"Lost a lot of blood," I answer. "Bullet went clean through, but it might have hit something major. We need to keep pressure on it until the paramedics get here."
Mateo kneels opposite us, adding his hands to the pressure on Declan's wound. "Hey, Old Man," he says, his voiceforcibly light, "this is a hell of a way to get out of work. You know I'm not covering your shifts, right?"
Jade's eyes flash with momentary anger, but I understand what Mateo's doing. Sometimes, even unconscious, people respond to the familiar.
"Yeah," I add, following his lead. "Real dramatic, taking a bullet. Always have to one-up everybody, don't you?"
A muscle in Declan's face twitches. His eyelids flutter.
"That's it," Mateo encourages, leaning closer. "Come on,hermano.Since when do you let a little bullet stop you? Remember that time in Kandahar when you carried Johnson three miles with shrapnel in your leg?"
Another twitch. His breathing changes rhythm.
"I bet he's milking it for sympathy," Mateo continues, though I can see the fear behind his forced smile.
Declan's eyes snap open.
"Fuck... you," he rasps, the words barely audible.
Relief hits me like a physical blow. Jade makes a sound somewhere between a laugh and a sob.
"There he is," Mateo says,grinning despite the tears in his eyes. "Welcome back, Old Man."
Declan's dark eyes find Jade's face, confusion giving way to recognition, then concern. Always concern for others, even with a bullet hole in his shoulder.
"You... okay?" he asks her, his voice a scratchy whisper.
She laughs incredulously. "Am I okay? You just took a bullet for me, and you're asking if I'm okay?"
His lips twitch in what might be an attempt at a smile. "Answer... the question."
"I'm fine," she says, her voice softening. "Thanks to you. To all of you." Her eyes lift to mine, then to Mateo's, shining with tears.
"You came," she whispers. "Even after everything I said, everything I did... you came."
"Of course we came," I say simply. "We knew something was wrong."
Mateo reaches across Declan to take her hand. "The Kill Bill quote was a nice touch."
She smiles, then sobers, looking back at Declan. "Don't you ever do that again," she tells him fiercely.
"No promises," Declan murmurs, his eyes drifting closed again, though he's still conscious, still breathing steadily.
The sirens are louder now, just outside the property. Blue and red lights flash against the house walls, castingstrange shadows across the pool deck.
"We need to talk," I say to Jade, my voice low and urgent. "All of us. About what happened, about why you sent us away..."
"I know," she interrupts, her eyes meeting mine, filled with regret and something that looks like hope. "I need to explain..."
The gate bursts open, and suddenly the pool area is flooded with uniformed officers, weapons drawn, followed by paramedics.
"Police! Everyone stay where you are!"
The moment shatters. Jade and I are pulled away from Declan as the paramedics swarm around him. Mateo is explaining about Becky, pointing to where she's secured to the railing. An officer approaches me, asking questions I answer on autopilot, my eyes never leaving Jade as she's wrapped in a foil blanket and led to a separate ambulance.
Our conversation will have to wait. But as they load Declan onto a gurney, as the paramedics work to stabilize him, as the chaos of emergency response swirls around us, I catch Jade's eye one last time.
The look that passes between us holds everything we haven't said yet. Everything we still need to say.
