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"Let’s go," he barked back to Donovan

Before he put his foot even further into his mouth

"You drive," Donovan said "Dolphin, you and Baker push the back seats forward so she can stretch out I’ll need to start an IV on the go and I need space to maneuver"

Then he turned to Cole It was the first ti that Donovan had He wanted to be the one taking care of PJ and be at her side He da

"Get us into the Czech Republic I don’t care if you have to make a road Find a way that doesn’t put us in a position of having to identify ourselves or suffer any scrutiny Leave all the gear with Steele except the bare essentials We can’t afford to be stopped with a wo and an arsenal in the back of our truck"

Cole leaned into the back and slid his hand over her hair and to her nape, pulling her gently forward It never occurred to hi about the teaht All he cared about was PJ and he wanted her to know that she was safe and, ainst his touch and looked up, their gazes connecting for a long moment There was soyou out of here, PJ," he said in a low voice "Van’s going to take care of you, but once we’re safe, you and I are going to have a long talk"

He pressed his lips to her forehead and then broke away to hurry to the driver’s seat

CHAPTER 21

PJ was grateful that Cole was driving as Donovan quietly attended her wound It gave her tiain her co weak-ass ninny who’d never made a kill, who’d never seen blood She closed her eyes, horrified by the way she’d allowed her team to see her at herhere anyway?

"You okay, PJ?"

She opened her eyes to see Donovan look worriedly at her She tried to nod but ended up bu her head as the SUV hit a series of potholes on the crappy-ass road Cole was driving

"Yes," she said, trying to infuse strength into her words But she still sounded faint even to herself

Donovan lifted the bag of fluid and secured it to the ith several strips of heavy-duty duct tape Donovan was nothing if not a master of improvisation

"I’ve started antibiotics and I’ for pain," he said "It’llthis wound a hell of a lot easier I’ll have to stitch you up later No way I’ off our asses every other quarter mile"

She smiled faintly but didn’t respond

Soon she felt the burn of the medication when it hit her veins A moment later, she relaxed and the pain started to fade into a mellow memory

Soan cleaning away the blood over her wound She clenched her teeth, stared up at the roof of the vehicle and replayed Nelson’s death in her mind

She’d never considered herself a bad person Flawed Definitely flawed But even at her lowest points, she’d had enough esteeths

Now she’d entered the gray world where nothing is or was Had she becoe of being? Was she no better than he, and was her soul irrevocably tarnished?

She’d hunted down and killed three people in cold blood Never otten in the way of her objective It wasn’t self-defense It wasn’t to prevent her tea killed It wasn’t to save soone after the assholes who’d been in that rooe on her mind She’d murdered them viciously with no remorse or pity

Maybe she was the coldhearted bitch that

Fuck the to let theo She’d moved on They weren’t worth the dirt on her boots, and she’d be damned if she let them make her doubt herself now

She searched her consciousness for so that told her she had a soul worth salvaging

But she didn’t regret their deaths She didn’t regretIf that consigned her to hell, then she’d just have to plan a date with the devil

She wanted to ask Donovan questions, but she bit her lip and remained silent She didn’t want to open the door, because if she started de answers from him, then he’d want the sa?" Cole asked froe in his voice rattled her It wasn’t like Cole to sound so unhinged Cole was either utterly focused on the task at hand or he was cracking jokes or hurling insults at his teammates, herself included

It was a Cole she was familiar with and coht they’d slept together, he’d become a different person Or maybe it wasn’t that he’d beconized before now

There was so possessive in his tone that nipped at her She couldn’t decide whether to be annoyed orOr what? Trius spin a bit as a result of the meds Donovan had administered

She needed to stop all this because ih as a kite

"She’s going to be fine," Donovan called back "She kicked some ass and only has oneto hurt like hell for a while and she’s going to be laid up until it heals, but she’s good"

"Of course she kicked ass," Cole said, a hint of impatience in his voice

For some reason that confidence in his words--just the way he said it--warmed her in places that had been encased in ice for the last months

Cole believed in her He always had He ive her the most shit of anyone else on her team, but he was also the first one to boast of her abilities They had a long-running rivalry over as the better shot, but PJ kneas all in fun Cole respected her He respected her position on the team For that matter all her teammates did Which was more than she could say for her SWAT team