Protecting Zoey

Chapter 18: Terminated

Mason awoke a few hours later lying in a small hospital bed as his vision gradually returned to him. He started panicking as he looked around the room and finally breathing again when he saw Olivia laying in the bed beside him. Mason forced himself out of the bed gripping his left side with his arm as the pain shot through him.

It took him a moment before he got to Olivia's bedside and sat down beside her. As soon as he placed his hand on her cheek the door opened and Markos walked through with another woman wearing a suit.

"He's awake already?" The woman asked as she looked at Mason with confusion. "That's, unexpected."

"What happened?" Mason asked the frustration apparent in his voice. "Is she going to be, okay?"

"She'll be alright," Markos stated as he approached Mason's side. "She's lost a lot of blood, but they did a transfusion and she'll be alright in a few hours. I'm more surprised by you Mason."

"What do you mean?" Mason asked shifting himself slightly while still gripping his side to reduce the pain. "I should have been able to take out all three of them, what the hell was the deal?"

"You've fallen into something you'll have a hard time understanding Mason," Markos replied raising his eyebrow. "But now isn't the time to get into details, just know that Olivia likely saved your life in the first place. I'm just happy I got there before it was any worse."

"So, who were those people?" Mason asked looking back at Olivia before continuing. "Did you get them? Are they in jail?"

"They weren't people," The woman interjected. "It's not like we can just throw them in jail, they operate with impunity."

Mason looked at her with a raised eyebrow but before he could say anything, Markos placed his hand on his shoulder and held his other up toward the woman. She stopped speaking and looked toward the ground before Markos continued.

"I'll explain everything to you later Mason, but for now you need to rest," Markos stated. "You've both been through a lot, and we still have some cleaning up to do at the warehouse."

Markos helped Mason stand up holding onto his arm and shoulder and guiding him back to his bed. Mason laid back on the bed before he thought to ask another question that almost made him sick to his stomach.

"The other people in the warehouse?" He asked half heartedly assuming he already had a good idea of what would happen.

Neither of them said a word, they simply looked toward the ground as Mason looked between the two of them before he finally nodded and laid back down in his bed. He winced as the pain radiated through his body.

"You have visitors if you feel up to it," Markos asked looking back from the door, his tone much more somber than earlier. "You want me to send them in?"

"Yeah," Mason said closing his eyes for a moment before whatever new challenge could walk through the door. "Otherwise, I'm sure I'll be in trouble with someone."

"I have no doubt about that." Markos finished as he and the woman exited the room and Mason continued to inspect the inside of his eyelids, his thoughts continuing to turn back to the people strewn throughout the warehouse and the soft cries still echoed through his mind.

It didn't take long before the door to the room opened again, after a moment Mason felt pressure beside him but no one said anything. He opened his eyes to see both Millie and Zoey lying beside him on the bed looking at him with teary eyes and Garrett sitting in the chair beside the bed.

"I take it The Den wasn't as advertised?" Garrett stated in his usual dry humor as tears streamed down the girl's face. "How are you holding up big guy?"