Part 12 (1/2)

Furious at the ebbing of his strength, he had fought the black wave threatening to wash over him and forced his trembling muscles to offer their last ounce of power. And then he had felt himself falling, and he thought he had wrenched the knife aside at the last moment, but he wasn't sure because everything was so utterly dark and silent.

He was very tired, and not much interested in doing anything about the darkness. He would have let it carry him peacefully away, except that something tugged at him, resisting. And, gradually, he felt a surge of impatience at the darkness. It hid things from him, and he didn't like things hidden.

He felt the tug again, and obeyed it this time, ignoring the seductive darkness as he began fighting his way toward the light. He was aware of movement first, and the sensation of coldness, and he heard an annoying roar that was too loud because someone was saying something to him and he couldn't hear it.

But he was warmer now, and the darkness was less intense, and whatever had pulled him this far was holding on tight. There was something familiar about that, and he considered the matter idly. It was... a connection... to someone. A link. That was it. But it wasn't the link he remembered, it was a new connection, a different and stronger one, and he thought he wasn't accustomed to it yet. It was disturbing, but he had the notion that it was something he had wanted terribly.

He didn't feel alone anymore.

He was aware of a deep surge of satisfaction. He'd gotten It, finally. He wasn't entirely sure what it meant, except it made him happier than he could ever remember being. There was someone he was connected to, someone who couldn't hide from him anymore.

Eight.

Skye was lucky, but he was also human. He had been injured before in the line of duty. Given his recklessness, if he had escaped injury in ten years it wouldn't have been remarkable, it would have been a miracle. But Dane hadn't been wrong in saying his brother believed he was made of iron. It wasn't a conscious thing, but like all men gifted with extraordinary luck, Skye was always surprised when it deserted him. And he was shocked, on some deep level of himself, to find himself vulnerable.

So when he fought his way to consciousness with only a vague memory of what had happened, his first and strongest emotion was sheer annoyance. ”d.a.m.n,” he muttered hoa.r.s.ely, forcing his eyes to open. Matching eyes were looking down at him, and an almost-matching face wearing a mustache looked grimly amused by the curse.

”Don't try to move,” Dane warned, then sighed as Skye of course did and bit back a groan. ”In case you've forgotten, Adrian stuck a knife into you. You lost a h.e.l.l of a lot of blood. Now, for G.o.d's sake, be still.”

Skye closed his eyes until the wave of sick dizziness pa.s.sed. He felt appallingly weak, and the pain in the region of his left shoulder throbbed as if someone were still stabbing him, again and again. He thought he'd been almost conscious a few times before this, but he wasn't sure; his fuzzy mind held only the dim recollection of voices and touches and pain. In any case. he was fully awake now. And the pain was a constant thing. After a few moments he opened his eyes cautiously and ignored the pain. He was in bed, he realized. In Katrina's bed. ”Where's Trina?” he asked his brother.

Dane nodded toward the closed door leading to the den. ”Talking to the doctor. I told her you were too mean to die on her, and once the doctor confirmed the truth of what I said, I think she made up her mind to kill you herself.”

Skye frowned, trying to make sense of that. Katrina had been angry, he remembered, but that had happened long before he'd left the park, and he had been certain he'd managed to win her forgiveness. ”She's mad at me?”

Leaning back in the armchair that had been placed by the bed, Dane surveyed his twin with rueful amus.e.m.e.nt. ”I suppose it never occurred to you that she would be?”

”No.” Skye was baffled. ”I knew she was a little upset, but she didn't seem to be mad when I left.”

”My mistake, I suppose,” Dane said.

After staring at him for a moment, Skye said, ”How did I get back here? Adrian-”

”Is back at the house, with Daniel and a couple of his marshals standing guard. He has a concussion because he hit his head on a rock when you both went down. And you got back here through no doing of your own.”

Despite the curve of firm lips that most people would have taken to be a smile, Skye wasn't deceived. Taking note of and correctly reading the steely light in the eyes so like his own, he prudently remained silent while he hastily considered his options. He had seen Dane truly enraged so rarely that he could have counted the occasions on the fingers of one hand even after thirty-five years; but ma.s.sive earthquakes, Skye had decided, seldom rocked the same section of real estate more than once in a century.

Dane's temper was like an earthquake, and though Skye was all too apt to wave red flags at bulls of all varieties, he tended to avoid angering his brother. This time, however, it was obvious that he had outdone himself.

”I'm a wounded man,” Skye offered, eyeing Dane warily.

”I realize that.” Dane's voice was deceptively polite. ”I could hardly help but realize it, since hauling your carca.s.s out of that mine shaft is destined to be one of my more enduring memories.”

Skye winced. ”Sorry,” he said, and there was real remorse in his voice. He could imagine what Dane had gone through.

Dane wasn't quite ready to forgive. ”Between trying to stop you bleeding to death and at the same time to get you out of that hole in the ground as quickly as possible, Katrina, Derek, and I had our hands full. Kelsey just slung Adrian over one shoulder since he was out cold, but we had to be a bit more careful with you.”

”Katrina?” Skye stared at him, forcing his sluggish mind to begin working again. ”She was there? Wait a minute. This doesn't make sense.”

”You're telling me.”

Oddly enough, Skye had never lost his own temper with his brother, and didn't now. ”Dane, what happened?”

After a moment Dane said, ”Katrina came straight to me after you'd left. I was out in the park, with Derek and Kelsey. We decided to take the helicopter Josh had standing by in case it was needed. Katrina said she was coming with us, and I had better sense than to argue with her. When we got to the house, we found the map, and I remembered the mine. After that it was just a matter of getting there and inside, and trying to find you. We were close when we heard the gunfire, but by the time we reached the cavern, it was impossible to get a shot at Adrian without hitting you as well. We had to wait.”

Skye was staring at the ceiling, his eyes holding a strange, vibrant light. Absently he said, ”The b.a.s.t.a.r.d must have known someone was following him, though I'll swear I never made a sound to alert him. He'd hidden in the cavern with his lamp on a boulder and the flame turned down low. When I came in, he threw a knife at me. Got me, too, d.a.m.n him. While I was pulling the knife out, he turned up the lamp and started shooting.”

Dane was watching him intently. ”The shots didn't last long,” he noted.

”No.” Skye's lips twisted. ”It would have been funny if he hadn't been trying to kill me. We both slipped. Can you beat that? Professionals sliding like clowns in the mud, and our guns going flying. The guns landed in the water, where I'd thrown the knife. I didn't find out Adrian had a second knife until he charged me with it. I think he got me a couple more times, but not seriously.”

”That first time did the damage,” Dane told him. ”Nicked an artery. That's why you were losing blood so fast.”

Skye nodded, then grimaced as the motion sent a jolt of pain through his body. ”There seemed to be a lot of it, but I didn't have time to try to stop it. I don't remember much more before I blacked out, except that I was trying to get that d.a.m.ned knife away from him. Did I?”

”More or less. You managed not to stab yourself with it when you fell on him. You cracked three of his ribs, by the way.”

”I think he cracked a couple of mine,” Skye noted, suddenly conscious of a constriction lower than the heavy bandages on his left shoulder and upper chest.

”He did.” Dane sighed. ”Once we got you back to the helicopter, we came straight back here. The closest doctor was the one Josh had stashed here just in case. We alerted Josh by radio, and the doctor was waiting for us. He pumped a few pints of blood into you-”

”Not all from you,” Skye objected.

”No. Luckily for you, Derek, Rafferty, and Josh have the same blood type, and they volunteered. Anyway, the doc patched you up and strapped your ribs. He says you can't get up for a week.” Smiling a little, Dane watched that sink in. ”So let it be a lesson to you,” he added dryly.

Skye was frowning. ”I'll be up by tomorrow.”

”No, you won't,” said Katrina calmly from the doorway.

Turning his head cautiously to look at her, Skye's eyes lit again with that strange, vivid gleam. ”Tomorrow,” he repeated in a silky tone.

She was a little pale, but her lovely face was composed and her amber eyes were gazing steadily at him. ”If you try to get up before next Friday,” she said in a gentle voice with all the flexibility of tempered steel, ”I'll shoot you myself.”

Dane turned a sudden laugh into a cough.

Before Skye could respond to her threat, she added, ”Dr. Randall says you can have some soup if you want. Are you hungry?”

”Yes. But not soup.” Skye's eyes were veiled, but through the long lashes they looked brighter than ever.

She ignored that. ”I'll call room service.” Stepping back out into the den, she pulled the door shut again.

Dane watched his brother curiously, taking note of the long fingers, moving restlessly on the covers. Even his left hand was fidgety, and he shouldn't have been able to move it at all; that arm was in a sling to keep the shoulder immobile.

After a moment Dane said quietly, ”She's been with you the whole time. More than twenty-four hours.” He didn't add that Katrina, hollow-eyed and fierce, had refused all help but the doctor's in taking care of Skye.

Skye looked at him, a muscle in his jaw tightening. ”You said she-went into that mine?”