Page 13 of Conquered Betrayal
“Just—” I pulled the sleeves into a knot. “Trying to—” Landon stirred and grimaced as I yanked it tight. “Stop the bleeding.” Satisfied I’d done what I could and he wasn’t in danger of immediate death, I straightened and closed the door, glancing around my surroundings to see if anyone had noticed us. The houses were spaced well-apart here. Not seeing any movement, I jogged to my side of the car, jumped in, and drove away from the curb.
“Hurry back. We’re monitoring the police channels, and it doesn’t sound like anyone is in your area. Alina needs to fix her baby.”
For a second, I thought she meant Landon, and a dose of possessiveness speared through me, something I had no business feeling. Then I realized she meant the shot-up Fiat. I loosened my tight grip on the steering wheel.
Despite Marley’s reassurance, I took a roundabout way to our home base, driving as fast as I could without drawing attention. There was no point in getting sloppy. After making sure I wasn’t followed, I headed to the northwest section of Detroit. I reached our building and drove down the ramp to the garage underneath, screeching to a stop in front of the door. I rolled down my window and punched the six-digit security code into the keypad. The garage door chugged upward.
As soon as it was high enough, I floored it, driving to the other side of the wide, concrete space where our van was already parked beside the elevator access leading upstairs. Alina waited there, a gurney by her side.We have a gurney?When I told these two to equip our home base with everything we might need, I guess they took me seriously.
Stopping with a squeal of rubber, I tore off my seatbelt and jumped out. By the time I’d circled the car, Alina had sidled the gurney to the side of the car. I opened Landon’s door. He slumped to the side. I unbuckled his seatbelt to slide my hands beneath his armpits.
“Look at all the blood on the seat!” Alina practically shouted. Back pressed against the car door, she reached for Landon’s feet.
“Add it to the bill!” I shouted back. This was not the time to worry about leather upholstery. “Where’s Marley?”
“Hacking as we speak.” Alina lifted Landon’s legs. “Making sure we weren’t clocked anywhere, wiping our presence from the city cameras. You know, important stuff so she doesn’t have to lift this heavy son of a bitch.” The last part of her sentence was said with a groan of effort as we hefted him onto the gurney. “What does he have in his pockets? Rocks?” She pressed two fingers to his throat, and leaned down to check if he was breathing.
I wiped the sweat from my brow, panting. “Let’s get him upstairs.”
Alina already had the freight elevator waiting on our level, and we wheeled him in. The wide space had been handy for moving furniture, but was especially handy right now, fitting the gurney with miles to spare. Unfortunately, after getting the heavy outer door and the inner metal gate closed, the thing didn’t move any faster than it had in all the previous times I’d taken it for a ride.
With clanks and groans of the mechanism, we trudged upward one level at a time. I surveyed Landon in his unconscious state. His pale face contrasted with his dark hair. And were his breaths becoming shallower? My chest squeezed, and I started to second-guess my choice.
“You know I’m not a doctor, right?” Alina asked.
I brushed Landon’s hair away from his forehead. “You always had an aptitude for field medicine. That’s good enough.” It had to be. “And I’ll assist you.”
“The guy probably requires surgery and a blood transfusion.”
If Emerson got ahold of him, a bullet in the head would kill him faster than a bit of blood loss from a shot in the arm. “It’s safer for him here.” I wasn’t sure if I was trying to convince her or myself. “Emerson could easily pick him up at a hospital.”
“You don’t know if he’s on your brother’s radar.”
“I don’t know that heisn’t, either. The possibility is too great with how many connections my brother has.”
We finally arrived on the level we’d renovated over the past month, and together we lifted the heavy inner grate, then the outer door. The squeak of the gurney’s wheels echoed against the walls as we pushed him down the hallway and through a set of double doors into the first-aid room. Overhead lights shone circles on the floor. We parked him under the brightest one.
We worked quickly, cutting off his makeshift bandage and bloodied dress shirt. Alina shot something into his arm. I raised my eyebrows.
“Antibiotics.” She injected another one, adding, “And sedative.”
With Landon bare chested now, I watched Alina clean him up. “Went straight through,” she murmured.
Whenever she asked for help, I assisted, and together we got both sides of the wound stitched up. Already the color was returning to his face and I was able to breathe easier.
“The bleeding has slowed,” she said, wrapping up the last of bandage around his shoulder to keep it immobile. “Thankfully, the bullet didn’t hit anything important.”
I nodded, my throat tight. It could have been so much worse. I’d thought I’d made the right decision telling him to shoot out the window. But that bullet could have been eight inches higher and gone through his brain.Done.End of Landon Urick, the man I’d loved for the past four years.
Even if it hurt to do so, I could acknowledge that. I never stopped loving him the whole time I’d told myself to forget him.
I’d thought after I’d left Vancouver, my brother would leave him alone. I’d thought downloading the information from his secondary lab would be enough to cut off Emerson’s interest. I’d thought I’d made decisions to protect him—from me as well.
And instead, he was right back in my brother’s crosshairs.I got him shot.
Blinking the stinging sensation from my eyes, I ignored Alina’s questioning stare. I needed to leave before I turned truly emotional.
Stepping to the sink beside the door, I washed Landon’s blood from my hands. The sight of the red-tinged water swirling down the drain created a hard lump in my throat. I dried my hands on the white towel hanging on the wall, my gaze lingering on the crimson streaks in the bottom of the sink.
