Page 92 of Cohesion

“Kendrick is badly hurt, and Grady needs to take that guy back to the station,” Quinn said, “and we need to go to the prison.”

Will was already heading to his Jeep. He used the railing to lift himself and slide over the driver’s side door to get in his seat. He fired it up and expertly whirled it around to face the way out.

“I’ll stay here,” Jericho said. “I need to make sure Ken’s okay. And I’ll get word to Hunter.”

Peyton jumped up onto the side of the Jeep and slipped into the passenger seat from above.

Quinn put his hand on the door. “I’m coming with you.” He wasn’t being left behind for this one. Jericho didn’t need help to make phone calls, and he wanted to be the one to speak to Rohan.

“Then get in.”

Quinn vaulted over the door instead of opening it. Perks of an open Jeep.

Jericho leaned in and kissed Will soundly, hand gripping his jaw. “Be careful. If they’re willing to do this so openly, we don’t know what else they might do.”

“You need to be careful as well,” Will said. “Your name was on that list.”

Quinn almost got back out. As much as they needed to find Sebastian, what if they tried for Jericho while he was by himself and vulnerable? Will was right: Jericho’s name was on that list, and they couldn’t risk his life on the off chance that they hadn’t linked Warren to Jericho. They couldn’t split up and leave him unprotected. Quinn would never forgive himself if he lost them both.

“I—” Jericho hesitated.

Quinn frowned. “What is it?”

“I was trying to use myself as bait. That’s where I’ve been all this time. Putting myself out in the open as Warren. We set up traps for when they took it.”

“But they didn’t take the bait,” Will said. “They still came for Seb first.”

“You fucking idiot,” Peyton snarled. “There are so many ways that could have backfired. You could have been hurt.Killed. You don’t get to make those decisions by yourself!”

“I was trying to protect you.”

“Do it by includingus,” Peyton said harshly. He stood and walked over Will carefully before jumping down to land beside Jericho. He crossed his arms over his chest with a scowl. “I’ll stay here, keep him safe. From them and himself.”

“Cute. I don’t need to be kept safe,” Jericho said. “I can look after myself. Sebastian is the priority.”

“Just shut up. No more one-man team anything, you got it? We do this together.” Peyton turned back to Will and Quinn. “Find out where they took our man, alright?”

“Stay alert,” Will said. “No heroics from any of us, not until we work out what we’re going to do.” He took off, steering around all of the cars to get through to the gates that would take them outside. Quinn crawled into the front seat through the middle and strapped himself in.

Will took his hand and squeezed it.

“It’s going to be okay.” He said it in a way that made Quinn think he was telling it to himself as well. Something they all needed to repeat like a mantra.

It’s going to be okay.

And it was. They were going to find Sebastian, and then whoever took him would learn to regret the day they’d ever tried to take someone that belonged to Quinn from him.

It had been easierthan Quinn had anticipated to get admitted into the empty interview room. His badge helped.

Will immediately dropped into a chair, sagging.

Quinn bit his lip, guilt flooding him. Will should be resting. Should have gone to a hospital, been looked at. He knew from Peyton that a paramedic had already seen him, but the dried blood on his cheek and the fatigue in his eyes told Quinn it wasn’t good enough. He wanted more experts to confirm that he was alright. And somewhere for him to rest his head.

He approached Will and carefully brushed hair off of his forehead, discreetly checking his temperature, and then moved around to where the wound was. It was on the side, but itwasn’t the only blow he’d received, just the one that had done visible damage.Hit in the back of the head. Rage had swamped him when Peyton had told him, just like it was doing now. The damage that could have done. It could have killed him or left him with permanent injuries. The sheer disregard for human life that these people were showing made him feel sick. They were leaving bodies in their wake without a care in the world.

One of those could have been Will.

If they didn’t find Sebastian, he’d be another one.

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