Acceptable Risks Read Online Free PDF Page B

show eagerness. “Need me for what?”
Matt flinched at the hardness in his voice. Jason knew it was unfair to treat Matt that way, but feeling rarely had anything to do with knowing.
“Thank you, Dr. Berwell,” Matt said, dismissing her.
Gabby flushed and backed out of the room. “I’ll have a few more things to go over, Jase, before you go. But we’re pretty close to done here.”
“Thanks, Gabby.”
Matt waited until the door closed, then clicked the lock and crossed the room to sit on a table opposite Jason. “I’m sorry I haven’t been down in a while.”
“It’s fine.”
“It’s not, and I know it.” His eyes looked bleak, and he rubbed the spot between his eyebrows with his thumb. “We’ve got a lot to talk about.”
Jason snorted at the understatement. Matt had wanted him to concentrate on his recovery, not whatever was happening outside the lab for the last six months. “Like why everyone thinks I’m dead?”
“Not everyone.”
True. Jason’s parents knew he was alive. He didn’t think Matt had given them much detail, though. He had talked to them on the phone, but they didn’t seem to have any clue about the extensiveness of the damage or how close to death he’d been. His mother had described the “nice funeral” as if it had been a graduation party. But then, she’d only seen the video, herself.
“Close enough.” Jason stood, his butt sore from the hard plastic. “Where’d you get the decorator for this place, anyway? Secret Experiments R Us?”
“I don’t know, it was here when we moved into the building.” Matt’s voice was weary, and a shard of pity stabbed through Jason’s frustration.
“Why don’t you just start with the accident and go from there,” he said.
Matt drew a deep breath and blew it out. “You saved my life. The bullet that hit your shoulder would have gone right through my heart.”
For the first time, Jason had an inkling of what Matt had gone through, watching him fall, thinking him dead. He couldn’t imagine life without Matt in it. They’d been friends, members of the same health club, before they’d been boss and employee. Jason was only twenty-one when they met, but he’d known since high school what he wanted to do. After a criminology degree, three summer internships with the FBI, and jobs running security at various businesses during the school year, he’d convinced Matt to make him one of his operatives. Within five years, he’d worked his way up through each level in the company until he’d become Matt’s right-hand man at the office, as well as his sounding board, weightlifting spotter, and designated receiver during pickup football games in the park. Since Kelly, Matt’s wife, died, Jason often felt that all they had was each other.
“I’m glad you weren’t hit,” was all he could think of to say. He folded his arms and leaned against the treadmill.
“I’m not. Well, I wasn’t. I watched you trip over that guy’s legs—”
“Yeah, can we not mention that part anymore?” Jason cut in. “Kinda ruins the whole hero thing.”
Matt’s eyes crinkled but he didn’t seem to have enough energy to smile. “I saw you go over. Heard your body bouncing from rail to rail. Watched you hit the steps eight floors down. I didn’t think there was any way you could be alive.”
Jason knew the rest. How he somehow hadn’t hit his head, at least not hard enough for brain trauma. He’d ruptured his spleen, lacerated his liver, and damaged enough intestine to require a resection and a temporary colostomy (thank God he’d been asleep until after they reversed that ). Plus all the shredded muscle-shattered bone stuff.
They didn’t need to dwell on the how. Jason said, “No one seems to know if you found out what it was about. Who attacked us and why.”
“Hummingbird wouldn’t still be here if we hadn’t.” Matt slumped over and rubbed his hands together, slowly, between his knees. “Kolanko’s ex-wife—not Adrina’s mother—found