“What's going on?”
Ray glanced toward the recruits, then back at him. “Let’s talk over here.”
Pierce followed him a short distance off the grinder and into the thin strip of shade cast by the side of the building. The second they were out of earshot, Pierce stopped. “Ray—”
Ray held up a hand, stopping him. “I need you to stay calm and listen to everything I say before you react.”
Every muscle in Pierce’s body went tight. “That’s not how you start a conversation if you want a man to remain calm.”
“I know.” Ray blew out a breath. “But I need you to hear all of it before you lose your shit.”
A cold unease slid down Pierce’s spine. “Just say it.”
Ray held his gaze. “I just got a call from Seth. There was a shooting across the street from the foundation. At the bus stop.”
For half a second, Pierce’s brain snagged on the words without making sense of them.
Then Ray said the one thing that shattered whatever control he had left.
“Charley was involved.”
It felt like somebody had driven a fist straight through Pierce’s chest.
“What?” The word came out rough.
Ray stepped in before he could say anything else. “She’s okay.”
Pierce stared at him.
“She’s okay,” Ray repeated, firmer this time. “Listen to me. Seth said she’s okay, but did say that it looked like a bullet grazed her arm. He’s riding with her to the hospital now.”
The air around Pierce seemed to thicken. His heart was pounding so hard he thought it would jump out of his chest.
He looked at Ray. “What the fuck was she doing at the bus stop?”
Ray scrubbed a hand over his jaw. “Talking to him.”
Pierce’s brows slammed together. “Talking to who?”
“The guy,” Ray said. “The stranger. The one who approached her outside the building and left her those notes.”
Pierce went dead still. But Ray kept going. “Looks like the guy was the intended target. According to Seth, the stranger took a round to the chest, and it doesn’t look good.”
Pierce felt every bit of blood drain out of his face. “Jesus Christ.”
He dragged both hands over his head, then dropped them to his hips, pacing once before turning back. “Why the hell was she talking to him alone?”
“She wasn’t planning to,” Ray said. “From what Seth could gather, the guy approached her in the parking lot before she even got to the building. However, she did send Alyvia a text to let her know what was going on, and Alyvia relayed that information to Seth. Unfortunately, she went across the street to talk to him before anyone could stop it.”
Pierce swore viciously under his breath.
His mind was firing too fast, jumping ahead and doubling back all at once.
“Which hospital?”
Ray’s eyes narrowed just a little, like he was measuring whether Pierce was going to make this harder than it needed to be. “Memorial.”
Pierce was already moving. “I need to get there.”
