Jared managed to keep him back with a scowl. “I need to go after Grace.”
“You’re in no shape to go after anyone.” Jaxson exchanged a look with Jace, who nodded. “But if you tell us what’s going on, then we can do what needs to be done.”
Jared sucked in a breath. Some of his strength was returning, but it was still pretty bad. “Grace was going to tell the Senator she was a shifter, but before she could, Agent Smith showed up.”
Jaxson’s eyebrows flew up. “Holy shit.”
“Those would’ve been my exact words,” Jared said with a nod, “but I was too busy trying to kill him. He shot me and dumped me at some motel, trying to get rid of me, I think, while keeping all of it away from the Senator. But all this could’ve blown back on Grace. I need to know if she got out of that room okay. Agent Smith tranqed me—I don’t know what happened to her.”
“Okay, okay,” Jace said, holding his hands up to placate Jared. “We’ll find out what we can about Grace.”
“We don’t have time to mess around.” Jared struggled to sit up again, and this time he batted away his brother’s hands as Jace tried to stop him. “You’re not going to stop me from going after her.”
Jace gave an elaborate sigh, and Jaxson just shook his head.
“Well, I’m glad to see you’re just stubborn and not doing something stupid that might result in your death.” Jaxson gave him a hard look.
Jace pulled out his cell phone. “I’ll just check in with Garrison Allied—”
“No!” Jared said, making a swipe for the phone but missing so awkwardly it was clear he was in no shape to do anything. But he had to keep his brothers from screwing things up… worse than they already were. “Garrison Allied’s already in deep shit the Senator. I was undercover, remember? He’s probably already reamed them a new one. They’re not going to help us.” He rested his head in his hands. It was throbbing, but at least it wasn’t spinning like he remembered before the surgery. “The key is Agent Smith. He’s obviously still here in Seattle, and we know he’s working with the Senator. There has to be some way to track him. And you should call the campaign office and ask for Grace. If she’s okay, she’d be going about her normal business, and that’s where she would be.”
Jaxson frowned, but he didn’t disagree. “All right, here’s the deal: you stay here, get some rest, and Jace and I will track down these leads. If you’re not resting, then we have to sit here and babysit you to make sure you heal up the rest of the way and can be worth a damn in helping us rescue her. If that’s even necessary.”
Jared couldn’t deny the weakness that was still running through his body. He wouldn’t be any good to Grace if he just collapsed while trying to rescue her. Still… it was killing him not to crawl out of the bed and go after her. With great reluctance, he gave Jaxson a small nod of agreement and leaned back against the pillows of his bed.
Jace was heading for the bedroom door, but turned back to ask, “Do you still have that facial recognition software program running?”
“Yeah. That’s good thinking.” It was a testament to how messed up he was that he hadn’t thought of it first. “If Agent Smith’s in Seattle, we should be able to line up some of those traces. And, Jace, he’s using an alias—at least in his dealings with the Senator. Name is Robert Sanders. You might get some hits on that.”
“I’m on it.” Jace disappeared out the door. Jaxson hurried after him.
Jared sunk into the softness of the pillows. He would just take a short nap, then call his brothers back up. Or go hunt them down. If Jace had done his job sewing him up, it shouldn’t take long for Jared to get back to full strength. The fact that he’d only just now woken up was a bad sign… but a little more rest should do it. His body felt like it weighed ten times normal as he let himself relax. Sleep grabbed him and threw him down a deep, dark well.
When Jared awoke this time, the sun had gone down and moonlight was already shining through his bedroom window. But when he sat up, his headache was gone and a new sense of energy flushed through his body. He tested it out by swinging his legs over the side the bed, and when they felt steady, he got up. He stretched out the aches and pains—and noticed he had several new scars—but he felt pretty good. Probably about eighty percent.
Which was plenty good enough to go after Grace.
With any luck, she would have spent the day doing campaign activities. He kind of hoped she worried about him, just a little… and that hope was a strange sensation inside his chest. Not that he really wanted her to worry. But he did. Along with the urgent desire to believe the connection between them wasn’t just in his imagination.