Total pages in book: 86
Estimated words: 80699 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 403(@200wpm)___ 323(@250wpm)___ 269(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 80699 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 403(@200wpm)___ 323(@250wpm)___ 269(@300wpm)
I smile and nod because I know there’s no stopping her. What I don’t say is the last birthday party I had was when I turned nine, and my parents were dead a month later, so she doesn’t have to reach very far to make it better than that.
Chapter 28
Kid
“White male, mid-twenties,” I hear a distant voice say. “From the look of the dried blood, I’d say he was injured hours ago. Name on the ID is Wyatt Hertz.” Who the hell is Wyatt Hertz? That name’s not familiar at all.
“Stats?” another voice asks.
I’m jostled and can feel a sense of weightlessness before my back meets a hard surface.
“BP one sixty over one ten. IV started and neck stabilized in the field. Pupils are fine but extensive bleeding from the wound in his head.”
Every part of my body hurts. I don’t remember what went down, and I’m unable to determine the extent of my wounds. My guess would be an IED. We’re always as careful as we can be when we head out with the unit, but shit happens, more times than we like to think about.
I can’t open my eyes, and I pray I’m not blind. It’s one of my worst fears, that and getting my dick blown off in an insurgent attack.
I hear more voices around me, and I can’t identify any of them. I try to sit up, but strong arms hold me down.
“Okay, Mr. Hertz, try to stay calm. We’re going to give you something for the pain.”
I feel a sharp pain in my arms, followed by a mild burning, then absolute nothingness.
“You said housekeeping found him?” I hear a vaguely familiar voice say.
The voices sound so far away, but I know they are right next to me. I’m beyond disoriented, and the throb in my temples is enough to make my stomach turn.
“Yes, sir. We’ve kept him sedated. He’s rather,” the voice pauses. “Unruly when he wakes.”
I hear a deep masculine chuckle. “I can see that. Prognosis?”
“Same as what I told you over the phone this morning. All of his scans came back normal. We were able to close the wound on his head with a handful of staples. His blood pressure was a little high when he was first brought in, but it’s leveled out now.”
“Brain damage?” the familiar voice asks.
“The scans are super clean, but we can’t rule anything out until he wakes up.”
The unfamiliar voice drones on and on until I’ve heard enough.
I shift my body sluggishly. “If he starts to get out of hand we’ll have to give him more sedative,” the voice warns.
“I can handle him.” That voice.
“Lieutenant?” I mutter hoarsely.
“I’m here Kid.” I feel a strong hand on my shoulder. “You need to calm down, and I’ll explain everything, but if you give these nice people any more trouble, they’re going to load you up with more drugs.”
I nod my head. Well, I feel like I’m nodding my head; I can’t really tell with how foreign my body feels right now.
I open my eyes a tiny slit, but the lights are too bright and slam them back closed.
“It’s too bright,” I manage to say.
“That’s normal as well. Sensitivity to light after a head injury.” I see the bright light from behind my eyelids dim.
“How many men did we lose Lieutenant?” I squint up at him.
“Look at me, Kid.” I turn my head to him, but it doesn’t go unnoticed that my surroundings don’t look like a military hospital. Those places are made for nothing but efficiency; this place is almost too nice.
“Am I already in Germany?” I see the confusion in his eyes, and it makes me even more confused.
“What do you think happened?” Diego “Kincaid” Anderson, my Lieutenant on this mission asks.
“An IED? You tell me, L.T. How bad is it?” I clear my throat. “They didn’t shoot my dick off did they?”
He laughs humorlessly, and dread washes over me.
“It wasn’t an IED, Kid. You’re in Vegas, not Germany. Bryan is fine, but it seems you got banged up pretty bad from a fall in the hotel.”
I shake my head. “I don’t…” I let my voice trail off. I’ve never been so confused in my life. I have no clue what the hell I’d be doing in Vegas. I have no idea who this Bryan person is.
I feel a rough pat on my shoulder. “Just take it easy, Kid. We’ll get it all sorted out.”
I give in to the sleep that is creeping into my brain. Things will make more sense after I wake up.
***
“What are you saying?” I ask Kincaid again, scrubbing my hands down my face.
My hands run over the unfamiliar skin. I have a beard. They say I’ve been in and out for two days, but that doesn’t explain all of the hair on my damn face. I know shaving it will be the first thing I do. This bastard itches like crazy.