Girl of Rage Read Free Page B

feelings for his ex-wife. His ex-wife, who left him and remarried a college professor of all things. It pissed him off that from the moment he’d gotten her phone call, he hadn’t been able to think about anything else.
    So he drove through the storm in a fog, the rain drumming against the roof of the car, then he walked through the hospital paying little attention to his surroundings, until he finally reached the trauma center at George-Washington University Hospital—the epicenter of the convulsion which had taken one of his daughters and destroyed his marriage.
    He’d been here before. Four years before, to be exact. It was the end, really, of his and Leah’s marriage, although neither of them knew it at the time. At the time they thought they were there because their eldest daughter was diagnosed with encephalitis. They thought they were there because loving couples support each other through crises.
    But when Leanne died of the brain infection, their marriage died too. Part of Bear’s soul died, really. He tried to be there for Leah. He did. But all he could see was their daughter. Dying. He had nightmares—nightmares where he woke up choking, nightmares where Leah was shot on duty, and he’d begun to fight for her to switch to a desk job.
    Their mild arguments turned into loud ones, and that was fine, until they went silent. When she went silent. One year after Leanne’s death, an angry silence reigned over their home. Until she left him. Then Bear was transferred overseas—without her.
    The thing was, Bear never said goodbye. Not to Leanne. Not to Leah. Not to his marriage, or his life. So now, being back in Washington—even if only briefly—supervising his ex-wife? Not something Bear wanted. It was old wounds being torn open, problems being stirred up. If it hadn’t been for Andrea Thompson’s kidnapping, Bear would have spent a quiet week in Washington before being reassigned.
    Wouldn’t that have been nice?
    Shit.
    Gary Simpson was pacing in the waiting area. Leah’s husband .
    She hadn’t been married long. Only a year ago, Bear had been up to his ears in terrorists and jihadis in Islamabad. But he still called Jimmy and Rebecca, via Skype every Sunday afternoon. The kids were getting older, and it had been a couple of years since the divorce was final, so the fact that Leah was dating shouldn’t have been any surprise to him.
    Married though? That was a surprise. To Bear, her getting remarried was final in a way the divorce hadn’t been. So when she broke the news one day via Skype, he congratulated her, and then got off the line as quickly as possible.
    He’d never admitted to himself that he’d secretly believed they’d one day get back together.
    He’d never admitted to himself that their divorce had broken his heart.
    Now he was faced with Gary Simpson, who approached him with a wounded, red-faced expression. Simpson was everything Bear wasn’t—an intellectual, a college professor, an academic. Simpson would have set off every alarm Bear had for a limp wristed pretty boy. Except for the fact that he was built like a truck and had earned his first degree, a Bachelors in Economics, with a full scholarship as a fullback at Notre Dame. He’d gone on to earn a Masters and a PhD at Harvard.
    In short, Gary Simpson was a man to be reckoned with. And right now his face reflected nothing but rage.
    Bear started to back up when Gary got close.
    “Gary, chill,” he said.
    “Motherfucker,” Simpson said, preparing to take a swing.
    “Gary! This isn’t going to help Leah!” Bear got his arms up in a protective stance as he shouted the words.
    “You got her shot. Doctors said she might die.”
    “I didn’t get her shot, Gary.”
    Simpson moved to attack again, and Bear stepped back. “Gary. I just came to find out how she is.”
    “What do you care?”
    Bear sighed and dropped his arms to his side. “Fine. Hit me. Whatever. I don’t care, Gary. I just want to know how she is.” As a