He startled as I felt a throb run through my chest, making me shudder with the effort it took to hold the gun up. I was starting to worry that I was going to pass out and wouldn’t be able to protect Nina. If it were only my shoulder, I wouldn’t have worried. The bullet had gone in the back of my right shoulder and exited from the front. The through and through was good, the blood running down my bicep to the crook of my elbow to my forearm was not so great, but still probably not life threatening. The one in my chest was another story. I wasn’t sure about the damage there and it was unnerving. If I was going to die, I wanted to talk to Ian first.
“You’re a marshal?”
Shit. Had to focus. “Yeah,” I said, leaning sideways so he could see the badge on my belt.
“Lemme come to you, marshal.”
I lowered the gun because I was quickly losing the ability to hold it up.
He moved fast, rushing forward and shoving the towel against my shoulder, near my throat.
“Fuck.”
“Lado!” he bellowed. “Bring me clean towels from the back and call 911!”
“No,” I said, turning my head to look at Nina but not able to catch her eye when she was in motion. She had gotten up and moved around in front of me, took her suit jacket off, and wadded it up so she could push it against the other hole in my shoulder. “Nina, get my phone and call my boss.”
“How do I know who—”
“It says boss,” I said, having trouble focusing before I met the gaze of the man who took over for her, now holding both his towel and the ruined suit jacket to both sides of my shoulder.
“This looks more glamorous in the movies,” he informed me, smiling gently.
“Right?” I coughed, chuckling.
“I’m sorry, man, I thought maybe you’d kidnapped her or the two of you were running from the cops.”
“We are,” I said, laughing and groaning at the same time.
“Hurts, huh?”
“Yeah.”
The phone was suddenly against my ear, Nina pressing it there gently.
“Hello?”
“Where the hell are you, Jones?” Kage growled angrily.
I looked up at the man keeping me from bleeding to death. “Where am I?”
“You’re close to Ogden and Maple at Chaney and Sons Restoration.”
“Okay,” I said, letting my head drop forward. “You hear that?”
“Yeah, but Brookfield is like the auto shop capital of the world, I need a landmark.”
“Landmark?” I asked.
“The Flower Pot Garden Center is next door.”
“Boss?” I asked, because talking was fast becoming a real chore.
“I heard him. We’ll be right there. Where are the detectives who were chasing you?”
“I dunno. God willing, not outside preparing to come in, guns blazing.”
“That’s not funny, Jones.”
“I—” The sirens sent a ripple of fear through me instead of inspiring the relief they normally did. “You hear that?”
“Yeah. That’s me.”
I nearly passed out. “Okay. I’ll wait here and bleed, ’kay?”
“Just don’t die. I haven’t lost anybody yet today, let’s not start with you.”
“Yessir,” I said and hung up just as my phone rang. “It’s gonna be okay,” I swore to the kind Samaritan and Nina. “I promise.”
“What?” Kohn asked from the other end of the line.
“Oh thank God, hey, buddy,” I winced.
“Now I’m your buddy? Since when?”
“Where the fuck are you?”
“I’m in a shed in a civilian home on Vernon Avenue.”
“You okay?”
“I got scraped up going out the window, but I’ll live. I really don’t want to shoot the raccoon that’s in here with me, but if it charges, I’m gonna. I mean, it could have rabies.”
I winced because it hurt to laugh. “Please shut up. Call your boss now, he’s almost to me.”
“I did already,” he said quickly. “You sound weird. What’s wrong?”
“Shot.”
Silence.
“Eli?”
“Don’t fuckin’ call me Eli, you’re not gonna die.”
“Okay,” I said even as my vision started going darker around the edges.
“I’ll see you in a minute,” he rasped, and I heard the words “federal marshal” on his end before the line went dead. He was safe, I was relieved.
“Oh shit, Miro, sit up,” Nina commanded even as I slouched to the cold concrete floor. “The ground is gonna suck out all your warmth. You gotta sit up and lean on me.”
But there was no way. I wanted to rest. Nina was safe because of me, and Kohn was safe because he was in a potting shed or a tool shed being hunted by a rabid woodland creature. The very idea made me chuckle.
“Jesus, Miro, you’re so cold.”
But I wasn’t anything anymore.
“Federal marshals!”
I made a noise of relief as there was the sound of gunfire close by, like right outside. Several shots followed by two more. It was important to warn Nina, to get her down, but when I tried to speak there was nothing.
“Jones,” I heard Kage say in his guttural growl at the same time I got a big hand on my chest. Amazing the amount of warmth in my boss’s palm, I could only imagine what being wrapped in his arms would be like. “Don’t die.”