“People. Find people. Somewhere we’ll be seen. Then call Clive.” My words escape strained and hoarse, and the graze on my side starts to burn like someone just lit a match and is holding it to my skin.
With my arm around her shoulders, we keep going, and then Evianna slows, pushes against something, a door that makes a heavy whoosh sound. The sounds of conversation swirl around us, and she leads me another few steps, then takes my hand. “There’s a bench, right here. We’re out of the way, but in plain sight.”
“Where…?”
“The Kilted Scotsman. It’s a pub, and there’s a sports match on the big screen. Cricket or something.”
“Can I help you?” a big, booming voice says. “Uh, lady, you need shoes if you want to stay.”
“Please…” Evianna’s rummaging in the bag, then presses my wallet into my hand. “He’s hurt, and someone’s after us. Can we just…stay here for a few minutes? I’m calling someone…right now. Don’t make us go back out there—”
“Whoa,” the man says as I hold up my PI license. “That shit real?”
“Yes, this shit is real.” I push to my feet, wincing, as I hear Evianna say Clive’s name. “And we’re staying. Right here. Until my team can get to us. You have a problem with that, I should warn you, I’m fucking Special Forces and I’ve had a really bad night.”
“Prove it.”
“Excuse me?” I’m not in the mood for this shit, but I rip open the cuff on my left sleeve and yank the shirt halfway up my forearm. “De Oppresso Liber, motherfucker.”
“Hooah, man. We cool. Rangers, 75th Regiment. Come into the back room. Ain’t no one getting to you there. They’d have to go through me.”
“Where’d you train, soldier?” I can’t see the guy—for all I know he could be lying to me, but something in his voice tells me he’s not.
“Fort Benning, Georgia, sir. Now you gonna trust me or not?”
“Clive is twenty minutes away,” Evianna says, her voice barely audible over the music and the crowds and her own fear. “We’re…across town from Beacon Hill…”
I hold out my hand to the Ranger. “Could use a little help, 75th. I’m blind. But lead the way.”
“Demetrius Washington,” the man says as he pumps my hand. “But you can call me Tank. You were seriously gonna try to take me? Blind?”
“Still might.” Pulling Evianna against me, I arch a brow in Tank’s direction. “Give me your arm. At the elbow. Get us out of sight.”
Tank walks us down a short hallway, opens a door, and steps inside. “There’s a couch along the left wall. What you need? Water? Towels? Couple fingers of scotch?”
“All of the above. You got a first aid kit?”
“Top desk drawer. I’ll be right back.”
When we’re alone, I turn to Evianna. “Darlin’, I’m pretty sure it’s just a scratch, but I need you to get the first aid kit and see if I’m still bleeding.”
“O-okay.” She hisses out a breath after the first step, but as I sink down onto the couch, I hear the drawer opening, and then she’s at my side and pulling up my shirt. “Shit.”
“How bad is it?”
“About…a quarter inch deep. It’s…not bleeding…much.” She’s barely holding it together, and as she swipes an antiseptic pad over the wound, I grit my teeth and try to steady her hand.
We stay like that, the alcohol burning, but her fingers under mine, for several seconds until I feel like I can speak. “Had a lot worse, darlin’. Every damn day for fifteen months. This is nothing. Just clean it up and slap a bandage on it and I’ll be good as new tomorrow.”
“Yeah, right,” she scoffs, but her voice is stronger now, and she moves quickly. Two more cold, stinging pads, then a square of gauze, a couple of pieces of tape, and I start to relax.
Tank returns a few minutes later. “Got water, scotch, clean bar towels, and a plate of fries. You two look like you’re about to pass out. You said you got people coming?”
“Yes,” I say as Evianna wraps my fingers around the glass of water. “Three guys. They’ll identify themselves. Clive, Ronan, and Vasquez. Anyone else comes asking, don’t say a damn thing about us.”
“Roger that. I gotta get back out there. You good?”
“We good, darlin’?” Wrapping my arm around her shoulders, I stifle my wince as the bullet wound protests. But all of my pain fades away in an instant when Evianna answers.
