Chapter 2 - While Her General Husband Lay in a Coma, His Pregnant Wife Discovered the Ambush Came From Inside His Own Command—Then the Traitor Made One Fatal Mistake and Came After Her BabyMax remained unconscious for seventy-nine days.
Catherine counted every one.
Day one.
She told him about the pregnancy.
Day four.
She brought his favorite coffee and placed it near his bed.
“You can't drink it.”
Nothing.
“But you can smell it.”
Nothing.
Day eleven.
She played the jazz record he pretended not to like.
Day nineteen.
She became angry.
“You're being selfish.”
Edward looked up from the corner.
Catherine ignored him.
“You're sleeping while I throw up every morning.”
No response.
“I married a general, not Sleeping Beauty.”
Edward laughed despite the tears in his eyes.
Day twenty-seven.
Catherine felt the first flutter.
She grabbed Max's hand.
“Baby.”
Nothing.
She pressed his palm against her stomach.
“That's your child.”
Nothing.
“Please.”
The last word cracked.
Catherine stopped pretending she was always strong.
She lowered her head.
“I can't do this alone.”
Edward quietly left.
Catherine cried beside Max until there were no tears left.
Then she washed her face.
Went to work.
Returned that evening.
Because love wasn't always dramatic.
Sometimes it was showing up again.
And again.
And again.
The investigation into the convoy attack stalled.
Too many cameras had failed.
Too many records disappeared.
The explosives were military grade.
Someone knew the convoy route.
Max had changed that route only ninety minutes before departure.
Only seven people knew.
Edward.
Three command officers.
Max's driver.
His chief security aide.
And Colonel Adrian Voss.
Catherine remembered Voss.
Polished.
Gray-haired.
Always smiling without warmth.
He visited Max twice after the attack.
On the third visit, Catherine stopped him outside the ICU.
“You can't go in.”
Voss looked surprised.
“Mrs. Kane.”
“Doctor's order.”
Lie.
“I only need a minute.”
“No.”
“I've known your husband twenty years.”
“And I've slept beside him for three.”
Voss smiled.
“That hardly compares.”
Catherine stared.
Something about him made her skin crawl.
“Come back when he's awake.”
His smile vanished for half a second.
“When he's awake?”
“Yes.”
“You sound certain.”
“I am.”
Voss looked through the glass.
“I hope you're right.”
Catherine watched him leave.
Then she called Max's security chief, Major Daniel Cross.
“Investigate Voss.”
Silence.
“Ma'am?”
“Quietly.”
“Why?”
“Because he looked disappointed when I said Max would wake up.”
Cross hesitated.
“That isn't evidence.”
“I know.”
“But?”
“Max always says instinct is pattern recognition before the conscious mind catches up.”
Cross smiled faintly.
“He taught you too much.”
“Investigate him.”
“Yes, ma'am.”
Three days later, Cross called.
Voss had debts.
Millions.
Hidden through shell corporations.
One shell company received payments from a foreign defense broker tied to illegal weapons exports.
Max had discovered part of it.
He had planned to recommend Voss's suspension the morning after the convoy trip.
Catherine felt cold.
“Motive.”
“Yes.”
“Can you arrest him?”
“No.”
“Why?”
“Not enough proof tying him to the ambush.”
“Then find it.”
“We're trying.”
“No.”
Catherine looked through the hospital glass.
“Try harder.”
Cross laughed softly.
“You really are his wife.”
At fourteen weeks, Catherine's pregnancy became visible.
At sixteen, reporters discovered it.
The headlines were immediate.
COMATOSE GENERAL'S WIFE EXPECTING FIRST CHILD.
Catherine hated every word.
Max wasn't a headline.
Her baby wasn't public property.
She stopped leaving through the hospital's main entrance.
Then anonymous messages began.
STOP ASKING QUESTIONS.
Catherine deleted the first.
The second:
YOUR HUSBAND WAS WARNED.
She showed Cross.
Security doubled.
Catherine hated it.
She accepted it.
Then came the third.
A photograph.
Catherine leaving her obstetric appointment.
Taken from across the street.
Written beneath:
ONE KANE IS ALREADY SILENT. DON'T MAKE IT TWO.
Edward saw it.
His face changed.
“I'm taking you to the estate.”
“No.”
“Catherine.”
“No.”
“You're pregnant.”
“I know.”
“You're being threatened.”
“I also know.”
“Then stop being stubborn!”
She stood.
“And do what? Hide while Voss waits to see whether Max wakes up?”
“We don't know it's Voss.”
“I do.”
“You suspect.”
“Fine.”
Catherine paced.
“Then help me prove it.”
Edward stared.
“How?”
Catherine looked toward Max.
“Give him what he wants.”
Edward understood.
“No.”
“Voss needs something.”
“Max dead.”
“Not only Max.”
She had found it among Max's encrypted personal files.
A ledger.
Not financial.
Operational.
A private record of irregular weapons movements Max had been tracking for eighteen months.
Serial numbers.
Shipment dates.
Officers.
Contractors.
Voss's network.
If authenticated, it could destroy him.
But part of the ledger was incomplete.
Voss didn't know how much Max had.
Catherine smiled without humor.
“So we tell him Max left me everything.”
Edward stared.
“You want to bait a traitor while pregnant.”
“I jumped into a street fight the day you met me.”
“That was different.”
“How?”
“You weren't carrying my grandson.”
Catherine stopped.
“Grandson?”
Edward smiled.
“The doctor told me you found out yesterday.”
“You weren't supposed to know.”
“I have sources.”
“You're impossible.”
“Runs in the family.”
For the first time in weeks, Catherine laughed.
Then her smile disappeared.
“Help me.”
Edward looked at Max.
Finally:
“Your husband will kill me.”
“Then he'd better wake up.”
The trap was simple.
A false rumor reached Voss.
Max had kept an encrypted copy of his investigation.
Catherine had found it.
She intended to hand it to federal investigators Friday morning.
Thursday night, Voss called.
“Catherine.”
She sat beside Max.
“Colonel.”
“We need to talk.”
“No.”
“It's about Max.”
Her grip tightened.
“What?”
“He was investigating something dangerous.”
“I know.”
Silence.
“How much do you know?”
“Enough.”
Voss breathed.
“Meet me.”
“Why?”
“I can explain who attacked him.”
Catherine looked through the ICU window.
Cross waited beyond it.
Federal investigators listened.
“Where?”
Voss named an abandoned training facility.
Cross shook his head violently.
Catherine ignored him.
“Midnight.”
“Come alone.”
“Fine.”
She hung up.
Cross entered.
“Absolutely not.”
“You heard him.”
“Yes.”
“He took the bait.”
“That doesn't mean you're going.”
“He won't talk to you.”
“You are twenty-one weeks pregnant.”
“Twenty-two tomorrow.”
“That correction doesn't help.”
Catherine stood.
“Wire me.”
“No.”
“Daniel.”
“No.”
Edward entered.
“Do it.”
Cross stared.
“Sir?”
“I hate it too.”
Edward looked at Catherine.
“But she's right.”
The operation was approved with strict conditions.
Catherine would never truly be alone.
Teams surrounded the facility.
She wore a wire.
A tracking device.
A ballistic panel beneath her coat.
Still, as she entered the dark building, fear crawled up her spine.
Voss stood beneath one light.
“Where's the drive?”
“Where's the truth?”
“You first.”
“No.”
He smiled.
“I see why Max married you.”
“Everyone says that right before annoying me.”
Voss laughed.
“Did he tell you he ruined my life?”
“He discovered you were selling weapons.”
“He destroyed thirty years of service.”
“You did that.”
Voss's smile vanished.
“He was supposed to die.”
There.
Catherine's heart hammered.
“Your convoy?”
“My operation.”
“Why?”
“He wouldn't stop.”
“You planted the explosive?”
“I authorized it.”
Catherine forced herself not to react.
“Who else?”
Voss stepped closer.
“Give me the drive.”
“No.”
His eyes dropped to her stomach.
“You should think about your son.”
Catherine's fear became anger.
“Don't look at my child.”
“Then cooperate.”
He reached inside his coat.
Catherine stepped back.
“Federal agents already have copies.”
Voss froze.
“You're lying.”
“Maybe.”
He drew a gun.
Teams moved outside.
But Voss wasn't alone.
A second man appeared behind Catherine.
He grabbed her.
Her training returned.
Heel down.
Elbow back.
Turn.
The man cursed.
Catherine broke free.
Gunfire erupted.
She dropped behind a concrete barrier.
Cross's team entered.
Voss ran.
Catherine saw him heading toward a side exit.
She should have stayed down.
Instead, she noticed the detonator in his hand.
“BOMB!”
Cross turned.
Voss pressed.
Nothing.
Then smiled.
“The hospital.”
Catherine's blood stopped.
Max.
She ran.
Cross caught her.
“Let me go!”
“Catherine!”
“The hospital!”
Federal agents seized Voss.
Cross shouted into his radio.
Bomb squad teams already stationed at the hospital responded.
A device was found beneath a service vehicle near the loading entrance.
It had not detonated.
Voss had been bluffing about immediate control.
But the intent was enough.
Attempted murder.
Conspiracy.
Treason-related offenses.
Illegal arms transfers.
The empire collapsed in hours.
Catherine returned to Max at dawn.
She entered his room.
Sat.
Then slapped his arm.
“Wake up.”
Nothing.
She cried.
“You missed everything.”
Nothing.
“Voss is arrested.”
Beep.
“Your father almost had a heart attack because of me.”
Beep.
“Daniel says I am banned from undercover operations.”
Beep.
She took Max's hand.
“And your son kicked me during the whole thing.”
Her voice softened.
“He's strong.”
Catherine placed Max's palm on her stomach.
“He gets that from me.”
A kick.
She smiled.
“Did you feel that?”
Nothing.
Another kick.
Max's index finger moved.
Catherine froze.
“Max?”
Nothing.
She leaned closer.
“Max?”
His finger moved again.
The monitor accelerated.
Catherine stood so quickly the chair fell.
“Nurse!”
Max's hand tightened weakly around hers.
Catherine stopped breathing.
His eyelids trembled.
Opened.
Gray-blue eyes found her.
Confused.
Weak.
Alive.
“Cath…”
She sobbed.
“Max.”
His gaze moved down.
To her belly.
Then back up.
“You're…”
“Pregnant.”
He stared.
“How long?”
“Twenty-two weeks.”
His eyes widened.
“How long was I out?”
“Almost five months.”
Max looked horrified.
Catherine laughed and cried simultaneously.
“You missed a lot.”
His fingers touched her stomach.
The baby kicked.
Max froze.
Again.
His eyes filled.
“My baby?”
“Our son.”
One tear slipped sideways into his hair.
Catherine bent over him.
“I thought I'd lost you.”
His weak hand touched her face.
“You didn't.”
“You don't get to say that. You were unconscious.”
His mouth twitched.
“I love you.”
She kissed him.
Carefully.
Gently.
Then the medical team rushed in.
Catherine stepped aside.
For the first time in months, she allowed herself to breathe.
Max was awake.
Voss was arrested.
Their son was safe.
She thought the nightmare was over.
She was wrong.
Because when Max was strong enough to speak privately two days later, Daniel Cross handed him the investigation report.
Max read Catherine's involvement.
His face turned furious.
“You did what?”
Catherine folded her arms.
“Oh no.”
“You met Voss alone?”
“Technically—”
“You were pregnant!”
“I still am.”
“You let a traitor point a gun at you?”
“I didn't let him.”
“Catherine!”
“There it is.”
“What?”
“The yelling.”
Max stared.
Catherine smiled.
“You finally became the general I expected on our first date.”
He did not smile.
“I could have lost you.”
“I could have lost you too.”
“That is different.”
“No.”
“It is.”
“No.”
Max struggled upright.
“You are my wife.”
“And you are my husband.”
“You were carrying our child.”
“And you were lying unconscious because you kept your investigation from me.”
Silence.
That landed.
Catherine continued.
“You were trying to protect me by keeping me ignorant.”
Max looked away.
“I know.”
“No, Max. You don't get to wake up and make the same mistake.”
His anger slowly drained.
She stepped closer.
“I don't need you to make me fearless.”
“I need you to trust me with the truth.”
Max closed his eyes.
Then reached for her.
“Come here.”
“Are you going to yell?”
“Probably later.”
“Then no.”
“Cath.”
She smiled.
Then went.
Max wrapped both arms around her as much as his injuries allowed.
His hand rested over their son.
“I was scared.”
“So was I.”
“I hate that.”
“I know.”
“I'm supposed to protect you.”
Catherine kissed his forehead.
“And I'm supposed to protect you.”
He sighed.
“This marriage is exhausting.”
“You proposed.”
“Worst tactical decision of my career.”
She laughed.
Max kissed her.
Outside the hospital room, Edward heard them.
He smiled.
His son had survived.
His daughter-in-law had survived.
His grandson was coming.
And the fierce young general he once feared would spend his entire life alone had finally learned the one lesson no military academy could teach.
May you like
Being loved did not make a powerful man weaker.
It gave him something worth coming home to.
