Page 16 of Finding Lexie
He pulled a chair closer to the bed, putting himself between Lexie and the door, and stared at the woman on the table as she slept.
What was it about her that drew him so unexpectedly? It made no sense. He didn’t even really know her. But what he’d learned since seeing her lying on a thin pallet in the desert was enough for him to want to know more.
He gave some thought to how they might continue to get reacquainted, but everything his mind came up with seemed flimsy. He had no idea what she was planning to do once they got to the US Navy ship. He assumed she’d fly back to the States until Food For All assigned her another post. Midas didn’t know nearly enough about the organization to guess how many locations they might have around the world. Would Lexie head back to Africa? South America? The Caribbean? There were so many people who needed assistance, she could literally be sent anywhere.
And he’d be in Hawaii, where he was stationed. Paradise. Of course, there were people who were in need there too, but he didn’t imagine Hawaii was on Food For All’s short list for sending people to help.
Sighing, Midas shook his head. He couldn’t think of how in the world he and Lexie would ever be able to have a real relationship…not that he had any idea she’d even be interested.
Although…he’d seen the way she’d studied him earlier.
He couldn’t believe he’d been about to kiss her. Talk about inappropriate.
No, it wasn’t smart to keep in touch with Lexie after they got out of here. It was too complicated. He still had quite a few years in the Navy and he couldn’t imagine, after years of traveling around the world, that Lexie would want to settle down in one place. She’d be bored in a week.
Feeling depressed over a relationship that was ending before it had even started, Midas closed his eyes and scooted down in the chair so he could rest his head on the back. He crossed his feet at the ankles and did his best to turn off his mind.
A loud bang jerked Midas out of his catnap fifteen minutes later.
He bolted upright in the chair and cocked his head, trying to figure out what it was that had woken him.
When a second boom quickly sounded, Midas moved. He jumped to his feet and was by Lexie’s side in a heartbeat.
“Lex? Wake up!” he said in a low, urgent tone.
Her eyes immediately popped open and she stared up at him. “What’s wrong?”
Midas was about to pull her to her feet when he saw the IV sticking out of her arm. He swore. “Stay still for a second,” he ordered.
Lexie nodded without hesitation. He had a moment to be grateful that she wasn’t asking him a million questions as he reached for the IV he’d put in not too long ago. She hadn’t gotten as much of the saline solution into her body as he would’ve liked, but it couldn’t be helped. He quickly slid the needle out of her arm and pressed hard on the small puncture wound with his thumb, even as he was pulling her into a sitting position.
He could hear yelling now. It was muffled, coming from somewhere within the hospital. He didn’t know how much time they had, but he guessed it wasn’t much.
“We need to get out of here,” he told Lexie.
She nodded. “Okay.”
Fuck, Midas was impressed. She wasn’t panicking. He could see she was scared—her eyes had dilated and she was breathing a bit too fast—but she was holding it together.
He picked up her hand and pressed it over the small wound on her inner arm. “It’ll stop bleeding soon, but for now, keep pressure on it.”
Lexie nodded as he took her free hand and headed for the door. He listened for a moment, then eased it open a crack. Hearing men yelling from the stairway, he immediately closed it again. Without a word, he towed Lexie toward the window.
“Midas?”
“Something’s wrong,” he said, stating the obvious. “I haven’t heard from my team, but I’m guessing the missing kidnappers figured out where you and Dagmar were taken, and they aren’t happy.”
“Do you think they’re okay?” she asked.
“The kidnappers?” Midas asked in confusion as he concentrated on opening the window and formulating an escape plan.
“No. Your friends. And Dagmar.”
“They’re fine,” Midas told her. In actuality, he had no idea what was happening downstairs in the hospital. He wasn’t getting any intel through his radio, but he didn’t have time to worry about it. He needed to get Lexie out and away from whoever was currently taking over the hospital. And he figured he had about three minutes, tops, before the men in the stairwell opened the exam room door in the search for their missing hostages.
Looking out the window, Midas was relieved to see a gutter downspout right outside the window. He turned to Lexie. “I’ll go first. All you need to do is stand on the small ledge outside the window, shimmy over to the gutter and then slide down. Okay?”
Lexie peered around him out the window, then looked back at him with huge hazel eyes. “Are you crazy?” she asked.
