Echo 8 Read Online Free PDF

at the bed, he froze in his tracks.
    Carmichael had peeled off Tess’s clothes, leaving her luminous, slender body concealed by nothing but a short tank top and low-cut briefs. Dropping his gaze, he nudged himself forward and joined Carmichael. He bent and lifted Tess, breath hissing through his teeth as he felt her marble-cold skin through his shirt.
    Carmichael followed him to the bathroom, and he lowered Tess into the tub. The director grabbed a towel from a shelf and eased it behind Tess’s head.
    â€œJust like Goff,” she muttered. “Stay with her, Ross. I’m going upstairs for dry clothes and blankets.”
    She rose to her feet but hesitated in the doorway.
    Ross turned partway, one arm still pinned under Tess’s shoulders.
    â€œCan I count on your help, Ross?”
    He knew the director hadn’t yet decided whether he was trustworthy. He couldn’t blame her for that. He answered to the Bureau, not to Carmichael, and the Bureau had its own agenda. They hadn’t sent Ross all the way from D.C. merely to serve as Tess’s bodyguard.
    â€œOf course,” he replied.
    As Carmichael left them, his gaze returned to Tess’s almost translucent features. His eyes traveled the length of her body to the deep-crimson polish on her toes. He listened to her shallow breathing. He pressed the pads of his fingers to her throat and felt the weak throbbing of the artery.
    The two of them were the same, really. Moving parts in a machine whose purpose had not been revealed to them. The only difference was Ross knew about the machine. He’d signed on to serve it without condition. But Tess … she was just trying to do the right thing.
    Ross touched the inch-wide streak of white in her wavy auburn hair. “Come on, Doctor,” he muttered. “I’m staring at your half-naked body. Wake up and tell me what an asshole I am.”
    The muscles in his throat hardened and he reached for the tap. The water in the tub was already cooling.
    *   *   *
    When the physician arrived, the first thing she did was order Tess out of the tub. Ross waited in the other room while the others dried her and wrapped her in blankets, and Dr. Bakshi’s EMT moved her back to the bed. The physician examined Tess briefly and pronounced there was nothing more she could do unless Tess went to a hospital.
    â€œThe VA?” suggested Ross. “It’s the most secure.”
    Dr. Bakshi shook her head. “Director Garcia has already made that call. No hospitals unless her condition deteriorates.”
    â€œIf her condition deteriorates she’ll be dead ,” protested Carmichael.
    â€œI have my orders,” Bakshi replied. “I’ll stay until she shows improvement.”
    Ross studied the physician and got the feeling she was less concerned about Tess showing improvement than what would happen if she and her EMT left the facility—that Carmichael would flout the Bureau director and take Tess to the hospital.
    â€œWhat should we be doing?” asked Ross, heading off more protests from Carmichael. He understood her position—was not, in fact, on board with the Bureau’s long-distance pronouncement—but they were wasting time.
    â€œShe’s hypothermic,” replied Bakshi, her gaze resting on Carmichael. “The safest treatment is skin-to-skin contact with someone warmer. You have something else she needs too, though I don’t currently have any medical understanding of it.”
    When both Ross and Carmichael stared at her blankly, she continued. “It’s probably worth seeing whether energy can be shared along with body heat.”
    Carmichael was already unbuttoning her shirt.
    Ross turned. “I’m going down to check on the—” Tess’s request that he not use the word “fade” rose to his mind unbidden. “I’ll be back.”
    *   *   *
    â€œHe’s been asking