He hoped like hell they could get her out via the elevator. Just days ago, he’d seen a person on a gurney being evacuated through a third-floor window onto a cherry picker attached to a fire truck ladder. That would take way too long. Not to mention be scary as shit.
Natalie pushed weakly at his arm. “Go. Be gone before…police…” She looked up at Emma behind him, her blue eyes stern, but pinched with pain. “Gun.” She wiggled the fingers of her right hand.
“Whoa, wait,” Jason said in alarm. Outside distant sirens pierced the air.
“Nat, we’re not going to leave you,” Emma said.
Damn straight.
Natalie glared at her. “If you are caught here—” she sucked in a shaky breath through her teeth “—then we will never be able to use those files.” She paused for a second, closing her eyes briefly before focusing on Emma again, teeth gritted. “Whatever happens to me, what happened to Viktor, will have been in vain.” She collapsed a little, her breath sputtering.
Tears flooded Emma’s eyes and she crouched by her friend. “Nat…”
Jason breathed deeply and looked away, his throat thick.Fuck.
But, hold on. She knew Viktor’s name? The way she was talking made it sound like she and Emma were far deeper into this than they’d let on.
Natalie winced, and he tucked his questions away for later. Right now, she needed help.
“Please go,” she whispered. “I need to know I made a difference. Otherwise, I’m just the one who got in the way.”
“Shit, Nat.” Emma swiped at her face with the back of her free hand. “Shit.” Pressing a knuckle to the base of her nose, she blinked several times and inhaled sharply. “Okay. We’ll go.”
What?
Emma placed the Beretta in Natalie’s outstretched palm, and then looked at him. “She’s not wrong. The police are going to look at us hard if we’re found at the site of two shootings in the same day, and if they take us in, we’ll be sitting ducks for whoever these guys worked for.” She gestured to the dead man near the door.
“There’s nothing else you can do for me,” Natalie said in a strained voice, jaw clenched, face white.
Not entirely true. If she coded like Viktor had, Jason could do CPR until the paramedics arrived. Beyond that, she was probably right.
Leaving, though… That went against every vow he’d ever taken, everything he believed in, despite Emma’s and Natalie’s logic.
But he couldn’t ignore their arguments either. Not only would getting caught here put them at risk from the henchmen who’d attacked, but from the cops, who might shoot first and worry about the consequences later. He and Emma being on site—being seen as a potential threat—might even delay Natalie getting care.
Fuuuuck. If there’d been time, he would’ve growled, maybe punched something.
“Trust me,” Emma said. “Please.”
He managed hold back a bitter laugh. Trust her?Right.
Except, this was Emma. He couldn’t abandon her either. She’d lied to him, but something bigger was going on. God help him, was he seriously considering abandoning a critically wounded patient?
Outside, the sirens grew louder, their wails echoing off the nearby buildings.
“Go. They’re almost here. I’ll be fine,” Natalie said, breathy and pleading. “I’ll see you in the garden.”
The garden? Was she getting delirious?
“Natalie,” he said, drawing her attention as he gripped her left hand and placed it over the bandage. “You need to keep pressure on this until the paramedics arrive, okay? Can you do that for me?”
She nodded.
“It’s the only way I’m leaving you. Promise me,” he said.
“I promise.” Her muscles tensed as she pressed down on the wound.
Emma gently touched her friend’s head. “Hang in there, Nat. We need you.”
