My grip tightens on my weapon. “Cover me!” I shout.
“Go!”
I move in, fast and tight to the vehicle. Another shot rings out. As soon as it does, pain explodes through my shoulder. It hits like a hammer, sharp and blinding.
My left arm jerks, grip faltering for half a second before instinct clamps it back down. Through-and-through or graze… doesn’t matter.
I pivot, dropping behind the rear wheel, breath punching out of me.
“Thornton, you hit?” Mason’s voice cuts through the chaos.
“I’m good,” I grit out automatically. A lie. But I’m still moving. Still breathing, and that’s enough. I force my right arm to compensate, steadying my aim as I rise just enough to clearthe angle. The shooter ducks back. It’s an opportunity so I move. The back of the ambulance is right there, close enough now to see inside.
And for a split second, time slows. Liv, pinned against the bench, struggling but alive. Relief slams into me so hard it almost knocks the breath out of me.
Then I see him. York. Standing over her, calm and controlled. Like the gunfire around him doesn’t exist.
Then he moves, deeper into the ambulance and out of sight.
“No!” I surge forward. Gunfire erupts again from the right, too close.
I’m forced back, dropping to one knee as rounds ping off metal inches from my head.
“Thornton!” Mason grabs my vest, hauling me sideways into cover. “You’re exposed!”
“He’s got her,” I snap, trying to shove past him.
“I saw!” he fires back. “But you’re no good to her dead!”
Another volley of shots rips through the street. Officers return fire. The scene is a full-blown shootout now. And I’m stuck outside the one place that matters.
I grit my teeth, forcing myself to think.
“They’re using the rig as cover,” I say, breathing hard. “At least three shooters still active.”
“I’ve got two units flanking,” Mason replies, already tracking. “We push together.”
I shake my head. “No time.”
“Alex-”
“They move her, we lose her.”
He pulls back, thoughts warring in his mind. He’s quiet for a moment. Then, he says, “fine.” Mason exhales hard. “On your go.”
I shift, ignoring the burning in my shoulder. Blood’s soaking through my sleeve now. It’s irrelevant. All of it is irrelevant.
There’s only one thing that matters.
Liv is in that ambulance. And I’m getting her out.
Chapter 46
Liv
“Go to hell,” I spit, thrashing against him.
His grip doesn’t loosen. Even here, with sirens screaming somewhere outside and gunfire cracking through the night, he holds me like none of it matters. Like the world could burn down around him and he’d still be standing in the center of it untouched.
