Rising Tomorrow (Roc de Chere Book 1) by Mariana Morgan (essential reading txt) 📕

‘Thanks,’ Eloise croaked after a moment. The word came out stiff, as if the hours she had spent in the coma had robbed her of her ability to control her body. Which they sort of had. ‘How… long?’ she asked. It felt like days, weeks even.

‘Just under eighteen hours since I brought you in,’ Rivas said. ‘We let the Medibot run its full course.’

‘We?’ Eloise asked, unsure why she had fixated on the pronoun. She could tell there were memories that she hadn’t yet gained access to, but somehow the pronoun felt important. A few more minutes as the waking-up process progressed and she would have a better understanding. At least it was less scary this time. At least this time she knew where she was and why.

Instead of answering, Rivas parked himself on a chair next to Eloise’s bed, and the woman felt his fingers working their way around her hand for a squeeze. Surprisingly, the instinct to pull away wasn’t there. She blamed the tail end of the nano-induced coma, but really, she wasn’t all that sure. The warmth of his hand felt good.

Minutes passed in companionable silence.

‘How come you weren’t ordered to cut the treatment to the bare minimum?’ Eloise was unwilling to let it go, her voice stronger with each passing second as the sedatives wore off. ‘I thought time was of the essence?’ The sarcastic vitriol in her voice stung.

‘Eloise, I know what you must be thinking—’

‘Don’t!’ She jerked herself fully upright into a sitting position, moving away from him and pressing her back into the wall. ‘I was set up. I was used. I—’ She wanted to be angry, she wanted to shout and punch, but there was no energy left, and she felt hot tears rolling down her cheeks. She could have died ten times over in that utter fuck-up of an op, bringing the total in the last nine days to somewhere around two dozen, but what she was really struggling with was the betrayal. They needed her for her expertise; she herself was so damn expendable. The exhaustion she felt enveloping her wasn’t just the effect of the nanobots still coursing through her bloodstream; she felt equally as drained on an emotional level.

Without a warning, the door opened, and Gonzalez walked in. They had agreed he would watch her waking up on a security cam, but he couldn’t sit idly by, letting someone else deal with the mess he had created.

‘Sir, I’ve got this.’ Rivas stood up, placing himself between Gonzalez and Eloise. The protectiveness he felt surprised even him, but he had no doubt in his mind about what was right or wrong. Eloise deserved some… gentleness after everything that had happened.

‘Sit down, Lieutenant,’ Gonzalez ordered, his hand on the other man’s shoulder as if to push him out of the way. But there was no force, just a reassuring squeeze as their eyes met. ‘Raymond, you can stay here, but please let me talk to her.’ His voice was so unnaturally gentle that even Eloise looked up, confused. She knew Gonzalez was an excellent actor—they all were, from what she had seen so far—so she tried to remain sceptical, but the temptation to fall for his charm again was strong.

The mental effort of trying to stay focused intensified her headache. She winced, and her hands shot up to her temples. The urge to claw her brain out and put it back in when it had stopped pounding was overwhelming, and her fingers tightened, her nails digging into her scalp. She sensed rather than saw Rivas’ movement as the man tried to get closer to help, but Gonzalez’s hand stopped him.

‘You fucking asshole.’ Eloise fought the pain, and the rising nausea, while she glared at Gonzalez. ‘It would kill you to give a fuck about another human being, wouldn’t it? When I panic you pump me full of meds so you can use me, but when I’m writhing in pain, you’re just going to stand there enjoying it, aren’t you?’

The pain blurred her vision, leaving Gonzalez’s reaction to her words a mystery, but she was convinced he didn’t even flinch. She was convinced he didn’t care. Her hands were back to her head, fingers digging in hard.

Without a word, Gonzalez pulled a syringe full of nano-painkillers from a cabinet and put it on the bed next to Eloise. She looked at the shiny metal casing, desperate for the relief, but she couldn’t make her body move. Finally, she lifted her eyes to Gonzalez, and he made an inviting gesture with his hand.

‘It’s tamper-resistant; it is what the label says,’ he reassured her, his voice emotionless, but the Elite woman just stared at him, ignoring the syringe. ‘Suit yourself,’ Gonzalez said, a slight coldness creeping into his voice.

He wanted nothing more than to be soft and reassuring, but every fibre of his being screamed at him to not give in to that temptation. He picked the syringe up and threw it back into the drawer, pretending not to notice Eloise’s gasp of disappointment.

Their eyes locked again, her pain fuelling her rage.

‘Well, fuck you. Hope you enjoyed the help you got, because that’s it. Next time you need to send someone on a suicide mission, I suggest you send your own worthless ass. Or maybe one of those fucking subordinates of yours that seem to worship the fucking ground you walk on, because I’m out. You’re just as sick as that sonofabitch Wagner, treating humans—women—as disposable fucking shit!’

She’d kill to have the strength to pounce on him, land a blow or two, but she was under no illusion that she would get that far. And she wasn’t sure what he would do in return.

‘Eloise, I am detecting elevated—’ Tilly’s voice rang out, only to be cut off firmly.

‘Shut your face, Tilly!’ Eloise snapped. ‘I don’t want to hear another fucking word out of you either.’

‘Eloise, please, you’re—’

‘Override authorisation Eloise Moretti beta three epsilon eight five four. Disengage