Agent 1 (Book 3)

41. I'd watch my back if I were you

He shrugs. "Could be worse. Broken and I'll be in a cast for a while, but I won't be needing surgery." He grimaces. "Unlike Sam's. How is he?"

I shake my head. "No change. He's been stitched up, his arm put in a cast, and given antibiotics as well as blood transfusions." I shrug. "Doctors say he could go either way at this point."

Zack nods. "I was actually coming by to see you," He says. "I wanted to . . . I wanted to thank you."

I frown in confusion. "What? Why?"

He looks down at the floor, avoiding eye contact with me. "Garrett," He says softly. "I know . . . well, he's put you through hell. You had every right to . . . but you didn't and I just-I guess I-"

I put my hand on his shoulder. "You wanted Garrett dead," I state. "But you didn't want your brother to die."

He blows out a long shaky breath. "Yeah." He runs his hand through his hair. "Stupid I know."

I shake my head. "No, it's not. I almost forgot that even though he has put me-put all of us-through hell, you still think of him as your brother." I remove my hand from his shoulder. "And even though you'll claim otherwise, if I had killed him there would still be a part of you that would resent me for the rest of your life."

He nods and then changes the subject. "Jason's finally finished getting all stitched up, but the doctors are trying to confine him to the hospital bed."

I smile slightly. "And how are Chase and Devin?"

"Chase missed a lot of the action in the base but got pretty beat up in the battle outside, nothing serious though. His wounds have been treated and bandaged. Devin's got a couple cracked ribs, but otherwise, all his other wounds have been treated."

"That's good," I reply. "I would have come to check on them but-"

Zack waves me off. "No one's mad at you for not rushing to check on us. You were otherwise occupied. And everyone's been worried about Sam anyway."

Zack suddenly smiles. "And I overheard a couple of the doctors talking about how they were questioning Lily's mental state, said they thought she needed more tests. Chase tried to explain to them that this was her normal personality, I think that just made them more concerned."

I laugh.

"And I hear Zero's having a hell of a time running around the hospital making sure the doctors don't call into the police station to report the gunshot wounds in several agents."

I shake my head. "Seems as if everything's under control."

"Debatable," Zack says. "But things are heading that way. Zero's still got teams of agents going over the base and surrounding areas. He wants to make sure nothing was left behind."

I nod. "If you see him, let him know I want to speak with him. I want to be kept in the loop about everything found at that base."

Zack nods. "I will." He jerks his thumb over his shoulder. "I've got to go. I need to go check in on something with Chase."

"I'll be down to see you guys in a bit," I tell him. I turn and walk off down the hall to the elevators. I don't make it that far before I'm stopped again.

"I'd watch my back if I were you."

I turn to face Hayden who's standing in the shadows of an empty room. I raise my eyebrows at him. "Is that supposed to be a threat?"

He shakes his head and steps out of the room and into the hallway. "No, it's fair warning. Lydia's beyond pissed you sold her out to Zero."

"Zero didn't get her. Or any Vendetta members for that matter. She'll get over it eventually."