Unseen (Will Trent / Atlanta Series)

the brief time they were together, she had managed to change him. She had tamed his beasts. She had made him feel safe. She had made him feel whole. Sara hadn’t completely shuttered the file room, but she had made it seem further away—like someone else’s memory, someone else’s life.
    Will had to tell her this, had to explain why she was so desperately needed.
    “I’ll find her,” he told Faith.
    If anyone could coax the boy into talking, it was Sara Linton.

13.
    “ SARA?”
    Sara turned over in bed, trying to get away from the noise. She hadn’t fallen asleep last night so much as collapsed from exhaustion.
    “Sara?” Nell said. “Sara?”
    Sara woke slowly, rousing from a deep, dreamless sleep. She put her hand over her eyes. “What time is it?”
    “Just after four-thirty.”
    Sara dropped her hand. She looked up at Nell. They were in the hotel room. After what happened with Will last night, Sara didn’t have it in her to drive back to Atlanta. “Is Jared okay?”
    Nell gave an odd smile. “Possum just called. He says they’re going to wake him up. I was about to leave for the hospital.”
    Sara forced herself to sit up. She hurt in all the wrong places. “I’ll go with you.”
    “You need to get the door. There’s a man who wants to talk to you.”
    Sara finally managed to put together the conversation. There was only one man in Macon right now who would want to talk to her. She wasn’t sure she wanted to talk to him. Still, she brushed her fingers through her hair as she went to the door.
    And then her jaw dropped when she saw Will.
    For just a moment, Sara found herself thinking that she was responsible for the damage to his face.
    Then she realized that he’d been beaten.
    “What happened?” She reached up to him, but there was nowhere Sara could touch Will that wasn’t injured. Even the blood vessels in his eyes were broken. “Did someone choke you?”
    He swallowed. The pain made him cringe. His voice was hoarse. “Amanda sent me.”
    Sara could hardly understand him. “Come in.”
    Will didn’t move. She grabbed his arm, pulling him into the room.
    “Nell, this is a friend of mine.” Sara let herself believe she was holding back details because Will was undercover. “He lives in Atlanta.”
    “Nice to meet you.” Nell dug her hand into her purse, but her eyes were on Sara’s hand, which was still wrapped around Will’s arm.
    Sara let go.
    Nell said, “It’s good, Sara. I’m happy for you.” She held up her keycard. “I’ll be at the hospital.”
    She nodded at Will before she left. The door closed automatically, slamming hard against the metal jamb.
    Sara knew it would be pointless to go after her. She asked Will, “What happened?”
    He put his fingers to his larynx as if he could force up the volume. “We’ve got about an hour.”
    She stared, disbelieving. “What?”
    “I know you don’t want me here.” He coughed, the effort from talking obviously too much. “Amanda asked me to—” He coughed again. And again. His face started turning red.
    “Sit down.” Sara was still angry, but she couldn’t let him pass out in front of her. She found a tiny bottle of Tennessee whiskey in the minibar. “Drink half of this.”
    Will sat down, but he wouldn’t take the bottle. He hated alcohol.
    “You won’t get drunk,” Sara told him. He still wouldn’t take it.She stuck the bottle in his face. “Think of it as medicine. It’ll numb your throat.”
    Will reluctantly took the whiskey. He opened the cap. Instead of drinking the alcohol, he sniffed it. He scowled at the smell. He looked at the label even though Sara knew he couldn’t read the cursive script.
    “Will, drink the goddamn whiskey.”
    Her tone was sharper than she intended, but it worked.
    He managed to swallow a mouthful before he gagged.
    “Christ!” He heaved a cough from deep inside his chest. His eyes watered. He shook his head like a dog.
    Sara crossed her arms to stop herself from soothing him. She’d been too worn out last night to think beyond closing her eyes, but now it all came rushing back. Every ounce of concern she felt kept getting overwhelmed by anger.
    Will coughed a few more times. He screwed the cap back on the bottle and threw it into the trashcan.
    Sara asked, “Are we going to talk about what happened?”
    He blinked to clear his eyes. “Amanda—”
    “Sweetheart, if you say her name one more time, one of us is going to have to leave. And it won’t be