Page 161 of Five Fingers of Death

With glassy eyes, I turned to the man beside me, finally recognizing his features. “Jack.”

He nodded, holding my arm for support. “You can do this. You don’t know what’s happening in there. Don’t let your mind jump to conclusions.”

This man had suffered more than anyone I knew, and he was still fighting. Knight was like that, too. He could withstand almost anything. Hell, he’d survived a knife to the chest. It would be fine. He had to be.

I pulled on every reserve of energy I had in my body and forced myself to focus on the task at hand. Jason butted up against the side of the building, motioning everyone else over. Suddenly, I was yanked against Jack as voices carried out into the night. I stiffened, holding my breath as I prayed no one would catch us. I couldn’t be certain how many men were there, but I already knew it was too many for the three of them.

“I’ll check it out,” Johnny whispered, disappearing into the dark.

Minutes passed until we finally moved again. I couldn’t stop myself from gripping the back of Jack’s shirt as we moved forward. If he was annoyed by it, he said nothing. In the distance, I could hear men talking angrily. With every step we took, my body tightened with anxiety. I wanted to run forward, but fear kept me rooted behind Jack. As long as I didn’t know what was happening, I could pretend that my husband was fine.

“What the fuck?” Jason hissed, stepping out suddenly into a large, dank room.

Curiosity got the better of me and I peeked out from behind Jack’s body, only to suck in a gasp at what I saw. I started to run forward, but was jerked back at the sound of gunfire. Screaming, I ducked just as a bullet whizzed past my head, narrowly avoiding my skull. Jack pulled me to the ground, covering me as he returned fire, but all I could see was my husband on the ground, bleeding out as he struggled to stay conscious.

I wanted to run to him, to put my skills to use, but the look in his eyes told me not to move. Even on the brink of death, he was protecting me. “I have to go,” I cried.

I started to move again, but Jack pulled me back, forcing me to stay behind him. “You can’t help him if you’re dead!” he shouted, firing again.

With every second that slipped by, I knew I risked losing my husband. Suddenly, all I saw was the relief and guilt in his eyes when he realized I was still alive and hadn’t been killed. I remembered how lonely and depressed he’d become after he left me, assuming he was doing it to keep me safe.

And if anything happened to him, I knew I would end up right where he was all those months ago.

“No,” I whispered before sucking in a breath and rushing out into the gunfire. I heard Jack yelling for me to get down, but the only thing I could focus on was my husband. I slid on my knees beside him, ignoring the growl he sent my way as I cupped his cheek and forced him to look at me.

“You…shouldn’t…be…here.”

I ignored the anger in his voice and forced myself to focus on what I could do for him. I gently rolled him, sucking back the horror when I saw the blood oozing from his chest. He wouldn’t survive long if I didn’t get him out of here. He needed surgery and this was not the environment for that.

“Kate…leave.”

“Shut up,” I snapped, digging into my bag for my supplies. I didn’t bother with gloves as I tore his shirt open, revealing the worst of the wound. It was bad. Terrible, actually. I grabbed gauze from my bag and pressed it down hard on his chest, refusing to cry when he gasped in pain or when his eyes rolled back in his head. This was necessary. I needed to stem the flow of blood until I could get him out of here.

“I need an ambulance!” I shouted over my shoulder.

Gunfire still rang out around me, but I ignored it, focusing only on him. He was all that mattered. I quickly got to work, doing what I could for him and ignoring the angry looks he shot me when he opened his eyes again.

“Kate…”

“Stop talking,” I snapped.

“Kate…I need you…to know…”

I finally tore my gaze from his wound and stared him dead in the eyes. “If you even think about telling me goodbye, I swear to God, I will make sure your life is a living hell.”

His lips quirked in a smile before he grimaced again. Then Hunter was beside me, his phone in hand as he shouted out orders.

“Just fucking like you, Knight,” Hunter muttered. “I swear to God, how many fucking times am I going to have to cover your ass?”

Hunter did everything I asked, watching my back the whole time as I worked quickly. When I tipped Knight on his side to check for an exit wound, I tuned out the sound of pain emanating from him. I knew it fucking hurt, but it would be worse if he was dead.

When I rolled him back, Hunter started doing his own assessment, checking for anything I might have missed. We worked in tandem like we always had on a job. Except this time, more was at stake. This was Garrick, and if I lost him…

I shook away those thoughts and continued patching him as best I could. I was so busy working that I didn’t even notice the way his brows scrunched in confusion until he gripped my hand. “What? What is it?”

“Singing…”

“What? You want me to sing?”

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