Free Edge of Survival by Toni Anderson

jerked back with a scowl. “Did you get enough to drink?” he asked. “You feel hot.”
    “I’m fine.” She batted his hand away when he tried to touch her again.
    “Did you eat?” He looked at Kershaw. “I don’t want her passing out on my watch.”
    Kershaw was staring at him with curiosity in his warm brown eyes. Cam’s condition freaked Daniel out, and he didn’t know why. Except, he did. She had a vulnerability, a weakness, that could prove fatal. When she was flying with him, Cameran Young became his responsibility. Some days it didn’t matter how far you ran, other people’s problems still fucked you up.
    “Did you check your blood sugar?”
    She pressed her lips together and glanced under her lashes at Officer Kershaw, indicating that she hadn’t wanted to bring up her condition during her police interview. Jeez Louise. Talk about stubborn.
    “Do it.” Daniel set his teeth against the unexpected surge of irritation. “She’s diabetic,” he explained.
    He geared up to argue with the woman, but she surprised him by narrowing those super-green eyes and taking something out of her backpack. He didn’t know what it was until a small prick of blood bloomed on her finger. She got out a strip of paper and ran her gaze over the men.
    “You don’t need to watch,” she said.
    The RCMP Constable coughed and moved away but Daniel and Officer Kershaw followed the strip into the pink meter she pulled out, and waited for the beep.
    “Eighty-one,” she said and shoved everything back into her pack.
    “Is that good or bad?” the cop asked.
    “It’s fine. I have my lunch in here.” She tapped her bag. “I’ll just go—”
    “She can sit here and eat, right? I have to fly her back after we’re done anyway.” Daniel rested his hands on the tabletop, holding the cop’s gaze.
    “We don’t usually interview people together, Mr. Fox.” Staff Sergeant Kershaw twirled a pen between his fingers.
    “You have to excuse my mother, Staff Sergeant. She isn’t usually such a worrier…” Cam shifted as if to get up. Daniel didn’t move. If she wanted out, she’d have to climb over him.
    Kershaw grinned and something feral unwound in Daniel’s gut.
    “You want to play hide-and-go-seek with the sick bastard who sliced Sylvie, you go right ahead. But I don’t have time to search for you when I’m done.” It came out louder than he’d intended, and the ensuing silence echoed around the room.
    Everyone stared. Self-disgust wound its toxic way through his intestines and made his stomach cramp.
    “You can stay for now, Dr. Young.” Kershaw’s voice was calm and reassuring, immediately diffusing the tension.
    Daniel figured the guy would be a brilliant hostage negotiator ’cause nothing seemed to faze the sonofabitch. Kershaw turned to a fresh page in his notebook. The apprehension that had grabbed Daniel by the throat eased back a little as everyone went back about their business.
    “Talk me through what happened when you got here yesterday.”
    Cam filled a syringe and turned slightly away as she injected herself in the stomach. Daniel winced in sympathy. Kershaw glanced over too, his eyebrows knitted.
    “I arrived around 2100 hours. I gassed up on the way over and loaded some equipment down at the helo pad.” Daniel didn’t mention the beer the bartender supplied him on the sly. “I walked in here, found the Doc and her assistant sitting at that table over there talking to Dwight Wineberg, the foreman.” He pointed to the center of the room. “Then Doc went to the bathroom and a few minutes later I followed her.”
    “Why?”
    Daniel frowned. Why ? He hadn’t thought about why. Instinct? And look where it had gotten him. In- fucking -volved. He shrugged. “I was ready to leave. She was taking too long.”
    “You got a protective streak, Mr. Fox?”
    In a former life . “Maybe I was hoping to get lucky.” Daniel slouched against the bench, holding the man’s gaze with a belligerent stare.