Page 118 of One Last Stand

And then, Shep nodded.

Wait—

What—no?—

“It’s on her necklace. The pendant. Written in Chinese.”

“No!”

Tomas reached into her jacket, found the gold chain. Then he traced it around to the pendant. And snapped it from her neck.

“Clever.”

Then she guessed he pocketed it because she heard a zip.

“You’ve got what you wanted—let her go.”

Tomas looked at him, and she could guess Tomas’s expression because Shep took a breath. “C’mon, Tomas?—”

“Too many loose ends,” Tomas said.

“What if it doesn’t work?” Shep shouted.

Tomas hesitated.

And right then, a chopper flew over the trees, kicking up snow and ice, a whirlwind of chaos. Tomas jerked his arm up to protect himself?—

She rolled, grabbed at the gun, and slammed her fist into Tomas’s throat.

He fell away, and while she fought for footing, he scrambled up and away, toward the trees.

She turned to chase him, but Shep—he’d gone down on one knee.

And above them, the chopper circled again.

In the trees on the other side, a snowmobile fired up. She put a hand to her empty neck, then ran to Shep. He’d put one hand down, blood running down his head, into his collar, the snow reddening, melting.

She caught him. “Okay, just sit back. It’ll be okay.”

Beyond the trees, the snowmobile cut away, the noise drowned by the hovering chopper.

So much blood. The head wound wasn’t deep, just a tear of flesh, but she couldn’t find the gunshot in his abdomen. He held his hands over a wound to his side, his mouth tight, barely letting out a groan.

But she saw it in his eyes. “Hang on, Shep.”

And then Axel was there on a line from the chopper, with a basket. He landed in the snow, ran over. “How bad is it?”

“Not bad,” Shep ground out.

“It’s bad,” London said.

Her stomach threatened to give it up, but she focused on helping Shep into the basket.

On trying to forget his words—It’s on her necklace.

And mostly, on the betrayal that burned a line straight through her.

After they’d tucked Shep into the chopper, Axel came down again for her and she climbed into the basket.

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