The Intelligence Unit Series

Ryan felt like he'd been run over by a bus. He was floating-wait, was that right?-his mind drifting along even though his body felt sluggish, as if it had been weighted down with bricks. His head throbbed with a dull ache that extended to his teeth, his temples, his skin, yeah, pretty much all of him except for the right side of his upper body. Thathurt much worse, as if someone had ripped a hole in him and driven a bus through it.

A memory flickered at the edges of his subconscious, or maybe it was a dream? Bishop at his door, pushing his way inside. Being pistol whipped not once, but twice. Darkness. Then Addison kicking the door in. Arguing. Fierce. He'd tried to force himself to move, to keep her safe, but his head wouldn't let him. Then, there had been deafening gunshots. Pain. So much pain...

Ryan's eyes flew open, his breath tearing out of him on a ragged gasp. Fresh pain ripped a jagged path from his chest to his right arm, landing in his fingertips before boomeranging back to the center of his body.

"Whoa! Hey, hey, hey," came a familiar voice. "Take it easy, Daredevil. You're going to hurt yourself."

He blinked no less than six times before his eyes cooperated enough to focus. "Chloe?" he croaked.

"Right here," she said, squeezing his left hand. "Totally safe."

"Addison?" he managed, and damn, talking was exhausting.

"Totally safe, too. She and Grace and Dad just went to grab some coffee."

Oh. So, so much to unpack, there, but he was going to have to do it later. When his brain didn't feel like cotton candy. "She's okay?"

His memory was coming back in hazy clips, but they felt shuffled, out of order. Addison had crashed into his apartment...how had Bishop found out...there had been so much noise...a loud bang that had ricocheted off his ears... Chloe smiled. "Other than the fact that she kicked in a door, took Bishop on at gunpoint, saved your life, and hasn't left your side since you got here, all of which makes her just a tiny bit crazy? She's one hundred percent fine."

He wanted to ask no less than a dozen questions. But instead, all Ryan could manage was, "Mmmmkay," his eyes already heavy and his brain tempting him to surrender his consciousness.

"Get some rest. She'll be here when you wake up."

Ryan surrendered to the fog, drifting in the darkness for some indeterminate amount of time that felt like a blink. Finally, his eyes opened again, this time a little more clearly, and-just as Chloe had promised-Addison was curled up in the chair she'd dragged to the left side of his bed. Her eyes were closed, her blond hair draped over her arm, which she'd curled beneath her temple as a makeshift pillow. Ryan could see the shadows beneath her eyes, and his heart lurched as he shifted and whispered her name. It came out of his mouth like glue, and what the hell had happened?

She sprang awake, making him realize belatedly it was either late at night or very early in the morning. Damn, his brain was molasses on the uptake.

"Oh, my God. Hi. Hey. I'm so freaking happy to see you. Don't try to move, okay?" She slid a hand over his face, then rummaged around for something on the rolling table beside his bed. "Parker said to call him as soon as you woke up, no matter what time it was. Damn it, where's that call button?"

Ugh. Parker Drake was about to finish his third year of residency as a trauma surgeon. The fact that the guy was on alert meant nothing good had happened. "I had surgery?"

"You did," Addison said, finding the call button folded into the covers on his bed.

Ryan stilled her hand with the one of his not currently on fire. He was coming back online quickly, a skill he relied upon as a firefighter who was jolted out of bed in the dead of night on the regular. "Can you wait five seconds to call anyone? If I promise you I won't keel over?"

She looked torn, then gave up a slow nod. "You scared the shit out of me, you know."

"I don't remember all of it," he admitted.

Addison nodded, her blond hair like a sleep-mussed halo around her head. "That's common with trauma." She gave him what he was sure was a condensed version of events, starting with Bishop not showing at the meet, then ending up at his apartment in a standoff.

"So, Bishop?" Ryan asked, his heart in his throat, and Addison shook her head.

"Died at the scene. He was going to kill you. I thought I'd be able to fire in time to keep him from hurting you, but..." She took a breath, that calm Ryan loved so much moving over her beautiful face. "He shot you. The bullet went all the way through, which Parker insisted was a good thing, but you lost a lot of blood. You've been in and out for a couple of days."

Ryan's shock was enough to make the monitor at his bedside beep in protest. "A couple days?"

"Another thing Parker said was good. Your body needed the rest to start to heal."

He took a minute to let it all sink in, but there were still gaps. "Wait. Why didn't Bishop go to meet Jimmy?"

"Because Jimmy tipped him off," Addison said. "Bishop had a burner cell on him, and Capelli was able to trace the texts warning him about the meet back to a burner Jimmy had hidden away."

"I knew that guy was a f*****g weasel," Ryan said, and Addison gave up a tiny smile.

"Well, he's a weasel who's about to spend the next thirty years of his life in federal prison, if not longer. Once we confronted him about the tip-off, he confessed. He'd been prepared to flip on Bishop before he knew the guy was a murderer, but once he realized Bishop would probably kill him if he ever found out...Jimmy decided to play both sides. He thought if Bishop got away, we'd still give him his deal. But he's Roman's problem, now."

She paused, but not for long. "The unit was able to connect the five cold cases directly to Bishop, thanks to the information that was pulled off of Jimmy's computer. It'll take a little time, but we'll be able to put those cases to rest. Those women deserve justice, and their families deserve closure."

Ryan nodded. He couldn't even imagine what they'd all been through. But at least Bishop would never hurt another person again.

"Damn." Ryan sank into his pillow, the bandages on his right side pulling tight beneath his hospital gown as the ache in his upper body spread out. "I never thought I'd say this, but I'm pretty sure this is more action than I can handle."

"And I never thought I'd say this, but I love you."

Ryan blinked. Blinked again, certain he'd misunderstood her. But Addison remained perfectly calm as she smiled.

"I heard you say it the other night, and I was a little too scared to say it back. But I've spent a long time being scared to feel things. Then you came along and showed me...well, everything, and now I don't want to hold back anymore. Not about this. I love you, Ryan. I'm totally, completely, insanely in love with you."

Ryan's heart swelled, his smile taking over as he reached for her. "I love you, too. Thanks for saving my life."

"Thanks for saving mine right back," she said.

And as she brushed a soft, sweet kiss over his mouth, Ryan knew they were both exactly where they belonged. Together. Forever.