Page 52 of The Operator

I didn’t know where Scott was perched or if he was packing anything besides his shotgun. I hoped what he had with him would be sufficient.

A shot cracked the air. Both Everly and Trey fell to the ground behind the car. Everly’s scream was the only indication that she was still alive. I rushed around the car and found her struggling with a pair of handcuffs.

Tears in her eyes and frustration in her voice. “I cannot find the key to this fucking thing.”

Oliver was at my back. “I can help.” He pulled out his wallet and then took a pair of handcuff keys from there. “The last time I needed these, Lilly had been taken to Mexico.”

With a slight click he freed Everly, and she ran into my arms. “Sky?”

Of course. Now that she was no longer worried about her own life, she refocused on our daughter. “She’s with Daniel and Aidan at the hospital. He’ll hold off the police until we get there.”

She nodded. “Bex?”

Mason stepped forward. “Critical. She’s in surgery.”

“I am so sorry.”

“It's not your fault.” Oliver helped me get her off the ground. He looked up at me. “Get her out of here. “I’ll let the cops know to catch up with you at the hospital. Jared and I will stay with Scott.”

I was grateful that he could be calm because as soon as Everly was safe all the training I had went out the window. I needed to get to her, and we needed to see our kid.

“Come, babe. Let’s go get Sky. And maybe have someone check out your hand in the process.”

“My hand is fine. I need to see my kid and I need to check on my friend.”

At her concern for those she loved, I couldn’t help but verbalize how I felt about her. “I love you, Everly Hale.”

“I love you too, Noah Moore. Now get me out of here.”

31

EVERLY

Ihad arrived at Marina De Ferrier Memorial Hospital just as Dr. Logan Evans had come on shift. He spotted me and Noah and checked the queue. It was the Emergency room for a small-town hospital, it rarely got busy outside of a Friday and Saturday night.

He waved me to a bed and told me to wait while he attended to the other people ahead of me in the queue. I didn’t mind at all. I had checked and my daughter was safe. Aidan, as well as her best friends Grace and Owen, were with her in the waiting area. She was content to wait as long as I got my hand seen to.

Bex was still in surgery and would be for quite a while. A doctor had been out to tell the family that surgery was going well but it was still a ways to go. Fortunately, neither bullet had hit anything major. He spouted a lot of detail that meant nothing to me, but obviously meant something to the people who had been shot in the abdomen before. Both Mason and Noah seemed to have specific questions. The doctor looked a little shell shocked to be confronted with such a large party of loved ones and as he walked off he mumbled something about Dr. Evans. I assumed Logan had handled the overwhelming family on a previous occasion.

The blue curtain slipped open, and Logan stepped into space. “Ev, Noah, what brought you to the ER?

Confused at his question, I showed him my wrist. “The guys want me to get this taken care of before it gets infected. Is that actually a thing?”

“Not as common as TV shows would have you believe. But it does happen” He tugged on a pair of surgical gloves before lifting my wrist. “How did this happen?”

I looked at Noah and he gestured for me to continue talking. “Uhm, Trey handcuffed me to the car door and then tried to break the handle when he couldn’t find the key.”

“Trey? As in the new guy at Salinger Security. Is he the one stalking you?”

“Yes.” I frowned as it dawned on me that Logan had no idea what had happened in the last few hours. “Has no one tried to call you?”

“I went back to sleep after I called Bex when they got back. I woke up to a few missed calls from Mason. But I was running late and didn’t get a chance to call him back.” Concern laced those dark features of his as he took my wrist and started dabbing some red liquid on it. “Why? What happened?”

Again, I looked at Noah. I didn’t want to be the one to deliver bad news. Especially not to Logan. He was my friend, we hung out together.

Noah stepped forward. “Why don’t you finish with Everly and then I’ll tell you the story.”

Logan glared but didn’t say anything. The tension in the room was at an all-time high but Logan was a professional and with the utmost care and patience had my wrist bandaged in no time.

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