Page 65 of Cassidy

“On it,” Rhy replied.

“He has a pulse,” Joe said, his fingers palpating Gabe’s carotid artery.

Tears blurred her vision, but she ruthlessly blinked them back. “Open your eyes, Gabe. It’s over. Travis is safe.”

Hearing his name, the seventeen-year-old came over to crouch beside them. Flynn or one of the others must have freed him from the chair. Travis looked gaunt and concerned. “Will he be okay? Turk shot him!”

Gabe let out a groan and lifted a hand to his chest. He cracked open an eyelid and peered at her. A smile tugged at the corner of his mouth. “Angel,” he whispered. “My angel.”

Was he delirious? She tried not to show her alarm when his hand dropped limply back to the ground as he closed his eyes. “Come on, Gabe. Stay with me. The Lifeline chopper will be here soon. You’ll be taken to Trinity Medical Center where you’ll get the best trauma care available. The danger is over. You’re safe and so is Travis.”

Gabe opened one eye, then the other. After focusing on her face for a moment, he said, “Wow. That hurt.”

“Yeah, it hurts to get shot.” She wanted to roll her eyes as much as she wanted to kiss him. Somehow, she refrained.

“I can’t believe you came to find me,” Travis said, addressing his brother. “And that you were going to trade the malware for my life!”

“Always,” Gabe said. He grimaced, and then added weakly, “Least I could do since it was my fault you were involved.”

She frowned. “You remember how this started? You remember getting the malware from Travis?”

Gaze shifted his gaze from Travis to her. Joe kept a hand on Gabe’s wrist monitoring his pulse. “Yes. I remembered everything when I saw the warehouse. Listening in on the interview with Wayland helped, but for some reason seeing the warehouse on the map triggered my memory.”

It was on the tip of her tongue to ask why he’d left without saying anything, but Rhy came over and squatted beside them. “Lifeline is on the way. They’re going to land in the open field where we left our rides along with the rental. I sent Jina, Brock, and Steele to move the vehicles to give them room to land.”

“Key to rental is in my pocket,” Gabe said.

She dug it out, then tossed it to Rhy. Grabbing it midair, Rhy rose and headed out to join the others.

“Hey, take these cuffs off me!” one of the three men protested. “I told you I’m undercover with the FBI!”

“Maybe you are, maybe you aren’t,” Roscoe drawled in his Texas accent. “Won’t believe it until I see some proof and know for sure you’all are one of the good guys. Until then, consider yourself under arrest. And if you are a fed, then I’m sure you understand you have the right to remain silent. That anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law.” Roscoe didn’t stop until he’d recited the entire Miranda warning.

The guy sputtered, then gave up as he seemed to realize there was no point in fighting. Roscoe gave him a gentle shove, forcing him outside to wait for backup, sitting on the ground alongside the other two perps.

Everyone on the team knew Roscoe had trust issues when it came to those working for the federal government. She had no problem with his request to have proof before releasing the cuffs. She’d do the same thing, and she hadn’t been betrayed by someone who was supposed to uphold the law.

Glancing at Travis, she asked, “What do you think? Did he give you any indication that he was with the FBI?”

Travis shrugged. “No, he didn’t say anything like that. But King was the most decent guy in the group, more so even than Millions who took off the night we were at the Homerun restaurant.”

“So you were there,” she said.

“Yep. I called Gabe. You must be the one who answered.” Travis sighed. “That was when things really took a turn for the worse. Turk caught me with the phone and threw a fit. King tried to keep Turk and Lonny calm, which didn’t really work. They were both wound pretty tight at the way things were spiraling out of control. Especially after they realized Millions wasn’t sticking with us.”

“I’m sorry you had to go through that,” she said, meaning it. Travis was much nicer than the mother he shared with Gabe. Must be the influence of their respective fathers.

Travis surprised her by giving her a hug. “Thanks for rescuing us.”

“Ah, sure, anytime.” She patted his back as Gabe beamed up at her with a goofy expression on his face. If she didn’t know better, she’d think he’d been slipped some sort of pain medication or maybe laughing gas.

No way did a normal person grin like a loon after being shot, even while wearing a vest. She’d heard from those who were injured in the line of duty that it still hurt like the devil.

“I hear the chopper,” Raelyn called.

Relief hit hard. Gabe was awake and talking. Hopefully, any internal bleeding he was experiencing wasn’t too bad and could be easily fixed.

“I love you,” Gabe said as the paramedics ran into the building, wheeling a gurney between them.

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