Wincing as he jogged down the corridor, Liam tried to take a few much needed breaths before he entered the room, his heavily bandaged ribs protesting furiously that breathing right now was a bad idea. He'd caught the curious and sympathetic gazes that the Volunteers had directed at him. He was not looking forward to this.
He paused outside the doorway and half-heartedly tried to straighten out some of the crumples in his trousers. The jacket he'd been wearing was unsalvageable, the gasoline fumes and then the smoke had been too deeply imprinted on the fabric. The huge gaping tear in the right sleeve had not exactly helped either. Moving his arm too fast, he winced as he pulled against the bandage that was currently hiding the deep gouge in his right bicep. This had not been the best start to his day.
Sighing, he did his best to sneak in to the briefing. The other Protectors had eyed him in askance and the glare from Sandoval promised a long rant when this security briefing was over. Liam hunched down in his conspicuously empty chair and did his best to stifle his muffled cry of pain.
The Protector on his right was Jonah Anderson, the Protector to the Australian Companion. Jonah looked at him and muttered a softly worded query asking if he was all right. Liam tried to shrug and realised instantly - when the shooting pain ran through his upper body - that shrugging should be on his list of things not to do. Face pale, he murmured, "I'll manage, Jonah. I didn't want to miss this briefing. I've already told Dr. Park that I'm heading straight to the hospital when we're done."
Jonah's eyebrow rose slightly at the mention of hospital but, since Sandoval's glare was getting worse, he let it go - for now.
When the briefing was over, Jonah watched Liam wince at Sandoval's curt, "Major. A word, if you please."
With a commiserating look on his face, he nodded a goodbye to Liam, ignored Sandoval completely, and slipped out into the corridor to place an urgent call to Melissa Park.
Five minutes later, he rushed back into the room and interrupted Sandoval in mid rant, saying, "Agent Sandoval, shut up and look at the man. I mean really look at him!"
Sandoval glared at him but he had accomplished his task of taking the pace out of the head Protector's ire. Jonah watched as Sandoval did a double take as he took in the wan, pain-lined face of the major and the minute tremors of pain that could be seen shaking the man's body.
Jonah murmured, "He found trouble again. On the way in, he narrowly avoided being involved in a freeway pile-up. He's spent the past two hours helping the emergency services dig people out of their vehicles.
"He's got severely bruised ribs and a nasty gouge on his right arm. The paramedics treated him on site and he called Dr. Park to arrange a hospital check-up when the briefing was finished.
"I think it's about time you stopped yelling at him and helped me get him to a shuttle so one of the Volunteers can take him to the hospital."
Liam, feeling light-headed, had heard the entire conversation as though it were muffled by cork. The headache he was experiencing was so bad that he didn't even protest when Sandoval and Jonah gently took an arm each and pulled him to his feet. Nor did he notice the looks directed his way as he walked down the corridor, Sandoval and Jonah supporting him on either side. The looks from both fellow Protectors and Volunteers clearly telegraphed one similar thought. What did he get mixed up in this time?
Three hours later, Liam was at home and on medical stand-down for the next three days. The Volunteers and Protectors fell into a well-practiced routine for amending security schedules so that Liam's absence could be covered with the minimum of fuss.
They were past the point of being surprised or annoyed. Major Kincaid was a good and decent man. He was too courageous for his own good and didn't have it in him to pass by an emergency if he could be of help. He was a trouble magnet/boy scout combined and they'd learned to deal with it. To be honest, they wouldn't want him to be any other way.