Her eyes skim past us, back to the door and I swear under my breath. Seriously? Do none of them follow directions? Men.
When I look over my shoulder, though, my annoyance fades into something different. Something harsh and cold in the pit of my stomach. Davis exits the building with a gun leveled at Cole’s head. How they got in that position is beyond me, but Davis has a cut over his eye and Cole’s nose is bleeding. Cole’s eyes are hazy and unfocused.
Walker spits out a laugh and says, “Well done. I didn’t think you could do it, but you’ve proven me wrong.”
Davis holds out a syringe and tosses it to Walker. She catches it with her leather-gloved hands. “Worked like a charm.”
“What is that?” I ask. It’s not hard to see that Cole is slipping away. His body lists to the side and Wyatt jumps to hold him upright. I run to the other side and do the same. He’s heavy and no longer using his legs. His breathing turns shallow. “What did you do to him?”
“A little something your sister made up for us back in New Hope,” Walker says. “The kind term would be euthanasia.”
“You killed him?” My head fogs over. Davis’ face is stone.
“Of course we killed him, Alexandra. We’re sworn bounty hunters. That’s what we’re charged with doing. But he’s the first one to go like this. She gave me the shots weeks ago but I thought I’d save it for my favorite little mutation.” She flashes Davis an appreciative look. “Thank you for bringing him right to me.”
“No problem. I was sick of looking at him,” Davis replies. “He freaks me out.”
“Davis?” I ask. “What’s happening? What about everything you told us about Hamilton?”
“Hamilton is a great man, Alexandra. He’ll be the one to save this country. You just can’t see it yet.”
I feel rather than see the life slip out of Cole’s body. He just suddenly stops. There’s nothing more and I look at Wyatt, whose expression I cannot even begin to discern. He’s lost somewhere between sadness and rage, his friend and brother having betrayed him—us.
“Alex,” he says quietly and I know a signal when I hear it.
Silently we wait three beats before flinging Cole off our backs and turning our weapons onto Davis and Walker. But another shot fires first—two of them—and I feel the prick behind my ear.
“What have you done?” I ask Davis, or the shadow of him. Sleep crashes over my head like a wave.
Wyatt drops first, his weight pushing me over, and when I hit the ground the last thing I see is Cole’s blank face.
Chapter Twenty-Three
I wake bound to a hard, wooden bench. Wyatt sits across from me alert and awake. We’re in a long corridor. Guards placed at each end.
My head feels like it was assaulted by a thousand hammers.
“You okay?” Wyatt’s voice is quiet.
“Yes. No. I mean…” I blink, pushing aside the images of Cole and stretch my neck. “Why do you look like you didn’t just get knocked out?”
He shrugs. “I think we’re outside the council room. In the courthouse? Where they kept Parker that day.”
“Where’s Cole?”
“I don’t know. The last thing I saw was you.”
“Do you think he’s dead?”
“Would you keep him alive?” he asks.
I push back the emotion threatening to tip me over. “Do you think we’ll still get our meeting?”
“I don’t know. I’m pretty sure Hamilton beat us here.”
“And Davis betrayed us,” I add, watching for his reaction. He grimaces but otherwise keeps his emotions in check. “Did you have any idea?”
“No.”