Page 241 of Entangled

Heather runs her finger along the cabinet with the cuffs and ropes. “At his advanced age, that could be fatal.”

Jasper opens the bathroom door, his shirt hanging open. Through it, I can see Lucky draped over the toilet, his head tilted to look at us. He lifts his hand in acknowledgement, and I nod at him. Then he rolls, noisily heaving his guts into the toilet.

“Oh.”

I look down at Eden. She’s staring at Lucky, her face turning green around the edges. She swallows hard. His back heaves as he vomits again.

Jasper leans against the doorframe, running a hand over his unkempt hair. “What is it, Dominic? I’m assuming it can’t wait until morning?”

“It can’t. Akira trashed Eden’s room with pig’s blood, stole Beau’s rifle, and has been missing for...” Dom looks at me.

“Six or seven hours, best I can tell,” I finish, stroking Eden’s knotted hair gingerly.

“You think she’s gone back to the Den?” Heather asks. Any hint of teasing has been wiped from her face, and her strong face is set in battle-axed lines.

“She knows where the cameras were moved to,” Dom says in a low voice, and the pieces start falling in together.

If Akira’s planning to sell us out, she has all the tools to do it. The cameras we could move again if we really had to, but the pit traps and the defenses? Not to mention she knows our exact numbers and the weapons we’ve been testing, our food inventory and where we access our water...

“Can we catch her before she reaches Cyanide?” Jasper asks, and my stomach sinks at the thought of it.

It’s like Sam all over again, only I doubt she’ll stop and make camp long enough to let us gain on her.

“We’ve had people all through the woods for the last week. I wouldn’t even know where to start picking out her tracks.” Dom rubs a hand over his chin. “We can ask Bentley to post some men to watch the main roads into the city, maybe they can catch her there—but they’re playing conservatively right now, and the Sinners will be watching who enters their turf. I don’t know if Red Zone will risk a direct conflict with them over her, not when the Sinners are apparently on a rampage.”

“So what do we do?” Heather asks. “Just let her take the intel back and take the hit? We’re already fucked enough without losing that edge.”

Eden presses her fingers against her lips, breathing through her nose, and I rub circles on her back as the full gravity of the situation hits me.

My eyes find Dom.

There are heavy shadows under his eyes, and now that I’m looking, I’m thinking that stubble is more than one day old. I’ve been focused on my new patients, all the daily hurts and issues that come up, and all the long-suffered problems we can start finding treatments for. I’ve been worrying about Eden, and prepping Deanna and the nurses on the best way to treat the kind of trauma injuries we might see in an attack.

It's not like I’ve been oblivious to the fortifications, or the rations, or how serious our situation is.

But fucked?

They’ve been putting on a good face. The teams have been organized and efficient, and while people are grumbling over empty bellies, talk has been far from defeatist. If not exactly sunshine and daisies, it’s seemed under control.

I should have known better.

Dom’s always been hard and unyielding, a fortress to the world. He’s always come to me to bounce ideas—or to ease his doubts. It’s strange being on the outside.

I try to shake the sudden guilt that I’ve been letting him down, but the tension in him is hard to see. Maybe I shouldn’t have shut him out that completely. I might have taken it too far.

Dom sighs. “We should?—”

There’s a whistle from the outer room—one of our Ranger calls. I whistle back. A moment later, Jayk walks in through the open door, slowing as he glances around the room. He rolls his eyes at the wall of toys.

“What?” he asks Dom.

He glances at Eden, then away again just as fast, like it’s not transparent as a wet T-shirt contest what he’s doing.

In the bathroom, Lucky makes an awful, guttural retch, and it’s chased by a chunky sounding splash. I grimace, but Eden lets out a low groan.

“Darlin’, are you feeling okay?”

She pushes off me and bolts for the bathroom. Jasper flattens himself against the doorframe, and Lucky dives to the side just in time for her to hurl her guts up into the toilet. Then again.

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