Page 94 of Betrayal from Beyond
Kara threw herself on the ground. The explosion roared. Heat washed over her and small, stinging sensations struck her arms and hands where she had flung them over her head.
She lay there, gasping while smoke and other particles swirled in the air around her, before struggling to sit up. “Niall!”
Her ears were ringing. Her arms and hands stung. She stared. They were full of splinters. Climbing to her feet, she looked back at the carriage.
It had been ripped apart. Parts of it were burning. It listed on shattered wheels into a hole in the stone. The horses… She looked away, swallowing back the horror. “Niall!”
She headed for where she had last seen him. As she passed the back side of the carriage, she saw the blood dripping from it.
The Russian, whoever he was, was no more.
She found Niall just beginning to stir on the far side. He had clearly been pushing Wooten away and managed to get him behind the stack of mortar sacks. His hand still reached out toward the inspector, but Niall had been caught out before the safety of their shelter.
Kara flinched to see a great, long shard of wood impaling the muscle of his calf, several inches above his ankle.
“Niall!” He was groaning as she threw herself down beside him. “Don’t move,” she ordered him. “Be still.”
“Wooten?” he asked, coughing.
She moved to put her fingers on the inspector’s neck. “His pulse is steady. I don’t see any wounds.” Wooten began to stir. “He will be fine.”
Coming back to Niall, she threw up her skirts and reached for a petticoat. “That leg is going to bleed when we pull that out. I’ll need padding—”
“Kara, wait.”
She stopped as Niall grabbed her wrist. He nodded toward the entrance hall. She turned her head to see Petra on her feet, stumbling through the wreckage. She paused in the corner, standing over the box of trigger-less devices. Her face contorted as she pounded the stone wall in frustration. She didn’t glance their way or check on anyone else’s welfare before she walked out into the cluttered construction site. Kara heard her footsteps stumbling, then quickening to a run.
“Don’t,” Niall said as Kara reached again for her petticoat. “Kara, you are right. It’s going to bleed. It will slow me down. Damn it, someone needs to go, and it can’t be me.”
“What are you saying?” She stared. “I cannot leave you!”
“Gyda will already be after her,” he said roughly.
“Oh, yes.” She looked back up toward the trapdoor in the ceiling. “She’ll be facing her alone.”
“She shouldn’t do it alone,” Niall said urgently. He gripped her arm. “Petra has just lost. Again. She will be in a rage. A frenzy. She’ll feel like she has nothing to lose.” He tried to shift off his hip, but grimaced and cursed. “Damn it!”
“No! You are right. I’ll go. I can do this.”
His lips thinned. “Youcando this. The both of you.” Reaching into his coat, he handed her his pistol. “You know where she is going.”
Kara frowned. It took a moment. “Oh, Brougham.”
“Yes. She will need to salvage something from this disaster.” A spasm of pain crossed his face. “Odin’s arse. I cannot believe I am sending you after her.”
She grabbed his face, gripping it between her two hands. “You are not sending me. I am going. You are right. This has to end. Tonight.”
She kissed him fiercely. And then she stood. “Preston,” she shouted.
“Kara?” The engineer limped into view on the other side of the carriage, cradling an arm and looking wildly about. “Are you all right? Tom and I are bruised, but fine. But where have they all gone? Have they all fled?”
“Niall is injured. Get over here. Don’t pull out this shard until you are able to apply plenty of pressure to stop the bleeding.”
She glanced down. “I love you. I’ll be back.”
“You damned well better.”
Their gazes met for a long, intent moment. Right before she slipped away into the dark.
