“Give me a second.” I pinched my fingers between my eyes.
“I’ll do it for you.” Kimble put his hand on my shoulder.
I shook my head. “You can’t. You’re bleeding. We need to get you out of here.” It was hard to tell without much light, but I thought Kimble looked more pale than usual.
“Fuck.” I kicked the ground. “We were supposed to save him.” I crouched on the ground. What if Seraphina didn’t survive this? What if this broke her? What about the baby? No. No. I shook Crew.
“Come on, man. Just take a breath and we’ll do the rest,” I pleaded.
Kimble stood next to me. “He’s gone, Knight. Let him go.”
I closed my eyes. How the hell did I do that when I promised my sister and Kennedy I’d bring him home? I couldn’t just let him go.
“We need to get moving,” Kimble grunted. He was in pain. I had to move or I would be trying to carry him out. “Grab the tarp,” Kimble instructed. “We’ll wrap him and take him as far as we can take him together. Then you come back and get him tonight.”
I nodded, carrying out Kimble’s step by step plan. He held the light for me while I unhooked the tarp from the wall and yanked it with my full bodyweight. It cascaded down.
“Good. It will be easier to move him with this.”
“What about them?” I nodded at the bodies of the guards.
“I’ll send my team for them later. But not him.” He looked at Crew. There was a brief softness in his voice and in his gaze.
I laid the tarp flat and rolled Crew into the middle. Kimble hugged his arm close to his body, but we worked together, wrapping Crew tightly and then carried him through the tunnels.
26
Kennedy
It had been too long. Hours. Any time was too long when Knight was gone. But this was absurd. I called. I texted. There was nothing from him or Kimble. How could he go this long and not tell me what was happening? What if they had been attacked? What if Knight was hurt?
Rebecca and Kyle left after another cup of coffee.
I thought about driving to the Vieux Carre, but I had to stay with Seraphina. She still had no idea there was a lead.
I had convinced her to sit by the pool with me.
“We started talking about baby names.”
“Hmm?” I looked up from my phone. There was a tray of lemonade between us. I had Bella mix a martini for me.
“Crew and I started coming up with a list of names.” She smiled.
“What made the list?” I asked. Talking about anything was a good distraction for her.
“Well I like the more unique names and Crew likes more traditional names.”
“Oh, really?” I grinned. “Are they all a secret?” If I could keep her talking. Keep her preoccupied, it would at least make time seem like it was moving instead of standing still.
“He likes Charles and William. I’m more of a Blaze or Orion.”
“Oh wow.” My eyes widened. “You two are on different ends of the baby name spectrum for sure.”
She smiled. “Maybe we could combine them.”
“Maybe.”
“What does that mean it’s a boy?” I stared at her. She said that she and Brandon were waiting a little longer.