Page 154 of Knights Game

“Hello?”

The voice comes from the hallway, and I look up at Black. “Does no one knock anymore.” I stand, grabbing my handgun from the top drawer and loading a bullet.

Asher nods, and we walk, well I stagger, to the main reception hallway, guns held out.

“Fletcher,” I say, dropping the gun to my waist.

“Jesus Christ, you’re awake.” He’s holding up a duffel bag. “I’ve got blood. You need a transfusion.”

“What I need is to lock the front fucking door,” I mumble as a wave of dizziness washes over me. “I haven’t got time. The fuckers took Layla,” I say, walking towards my bedroom. But the hallway tilts, making me grip onto the wall for support.

“You’ve just been stabbed, Luca, what you need is to sit the fuck down, shut the fuck up, and listen.” Fletcher nods to Asher to get him to hold me again. “You are not going to be able to do shit but fall on your arse until you get some blood in you. I can give you stuff for the pain, and a shot of adrenaline, but you need a transfusion.”

“How long will it take?” I ask, knowing that without what he’s offering I’m putting her more at risk.

“An hour, tops.”

“Have at it. But in one hour I’m gone.” I turn to Black, pointing at him. “Bring me fucking everyone.” I spit the words out as anger courses through my body. “I’m going to bring the Covenant to their fucking knees.”

Three hours. Three fucking hours of my life have ticked by, three fucking hours I’ve watched pint after pint of blood drip at the most painstakingly slow pace into my veins.

I’m lying in my bed, hooked up to IVs. One pumping in blood, the other antibiotics and painkillers.

Henry sits on the chaise lounge that overlooks the London eye; the same chair Layla has spent most of her time these past weeks reading her books.

Layla.

She could already be dead, but something tells me they won’t kill her. Not yet, not until they have the hard drive that has been sitting in my safe until Isla retrieved it.

“Anything?” I ask, for what must be the one hundredth time.

“Again, Luca, no.”

I sigh muttering a curse. “There must be something. Something to give us a clue where they disappeared to.”

“You know the resources the Covenant has, not to mention the fact that a government official was the one that kidnapped her. Who fucking knows what resources he brings to the party. So please, just shut the fuck up and let me work,” Henry snaps, glancing over the top of his glasses.

His usually calm veneer gone and replaced with the menace that sits tapping at the laptop, the shine of the computer screen highlighting his features.

“Anyone heard from Rome?”

“No,” Isla replies from next to me, looking through the documents that came from Layla. “This is unreal. What are you going to do with it?”

“I’ve an idea.” I shift in the bed.

“The more you move, the longer this takes,” Fletcher says from his chair next to my bed.

Faffing.

He’s faffing.

Checking the IVs, checking my vitals.

“I’m fine.” I bat him off. I’m barely holding onto my temper, I’m a caged animal on a literal fucking leash when I want to unleash hell, not giving two fucks as to who I have to kill to get to her. “As for the hard drive, I’m going to send it to someone I trust.”

“Who?” She asks.

“Owen King. Although you know him as Owen Cooper. He’s a politician.”

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