Fracture (Unbreakable Bonds 6)

He listened for a moment, then gave Cara their location and thanked her. His training kicked in, and he fell to his knees next to Anthony.

Snow had ripped off his jacket and was applying it firmly to the wound on Anthony’s chest, trying to stem the bleeding. Blood pooled under his hands, and the rain had it soaking his clothes and turning the concrete underneath him dark. Anthony was gasping, eyes wide and terrified.

Jude did a quick head-to-toe assessment, trying to locate the second wound. After finding a dark patch on Anthony’s inner thigh, Jude cursed again. The amount of blood seeping into his jeans meant the bullet had likely hit the femoral artery. He stuck his fingers into the hole in the denim and ripped it wider to expose the area and assess the damage. A steady pulsing of bright red blood gushed out of the wound. He blinked away the cold rain from his eyes as he quickly put his left palm over the bullet hole and applied as much pressure as he could.

Christ, it was bad.

Jude knew his prognosis wasn’t good. It would be several minutes before an ambulance could get to them and he’d lost a lot of blood already. There was a good chance he would bleed out before they could get him to a hospital. “Do you see a stick anywhere?” he asked Snow, thinking to use it to help make a tourniquet.

“No, try using the sleeves of your jacket. It’s all we got.”

“Try to stay calm, Anthony,” he murmured, knowing that the panic would only increase his blood pressure and cause the blood to pump out faster. He yanked off his jacket and tied the arms around the top of Anthony’s leg, pulling hard to get it as tight as possible.

Anthony didn’t seem to hear the words and he started to thrash, coughing up frothy blood the rain washed down his cheeks.

Snow leaned down into his face. “You have to stay still and calm. An ambulance is on its way. Can you hear the sirens?”

Jude had never been more thankful to hear that noise. Anthony’s stare began to haze over, and he lost consciousness.

As the paramedics arrived, he and Snow filled them in and the police tried to pull them over for questioning, but Snow, as the highest level of care, hopped into the ambulance. Jude ran to their Jeep and followed. The police could question them at the hospital.

Anthony had lost too much blood, and Jude would be shocked if he survived.Chapter 14Snow groaned softly and stretched out in the bed as his body sank into the blissfully comfortable mattress and buttery soft sheets. Holy crap, everything hurt. How in the world was he so damn tired? He’d put in eighteen-hour shifts at the hospital and didn’t feel this drained.

But the night hadn’t gone as they had planned. The visit with Daciana and family had been wonderful, but things had quickly turned to shit after meeting with Anthony. There had been nothing he could do to save the young man. He’d died en route to the hospital. He looked like he couldn’t have been more than a few years older than Jordan, and his life was over. Too much of his job was spent trying in vain to save the lives of people who didn’t value what they had. Senseless violence and drugs. They were both sucking the life out of this city.

Another couple of hours were spent answering questions for the cops, but they really didn’t have any answers. They’d had to come clean about following up on Jordan’s activities, but they were honest about the fact that they didn’t have a clue as to who shot Anthony.

And why had Anthony been shot? Was it because he’d run out of time to hand over the money he’d owed? Or was it because he’d been spotted talking to him and Jude?

His entire body felt like it had become one giant tense knot of muscles. He’d spent more than a week sitting in uncomfortable waiting room chairs, hours ticking by as they hoped for some shred of positive news on Jordan. The nonactivity was broken up with more stress and trying to track down Anthony so they could identify the fucker who hurt Jordan in the first place. And now the one source of information they did have was dead.

He hated to admit it, but he was starting to look forward to heading back to work. The days were long and exhausting, but there was a predictability to it all that his body liked.

When they finally got home from the hospital, they’d both showered quickly and dropped into bed like lifeless lumps.

Next to him, Jude sighed and rolled over, sliding one of his legs across Snow’s. “You okay, General?”

“I have bad news. I’m old.”