Page 78 of Help Me Remember

No one else had noticed, their backs had been turned due to my scuffle with two of the goons, and I was the only one paying attention. “It turns out I wasn’t as trusting as you thought. When I woke up, I was wearing a vest.”

Gabriel snapped his fingers, pointing at me. “God, I wondered about that after I heard you were alive. It’s so nice to know that even then, you weren’t ready to turn your back on me. I was so sure you were dead, if not from the bullet to the heart, then the three-story fall.”

“You should learn to confirm your kills,” I said, wondering where Ana had gone when no one, even me, had been paying attention. “I woke up with no memory, an aching chest, and feeling like I got beat to hell, but I woke up.”

“Well, it’s hard to argue with that logic,” Gabriel said with a chuckle, finally looking over at Eric. “And I’ll be very interested to hear what part this one played in everything.”

“Leave him be,” I told him, tensing when I spotted the faintest movement behind Patterson and Eric. The longer attention was turned in their direction, the more likely Ana would be spotted. I wasn’t entirely sure what the woman was doing, but I suspected. “You’re not his type.”

The comment worked, and Gabriel’s head snapped back toward me, his eyes flashing dangerously. “For all the fun you enjoyed spoiling, you were always a little too happy to try to play dangerous games when it might be better to be smarter about things.”

“C’mon, Gabriel,” I said with a snort, able to see Ana getting closer to Patterson and Eric. I needed to decide what I would do when she finally made her move. And I hoped Eric was smart enough to get away from the danger as soon as something happened. “We both know there’s not a whole lot left for me to lose at this point. I’m outnumbered, outgunned, and without many options.”

“That’s very true,” Gabriel said, unsurprisingly sounding pleased. “And I’m going to enjoy finding out what you have on that flash drive of yours too. Kind of a shame I can’t figure out who you were trying to help, but…”

“You and me both,” I said, having forgotten all about the drive in the midst of everything else. “Because I’m pretty sure you can’t torture information out of an amnesiac.”

“Shame because that would make killing you openly so much more acceptable for everyone else.” Gabriel shrugged. “Now, do me a favor, pull that drive and notebook out of your pocket, and toss them to me. And while you’re at it, why don’t you toss that gun to the ground and stop holding it to poor Gregor.”

I felt the sharp spike of adrenaline when I saw Ana rise from behind Patterson and Eric, a pipe in her hand. “Yeah, I don’t think so, Gabriel. I have other plans in mind.”

Gabriel scowled. “You have no—”

The crack of the pipe against Patterson’s skull stopped what Gabriel had to say and broke the fragile peace between everyone. Patterson cried out, stumbling to the side as blood poured down the side of his head. Eric didn’t waste time trying to figure out what happened, taking advantage of Patterson’s loosened grip and pushing the man as he tried to dash away.

The man, Gregor apparently, that I’d been holding at gunpoint, lunged forward. I stepped to the side, bashing him in the head with the gun and sending him sprawling. Before the man did much more than hit the ground and groggily try to pick himself up, I brought the gun up and squeezed once, needing only one bullet in the back of his head to end whatever ideas he might have.

It came with the same cold precision and razor-sharp intent as the fight in the alley. I didn’t have time to wonder what kind of monster I really was, however, as the rest of the group was already moving. I could see Gabriel still out in the open, rapidly backpedaling as he tried to grab the gun he kept under his loose shirt. He was completely vulnerable as he attempted to reach the two men running for cover toward him.

To my frustration, however, Patterson recovered quicker than anyone with a pipe-bashed head had any right to and was spinning on Ana. The woman had busied herself, pulling Eric with her as she shot at the men, nailing one in the chest and driving the fourth of the original group back for cover.

“Ana!” I bellowed as I saw Patterson’s gun come up and swivel onto her, fury and murder in his eyes. He might have originally hated the idea that she had been gunned down so coldly, but apparently, that didn’t count after she’d bashed him with a pipe. I could already see her reaction was too slow. She was too distracted to realize the danger before it was too late.

Eric wasn’t quite as slow.

Even as I was forced to duck a volley of bullets, I screamed in horror as Eric reared up from where he’d been crouching to grab Ana. He managed to successfully pull her away from the shot before it took her forehead off, but he moved the wrong way and into the path of the bullet. I watched the spray of blood as the bullet caught him in the neck and the way he slumped against Ana as they slammed into the ground.

The roar of guns sounded like I was six feet underwater in a thunderstorm. The roar of the storm was the thundering of blood in my ears as my gaze honed in on the corrupt officer who stared down at Eric with shock. Even as the edges of my vision blurred, becoming vague shapes and movement, my sight of Patterson grew sharper. I could see the drops of sweat on his brow, the ugly wound from the pipe that had struck him, and the whiteness of his knuckles as he held the gun tightly.

And I saw…

Eric’s wide eyes as he stared down at the red stain on my mother’s ugly rug, the flush of his cheeks as I laughed at his horror.

The way Eric beamed the first time I hooked an arm around his neck because, of course, we’re friends, and he should stop being an idiot.

How warm I felt but couldn’t give voice to when he showed up on my birthday when my parents hadn’t even thought to leave me a card before they went out of town.

The sight of his passion and fire as he yelled at me because I was a stubborn idiot and I didn’t know how to ask for help, and couldn’t I just let him help for once?

The peaceful expression on his face as he nuzzled into the faint scent of me in the blankets, and I wondered how something could be so beautiful.

My first shot caught Patterson in the gut as he turned. His mouth fell open into a perfect circle of shock and horror as he stumbled back. His gun clattered to the ground as he pressed his hand to the bleeding wound turning his shirt crimson. The corrupt officer turned to face me, confusion and fear on his face as he met my gaze. As I adjusted my aim, I saw the realization light up his eyes and the pure horror that came with it.

My second shot took him between the eyes, and he dropped, falling backward with a clatter as he took one of the chairs with him. I had no idea if I had ever taken pleasure in killing someone before, but I certainly had now.

Then there was only Eric, sprawled out on the hard concrete patio. I could hear shouts all around us and the sound of more gunshots than there should have been, but I ignored them as I ran forward. I slid to my knees beside him, tearing up my jeans and a few layers of skin in the process.

“S’okay,” Eric tried to tell me, his voice absurdly loud to my ears. “I don’t…doesn’t feel like he hit something vital.”

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