Page 53 of Explosive Vengeance

Dropping to her knees, she ripped the kit open and pulled out the defibrillator, then reached around Heath’s hands to put the paddles in place. She hit the charge button, waited until the light came on to signal the machine was ready. “Clear.”

Heath lifted his hands and she hit the button.

Fleur’s chest jerked with the force of the electrical current.

Chloe held her breath, fighting the urge to shove Heath aside and take over as he checked for a pulse, keeping one hand on the dressing he’d pressed to Fleur’s wound. He was a pro. She needed to let him work without interference, much as it killed her.

Fingers on Fleur’s carotid pulse, he nodded. “Got a rhythm.”

Battling tears, Chloe leaned over Fleur’s head, cupping her friend’s face in her hands. “Fleur, can you hear me? You’re going to be okay. I’m here.” She’d lost so much blood.

Hazy blue eyes opened a crack.

“That’s right, look at me,” Chloe continued, holding Fleur’s gaze while Heath set about stopping the bleeding from the gunshot wound in her friend’s chest. “I’m right here.”

Fleur gasped, choked as blood streamed from her mouth and nose. Chloe bit down hard on the inside of her cheek and held Fleur’s face while Heath sealed the pressure dressing. The position of the wound told her Fleur had been shot through the lung, and the bullet might have nicked her heart or a major blood vessel as well.

“Keep talking to her,” Heath urged as he worked, prepping a large bore IV.

Chloe blurted out something, then just kept talking. She wasn’t even sure what she said, but she needed to focus Fleur and distract her from the terror and pain. She was dimly aware of the crowd gathered around them on the gangway, and another on the dock. In the background, the eerie wail of sirens echoed on the air. Hopefully coming to help Fleur, and to go after Dubois.

Chloe and Heath looked at each other. Shit. She couldn’t be here when the cops or first responders arrived, but how the hell could she leave Fleur like this?

Heath’s intense blue eyes held hers. “Go,” he said. “I’ve got her. Go,” he ordered when Chloe hesitated.

Heart being ripped in two, she bent to kiss Fleur’s forehead. “Hang on, my friend. I’ll see you soon.” I’m sorry. I’m so, so sorry. She forced herself to her feet, refused to look back as she ran down the gangway to the dock, searching for an escape route.

Just before she darted up an alleyway, she glanced back. Heath was still bent over Fleur on the gangway while a crowd of people gathered around, still doing everything he could to stabilize her.

Chloe hurried away, a haze of tears blinding her. She’d lost her earpiece in the water and her phone was shot, so she had no way to contact the rest of the team, who would have scattered or tried to follow Dubois. It was too soon to go to the RV point they’d established as a team prior to the op, and doubling back to the hotel to find the others was risky with Dubois possibly still in the area.

She waited almost another hour before she couldn’t take the uncertainty anymore, and headed for the hospital. She grabbed some scrubs from the laundry in the basement, changed into them and tucked her hair up inside a surgical cap before entering the emergency department. Fleur wasn’t there. She’d been rushed to surgery as soon as the ambulance crew had brought her in.

Chloe’s heart thudded as she found her way to the operating rooms. She pushed through a doorway, was about to stop at the nurse’s station to ask about Fleur when Heath stood up from a chair down the hall. He stared at her for a long moment, salt stains marking his still-damp clothes.

She hurried toward him, and he held a door across the hall open for her. The room was thankfully empty. “When did you get here?” she asked as soon as it closed.

“Came with the ambulance.”

“She’s still in surgery?”

“No.” His eyes were somber, full of empathy. “Chloe…”

She shook her head, took a step back. “Don’t say it.”

He was quiet a moment. “I’m sorry. We revived her twice on the way here, but her heart gave out on the table. She’s gone.”

Grief sank its talons deep into her chest, piercing her heart and lungs. For a moment she couldn’t breathe. Everything burned.

“When I finally met up with the others, I told them I’d wait here in case you came by.”

Her throat was so tight she had to swallow twice to clear it. “What about Dubois?” she whispered. Please tell me that bastard hadn’t gotten away at least.

Rather than answer, he stepped forward and gently took her by the upper arm. “Let’s go back to the hotel. We’ll talk to the others there.”

She ripped her arm free, anger punching through the pain. “What. Happened?”

He released a hard exhalation. “Dubois is in the wind. Amber’s trying to track him, but so far, nothing.”

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