Page 167 of Girl Between
Amelia was in the way, but Dana knew exactly where to aim, exactly where the bullet would pierce through the girl’s flesh and still hit Monroe. Dana had survived that shot. That meant Amelia could, too.
Dana didn’t want to be the one to take Monroe’s life, but she would if it meant stopping him from taking more lives. Too many had been lost at his hands already.
She hated the idea that this was her ending; what her life would amount to—death and darkness. It was the ultimate reminder that her light wasn’t enough.
She needed to squeeze the trigger and end this while she still could. “Last chance, Monroe. Let the girl go,” Dana ordered.
Monroe gave her a maniacal smile. “Take the shot.”
Dana’s hands trembled; her fingers slick with her own blood as she tried to squeeze the trigger. But … she was too late, she could feel it all slipping away. This was the end.
The faint echo of a gunshot pierced her regret just before Dana let go of consciousness and darkness swooped in.
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“Target down,”Jake barked into the radio.
His shot was clean, hitting only his intended mark, but Jake was the only one left standing. He’d been moving when he took the shot, and he didn’t stop until he was kneeling at Dana’s side. He pulled her into his lap, damp immediately soaking his knees.
Blood.Dread sliced through him as he realized the puddle of blood he was kneeling in was Dana’s.
There was too much of it. He knew her pulse would be thready even before he pressed his fingers to her slender throat.
Grabbing his radio again, Jake requested assistance. “I need a bus!” he yelled as he watched Landry drag himself over to where Amelia and Monroe lay, unmoving.
George’s voice crackled over the radio. “Can you hold tight? We got lots of bodies down here.”
Jake answered, voice tinged with authority. “Negative. All units report to me. Friendly down. It’s Dana.”
He put his radio down and went to work checking her injuries, aiming to stem the bleeding. But there was too much. Too much blood. Too many injuries. He didn’t know where to start. She had jagged cuts on her hands and arms, a split lip, anda wound that soaked through her shirt. And those were just the injuries he could see. He’d glimpsed the hospital of horrors here. There was no telling what kind of drugs Monroe had pumped her full of.
Carefully lowering Dana to the floor, Jake grabbed an IFAK from the SWAT pack Creed had insisted he carry. Rummaging through the first aid essentials, Jake again found himself grateful for the new unit chief’s diligence.
Using a tourniquet, Jake quickly bound the deep cut on Dana’s forearm. Then, as gently as he could, he lifted the hem of her blood-drenched shirt. The makeshift bandage wrapped around her abdomen was immediately visible, but so was the steady gurgle of blood leaking from beneath it.
Jake swore but refused to give way to the cold terror gnawing at his insides. Using trauma gauze and hemostatic dressing, he packed the wound tightly before applying a compression bandage. The whole thing took him less than a minute, but the fact that Dana remained motionless the entire time made it feel like an eternity.
Knowing there was nothing else he could do, Jake pulled Dana back into his lap. Cradling her to his chest, he pressed his lips to her forehead, begging her to stay.
“Please,” he said over and over. “Please stay with me.”
Jake's heart pounded as he held Dana close, feeling the warmth of her body begin to fade. He couldn't lose her, not now. The distant sounds of rescue grew nearer, but Jake knew they might be too late. He had done all he could, but it felt insufficient.
As he whispered his desperate pleas, something inside him stirred. He remembered the countless times Dana had fought against impossible odds, the determination in her eyes when faced with adversity. She was a warrior, and he needed her to remember that, to fight.
“Fight,” he begged. “I need you to fight.”
A surge of resolve washed over him. Jake's hands trembled as he kept pressure on her wounds. He couldn't let her slip away. Not Dana. Not now.
“Hold on, Dana. Hold on for me,” Jake murmured, his voice cracking with emotion.
Boots on concrete, the crackle of radio static; the tell-tale echoes of help grew louder. Jake clung to the hope that they would arrive in time. He couldn't bear the thought of a world without her. He whispered prayers and promises, begging her to fight, but Dana’s only response was the shallow whisper of her breathing.
Then all at once … it stopped.
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As darkness enveloped her,a soft, ethereal light began to glow above Dana. She felt weightless, detached from the pain that had consumed her moments before. Her breaths were shallow, each one more labored than the last, but the light grew stronger, beckoning her closer.
