Page 71 of Duplicity

“Cat!”

Thankfully, she wasn’t about to get killed. That was a friendly voice, and it belonged to her brother.

“Hold on. I’ll get you out.” He grabbed her under the arms and dragged her back over the passenger’s seat in front and out the door, where he set her on her feet.

The world swam around her, and she grabbed onto his arm with her good hand, letting out another cry.

“We’ll get you looked at.” He stared down at her with a dark expression. “There’s about to be a whole lot of EMTs here.”

She needed to see…

Cat used the side of the van for support and picked her way to the back doors. They were open. No one was inside.

She didn’t see blood. She hadn’t heard shots after she was hit, but she had heard a car engine. “They took him.”

Peter ran up to her, and Romeo closed in. Simon’s brother asked, “Where is he?”

Two more Vanguard operatives ran up to them, including Jasper and a woman she didn’t recognize. The woman had longblonde hair tied back in a ponytail, and she wore a tank top and jeans. She had seriously toned biceps. Both of them looked worried, though Peter’s expression was more like tortured.

“I don’t know where Simon is.”

Jasper looked at her arm, then reached into the van and came back with a duffel. “Sit on the edge.”

She took a seat in the doorway, and he tore open a square of gauze. He held it against her arm and said, “Tell me what happened.”

Cat swallowed down the bile that threatened to interrupt her attempt at telling the story. When the danger of that had passed, she said, “We were shot at. I think your guy, who was outside the van, was killed, but I’m not sure.”

Jasper glanced at the woman.

She nodded, and a strand of blonde hair came loose from her ponytail. “I’ll go look.”

Cat watched her rush off.

“He’s a friend of hers.” Jasper replaced the gauze with another clean one. “Looks like a nasty graze. You might even need stitches.”

“I need to find Simon.”

Peter and Romeo glanced at each other. Both shifted their stances.

“Iamgoing to find him.”

Jasper said, “How many were there?”

Cat squinted at them. They had looks on their faces like they were about to leave her and go finish this themselves. If they wanted to do that, then why didn’t they just leave already?

“Cat,” her brother prompted.

She glanced at him and noted the serious freak-out going on behind his attempt at a blank expression. “Not less than three, not more than five. One car. Not an SUV. It was low down.”

At least she wasn’t in critical condition, hanging by a thread, and he had no idea. Yet again, she’d been unable to help. Someone she cared about was in danger, and instead of being at work and not getting the news, she’d been injured and still couldn’t stop it.

Now Simon was in the hands of their enemy. He had been taken, and even though he’d escaped last time, it didn’t mean he would find the opportunity to do so again. They had to find him. Rescue him.

But where were they supposed to start?

Did her brother and Simon’s brother think she had the answer?

She shook her head and tried to focus. Jasper grabbed a bandage and wound it around her arm gently. “What happened after they showed up?”

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