I fold them up and tuck them into my inside jacket pocket. I leave the room and head back to the warehouse floor to find Chambers.
“An ambulance is on its way,” she says, walking over as she sees me. “I rang the office too. Wallis and the military liaison are going to meet us at the hospital. They have an update for us, which sounds positive.”
“Well, I’ve just found some documents that look useful — diagrams and receipts, mostly. I’ll let Wallis look over them.”
We fall silent for a moment.
“Did you tell Wallis about Johnson when you spoke to him?” I ask.
She looks at the floor and shakes her head. “I couldn’t do it,” she says. “I’m a coward.”
I take a step toward her and she moves in close, taking me by surprise and throwing her arms around me, burying her head in my chest as the tears start to flow. My arms are out to the sides as she holds onto me. I’m not entirely sure what’s appropriate here… It’s been a pretty stressful day. Me? I've grown somewhat accustomed to being shot at, blown up, car chases, and seeing innocent people die. But Grace? I think it’s all a little too much. I imagine seeing her colleague gunned down tipped her over the edge. That’s when she fell silent, on the bridge. I initially thought it was anger toward me, but looking at her now, it’s clear she’s in the early stages of shock.
I slowly put my arms around her and hold her as she sobs her heart out. No amount of training or experience can prepare you for days like today. I look over at Manhattan, lying on the floor, wounded by his own man and it sets my spider sense tingling.
The worst is still to come…
19
The ambulance doesn’t take long to get to us. Chambers had called her office first and they’d triangulated our location from her cellular signal. We’re both riding in the back as EMTs work on Manhattan. He’s apparently going to survive, but is in a bad way.
We arrive at San Francisco General and Wallis greets us at the main entrance. Chambers talks him through what’s happened, which he struggles to get his head round. He asks where Johnson is, so she takes him off into a room — I assume to break the news to him. They were partners and the news is going to hit him hard. I was staying with Manhattan, but when nurses wheeled him away to surgery, I figured I’ll go and see how Josh is doing.
A nurse approaches me when I enter the room and asks who I am. I tell her I’m family. She explains that his vitals are improving steadily, but he isn’t out of the woods just yet. They’ve brought him out of the coma, but they’re keeping him sedated. She checks his charts and his various drips and machines, and then leaves.
I’m standing at his bedside. He’s still unconscious. I look down at him. He’s wearing an oxygen mask over his mouth and has various wires connected to small pads stuck to his chest. There’s an IV feed in his left hand and a small crocodile clip on his index finger. The machine next to him is still beeping away, steady and stubborn.
I can’t help but think about how everything would’ve played out if he’d been there, helping me like he always does. I couldn’t have avoided getting blown up on the pier, I don’t think. Could I have prevented what happened on the bridge had Josh been in my ear? Maybe. But I’ve learnt from experience that there’s no point beating myself up about all the things I could’ve done differently. Things have played out the way they’ve played out, so that’s what we have to work with. End of story.
What’s that saying Josh sometimes comes out with? There’s no use crying over spilt milk, that’s it. I smile and think about how annoyingly upbeat and British he always is. I could definitely do with some of his trademark enthusiasm right now.
A short knock on the door interrupts me. I turn to see Chambers standing there, with Wallis by her side. Without a word, Wallis walks up to me and extends his hand. I shake it without question.
“I’m sorry,” I say, knowing it’ll be of little comfort. “He might have been an asshole to me, but he was a good agent and a decent guy. He didn’t deserve what happened.”
Wallis nods his appreciation. “Way I hear things, as bad as it was, it could’ve been worse if it wasn’t for you,” he replies, throwing a quick glance behind him at Chambers, who smiles weakly.
I simply give a small smile, not wishing to receive any praise for any of my actions during the last twenty-four hours. Eager to move on, I change the subject.
“Agent Chambers mentioned you have an update?” I ask.
“Yeah,” he replies, understandably distracted. “I’ve been working with the liaison from Hawthorne on the weaponry that Pellaggio got a hold of. They also had a look at the case, as a courtesy, and have come up with some good theories. I’m hoping the papers that you took from the warehouse will back some of them up.”
I reach into my jacket pocket and hand all the documents over to him. “Knock yourself out,” I say.
Wallis takes them and leaves, presumably heading back to the Field Office to begin his analysis.
I look at Chambers. “How you holdin’ up?” I ask.
‘I’ll live,’ she says with a tough smile. ‘The doctor gave me a once over.’
She nods at my shoulder wound. “How are you?”
I look down at it and shrug. “Forgot all about it to be honest,” I reply. “I’ll get someone to look at it before I leave here.”
“Make sure you do,” she says, with a warmer smile this time.
“Hey, this liaison sounds like a team player. Bet you’re glad they’re co-operating with the FBI so willingly?”
“Actually, they said they were doing it as a favor to you.”
I frown. “A favor to me? I don’t understand.”
“And I know how much that must piss you off,” says a man’s voice from outside the room.
The voice is familiar, but I’m too confused to place it right now.
Robert Clark walks into the room and stands beside Chambers.
“Hello, Adrian,” he says.
Robert Clark is a high-level employee of GlobaTech Industries. He got promoted when I executed Ted Jackson in Heaven’s Valley last year, who held his position at the time. He’s the one who figured out GlobaTech’s involvement in that whole affair and put an end to it, helping me take out Roberto Pellaggio and stop Dark Rain from killing a lot of innocent men and women.
Josh had kept in touch with them to keep the relationship alive, with the thinking being they could prove a valuable ally. I’ve not personally seen or spoken to Bob since I’d left him on that highway, just after blowing half of Nevada into space.
“Hey, Bobby,” I say, after a few moments of stunned silence. “What are you doing here?”
“I was asked to work with the FBI on behalf of Hawthorne Air Base,” he explains.
“So you’re the liaison? I was expecting someone… you know, from the military?”
Clark shrugs. “GlobaTech works closely with Hawthorne, as a lot of the weapons we make go through there. Our R&D boys made most of the stuff that Pellaggio Junior now has in his possession, so we have a vested interest in getting this whole debacle resolved. How’s that going, by the way?”
I look behind me at Josh, then back at Clark, without saying a word. He simply nods in understanding.
“How’s he doing?” he asks.
“I just spoke to the nurse who said he’s improving, slowly but surely. Not in the clear yet, but I know he’ll pull through. The guy’s too annoying and too stubborn to give up and die anyway.”