Free Operation: Endeavor (When The Mission Ends) by Christi Snow

brother is Chris Robertson. When he comes out, can you tell…”
    “Colton.” Chris hobbled down the hall on his crutches. “What’s wrong?”
    “Penelope’s hurt. Are you finished?” Colton, who never got rattled, sounded frantic even to his own ears.
    “Yes. Where is she?”
    “ER. Let’s go.”
    Colton tried to rein in his impatience at the slower pace he had to maintain because Chris was on crutches. When they finally arrived at the ER department, he rushed over to the reception desk. A woman, with a very sick-looking toddler, talked to the nurse manning the desk and Colton frantically looked around the room trying to find a glimpse of Penelope.
    Chris reacted to the impatience strumming through him. “Calm down, Colt. You said she called, right?” At Colton’s nod, he continued, “So she’s not in that bad of shape. Just tone it down a bit.”
    Colton swiped a hand through his hair. “You’re right, but goddamn, she sounded upset and she’s here somewhere. I didn’t even find out what happened, how bad she’s hurt.” He glared at the receptionist who still talked to the frazzled mother. “What’s taking so long?”
    He looked around the active ER again, and spotted a familiar face coming out of a curtained area. A ball of dread developed in the pit of his stomach. He turned to Chris. “Can you wait here and see if you can find out where she is? I see someone who may know something, but I don’t want to lose our place in line if he’s not here because of Penelope.”
    “Sure.” Chris looked over at the man curiously.
    Detective Brian Barnes had been the lead detective with Cassie’s stalking and subsequent kidnapping the year before. Colton had a sinking feeling that his presence here wasn’t a coincidence. Colton caught up to him right before he got to the ER entrance. “Detective Barnes?”
    Brian had been in the process of dialing on his cell phone when he turned at the sound of Colton’s voice. His face lit up with recognition and he held his hand out to shake hands. “Colton, how are you doing? Are you here because of Penelope?”
    “Yes, but I was hoping you weren’t. I haven’t been able to find out anything yet. Is she okay? What happened? Where is she?” He glanced back at the curtained area where the detective had just exited.
    “She’s okay, which is lucky since someone pushed her down the stairs of her bookstore.”
    Colton scrambled to understand what had happened. He raised a shaky hand to thread through his hair. “Who would do that? Are you sure she’s okay?”
    “Yes, she has some stitches, is really bruised, and upset. So far, it appears to just be a random break-in, but we’re investigating.” He gestured towards the curtained area. “Why don’t you go see her for yourself? She’s alone, so she’d probably appreciate the company while she waits to be discharged.”
    Colton was already headed that way. He signaled to Chris as he walked that he’d found her. He took a deep breath to calm his rattling emotions as he reached up to pull the curtain aside.
    When he walked in, her eyes were closed. There was a bandage on her forehead. She was extremely pale and he could see purple shadows under her eyes. She was dressed and he could see blood where it had dripped on her shirt, probably from her forehead. He continued his perusal of her body and noticed a string of angry purple bruises from her wrist, which was wrapped, on her left arm up to where they disappeared under the edge of her sleeve.
    He took a shaky breath and reached out to touch her cheek. She was so still and pale. When his fingertips grazed her cheek, her eyes flew open. Colton couldn’t miss the flash of fright before she realized it was him, and then her eyes filled with tears.
    “Shh, it’s me. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to startle you. Are you okay?” He spoke to her quietly and didn’t recognize the guttural sound of his own voice.
    She gave a quick nod and then closed her eyes, the