Under The Surface

Amelia looked up.

The nurse didn’t smile. “He’s stable. Vitals are holding. He’s alert enough to talk.”

"And?"

“There’s one more thing,” the nurse added, her tone quieter now. “We found something during imaging. A small foreign object embedded under the third rib. No surgical scar. No obvious trauma.”

Amelia’s breath hitched.

The nurse nodded. “Metallic. Likely guess, a tracker. We haven’t told him. We thought… maybe you should.”

"So, I can go talk to him now?"

"Yes."

Amelia turned back at Luke who gave her a go ahead nod.

The halls felt too long. Her footsteps too loud. When she reached the room, the security detail outside gave a small nod, then stepped aside.

Frederick was awake.

Pale, yes. Hooked up to fluids, still groggy. But awake. His head turned when she walked in, his eyes tracking her slowly.

“You look like hell” he rasped.

Amelia said nothing. She crossed to the side of the bed and scanned the monitors out of habit.

Frederick watched her the whole time.

“How bad is it?”

“You’re lucky,” she said, keeping her tone clinical. “Two cracked ribs. Clean gash to your side. Mild concussion. You’ll heal.”

He raised an eyebrow, like he didn’t believe her.

She didn’t elaborate.

He shifted slightly, winced. “You’re mad.”

She didn’t look at him.

“I get it.”

She finally turned, met his eyes. Held his gaze just long enough for the silence to thicken between them.

“I have something else to tell you." she said.

He waited.

She nodded once. “They found something. Near your rib. Small, metallic. Buried deep. Someone tagged you.”

His jaw tightened.

"They said we can take it out but you know you'll be going in for surgery. Just wanted to make sure you understood." She avoided eye contact with him

"Amelia." He said slowly. Like it ached to say her name. She turned to him but didn't respond. "I don't want you here as my doctor or nurse. I want you here as someone who sees me. So, even if it's pretend, can you stay here?"

The last thing she wanted was this. him becoming her undoing.

"Yea, sure. You don't have to be so dramatic about it." She scoffed and looked away.

"Oh?" He rose an eyebrow with a sly look.

"I'm going to get..."

The door opened behind her.

Luke stepped in, breath short, phone still in his hand. His face said everything before he spoke.

“They hit us." he said flatly.

Amelia turned. “What do you mean they hit us?”

“One of the Blackwell branches. The LA tech division. Armed men stormed the offices ten minutes ago.”

Frederick sat up straighter, pain flashing across his face and instantly regretting his decision “Casualties?”

Luke nodded. “Security’s injured. One in critical. We’re locking everything down now, but they were precise. They knew the schedule, the entry codes, even the location of the backup server.”

Frederick’s jaw locked. “They weren’t after me.”

“No,” Luke said. “They’re after the empire now.”

The silence was immediate. Tighter than before.

"Frederick's going into surgery now and you're going to get the LA police on the case now. it'll be foolish to fly out now. Have two men follow me home to grab things and tighten the security around this hospital. No one except me comes in or goes out until he's out of surgery. You're going back to base to make sure everything is secure. Documents and whatnot."

She stopped to catch her breath.

Frederick who had been quiet since she started talking turned to Luke. "You heard the lady, get on it."

Luke dashed out of the room and Amelia turned to Frederick, moving closer to his bed.

"We need to get that tracker out of you ASAP. So, I'm sending you in now and you'll see me by morning."

"Okay." His fingers curled against the sheets.

Amelia stepped back instinctively, not in fear, but in realization.

Whatever this was, it wasn’t about one man anymore.

And if she stayed, she’d be in it completely.