Read Online Wounds - Book 2 by Ilsa J. Bick - Free Book Online Page A

dismiss her out of hand. She’s your second. She knows your capabilities probably better than you do because your mind’s already made up.” And why; why is he so persistent, and how does he know so much if…?
    “I thought you didn’t know anything about the military,” he said, showing a thin sliver of a smile. “I admit, this isn’t exactly the smartest thing I’ve ever done in my life, but that doesn’t matter. If the Kornaks are right about this Bashir, then we’ve got to stop them. Even if they’re wrong, they will take whatever they want from his mind, and then the man you know, Elizabeth, just won’t exist anymore. He’ll simply be. And everything locked in your head that you will not say they will rip right out of his. So I’m not doing this for you, Elizabeth, or even for him. I’m doing it for all of us.”
    She blurted it out. “No, you’re not.” She saw the edges of his eyes tighten but pushed on anyway. “Don’t kid yourself. You’re doing this for you.”
    “I am?” Saad was very still. “Why?”
    “Because,” said Lense. She was aware of Mara’s eyes on her as well, but she kept hers firmly on Saad. “You’ve got a grudge.”
    “About what?”
    “You’re the donor, Saad. You’re the one who walked away.” Now she looked over at Mara and saw the emotions chasing across the big woman’s scarred, ravaged face. “Or did you break him out?”
    “Broke him out,” said Mara, hoarsely. “We were in the same unit. Saad was my CO. Then Nerrit…they tested us. Took Saad. I…we figured out what was happening, and then we got him out. We had help on the inside, a few of the scientists.”
    “Your contacts?” asked Lense. Mara nodded. “What happened to them?”
    “One we know for sure was killed. Janel was his name. The other two…like Saad said, we’ve not heard from them for a long time. Until now. But we got Saad out.”
    “And I’ve never forgotten it, Mara,” said Saad. He’d been staring at Lense but now swiveled his head around to his second. “Your bravery and your loyalty.”
    And maybe her love, too, Saad, though she’d never say it. “Then you need to listen to her now,” said Lense. “Mara’s right. You’re too emotionally involved.”
    It was the wrong thing to say. Saad sat up a little straighter, and he withdrew his hands from Lense’s—not quickly. But he took them back. “And you’re not? You don’t care about this Bashir?”
    “Yes, of course, I care,” she flared. “Don’t twist this around to make it my fault. I’m not in command. You are, and you can’t lead on emotion. You’ll make mistakes.”
    “Listen to her, Saad,” Mara said. “She’s right. We were lucky once, but you go back and I feel it down deep, you’ll never get out.”
    Saad’s jaw firmed. “And what if you can’t get Bashir out, Mara? Are you prepared to die for this man? Are you absolutely clear that if the time came, you could kill both Bashir and yourself?”
    “Strangers are easy.” Mara’s face had gone as stony as Saad’s, though her cheeks glistened. “My friends, the people I care about, they’re hard.”
    Lense was incensed. “What are you two thinking? You’re not going to kill anybody!”
    “If we can’t get him out, we’ll have to,” said Mara, flatly. “Otherwise, the Kornaks will still have him.”
    “Then we’d better be damn sure to get him out,” said Lense. “Because you try that, you’ll have to kill me, too.” She drilled Saad with a look. “We clear on that?”
    “You’re not going, Elizabeth. I won’t allow it.”
    “Try and stop me. You said I’m my own woman, so I get to choose, and I choose for Julian. You have to take me. Why should he trust you? He doesn’t know you. Besides, he might be hurt, and I’m a doctor; I’m the only one who can help him. So, like it or not, you need me, and even if you didn’t, I’m sure as hell not staying here. Because let me be crystal clear about this, Saad. I’m not doing