Allegiance Read Online Free PDF Page B

tried to move his body, but couldn’t. Splinters was gone. He had stopped falling.
    Before Dr Abdul led Stephanie into the ward, he paused at the door.
    ‘He’s still very weak and he might present a bit confused because of the drugs. But overnight there was a huge improvement in his condition. The only thing we’re worried about now is infection, but we’re pumping him with antibiotics so hopefully there’s no risk there.’
    Stephanie nodded quickly and eagerly pointed at the door. ‘Thanks, Doctor. Can I see him now?’
    Durant managed a smile when he saw his wife, a smile which twisted into a grimace of pain as she scooped the drips out the way and embraced him, sobbing uncontrollably. Presently, and mercifully for Durant, she lifted her head and a tear rolled from her eye and fell onto his face, burning his cracked lips.
    ‘I missed you so much,’ she said softly in a voice halted by sobs. He barely caught the words above the hum of the ward’s air conditioning.
    Durant tried to speak, but couldn’t. It was a combination of emotion and an inability to make his voice function again after so long. Stephanie slipped a straw between his lips and he drew the water down his parched throat. He coughed violently, and Stephanie saw pain in his eyes which was hard for her to bear.
    ‘You don’t have to say anything,’ she said.
    ‘How’s . . . things . . . at home?’ He heard the words come out as a croak and had to cough again to clear his throat.
    Stephanie smiled and shook her head while wiping away more tears. She was happily exasperated at his worrying about her when he’d just cheated death, but quietly ecstatic that he was displaying signs of his old self. Worrying about practical stuff. ‘Everything’s fine, don’t worry.’
    Durant tried to sit up, an action which was completely outside of his ability. Stephanie heard the sharp inhalation of breath and saw him screw up his eyes as he slid back down onto the pillow. ‘I feel so . . . helpless. I want to go home.’
    ‘I want you home too. But you need to get better first.’ Stephanie put her hand into his and it felt cold and dry. He did look helpless lying in that hospital bed. She couldn’t remember when last he’d even taken a day off work for being sick. She silently contemplated how different things might become. Perhaps he’d be over his quest for adventure and excitement now. Take a desk job. Send the younger members into the field, become an analyst or trainer. She was not willing to sacrifice her husband to the Agency any more.
    ‘Merry Christmas, by the way,’ he said softly and the words shocked her. He had no idea how long he’d been unconscious for.
    ‘Kevin,’ she squeezed his hand gently, reassuringly. ‘We’re in the new year already.’
    Durant shook his head slowly. ‘I missed Christmas?’
    ‘Yes.’ The word came out as a clenched sob.
    ‘I was supposed to . . .’ Durant grimaced in pain as he tried to sit up again, ‘fetch the cakes.’
    ‘I brought you something,’ Stephanie said quickly, distracting Durant from the sad thought that he’d lost so many days of his life.
    She flipped open her bag and showed Durant his notebook. She thumbed it open to the page he’d written before he left home on Christmas Eve.
    ‘“Things to do tomorrow,”’ he read, and smiled. ‘I wrote that.’
    ‘Now you can finish it.’
    In the same hospital, but two floors down in a lounge area, Arshad Tanveer had his head in his arms. The maternity ward was generally a happy place, but Tanveer had no reason to rejoice. Mariam falling pregnant hadn’t been part of the plan and now that the baby had been born, it complicated matters exponentially. Everything had happened so fast, too fast, but he had to remain focused. She’d insisted on getting married and the nikka had been small with only a few of her family members coming to the celebration. In the space of a year he’d become a husband and a father. At least it legitimised