This bonus scene is from Rogue Survivor. It takes place a couple of days after Connor, Isabel, and Veronica get out of the hospital, and well…as always, it contains spoilers. So make sure you’ve read Rogue Survivor!
Connor
Slipping out of bed—as gracefully as I can with my knee swollen to the size of a grapefruit—I snag my phone from the nightstand and pull on a t-shirt before I shuffle into the suite’s main room.
The hotel in the middle of Austin is quiet this time of the morning, and both Isabel and Veronica are still asleep—hopefully for at least another hour, because I don’t want an audience for the phone call I’ve been avoiding for three days.
Starting a pot of coffee, I check my messages. Good. The new security system for Isabel’s house will be finished this afternoon. Though that means we—or she and Veronica—can leave this mini-oasis we claimed after checking out of the hospital.
A brief pang of worry hits me square in the heart. Will Isabel want me to continue to stay with her now that her house is safe? What about Veronica? She’s been uncharacteristically quiet since we checked in—not that I blame her after what we all went through—but it’s still concerning.
At least she has her first therapy appointment today. We all do. I hated the mandatory therapy the Bureau forced me into after the attack, but I’m trying to set a good example for the kid.
The sun rises over downtown, casting the city in a golden glow as I pop in my Bluetooth earbud and call the man who saved my life. Twice.
“Connor Davis. About time you found my number,” former Major General Austin Pritchard says.
“Never lost it. Just didn’t want to relive…everythin’.” Admitting even that much ain’t easy, but if I keep myself walled off from everyone, I’ll ruin things with Isabel faster than a sneeze through a screen door. “How much shit you gonna give me over it?”
“None.”
“Excuse me?” Sitting up straighter, I reach for the coffee mug, needing its solid, warm weight in my palm.
Austin chuckles. “You think I haven’t been right where you are? Wasn’t my decision to retire. I went to Venezuela to help save my best friend’s life, but we…well, shit. We pretty much overthrew the government down there in the process. I was lucky to stay out of prison.”
“Fuck. I didn’t know.”
“No one does. Except my team. And my family. All of them. Including Zephyr, Griff, and the teams from Hidden Agenda and Second Sight.”
Family.
“You’re obligated to attend at least one family vacation a year.”
Graham’s words play on a loop in my head. “This ain’t just a job you’re offerin’, is it?”
“Nope. You say yes to this, you’re agreeing to do whatever it takes to protect our clients—and the rest of us.”
“I can’t leave Isabel and Veronica. Not now. Hell, maybe not—“ Glancing behind me—at the two closed doors where Isabel and Veronica are sleeping, I swallow hard.
“You don’t have to,” Austin says. “I haven’t left Mik for more than a single night since we got back from Mexico. And I hated every second of it. Won’t do it again unless it’s life and death. But if it is…I’m there. No matter what. The one time I left Edgewater? Want to guess when it was?”
Fuck me. “You were here.”
“Damn straight. I was with the Rangers who dragged your sorry ass out of Flash Flood Alley. But once we got back to civilization, Jasper and AJ had everything handled. You weren’t in any shape for introductions, so I caught the first flight back home.”
What the hell am I supposed to say to this man who not only funded the operation to save my life, but oversaw the whole fucking thing? “I owe you my life.”
“You don’t owe me a thing.”
“Austin—“
“I mean it. Family doesn’t keep a tally sheet. We don’t know each other. But Graham loves your brother. Ryker and Dax consider Graham—and Q—family. And when Mik and I needed help, Dax came through. Pulled us out of Mexico, sent one of his guys—Ronan, Zephyr’s partner—to keep Mik safe. And then he took a bullet for the woman I love. That’s how shit works in my world. You want in, or not?”
“I want in. Tell me what you need me to do.”