About Have a Hope

by Emily Moreton
27 pages / 5600 words
Ebook zipped file contains - html, lit, Adobe and Sony optimized pdf, prc, epub

When what was supposed to be a simple exchange of information goes to hell in the form of armed soldiers and two bullet wounds, double-agent John Grey makes a fairly desperate run for his rendezvous point. And doesn't make it.

Fortunately, luck's on his side, and he wakes up in the house – the bed – of a local clinic doctor, Mohammed Saleem. Attractive and smart, with a sharp sense of humor and a tattoo, Mohammed is exactly the kind of guy John falls for. Mohammed has very strict rules about what should and shouldn't happen during a recovery period, but John's sure he can change that.

Sample

In deference to what they both know is coming, or maybe just because the easy chair really isn't that comfortable, Mohammed sleeps that night in bed with John, curled careful around him, and the next night as well. Later, John will wonder if that's what woke him, Mohammed stiffening behind him, the whole line of his body gone tense, or if he heard the same thing Mohammed did.

“What is it?” he asks, twisting just enough to whisper the question right into Mohammed's ear.

Mohammed shakes his head, which John hears rather than sees in the total darkness they're enveloped in, then pushes away and out of bed. “Stay here,” he says, moving away.

John opens his mouth to argue, but Mohammed's too far away already to do it safely. Even feeling better, he's still injured, and it makes him slow enough that Mohammed's slipping out of the door before John's managed to coordinate himself to get out of bed. He feels his way across the room, finds his pants and torn but no longer blood-stained t-shirt, his boots. His gun is tucked in the right boot, so he palms that as well, listening the whole time to the unmistakeable sound of people moving, trying to be quiet.

At least no-one's screamed, there haven't been any sounds of bodies hitting the floor. He chooses to believe that means everything is still mostly okay, and not that they got the drop on Mohammed.