His eyes widen. “Hurry the fuck up,” he shouts. “These assholes called the cops!”
“Goddammit!” Branch snaps, grabbing Mik by the arm and pushing her towards the coolers.
Enough of this shit. I just hope Trevor understands what I’m about to do. “Remember that time in Kabul?” I ask. Everything about that mission was ass-backwards and upside down, and right now, that’s our best hope.
“Yeah…”
“Go high,” I shout, and both Trevor and I drop and roll as Arturo aims where hethinkswe should be—at least three feet above where he should be looking. Trev tackles him, and I come up at a dead run as metal crashes in the lab and Branch groans.
The dust cloud surrounds the two men inside, and it takes me interminable seconds to find a mask and a pair of gloves while Wally, Branch, and Mikayla start to cough. At least Mik pulls her shirt up to cover her mouth as she stumbles toward me, but the Atropine isinsidethe lab, not out here.
Collapsing just inside the decontamination chamber, she curls into a ball, and goddammit, I amnotgoing to lose her. Wally and Branch are clawing their way to the door, and I kick Branch in the head, yank open the glass door to the cabinet, and grab the whole tray of Atropine syringes.
As soon as I reach Mik’s side, I hit the button to start the decontamination spray, which seals the door to the lab, trapping the other two inside. With all the Atropine out here. I should feel bad. Feelsomethingfor them, but I’m too worried about Mik.
“Please, sweetheart. Fight for me.” Jabbing the needle into her thigh and depressing the plunger, I pray I won’t lose this woman before I ever have the chance to tell her how I feel.
She coughs weakly and blinks up at me. “You…got my…message.”
“A whole fucking tray? Yeah. I did.”
Trevor comes up behind us, his phone pressed to his ear. “Make the call, Dax. Or we’re all going to be arrested in under two minutes. That big asshole is dead. Snapped his fucking neck.”
Two minutes was being generous. Five police officers come tearing down the hall, and I cradle Mik in my arms. “Call a fucking ambulance!”
“Let the woman go and back away,” the lead cop orders. “Now!”
“Officer, I’m Major General Austin Pritchard with the United States Air Force.” I don’t care that it’s a lie, that I’m not that man anymore. I just need him to believe me until the EMTs get here. “This woman is my girlfriend, and she’s bradycardic. Her heart rate is dangerously low, and she needs an ambulance immediately. I’m unarmed, and I’m not letting her go.”
They grab Trevor and shove him to his knees before cuffing him, and Ronan gets the same treatment, despite the blood staining his gray shirt at his waist.
“I’m not going to ask you again,” the cop says.
Mik struggles to sit up, and I help her, but don’t let go. “He’s telling the truth,” she says. Her voice is so shaky, but her words are clear. “He saved my life.”
“Bowers!” another officer calls out. “The chief said Pritchard, Moana, and Murphy are off limits. Stand down.” He focuses on me and Mikayla. “EMTs just arrived on scene. They’re on their way up now.”
Thank God. I cup Mik’s cheek. “You’re going to be fine, sweetheart. Just stay with me, okay?”
“Uh huh,” she says with a weak smile. “Have to stay. ‘Cause I love you.”
I don’t get a chance to say the words back to her because the EMTs rush over, and I have to move aside. It’s the hardest thing I’ve ever done, handing her over to them, but once she’s stabilized, I’m never letting her go again.
Epilogue
Austin
Sitting in the hard plastic chair next to Mik’s hospital bed, I can’t stop thinking about just how close I came to losing her.
Trevor’s standing guard outside the room, with someone named Tank from Second Sight on the way, and Ronan’s already been released—against medical advice, but the man refused to stay after they stitched up his side. He lost a fair bit of blood, but the wound wasn’t serious.
My own heart rate was a little on the low side, but the doc who examined me doesn’t think I need anything other than a mega-dose of caffeine unless I start to get dizzy or experience tunnel vision or muscle weakness. So I drain the fourth cup of coffee I’ve had in the past hour and watch Mikayla sleep.
There’s a soft knock at the door, and then Trevor slips inside. “Tank’s here,” he whispers. “He’ll stay all night. I assume you’re not leaving her?”
“Would you leave Dani?”
“Fuck no.” He turns back to the door, but I stop him before he can open it, my hand on his shoulder.
