Page 94 of Deserving Lara
Panic made Lara’s breathing speed up. She felt dizzy and hopeless. Owl had beenshot. He’d stood in front of her like a human shield and taken abulletfor her. Even now, he was doing everything in his power to get her away, to make sure she was safe, when he should be worrying about bleeding to death!
“Owl,” she said on a pant, but he shook his head.
“No, keep going, sweetheart.”
“But your leg!” she protested.
“I know. But you’re okay, that’s all that matters.”
It wasn’t. Owl was here because of her. Because Carter wantedher. He shouldn’t be hurt. Helplessness threatened to overwhelm her.
“Bingo! There! Left, Lara. The door. We need to get out before one of them kills the other and comes after us.”
He was right. Lara did her best to pull herself together. If Owl could be this calm after being freaking shot in the leg and with blood pouring out of his body, she could keep her wits.
She got to the door Owl indicated, tore it open—and blinked in surprise when she saw what was on the other side.
A large circle of land, cleared of trees and bushes.
And the Bell 505 that she, Stone, and Owl had test-flown yesterday.
God. Was it just yesterday? Suddenly it seemed like weeks ago. So much had happened in such a short time.
“Go, Lara! Go!”
Instinctively, she ran toward the chopper. Owl reached past her once they got to the bird and wrenched the door open. He practically threw her up into the front seat and slammed the door. Lara watched with her heart in her throat as he limped around to the other side. He opened the door and tried to climb inside.
His face was ghost white, and every time he tried to lift his good leg to get up into the seat, he stumbled backward.
“Fuck,” he breathed, as he lifted his gaze to hers.
Lara moved quickly, leaning over the seat and reaching down for his arm. She was terrified by how little strength Owl had. Between the two of them, they barely got him into the chopper.
He immediately began to flick switches and push buttons…and in seconds, the rotors slowly began to spin.
“Fuck!” Owl swore again, closing his eyes as he slumped in his seat.
“Owl?” Lara cried frantically.
“I can’t,” he murmured. “I’ll kill us both.”
“Can’t what?” Lara asked. “Owl? Can’t what?!”
“Fly,” he said, his expression one of devastation. “I’m sorry! So sorry, Lara…I failed you.”
“What? No you didn’t! You can fly! You werebornto fly.”
“Gonna…pass out,” he told her. “If I do while we’re in the air…we’ll crash.”
Lara stared at him. They couldn’t have gotten this close to escaping only to fail now. “We need to stop the bleeding,” she said, determination making her voice shake. “Lean forward.”
She reached for Owl’s belt and worked it out of the loops.
“Now’s not the time to…get me naked,” Owl panted.
Lara couldn’t even smile right now. She lifted Owl’s right leg and winced as her hand came back covered with blood. She wrapped his belt above the wound and pulled it tight.
“Tighter,” Owl said between clenched teeth.
