Page 73 of Embattled Ever After

His gaze lifted and everything around them stilled. He gave her a sad smile. “Because he’s my big brother.”

He barely gave her enough time to assimilate that before he brushed her touch off and took both her shoulders in his hands. “Doctor, I need you to listen to me. I can’t be entangled in the mess that’s about to blow up. This is now an active crime scene. I need to get out of here and see if I can find the guy who did this.”

“Wait, you’re leaving?” she gasped.

“I’ll be back, but I need to try to find this guy. He’s wounded right now, so I have the advantage.”

“You’re wounded too,” she protested.

He shook his head, and for the first time she recognized the similarity between him and John. They both had that square-jawed look and dark hair and eyes, though Aiden still looked like he’d been in a concentration camp.

“You need to tell them I was just a random guy who got in the way of a bullet.”

Her mouth dropped open. “There’s no way anyone would believe that. There have to be security cameras out here.”

Aiden shook his head. “If he took the shot from out here, he’ll have known the range of the cameras. Yes, they’ll see me at the entrance, but no more. I’m going to just walk away. I need you to tell them I was just some random stranger.”

She shook her head. “Nobody will believe it and you know it. Are you the Good Samaritan that rescued Shannon yesterday, too?”

His lips tipped up in the lightest of smiles and she knew she’d guessed right. “Why has all of this happened?”

One of the Denver PD cars screeched into the lot. “I’ll have to tell you later. I need to go.”

With that, he turned and walked through the parking lot, away from the cops. Alex shook her head in befuddlement. She didn’t understand anything right now.

***

The cops movedin and set up a perimeter for the crime scene the LNF people had created. When Alex came back from the lot and told John he needed to say it was a random stranger that had protected him, he’d given her a hard look.

“I promise I’ll explain more later,” she’d hissed. “Random stranger. Just like Shannon’s Good Samaritan yesterday. Okay? And tell her, too!”

So, that was the story they’d gone with. He explained his worries about Shannon’s safety to the investigating cop, then to the detective that was assigned the case, who looked at him like he’d gotten a concussion in the scuffle. Honestly, John didn’t give a flying fuck. He wanted to go in and see if there was any word about Duncan. Alex had gone in a couple hours ago and not returned.

Shannon had had to go through her own series of interviews. She’d been the only one that had seen everything. Then she’d gone inside as well. He was chomping at the bit to be with her, but knew she was in capable hands. Zeke had given his statement, then Harper. The former sniper had glowered as they’d bagged and marked his sniper rifle as evidence.

“For what crime?” he demanded.

The officer taking the weapon had actually cringed from his anger. “Hey, buddy, I’m just doing what I’m told.”

John recognized the weapon though. It was Harper’s back-up. He was just being angry for show. There was no body. Yes, there was blood, but unless they could connect it to a person and a crime, it didn’t matter.

The guy who owned the black truck, an orderly in the hospital, had looked around in confusion at everything that had gone on, then been questioned repeatedly by different law enforcement officers. Eventually it had been decided that his truck had been chosen at random, simply because of its position. It had given the assailant the perfect shot. Well, it would have been the perfect position if the ‘Good Samaritan’ had cooperated with the plan.

Curiosity was eating John up one side and down the other.

“I’m done,” he told the detective. “I have people I care about to check on. If you have more questions, you can find me tomorrow at the LNF offices.”

Then, without caring if they responded, John rolled away.

When the call had gone out that Duncan had been hurt, John had known everyone would come to the hospital. John was the leader of their scarred, damaged group, and everyone loved him. It was usuallyhimcoming to the hospital and checking onthemwhen they were injured or in for surgeries and the like. There was a chorus saying, “Hey, John,” when he rolled into the emergency waiting room. “You haven’t heard anything yet?”

No, they hadn’t. By this time Duncan had been back there for hours. “Is Alex back there?” he demanded.

“Yes,” Shannon told him, coming up to rub his shoulders and press a kiss to his temple.

So, they settled in to wait.

Just a few minutes later Alex came through the automatic doors of the emergency department. She held up her hands as people started talking all at once. “I’ll answer your questions in a minute. Let me give you a rundown first.”

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