Niall grabbed my good arm and pulled me to my feet. We were nearly to the rocks. He returned fire, which allowed me to get to cover.
The shooting stopped. I peeked around and saw the men hurrying down the steps.
Niall fired off a few more rounds. He hit Malachi, and the man toppled off the steps and fell to the beach.
“Come on.” Niall took my hand again, but the world had darkened around the edges and my head swam.
“I’m not sure I can. Maybe you should leave me.”
“No. Get moving.”
The urgency in his voice and the concern in his eyes gave me the strength to obey, but there was no way I could run as fast as him. Fortunately, he’d thought to memorize the island map. I guess that was the kind of thing he meant when he said he was trained for this and I wasn’t.
He cut off the path into the trees. If we could just reach the boat and get out of range of their guns, we’d have a chance. Of course, they might have a boat too.
The pain in my shoulder seemed to worsen with every step. I felt warm blood sliding down my arm. I wanted to know how bad it was, but I wasn’t going to stop and look until we were on the boat. If we didn’t make it, there was no point.
“We’ll make it,” Niall said.
“Did I say that out loud?” How out of it was I?
“No, I just know what you’re thinking.”
As we weaved through the trees, I heard more shouts and footsteps, but they were still fairly distant.
We came back onto the path, and I saw the cove Walsh had described. There was only one boat there. We climbed onto it, and Niall started the engine. Before pulling away, he yanked a shirt from his backpack and handed it to me. “Press that against your arm. We need to stop the bleeding.”
I started to examine the wound.
“Don’t look at it,” Niall ordered.
“Fuck. Is it that bad?”
“I don’t need you freaking out. I’m doing that enough for both of us.”
“I’m fine. Do you know how to drive this boat?” That might have been a good thing to ask when we were in our room, but at some point I’d started to assume Niall could do anything.
“Yes.” Niall put the boat in reverse and jolted backward. I realized why as more shots were fired.
“Stay down,” Niall yelled.
I wished he could too, but he had to see to drive. All I could do at that point was pray. A bullet pinged off the side of the boat, but Niall shifted to forward and jetted off at what felt like warp speed. My last thought before I lost consciousness was that with him driving we might actually stand a chance.
20
Niall
As I neared a small marina on the island, I saw no signs of pursuit, but I had to find a way to get Marco the medical attention he needed without drawing attention to us. He’d told me the Marchesis had contacts on the island, but he was unconscious now. I prayed he would be okay.
I hadn’t been able to contact Lucien while I was driving, but as I pulled into the marina, I saw two men watching for boats to come in. They looked like I expected associates of the Marchesis to, but I still tensed when they approached. They could also be friends of Compton. I hadn’t made it this far to go down now.
“Niall, right?” The leaner of the two men said, holding out his hand. “I’m Flavio and this is Falcon.” He indicated the other man. “Lucien sent us.”
My instincts said they were on the level, so I decided to trust them. For now.
Flavio peered into the boat. “Marco doesn’t look so good.”
“He’s been shot. The bullet seems to have passed through his shoulder, but he’s lost a lot of blood.”
“We gotcha.” He turned to his companion. “Falcon, call the doc and have her meet us back at the townhouse.”
Falcon, who still hadn’t said a word, pulled out his phone.
Flavio stepped onto the boat. “Let’s me and you get Marco to the car.”
Fortunately, their vehicle wasn’t far away, and I was able to rouse Marco enough that he wasn’t completely dead weight. We got a lot of stares, but Flavio’s scowl kept people moving, and no one dared to ask us questions.
When we got to the townhouse, there was a woman waiting for us. She introduced herself as Dr. Anna Janssen “Bring him in here and get him comfortable. Then tell me exactly what happened.”
As I talked, she began efficiently removing Marco’s shirt and inspecting the wound.
Thankfully, Dr. Janssen confirmed nothing vital had been hit. The biggest risks to Marco were infection and dehydration. He was more alert by the time she finished bandaging him and giving him a shot of antibiotics and pain meds.