In Death 06 - Vengeance in Death

white dots circled in front of her eyes so that she barely saw Roarke face as he dropped beside her. "I almost had him."
    "Of course." Even as he gathered her up, rocked her, she fainted. "Of course you did."
    When she came to she was on the sofa, with Summerset efficiently treating her arm. "Get the hell away from me."
    "This needs tending. You're badly injured, but Roarke seems to believe you'll be more cooperative here than at a health center."
    "I have to call this in."
    "Another few moments won't matter. The boy won't be less dead."
    She closed her eyes, too tired and battered to argue. Her side was screaming, and whatever Summerset was doing to her arm was just one more small torture.
    His hands were as gentle as a mother's with an infant, but he knew he hurt her. "You saved my life. You stepped in front of me. Why?"
    "It's my job, don't take it personally. It wasn't set on full power anyway. Oh shit." The moan escaped her clenched teeth. "Ten years I've been a cop. First time I took a stunner hit full body. Christ, it really hurts, everywhere, all at once. Where's Roarke?"
    "He'll be right here." Instinctively he stroked her hair back from her damp face. "Don't squirm. It'll only cause you more discomfort."
    "Nothing could." She opened her eyes again, looked into his. "I fired the weapon that killed Liam Calhoun. I fired it before Roarke came in. Do you understand?"
    Summerset studied her for a long moment. Pain swam in her eyes, must have been screaming through her system. But she thought of Roarke. "Yes, Lieutenant. I understand."
    "No, you didn't kill him," Roarke corrected. "Summerset, I expect you to give a clear and truthful statement. You're not going through Testing for this, Eve. Not for this. Here, you need to sit up a bit to drink this."
    "You shouldn't have had the weapon. It'll complicate -- Where did you get the weapon?"
    "You gave it to me." He smiled as he eased her up, his arm supporting her neck. "Your clinch piece. I never gave it back."
    "I forgot."
    "I hardly think the authorities are going to give me any trouble about it. Drink this."
    "What is it? I don't want it."
    "Don't be such a baby. It's just a soother -- mild, I promise. It'll help the pain."
    "No, I --" She choked a bit when Roarke simply poured some of the tranq down her throat. "I have to call this in."
    Roarke sighed. "Summerset, would you contact Commander Whitney and tell him what's happened here tonight?"
    "Yes." He hesitated, then gathered up the bloody cloth. "I'm very obliged to you, Lieutenant, and I regret that you were injured performing your duties."
    When he walked out she pursed her lips. "I'll have to get blasted more often. He didn't even sneer at me."
    "He told me what happened. And that you're the most courageous and foolish woman he's ever known. At the moment, I have to agree."
    "Yeah, well, we lived. I'll take the rest of that soother now that he's gone. The arm's some better, but my side's killing me."
    "You took a kick." Gently, Roarke lifted her higher so that he could sit down with her resting against him. "My brave and foolish cop. I love you."
    "I know. He was only nineteen."
    "Evil isn't the exclusive territory of adults."
    "No." She closed her eyes as the pain eased away toward numbness. "I wanted to take him alive. You wanted him dead. He swung the tide in your favor." She turned her head. "You'd have killed him anyway."
    "Do you want me to deny it?" He lowered his lips to her brow. "Justice, Eve, is weak and thin without the underpinning of retribution."
    She sighed, rested her head, closed her eyes again. "What the hell are we doing together anyway?"
    "Leading lives that are often too interesting. Darling Eve, I wouldn't change a moment."
    She looked around the wreckage of the lovely room, at the wasted boy on the floor. And felt Roarke's lips brush over her hair. "Me either."
    The End