Jericho keeps his sturdy arm around me as he leads me to an empty room, flicks on the light, and closes the door behind us. A hospital bed sits unmade in the center, the monitors to the side switched off, the wires hanging loose, not attached to anything. I wonder whether or not the last person to use that bed got better.
“Max?” Jericho asks, coming to face me.
“Whose room is this?”
A confused flash crosses Jericho’s face. “I need you to concentrate,” he says, once again placing a firm hand on my shoulder. “Tell me everything you remember.”
The gunman appears in my vision, darting from the shadows, the sound of the shot reverberates in my ears, my heart breaks at Jasper’s face as he falls into the road. I clutch my chest and stumble backward. Jericho catches me.
“Max, I know it’s hard. But it’s important we catch the person responsible for this.”
“Responsible?”
The word is familiar but my addled brain can’t quite compute. Is the gunman responsible? Walter? Or is it Omar for what he did? Jasper for helping me break him out of jail? Or is it me? Did I do this to Jasper? Is that why he’s left me? Why he’s…
“Max, who did this? Who shot Jasper?”
My eyes shoot to Jericho’s and suddenly I feel a sense of clarity dawning. There is only one person responsible for this and I want to see him ended.
“Walter,” I say. “Walter Bridgers did this. He hired someone to shoot Jasper. We thought he was planning to kill Omar because he knew what Walter did, because he was the one who hired the rogues to attack the packhouse, but we were wrong. He wanted to kill Jasper because he wants to take your place.”
My sudden verboseness must shock Jericho because he takes his hands away from me and studies my face carefully.
“That is a grave accusation, Max. Are you sure?”
“I’m sure,” I say as firmly as I can despite my shaking right leg and trembling hands. “He hired a rogue to shoot Jasper. He’s been going behind your back and corrupting the aligned packs against you.”
“If this is true then we may be in bigger trouble than I thought.” He pulls out his phone and hits some buttons. “Salazar, we need to speak. Meet me at the packhouse as soon as you get this.”
He pockets his phone and eyes the door.
“You’re leaving?” I ask. “What’s wrong with you? Your son is dying and you’re still wrapped up thinking about the pack? How can you care about any of that now? How could you?”
Jericho levels me with an intense stare. “I understand your concern, Max. But if I don’t act now we could be ruined. If there’s one thing I can do for Jasper, it’s to make damn sure there’s still a pack for him to return to when he wakes up.”
“Ifhe wakes up!”
He grits his teeth as if he’s fighting the same doubts as me but is too scared to let it show.
“My son is an Apollo,” Jericho says. “It will take more than a single gunshot to take him down. I’ve instructed the nurses to notify me when Jasper’s condition changes. Until then I need to see to business.”
He moves to step past me as my lip quivers uncontrollably.
“Thank you,” he says when he reaches my side. He won’t look at me and I won’t look at him. “For what you’ve done for my son. I’m sorry you have to go through this. Is there…do you have anyone coming to keep you company?”
“Just go,” I say. “I’ll be fine.”
His hand lands on my shoulder one more time and I don’t sluff it off, I let it lie there, futile, pointless, until he leaves.
When Jericho is gone I stagger back to the corridor. Some kid is sitting in my seat reading a book, swinging his feet that don’t reach the floor. His dad is next to him clicking away on his phone.
While I’m staring at this guy my phone buzzes in my pocket. I pull it out and see Aisha is FaceTiming me.
“Hey,” she says, puffing like she’s out of breath, the city bouncing behind her as she walks. “How is he?”
“I don’t know, he’s—he’s still in surgery.”
“Shit. Look, I’m on my way. The subway is a mess though, delays and weekend closures, and…ah!” Aisha turns to call after the moron who bumped into her. “Watch it!” She turns back to the camera, shaking her head. “Some people. Anyway, whatever, I jumped off the train but I’m still downtown. I’m trying to get a cab but it’s a ghost town out here tonight.”
