Page 312 of The Black Trilogy

With four of us helping, we made short work of lifting Seth out of the bunker, through the guardhouse, and into the cool night air. I was checking his pulse again when Mack radioed through.

“I’ve given the emergency services the all-clear. Two minutes for the ambulance.”

Right, time to sort out the story with Nate, because the police wouldn’t be far behind.

“We don’t know who these guys were, okay? Throw in some speculation. It could be something to do with Black’s murder, maybe something at work, or just a home invasion. The sniper must have been one of theirs, getting confused.”

“That works,” he agreed. “No sense in dragging Carmen into it. Also, when I shot visitor número uno upstairs, I did it with his buddy’s gun then put it back in the hands of the dead guy, so I guess there was a lot of confusion going on.”

“I’ll call a few people, get some different agencies involved. They can fight among themselves.”

“Good plan. I don’t want to get tied up for days answering questions. I take it we’re allowed to look for Mr. Blanco now, after this?”

Too darn freaking right we were. I paused and looked Nate in the eye. He had a secret love of Shakespeare, so I thought it appropriate to quote Hamlet.

“The readiness is all.”

He gave me a nod. “You’ve made the right decision.”

“Nobody comes into my house like that and lives to tell the tale. I mean, did you see the state of the kitchen?”

“You’re gonna need it remodelled again. The kitchen woman’s gonna have a heart attack. Oh, and speaking of heart attacks, Alex had one left alive, but the guy must’ve had a dodgy ticker because when Alex started twisting his arm, he just keeled over, retched a bit, then died.”

“Shiznits. I wanted the chance to speak with him. And by speak, I mean burn his skin off with a blowtorch, an inch at a time. It’s drugs that caused all this, though. That much I’m sure of.”

“How do you know?”

“Blanco called me again, just before the attack. That’s why I sent the alert to everyone. He told me I’d ignored his last warning, and all I’ve been working on this week is that bad coke thing. Plus it was an old case of Black’s, so it fits.”

“Yeah, it does.” Nate turned his head as sirens sounded close by. “I’ll get everyone working that angle as soon as we get free of the police. By the way, they caught a pair outside Blackwood. Hired in, not from the same team as that lot.” He jerked his thumb back towards the house. “The night shift guys questioned them before the cops picked them up. They were just a couple of kids from a local gang, said some dude paid them five thousand bucks to spray a car with bullets at a certain time, only no car came because you stopped that.”

“Mick’s blood’s still on my hands. And Seth’s too if that ambulance doesn’t get here soon. What’s the hold-up?”

As if on cue, the ambulance rolled slowly through the gateway.

“Don’t hurry yourselves, will you?” I muttered under my breath.

The medics jumped out and strode towards us. My team picked up Seth, strapped onto his board, and I grabbed the drip and oxygen bottle.

“What are you waiting for? Christmas?” I growled at the medics, who seemed more interested in the smoking remains of my home. “Just open the flipping doors.”

They scurried to the back of the ambulance, and we carried Seth inside, securing him to the stretcher. The pair of them took over for an assessment, although there wasn’t a lot they could do that we hadn’t already done.

“Is anyone coming to the hospital with this man?” the taller of them asked.

“Yeah, me.”

Nick decided he was joining us and climbed in the back too. As the ambulance sped into the night, I gripped his hand, my dark thoughts brightened only by the fire inside me.

CHAPTER 6

AT TIMES, I was tempted to hop into the front of the ambulance and drive myself, it went so flipping slowly. At least when we drew up outside the hospital the doors opened instantly, and a trauma team descended on poor Seth and whisked him away. Another overzealous doctor tried to lead me into the emergency room.

“Hey, get off me!” I snapped, yanking my arm away from him.

“I need to check you out. You’re bleeding.”

“It’s not my blood.”

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