Page 31 of 72 Hours

“We have issues then, do we?”

He leant his head down to me, obviously worried that Greg would hear our bickering. “Fuck you, MacKay. You chose to run, didn’t you? You chose to close that particular door. So don’t tell me I don’t face the issues, okay?” The expression on my face must have been pure amazement. “That’s some kind of victory for you, isn’t it, making me argue? But I don’t intend to let you under my skin again, I tell you, it’s been hard enough....” He bit at his lip. It was a gesture he kept returning to. His eyes darted away from mine again. “This is not important, Tanner. You’ve been attacked, which means someone else apart from the Team knew where you were. We need to work out who—and why—and what we do next.”

But my attention wasn’t on side just yet. Truth to tell, I was still furious with myself for letting my guard down in the first place. I’d missed the threat until the damned bullet hit me. It was a horrible reminder of the other times in life I’d fucked up—including the other time that had affected Niall himself. I looked up at him, my mind full of pity and annoyance with myself, and our gazes met. He glanced quickly up and down my bandaged body and frowned.

“I’m good,” I said, quickly. I was still sharp enough to know what he was going to ask. “Just groggy from the drugs.” And obviously tetchy. “Dammit, just because I’ve bled all over the park doesn’t mean my brains bled out alongside it. You don’t need to worry about me putting you at risk. I’ll be able to think about it more clearly soon, I’m sure. When I’m up and about again—”

“You won’t be,” he said, sharply. “Fuck, Tanner, you’ve been shot. You’ve lost blood, had some stitches. You need to rest. Just let it drop, will you?”

“Drop what?”

He shook his head impatiently. “Do you think I don’t know what you’re harking back to? But we don’t have time. Anyway, I don’t want to listen to it anymore, the damned post-mortem of that incident at the brothel. My injuries, your misery, whatever.”

I gaped at him. “Whoa, resist the urge to kick a guy when he’s down, will you?” He was right, though, wasn’t he? Maybe this was the time to let it go. “If I’d taken this bullet just a little lower and a little deeper, there’d be no need, anyway.”

He paled even more, and it seemed to me his eyes sank into deep black pits of disgust. “Right on, MacKay. Like I’ve said before, you seem to think you have the God-given right to put words in my mouth as well as spouting out plenty of your own. Far be it from me to deny you that glory.”

I felt nauseous. Everything was off kilter. Grow up, Mackay. The last thing I wanted was more argument with Niall. “What about the papers?” I was suddenly worried. Last time we’d been in the trailer, we had reams of paper all over the couch and floor, just about to go searching for clues like some kind of treasure hunt. And since then, we’d had a trail of civilians through the place.

“I put them away,” he said shortly.

“Maybe we should leave the park now. Go and join the rest of the Team. Right?”

He shook his head vehemently. “Not until you can move more easily. If we believe Greg, there’s still someone out there trying to harm us. Better we stay put until we can assess the real threat.”

“Call Simon,” I urged. “Call Judith.”

He stared at me, his brow wrinkling. Perhaps I had been just a little too fierce with my tone. “There’s something still wrong, isn’t there, Tanner?”

I couldn’t answer; I couldn’t admit to... what? Being scared?

The door creaked slightly, and he spun around at the waist, the gun already against his palm, but it was just Junk coming back in with pillows. He ambled over to the couch, clutching them under his waistcoat as best he could. One looked suspiciously pink; I reckoned it had come from one of his daughters.

Niall let out a long breath. He spoke quickly, his murmur for my ears only. “Who else knows where we are, Tanner? Who knew within hours of my arrival that I was here? Or was it just chance?”

“What are you saying? You think that’s proof there is a spy somewhere in the Team? Perhaps someone followed Greg. They might even have followed you all when you arrived here.”

He looked down at me, and the dark pupils were fathomless. “Maybe. I don’t know. We need to talk it through, and without company. Which is another reason for not leaving here at the moment. We’d waste time.”

“Maybe Junk scared them off, like he scared Greg, the boy agent.” My words were rather more frivolous than my tone. “For good.” I was still struggling with the thought of someone out to get me.

He didn’t answer me. “Okay. I’ll call Judith,” he said. As Junk cleared his throat rather obviously and moved in with his armful of frilled fabric, Niall flipped open his cell and moved away to behind the door. It gained him a modicum of privacy from all of us. I saw Dylan’s eyes follow him, then the dog relaxed, and his gaze returned to its watch of the young man half-hiding behind my kitchen curtain.

JUNK PUNCHED HALFHEARTEDLY at a few cushions as if he suspected that was what he was meant to do to make me comfy, then abandoned them for me to wriggle into. Instead, he crouched by the side of the couch, and flipped open a can of beer. A drop of the spray settled on my cheek. I itched to taste it, and Junk grinned at the familiar flicker in my eyes. “Later, Mac. You owe me more beers ’n I can count, and definitely more ’n you ever keep in that fridge o’ yours. But for now, Hans says you gotta stay off the stuff.”

“Yes, doctor.” Across the room, Niall turned slightly towards me, the phone hidden under his hair, against his ear. I could feel his gaze on me.

Maybe Junk could too. He coughed, and turned his head so that his face was hidden from Niall’s sight. He dropped his voice lower. “So what the fuck’s this guy to you, Mac? This Niall guy? I ain’t seein’ any family resemblance, so he’s no brother. And judgin’ from that look on your face, he ain’t your favourite person right now.”

“Just a colleague. Well, an ex-colleague.” I trotted out the cover story with lukewarm sincerity.

Junk raised an eyebrow like he wasn’t even listening. “You know it was fuckin’ bedlam out there when you got shot. I was just arrivin’ back, there was this sudden crack o’ noise and a yell that I reckon was from you. Then I saw the blond kid grovellin’ in the dust trying to hide under my trailer, and Dylan was racin’ across the park towards him. You were lyin’ on the ground like someone’d snapped your knees underneath you, and this Niall guy had thrown himself down the steps, coverin’ your body with his.”

“Huh?”

He nodded, watching my bemusement. “He was coverin’ you, Mac. If there’d been any other shots, they’d have got him for sure. I don’t know who the fuck all these other guys are that you’re talkin’ about, or why someone’s tryin’ to shoot you. But that’s one kinda devoted ex-colleague, if you ask me.”

“Junk.” Guess the drugs were making me a bit dopey. Junk had obviously been mistaken about Niall’s behaviour, but he wouldn’t want to know the gory details about the pair of us, I was sure. His family was wild and uninhibited in many ways, but it followed a traditional boy-girl-baby pattern. He’d never shown any prejudice towards anyone, unless they’d directly threatened him or his family, but I was reluctant to give him the opportunity to start a new trend. “Look...”