Page 67 of Lay Me Down
“Can you handle tonight’s patrols, and make sure everyone wears extra gear?” I ask with a clenched jaw, and I’m gritting my teeth so harshly that I can feel them grinding against each other. I hate that I’m giving him that level of responsibility, but I want to make sure everyone is safe when they go out tonight.
“Yes. Of course.” He nods and slowly leaves the room. I’m surprised that he didn’t run out jumping and hollering with excitement, but I appreciate the subtlety. I look down at Ser as she takes the pressure cuff off, and I notice the concerned twitch to the corner of her lip.
“It’s one-thirty over eighty-five. I’m going to call Dr. Campbell and let her know, but I’m not that worried about it after what happened,” she says softly. I just let out a small ‘hmm’ and watch as she walks towards the door. As she passes by Carter, he grips her arm and pulls her close enough to whisper something in her ear. She picks her head up just enough to whisper back, and she lightly pats his chest before walking out.
“Everything alright?” Alex asks me.
“Depends on what you mean.”
“With you and the baby, specifically.” He grins lightly, and I just nod back at him. The flutters and whooshes continue to tumble in my belly, and I can’t help but lay my hand on top.
Our baby will never be able to meet their grandfather.
That realization hits me so hard that my eyes immediately water again. I blink and wipe them to try and get them to stop, but it doesn’t work.
“Did Tony give you guys the evidence?” I ask and clear my throat, trying to move forward. Alex’s face falls and he pockets his hands.
“Yeah, we’re just waiting on the shot trajectory video, and then we’ll have everything.”
“Okay,” I whisper back, not even bothering to try and speak any louder. Serena walks back into the room and pockets herphone before striding back over to me. Carter watches her as she crosses the room, and then he looks at Alex.
“Now that Leanne is sedated, would you talk to her while Zeke and I talk to them?”
“Yeah,” he says back to Carter, and squeezes my shoulder as he walks into Damien’s office. Zeke comes around to sit on my right, and Carter moves to sit on Serena’s left. They stare at each other for a second before Zeke speaks up.
“I don’t want you to get too worked up when I tell you this, okay?” Zeke nods as he speaks, so I nod back. “John’s alive,” Zeke reveals, and I think my brain short-circuits. “He’s in the ICU under a fake name, and he’s in critical condition, but he is alive.”
“How?” Serena asks before I have the chance.
“The shot went through the side of his neck. It hit his carotid artery, but it only nicked it. When we left, Alex put enough pressure on it until the doctors came outside. If we weren’t in that parking lot, and Alex didn’t act when he did, he wouldn’t have made it. Hell, he still might not, but he’s got a chance,” Zeke says grimly.
“Alex is telling Leanne?” I ask, and he nods. “Okay, when can we go see him?”
“We’re not,” Carter blurts out, and I snap my gaze to him. “We don’t know anything yet, and we don’t even know if they were aiming for John. You’re not going anywhere.”
“What do you mean we don’t know if they were aiming for John?”
“You were both standing close together, and if the shot came from where wethinkit did, there’s a good chance they were aiming for you and they missed,” Zeke chimes in angrily.
“Or theywereaiming for John, but they had to shoot at an angle that wouldn’t kill you both. We just don’t know yet,” Carter continues.
“But why either one of us?”
“We’re not—"
At that moment, Kade storms in the door.
“You guyshaveto see this,” he says loudly, and projects a crime scene investigation file on the large screen from his tablet. His eyes are wide, and he’s breathing heavily, like he just sprinted here.
“Kade, now’s not a good time…” Zeke says, but Kade just shakes his head.
“No, I’m serious. Take a look.” We all look around at each other before we start to read over the file. The details seem like any other murder, and it’s all the way in D.C. It’s violent, sure, but with it being further away than we normally concern ourselves with, I’m not sure why he’s showing us this. “Do you know who this is?” Kade asks, and we all shake our heads. He then swipes on his screen to pull up a news article about Senator Avery’s campaign to support his bill. It includes a layout of the law, like they have no idea how fake it truly is, and a picture of Avery shaking someone’s hand.
“That’s the victim,” I say, and point to the picture, starting to understand the connection.
“Yep. Now, they only found one set of fingerprints at the scene—” Kade starts, but Zeke cuts him off.
“Let me guess. The victim’s?”
