Kayden squeezed my hand, then rose to his feet, running what appeared to be
a blood-stained hand through his hair as he stared around wildly. “Fuck it all.
What the hell happened?”
Behind him, Bishop stood and placed a big hand on Kayden’s shoulder. “You
saw her, Shaw. She shot Ellery at point-blank range. She was going to shoot you.”
He shook his head. “I don’t believe that.”
Wolf gave me a wink. He arranged his face in somber lines before joining the
other two. “She broke, Shaw. Sorry, man.”
Kayden shrugged off Bishop’s hand and snarled at Wolf, then dropped back
down beside me.
Above us, Bishop said, “Give him a minute, Wolf.”
“We need to call in to Delacourt,” Wolf’s low tone carried.
“I’ll do it,” Bishop offered, moving to the front of the sedan.
As he reported my death, I closed my eyes and listened as he filled Delacourt
in on the mission details. Finally, he said, “No sir, we haven’t searched the car,
Hobbes, or Ellery yet. I’m sure the drive’s here somewhere.” A pause. “Yes, sir.”
Another pause. “Yes, sir, we’ll call for two more buses and have them taken to
the hospital and held for transport.”
The men on this team deserved Academy Awards.
The faint sound of sirens drifted to us. Within minutes an ambulance pulled
up. Kayden stayed at my side. I kept my eyes closed as chaos ensued.
“Sir, you’ll need to let us take care of her.” Rabbit’s voice sounded strange
without his drawl.
Wolf dragged Kayden away as Rabbit made quick work of checking my
vitals and confirming my TOD. His electronic instruments sang the same monotone theme. No pulse, no heart rate, not one damn beep. The electronics bowed to Rabbit’s will, reading only what he wanted them too. Nifty talent.
Then came the hard part. Not freaking out when they zipped me into a body
bag.
A metallic hiss sounded as the zip began to close. “Hold up.” That was Jinx.
“Maybe I should go with her.”
Her hand slipped inside the bag and curled over my wrist, a burst of tingling
warmth drifted over my chest, then settled like a heavy sweater. I sent a fervent
plea that Jinx’s illusional ability would hold, otherwise, this would all be for nothing when they unzipped the bag.
“I’m sorry, ma’am, but I can’t allow that.”
Jinx’s hand disappeared and the bag was zipped closed. It was surreal being
surrounded by the heavy black material. The hospital was a five-minute ride away, but it took everything I had not to hyperventilate.
As soon as the ambulance doors shut and the siren picked up its eerie wail,
Rabbit unzipped the bag over my face. Blinking, I sucked in the cooler air.
Above me, Rabbit held a latex covered finger to his lips. A warning to stay quiet.
I let my eyes close and kept my breathing shallow, shocked the improbable plan
might have actually worked. He tapped my shoulder, and I lifted my lids. He raised an eyebrow in question.
