“Cameron,” his father said, but his voice seemed to come from a long way off.
The darkness sucked him under.
He awoke a couple of more times, but it was always the same. His brothers, his father. Doctors, nurses, machines.
No Salome.
And then, finally, he swam up from the dark depths, opened his eyes and knew he was better. The mastodon on his chest had been replaced by an elephant. There was only one tube in his arm and the blinking, beeping machines were gone.
Cam turned his head. Looked around. His brothers were sprawled in a pair of too-small chairs near the window.
“Hey,” he said.
What came out sounded like the croak of a sick frog but they heard him. They shot from their chairs, almost tripped over each other as they hurried to his side.
“Hey, yourself,” Matt said.
Cam ran the tip of his tongue over his lips. “How long?”
“Two weeks,” Alex replied.
Two weeks. God, two weeks!
“Salome?”
Matt made a cluck-cluck sound Cam knew meant he was stalling for time.
“What about this Salome?”
“I want to see her.”
His brothers exchanged a quick look. “Well,” Matt said cautiously, “you get back on your feet, I’m sure you’ll be able to—”
“She’s not here?”
“No,” Alex said, “she’s not.”
Had he dreamed his brothers had told him she was safe? Cam struggled up against the pillows.
“Didn’t you get her out with me? You did, didn’t you? You didn’t leave—”
“Easy, man. Of course we got her out. Took her on the chopper.” Alex squeezed Cam’s hand. “Landed you on board the USS Sentry. You were hanging on by a thread. You needed medical attention, fast.”
“What happened to Salome?”
“The chopper took her to Dubai.”
“And?”
“And…” Alex blew out a breath. “After that, I don’t know.”
“What do you mean, you don’t know?”
“He means,” Matt said carefully, “we don’t know. We stayed beside you on the Sentry while the medics worked on you. When you were stabilized, they airlifted you out.”
“You never checked to see what had happened to Salome in Dubai?”
“No,” Alex said bluntly, “we didn’t. It never occurred to us. We were too busy making sure you didn’t do something stupid, like die.”