I shift us both, sinking down so I’m sitting on the cold asphalt with my back against the wall, Twig cradled in my lap. I tuck herin against me, trying to shield her from the wind cutting down the alley.
Her head tips against my shoulder. She looks small. Too small.
“Tallulah,” I murmur, keeping my voice low and steady. “Love. I need you to give me somethin’. A twitch. A swear word. Anything.”
For a moment, nothing changes.
Then her eyelids flutter, slow and heavy.
Relief hits so hard my vision blurs around the edges.
“Hey,” I say, the word almost a prayer. “There you are.”
Her mouth moves, but no sound comes out. I lean closer, breath fogging in the cold air between us.
“What?” I coax. “Say it again, Tink.”
“…donut,” she breathes, the word barely shaped.
I let out a short, wrecked laugh.
“Okay,” I tell her. “You’re back. We’ll get you a donut.”
Sirens wail faintly in the distance, growing louder.
Boots pound behind me.
“Clear!” Maris’s voice cuts through as she rounds the corner at a run, gun already up, eyes sweeping the alley. She takes everything in—the empty mouth of the street, the smeared tire marks, me on the ground with Twig in my arms—in about half a second.
She holsters the weapon and drops to a crouch beside us.
“Is she—?”
“Breathing,” I say. “Pulse is high. He used something. Needle mark on her neck. Chloroform, ketamine, his own special blend, I don’t know.”
Maris’s jaw tightens. “EMS is almost here. Brady’s chasing the car; units are boxing in the routes out of town. We’re already pulling exterior footage.”
“Good,” I say dully.
She studies my face, her expression shifting, sharpening.
“You had a shot,” she says quietly.
“Yes,” I say.
“You took it.” Her gaze flicks to the pockmark in the dumpster behind Henry’s last position. “You missed.”
“I was too far,” I say. “Too careful. Jack clipped him in the leg; that’s why he dropped her. I didn’t want to risk hitting her.”
There’s a beat of silence.
“Good,” she says simply.
I blink. My throat goes tight.
“I should’ve—” I start.
“No,” she cuts in sharply. “You did what you should’ve. You saved your primary asset.”
