He surged to his feet. Spun toward the snaking alley that Carol had been looking at in her very last moment.
You couldn’t have gone far, you SOB.
“Take this,” Trace told Skye. He shoved his gun into her hands. “Stay with the cop. Help’s not far away.”
But he wouldn’t waste any more time.
“No! You need a weapon!”
He yanked out his back-up weapon from his ankle holster. “I’ve got it covered.” Then Trace took off running down that alley even as Skye shouted his name.
Carol fired her gun. Did she hit you, ass**le? Did she?
He glanced down and saw the spatter of blood drops.
She did. And I’m gonna follow your f**king trail of blood until I find you.
“Trace!” Skye yelled.
He kept running. He was ending this, before Skye was the one he found dead in a blood-soaked alley.
***
Skye stared down at Carol. The cop’s eyes were closed now. Skye had closed them. Carol’s face was chalk-white. Her lips stained red with blood.
The scent of blood filled Skye’s nose.
Carol Jones hadn’t deserved this. To die in an alley, surrounded by garbage.
To die in someone else’s place. My place.
Skye still held tight to Carol’s hand. But her gaze was on the alley. Trace was gone. He’d run after the attacker.
She didn’t want Trace dying in her place.
Not Trace.
Not Reese.
Not Carol.
“Come after me!” Skye shouted. “Stop hurting the others! You let me be the one! Don’t hurt anyone else!”
A tear leaked from her eye.
The ambulance’s siren was louder.
“Let me be the one!” She called out again. “Don’t hurt anyone else!”
Doors slammed. Footsteps rushed toward her. She looked up and saw Alex rushing her way. Behind him, she could see EMTs. More cops.
Alex blanched when he saw Carol.
“I’m so sorry,” Skye whispered.
The EMTs pushed her out of the way.
They tried to work on Carol.
You can’t save the dead.
Carol’s death was on her.
Skye looked back into the alley. No sign of Trace. What would she do if her stalker turned his attention on Trace?
“Skye.”
She blinked and realized that Alex was standing right in front of her. A muscle flexed in his jaw as he said, “I want you to come with me. Come with me, now.”
“Trace went chasing after the attacker. We-we didn’t see anyone, but Trace ran down the alley—”
“I’ll have men look for him.” His eyes…they burned with emotion. Pain. Grief. Fury. “But it’s not safe for you to be out here. Come on.” He took the gun from her hand. Led her to a patrol car.
“I-I’m so sorry about Carol.” Tears wanted to choke her.
Alex nodded. The pain in his eyes deepened. “So the f**k am I. She was only twenty-two. Twenty damn two.”
The EMTs weren’t trying to save Carol any more.
She saw the way the other cops were acting. Saw the way they were marking the area. This wasn’t about saving a life for them.
It’s a crime scene now.
***
The blood trail ended at the entrance to an old factory.
Trace kicked open the doors and rushed inside. His gun was up. Ready.
Dust and cobwebs covered the factory’s interior.
Trace searched and searched but found nothing. Because the bastard led me here.
He’d led. Trace had followed. And I left Skye alone.
He whirled around and started racing back to Skye.
Trace had only gone about five feet when the bullet hit him.
Chapter Nine
Another gunshot.
When Skye heard the thundering sound, her heart stopped. Alex ran toward the blast, and she dashed after him. Rushing faster, faster and—
Trace was on the ground. Blood was all around him.
Just like Carol.
Just. Like. Carol.
“No!” Skye screamed.
Alex bent beside Trace. Backup—more cops—raced up around them.
Skye hit the ground beside Trace. So much blood.
“I’m…all right,” Trace managed.
Her heart started to beat again.
“SOB fired from the south. Waited for me to make a target…of myself.” His breath heaved out. “Bullet’s still in my chest. I’ll be…fine.”
He’d better not be lying to her.
In his chest.
“He’s…not as good,” Trace managed, “with a gun…as he is…with a knife…”
Fear clawed at Skye’s insides. She grabbed for Trace’s hand and held tight.
Trace’s gaze—not as bright, and that dimness terrified her—found Skye’s. “Get her…out,” he rasped to Alex. “He could…be here still…”
She wasn’t leaving him. Alex tried to pull Skye away, but she just held tighter to Trace. “I’m not leaving you.”
Cops fanned out, started searching the area.
The EMTs came and loaded Trace onto a gurney. When they put him into the back of an ambulance, Skye jumped right in with him.
So much blood.
“Rode with you…too…” Trace whispered. “After…wreck…” His fingers squeezed hers. “Didn’t want to…let you go.”
“I’m not letting you go.”
The EMT pushed a needle into his arm.
The ambulance jostled, bouncing along the old road. The scream of the siren echoed around her.
The EMT cut away Trace’s shirt, and she got a good look at the wound.
Skye stopped breathing. “You lied to me,” she whispered to Trace.
“No…”
How was he still talking? Still conscious?
“Never leave…you…this won’t stop…”
The EMT connected thin tubes to him. Something started to beep.
“Blood pressure’s dropping!” The EMT snapped. Then he pushed Skye back.
Trace’s fingers slid from hers.
You lied to me.
Because she’d seen the wound, and she knew things weren’t going to be all right for Trace.
***
The hospital’s emergency room doors flew open. The EMTs ran with the gurney, barking out orders.
Skye sprinted to keep up with them.
Doctors and nurses jumped into action, swarming that gurney.
Please, please take care of him.
Trace vanished into the ER. The doors swung shut behind him.
She stood, alone, in that narrow hallway. Staring after him. So lost.
I can’t lose him again. She and Trace just found their way back to each other. This wasn’t supposed to happen.