Run To Rome

“What? No. What about Ben?” She stood her ground.

“We have to trust the video is enough to keep him alive.”

“But—”

He gripped her shoulders. “Your sister needs medical help. You know that. Once we’re close to the consulate, I’ll get out and continue with the original plan. You take Rachel to the consulate and get her the help she needs. You’ll both be protected and I’ll get Ben.”

Rachel stirred in the back seat. Halli glanced inside, before facing him with obvious indecision.

“I have to go this alone, Halli, but I also have to know you’re safe. If I’m worried about you it’s going to get us all killed. The consulate is our only option right now.”

“No.”

The feeble denial came from Rachel. She reached for the door handle, only to collapse onto the seat. Trent ducked inside, over the driver’s side as Halli yanked open the back door. She helped her sister back into a sitting position.

“You need to rest. Don’t move,” Halli cautioned.

Rachel’s labored breathing doubled Trent’s alarm. After a moment, though, she caught her breath. “We can’t go back to the consulate.”

“We have no other choice,” Trent said.

Rachel shook her head. “Ben.”

“Leave him out of it. Make up a story about the café shooting, and I’ll take care of your brother.”

“Listen to me,” Rachel insisted weakly. She grasped Halli’s hand and looked from her sister to Trent. “There’s someone inside. We can’t go there.”

Trent’s fingers tightened on the seat. Halli’s gaze met his as she asked, “What do you mean by inside?”

“One of the consulate guards. He talked to Tony. They knew each other.”

“Who’s Tony?”

“The blond asshole in the coffee shop. If we go back to the consulate, they’ll know, and Ben is dead for sure.”

As if the words sapped the last of her strength, Rachel sagged back against the seat. Her lashes fluttered, her eyes rolled back, and air whooshed from between her dry, parted lips. The hand that’d been holding Halli’s went limp with the rest of her body.

“Rachel? Rachel!”

Trent reached across the seat to feel for her pulse, heart in his throat. A moment later, he gave Halli a tense nod and sat back. “I think she passed out. Surprising she didn’t do it sooner.”

Halli checked the wound on Rachel’s leg and Trent was relieved to see the makeshift tourniquet was working. Tears swam in Halli’s eyes when she lifted her gaze again. “Now what?” When he didn’t answer right away, she dipped her chin to catch his eye. “Trent?”

“I don’t know.” It killed him to admit it out loud, but there it was. Rachel had shot his solution all to hell, and he didn’t know which way to turn next. He couldn’t look Halli in the face and turned away with the pretense of another check of their surroundings.

“We’ve got to figure something out,” Halli hounded. “There has to be somewhere we can get help.”

If Lapaglia had someone in as deep as the consulate, there was no way they could risk a hospital. The cops would show up in a heartbeat, especially if hospital officials had been alerted to watch for a gunshot victim. But they wouldn’t know which side those cops were on until it was too late.

For lack of anything better to do, he started the car and began driving. Halli kept talking.

“What about a smaller clinic, they have facilities like that here, don’t they, like in the US? Or…I know! What about a veterinarian?” She sat forward, hugging his seat back so that her chin hovered just above his right shoulder. “Remember that movie—Bird on a Wire? Mel Gibson was treated by a veterinarian when he was shot in the butt.”

“Too bad I don’t conveniently have a veterinarian ex-lover here in Italy.”

“It’s an idea,” she retorted with distinct annoyance when he flicked his gaze to hers in the review mirror. “Sometimes it helps to talk things out with someone. Like in High Lonesome, when Shain and the sheriff figured out a way to save Emma.”

“You’re not seriously comparing this to one of my movies, are you?” If she’d just shut up, he could—