“Fair enough,” he replied, leaning heavily on me as I helped him to his feet. “Fuck. Shit, that hurts.”
“When we get inside, I’ll take a look at it.”
While Havoc watched our backs, I helped Ben into the school.
Adina took one look at us and picked up her phone.
“No ambulance,” Mercy said, her face pinched in concern as she watched her brother.
“Are you sure?” Adina asked.
Mercy nodded. “Yes. At least not yet, but I reserve the right to change my mind. Hopefully nobody calls in the shooting.”
“I think we’re the only ones who know how to call the cops in this neighborhood,” Adina replied.
Mercy had me take Ben into her office. “I didn’t know what you’d need, so I brought you this,” she said, gesturing at a giant first aid kit sitting on top of her desk.
“Smart thinking.” I helped Ben lay on the floor and grabbed a pair of rubber gloves out of the kit. “Are you sure you don’t want us to call an ambulance?” I asked.
“I’ve been thinking about it, and it can’t be that bad, right? I mean, it hurts like hell, but I’m still conscious and I’m not dying or anything. Mercy said you’re a combat medic. You deal with gunshot wounds, right?” Ben took a breath and gritted his teeth.
I nodded and kept watching him for clues as to the extent of the damage. “All the time. Does it hurt to breathe?”
“Not to breathe. My chest hurts to move. It’s the pressure.”
“But you’re not having any difficulty breathing?” I asked.
“No. And this might be my chance to get away from the WSB. If they think I’m dead, I can get out of the city without putting Mercy at risk,” Ben replied. “Can you remove the bullet?”
For taking a bullet to the chest, he was doing phenomenally well. “Did you get hit directly?”
“I think it ricocheted off the dumpster,” Mercy replied.
“It must not be too deep. Let’s check it out.” I slowly removed the blood-soaked sweater and looked over the damage. The wound was still leaking blood, but not gushing. Needing full access to his chest, I unzipped his jacket and pushed it aside before grabbing a pair of scissors from the first aid kit and cutting away his T-shirt. Watching his chest, I confirmed that there was an equal, bilateral rise and fall before wiping away the pooling blood again.
Ben winced, hissing out a swear. Mercy knelt beside his head and offered him her hand to squeeze.
Looking in the wound, I could make out the black metal of the bullet. “Good news, I can see the back of the round,” I announced. “It’s not deep, but it’s still gonna suck to get it out of there. You sure you’re up for this, Ben?”
He nodded. “Just do it.”
Havoc was standing in the doorway watching us. He stepped fully inside the office and closed the door behind him. “Do you have anything for him to bite down on?” he asked Mercy. Apparently the big man knew a thing or two about bullet removal. Not surprising. “Maybe something leather.”
“My purse strap.” Mercy pointed to the bag hanging behind her chair.
Havoc passed it over and she positioned the widest part of the strap between Ben’s teeth.
I grabbed a pair of tweezers from the medical kit and went to work, trying to get a good grip on the bullet.
“Remind me to stick toLifeandClueand never playOperationagainst you,” Mercy said, watching me. She’d been handling the situation like a boss, only increasing my respect for her.
Ben grunted back a cry and bit down on the purse strap as I squeezed the round and plucked it from his chest. Mercy grabbed a plastic bag from the first aid kit and held it out to me. I dropped the bloody, misshapen metal into it and leaned forward until my ear hovered directly above Ben’s chest.
“I can’t hear or feel any airflow. It would take an x-ray to know for sure, but I’m pretty sure the chest wall hasn’t been compromised.”
“Well, that’s good,” Mercy replied. “Right?”
I nodded. “I’m gonna need to flush out the wound and stitch it up. If he’s not getting x-ray’s, I’ll need to keep an eye on him.”
