(The Push Chronicles (Book 2): Indefatigable by J.B. Garner Read Free Book Online Page A

that."  That frustration was building up inside me.  No matter who I talked to these days, no matter what good I was doing, I was always the villain of the argument.  "I'll sit back, take a day off, and let, who knows, a dozen people die?  Or should I only take the day off if it will only cost five lives?  Twenty?"
    "You keep this up, Doc," he replied, "and you'll only be responsible for one death: your own.  Even with how fast you heal, you're getting hurt faster than you get patched back together."  He turned towards me, a deep frown etched on his features.  "Nobody here wants to see that day when someone brings you back home in a body bag."
    I wanted to shout something, to make a clever retort, to demand he give me the pain-killers and muscle relaxants that I swore I needed to keep doing my job.  Staring into his eyes, though, I couldn't.  I could almost see what I was turning into reflected back at me.  My stomach flipped as I lost my focus, bringing all the physical pain rushing back in one giant wave.
    Duane was there, catching me by my good arm before I crashed to the floor.  The world lurched for a moment and then stabilized.  I was still in agony and my stomach was tossing and turning, but I could stand.  Even so, I didn't push Brooks away.
    "What the hell am I doing, Duane?"
    "Doc, let me get Tank or Ex to get you to your room.  Just get some rest and shit will sort itself out."
    "Look, keep the team on task."  I poked Duane with a finger.  "This is a plague and -"
    "I can do the damn math, Irene."  Duane gave me a hard look.  "But there isn't anything you can do until your shit is together."  He put me into a chair.  "Now sit."
    "Like I have a choice."  I tried to find a position that didn't aggravate the wound in my back.  I had to concede one thing, for certain.  I was in no condition right this moment to go back out in the field.  Plotting with myself, I conspired to get a few hours rest, then be back up and ready before sundown.  That would be when things would get scary and I would have to be ready for it.
     
    "I didn't even know you were back," I remarked as Medusa helped me through the door to my quarters.  The Latino snake-woman smiled, unable to conceal a hint of fang.
    "When Rachel put out the call, well, my leadsss weren't panning out anyway," she replied, her snake hair twisting and writhing.  If Ex was my actual ex and Tank my younger brother, Medusa would be my best friend.  She was the most inhuman in appearance of the Atlanta Five, but perhaps the most human underneath the shell.   "A call to armsss ssseemed more important than quesstioning the same men for the tenth time, especially when it wasss you in trouble."  I was regaining my own feet, but Duane had still been insistent that someone help me up to the room.  Now that the pain wasn't crashing down in one sudden lump, I could manage it.  That didn't stop me from letting Medusa help me down to the side of my bed.
    "Thanks, I appreciate it," I said honestly.  "With everything going on, I don't want to be in the way, so if you want to catch up with everyone down at the lab -"  Medusa waved a scaled hand to cut me off.
    "No way, chica ," she said.  "From what I'm getting over the mind link, I don't need to be around to watch thisss Crussader and Ex puff up like cobrasss at each other."  Her snakes hissed.  "Men, right?"
    "No comment.  I had to keep them from an all-out brawl when Extinguisher showed up in the first place.  Not that I would have blamed him too much, considering the situation."  I hadn't even put my jacket back on down in the infirmary, so I tossed it haphazardly in the direction of my laundry bin.  The snake-woman flipped a chair around and set down in it with that sinewy grace that couldn't be duplicated by a mere mortal.
    "Irene."  I was just starting to settle on my side when the use of my actual name caught my attention.  "Forget everything going on down there."  Medusa's reptilian