Disclaimer: I do not own either of the Mission: Impossible series or any of the characters therein. I receive no compensation or any other tangible benefit from this story. I am just a fan who enjoys taking the team out for an adventure every now and then. 🙂
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Nemesis Chapter 28
By the time he finished talking with Max and Grant, it was nearing dusk. Nicholas returned to the critical care unit. He stopped first to check on Shannon, whose condition was largely unchanged. He only stayed with her for a few moments; he was anxious to get to Jim's room.
The elder agent appeared to be napping, but opened his eyes as soon as his friend entered. He still wore the oxygen cannula, but his color was much improved.
"Nicholas," Jim greeted.
The younger agent smiled. Even his voice sounded stronger. "You're looking better," he observed.
"I'm feeling better," Jim replied, returning his smile briefly before his face sobered again. "Physically, at least."
Nicholas sat down on the edge of Jim's bed and laid his hand on his leader's arm. "Well, I have some news that's gonna cheer you up," he announced, unable to stifle a grin. At Jim's puzzled expression, he continued. "It turns out Christie was wrong about Max and Grant, after all."
"They're alive?" Jim cried incredulously, sitting up in his bed, as the cardiac monitor went haywire.
"Take it easy, Jim," Nicholas soothed. "I saw them come in by rescue chopper. They're both injured, but it looks like they're going to be okay."
Jim sighed heavily in relief. "Thank heaven for that," he muttered. "What about Shannon?"
"She's still critical," Nicholas replied sadly. "She has pneumonia in both lungs. The doctors are doing all they can."
Just then a nurse poked her head in the door and quietly advised Nicholas that visiting hours in the critical care unit were over.
"They're kicking me out," he told Jim. "I've gotta go."
"But where?" Jim asked.
"I'll find a hotel room somewhere," Nicholas responded.
"All right, but be careful. And call back here and give the nurses the number where you're staying," Jim ordered. "I don't want anyone on my team out of touch again."
"I will," Nicholas agreed, smiling at his leader's protectiveness. "I'm going to stop in and make sure Max and Grant are settled in before I leave."
Nicholas was pleased that Max and Grant had been placed in the same room. He visited with them for just a few moments, then took a cab to a hotel a few miles away.
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Nicholas didn't sleep exceptionally well that night; too many things were running through his mind. It had been such a strange, eventful day.
The first part of the day had appeared hopeless - with Jim missing, Shannon critical, and Max and Grant presumed dead. But this evening had turned nearly everything around: all three of his male teammates were alive and were going to be all right.
But Shannon...
Nicholas was a man of quiet faith - he didn't necessarily practice it regularly or openly, but it was always somewhere inside him. When he'd located Jim, and again when Max and Grant had turned up at the hospital, he'd given thanks.
He knew he was pushing the limits. John Christie had wanted all five of them dead; the fact that they had all survived and four of them were on the road to recovery was already a miracle any way you looked at it. Was it too much to ask for Shannon to be all right, too?
And what of the mission? Nicholas knew that he ought to be content that they had survived, abandon the mission, and get out of Italy as soon as Shannon was stable enough to travel...if she ever got there. But he also knew his team - and himself - well enough to realize that Jim wouldn't be the only one determined to see it through.
Tomorrow, somehow, Nicholas would have to find a way to bring the four of them together and figure out what the next steps would be.
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(c) 2016
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