Page 6 of Guarded from Corruption

She’s important to me.

Could she have committed a crime? But I just can’t see overachieving, always-in-control Jade doing something illegal. Unless it was self-defense? Fighting back against a violent assailant?

Whatever happened, I’ll help her. There’s absolutely no question.

I finally get to the parking lot Jade mentioned, but her pin is at least twenty feet beyond it. There are half-a-dozen cars in the lot, all unoccupied, most of them with college stickers plastered across the rear windows. Slowing, I pull into a spot closest to Jade’s pin and reach for my Sig.

Not that I’m planning on shooting anyone, but still. Better ready than not.

After one last check of Jade’s pin—still there, it hasn’t moved since I got it—I get out of the car and scan my surroundings. It’s quiet, just the occasional bird calling and the distant sound of a truck going by. There are no unusual movements within the trees, no footsteps crunching in the dried grass, nothing to indicate this is anything other than what it seems.

As I move into the trees, a terrible thought hits me. What if her dot hasn’t moved because she’s hurt so badly… or what if she’s?—

Then a small figure comes rushing toward me, stumbling, nearly falling. Dressed in blue scrubs covered with dirt and mud. Long, red-gold hair in tangles. Blood smeared across her face.

I move toward her, and a second later she slams into my chest.

“Niall.” It’s a hoarse whisper. “You came.”

My arms come around her instinctively, even though my rational brain is saying not to touch her, she could be hurt, traumatized, she’s bleeding…

But she’s also shaking. Clutching at my shirt. Her breath comes in stuttered gasps; hot against my chest.

“I’m here,” I say unnecessarily, then draw back slightly to look at her face.

Inwardly wincing, I catalog the bloody scratches all across her forehead and cheeks and chin. Her sky-blue eyes meet mine; wide and terrified, with purplish shadows beneath them. Her skin is pale, with the smattering of freckles across her nose and cheeks standing out in stark contrast.

“Please,” Jade whispers. “We need to go. Now.”

“Okay.” I pitch my voice low. “I’m just parked over there. Can you make it, do you think?”

“Yes.” She gives me an affronted look, and there’s the stubborn Jade I remember. “I ran for hours to get here. I can manage another ten feet.”

And she does, though I keep a close eye on her. It’s clear Jade is running on pure adrenaline, and I have no idea how long she’s been going. Hours she said she ran for? From where? Why?

But I don’t ask those questions. Not yet. Jade looks too scared and vulnerable for that. Instead, once we’re back on the road I settle on things like can I bring you to the hospital and do you want to call the police?

Both answers are negative, but I’m not convinced and suggest gently, “I think it would be a good idea to get checked out by a doctor. Just to be safe. I’ll be right there with you.”

“No.” It’s adamant. Forceful. She turns to me with fear in her eyes. “I can’t. Please, Niall. It’s not safe.” A second later, more softly, “If something was really wrong, I’d know. You know that.”

In normal circumstances, yes. Jade’s a physician assistant and obviously knows plenty about injuries. But this time she’s the one hurt, afraid… Still. I can ask Dante or Rhiannon to look at her once we get back to Blade and Arrow. Figure the rest out from there.

As we continue back toward headquarters, I keep sneaking quick glances at Jade. She’s visibly trying to pull herself together—setting her shoulders, taking deep, shuddering breaths, her hands knotting into tight fists—but her gaze keeps flickering to the side-view mirror like she’s watching for something.

“Is it safe?” Her question comes suddenly. “At your… Blade and Arrow? Is it safe?”

“Yes.” I look away from the road for a second to meet her worried gaze. “Very safe. Matthew—he’s our tech guy—set up all the security. We have a perimeter fence with cameras and drone sensors. And another fence around the actual building, but that one is reinforced steel with alarms and cameras and special barricades to keep anyone from driving through it. Plus the house has a top-of-the-line security system.”

“Oh.” She blinks. “Um. That sounds… safe. I guess.”

“I’ll show you around,” I tell her. “So you can see for yourself.”

“And the people there, you trust them?”

“Absolutely. There are six of us, and I’ve known everyone for years. We were all Green Berets based out of Fort Campbell. Rhiannon and Xavier were on my team, and I trust them with my life.”

Jade draws her legs up and wraps her arms around them, hugging herself. Quietly, she asks, “And the others? Do you trust them with your life, too?”

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