Page 102 of Ford

Then he couldn’t think.

It wasn’t RJ with her hands pressed to her gut, blackened and glistening with blood. Wasn’t RJ who York was trying to help.

Coco.

She was moaning, her mouth clamped tight as RJ and York moved away her hands. York had his phone out, was shining a light on it. Blood gushed from a wound in her side, near her appendix.

Silence.

Ford wanted to retch, mostly from relief, and then from horror that he’d even—

Scarlett crouched next to him. “How bad is it?”

York turned her over, and Coco cried out. “Sorry. I don’t see an exit wound.”

“She needs surgery,” RJ said.

Scarlett produced a shirt from somewhere—oh, his discarded backpack—and gave it to York, who wadded it into her wound.

Then the man looked at Ford.

Ford knew that look. The helplessness, the sense of panic rolling over him.

He’d felt it when he’d seen Scarlett taken.

So maybe he’d judged the man a little harshly.

York’s face hardened. “We gotta go. Right now.”

As if to confirm his words, the high whine of a siren seared through the night.

“No,” Ford said. “No—you stay here. The police will find you and Coco. RJ and I and Scarlett will hide. We’ll wait and get on the next train—there’s one headed to Kazakhstan—we can be on it in the morning.”

“And then what?” RJ said. “We can’t cross the border to Kazakhstan!”

“Yes. Yes, we can,” Scarlett said, looking at Ford. “What Ham said—he knows people in Kazakhstan, right?”

“Right. We’ll get ahold of him, see if he can have them meet us at the border.” He stood up and reached for RJ. “We gotta go, now. Before the militia gets here. Theycan’tcatch you.”

But she was shaking her head and backed away from him. “No—I can’t leave Coco.”

York had gotten up. Turned to RJ. Then he glanced at Ford. “Keep pressure on Kat’s wound. Ruby Jane will go with you. Just…” His mouth set into a dark line. “Just give us a second.”

Then he turned to RJ and pushed her away from Ford.

Reminding Ford again that, really, he didn’t know his sister at all.

York had lost his mind if he believed RJ was going to leave him—and Coco—behind. He had her by the arms, backing her away from Ford, who looked like he wanted to murder York.

For the first time in years, perhaps, they shared the same twin thought. “No. Absolutely not. I. Am. Not. Leaving.”

“Just listen to me,” York snapped, his eyes hard in hers. “Listen!”

York pushed her up to the wall behind the big Russian truck, breathing hard. His fingers dug into her arms, but she didn’t care. She had a feeling he was trying to wrap his brain around Ford’s words too.

Or, she hoped so.

Leave.Coco.

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