to walk
off.

“Doctor?” I
called, stepping forward; he turned back to me and smiled. I held
out my hand and he shook it. “Thank you. Thank you so much,” I said
gratefully, feeling my heart start to slow down to a normal rhythm
again. She was going to be fine; everything was going to be
fine.

He smiled
sadly. “You’re welcome.”

We sat and
waited for a few more minutes while they cleaned her from surgery
and then moved her to a private room in one of the wards. When we
were allowed, the three of us, followed by the six secret service
agents, followed the nurse to her room. As we entered, I stood back
and let her parents approach the bed; he was still the President
after all, not that it mattered either way, at the moment he just
looked like a concerned father. They cooed and fussed around her
bed, Melissa straightening the sheets and pillows, obviously not
knowing what else to do.

Then President
Spencer took hold of Melissa’s hand. “Let’s give Agent Taylor some
privacy and go get a coffee or something,” he suggested. She nodded
and they started walking towards the door. As he walked past me, he
patted me on the shoulder affectionately, making me swell with
pride. I ignored the pain that blasted in my shoulder and neck.
I guess he really is okay with the idea of me and Anna dating.
Either that or he’s lulling me into a false sense of security so
that he can plot an assassination without me being aware.
I
smiled at my random thought.

Once they left
the room, I walked to Anna’s side and sat on the edge of her bed,
just looking at her. She was covered in red blotches and bruises on
her face and neck. I smiled sadly and traced my fingers across her
face; it was red and puffy from where he had hit her. She had a
large lump on her forehead where he’d slammed her against the
wall.

“Hi, Baby Girl.
You scared me for a while there. Don’t ever do that to me again,
you hear me?” I whispered, taking her hand and kissing it gently.
“I love you, Anna. I love you so much, and I nearly lost you.” My
body started to calm down; now that I was near her, I wasn’t as
worried about her.

I sat there,
just looking at her beautiful, bruised face until her parents came
back in. I sniffed and moved to get off the bed to give them the
space, but President Spencer shook his head. “No, it’s fine, you
stay there,” he instructed, pulling over two chairs for him and his
wife to sit in.

“Thank you,
sir.” I nodded gratefully.

“Do you really
love my daughter?” he asked suddenly.

I smiled. “More
than anything,” I confirmed, rubbing my thumb over the back of her
hand.

“And she loves
you?” he inquired.

I nodded. “Yes,
sir, she does,” I said confidently. I would never doubt that after
what she was willing to do for me, to go with Carter just to save
my life. To sacrifice herself, her whole life, just to save me.

“Okay, well
then I guess you should be calling me Tom,” he suggested, smiling
slyly. I looked over at him a little confused. “If you’re going to
be dating my daughter, then you should be able to call me Tom,” he
explained, shrugging.

“Actually, I
was hoping to be marrying your daughter, I asked her in the
ambulance and she said yes.” I frowned as soon as I said it,
knowing I’d just screwed up. I probably shouldn’t have just
announced it like that.