Free Cat's Paw (Veritas Book 1) by Chandler Steele

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    “How bad is she?”
    “She’s stable. I’ve ordered a CAT scan to ensure there’s nothing going on in her skull that we wouldn’t like. Her pupils are equal and I’m not seeing any sign of an intracranial bleed, but we want to be sure. After that, we’ll monitor her vitals and wait for her to regain consciousness. It all depends on what we learn from the tests.”
    Alex liked this guy. There was no “I am God” attitude. He just delivered the news in an honest and reassuring tone.
    “Thank you for all you’ve done for her. She’s . . . ”
    “Your sister,” the nurse said, checking Miri’s blood pressure. “Most of us got one. They’re God’s precious gift.”
    He looked at Miri, his eyes clouding with tears now.
    “That’s exactly what she is.”
    And I almost lost her.
    *~*~*
    After Lars had thrown an uncharacteristic fit and insisted that Morgan be checked out by a doctor, she had submitted to an exam and then found solace in an empty waiting room. Once she was settled, her friend brought her hot tea and an ice pack. She couldn’t decide if the latter needed to be on her throat or her shoulder, so she kept shifting it around.
    A nurse had been kind enough to give her a set of scrubs so the cops could take her bloody clothes. Maybe they’d get lucky and find DNA that would lead them to the attacker, if the fingerprints on the gun didn’t turn up anything.
    The cops didn’t realize that Veritas had already turned its vast resources toward finding the bastard. Though she’d love to be the one to run him down, she suspected that honor would go to Neil. When the Iceman was in hunter mode, nothing stopped him.
    A text came through. As she picked up the phone, she noticed the blood embedded around her nails, and sighed. If she hadn’t trusted her instincts, that girl would have been in that guy’s trunk, headed for hell.
    The text was from Lars: Parkin had arrived and word was that the X-rays and CAT scan were clear, though Miri still hadn’t regained consciousness.
    “At least that’s something,” Morgan murmured.
    After another sip of tea, she lay down on the couch, pulling a blanket over her. She’d give Parkin a bit more time, then she’d go see him and his sister. After that, she was headed home, as dawn was only a few hours away.
    Rest didn’t come as easily as she’d hoped, not with all those questions firing through her head. Was this a random attack? Something the Russians had cooked up to sway Parkin to their camp? Or was this one of his old enemies hitting at his most vulnerable spot?
    When her eyes finally drifted shut, all she could hear were Miri’s desperate screams and the sound of screeching tires.
    *~*~*
    After the tests had revealed that nothing bad was going on, they’d moved Miri to a more private room. Her roommate was sound asleep, so Alex stood by the side of her bed, rubbing his fingers across the back of her hand. He used to do that when they were kids, even when she was a newborn.
    His mom hadn’t said much during the pregnancy, other than to complain about another mouth to feed. Her continued indifference had triggered something deep within Alex, and he took to watching over his sister from the moment she came home from the hospital. Because after all those years of being alone, he’d been given someone to love.
    To his joy, that love had been mutual. He still remembered hurrying home from school, not bothering to take part in any after-school activities, always concerned about what had happened to Miri during the day. Once she’d learned to walk, she would meet him at the door, her tiny arms going around his neck. He blinked away tears even now.
    Miri had never stinted on her love, at least until the day they marched him out of the courtroom in chains, the “guilty” verdict ringing in his ears. Barely sixteen, she hadn’t cried, just stared at him as if he’d destroyed her whole world.
    In some ways, he had. She’d been forced to move in with