“Saxon?” Elizabeth whispered.
His head turned toward her. He was so pale.
Too much blood.
“If he’s dead,” Saxon said, his words slurring a bit, “then I know he can’t ever hurt you again.”
“He’ll be locked up!” Victor promised frantically. “Don’t! Shit, I need him alive!”
And she needed Saxon alive. Elizabeth crept closer to him.
“He killed your parents,” Saxon whispered. “Doesn’t he deserve to die for that?”
And the pain of their deaths was a raw wound inside of her again. Her mom, her dad…but—
No. No, she couldn’t let Saxon do this. Her hand reached out. She touched his shoulder. “You saved us. We’re all okay. He’ll go to jail and pay for what he did to them.”
He shuddered and didn’t lower the weapon. His gaze drifted over her face. “You were…trading yourself. For me.”
Elizabeth nodded.
“Not worth it. Remember that.” He lifted the gun away from Gary’s head. “Vic…”
Victor took the gun from him. His hard stare raked over Gary. “Shit, how much damn longer can he live like that without medical f**king intervention?”
“Don’t know…” Saxon muttered. “But when you get the docs…make ‘em work on me first.”
And then he fell to the ground.
Something inside of Elizabeth splintered right then. “Saxon!”
***
She stayed with Saxon for as long as she could. She held his hand, kept pressure on his wounds, and she talked to Saxon the whole time that Victor was gone to call for help. Elizabeth wasn’t even sure what she talked to him about. She just kept whispering to him, over and over, and she prayed.
When the helicopter flew in to take him and Gary away, she jumped on board. Victor was beside her, but they weren’t able to talk with Saxon anymore. Medics had swarmed around him—him and Gary.
Gary was still clinging to life. So was Saxon.
“Save Saxon first!” Victor snarled at the medics. “Do you understand? You save my brother first!”
After what seemed like an eternity, the chopper landed on a helipad at a hospital. Doctors rushed out. And Saxon was taken away.
She stared after him, watching the hospital doors swing closed. Be okay, Saxon. Be okay. Elizabeth looked to the right. Victor was at her side. He was as stiff and hard as a statue, but his face was stamped with emotion.
Fear.
She recognized that emotion immediately because fear was eating her alive right then. She found herself reaching for Victor’s hand. Her fingers locked with his, squeezed. “He’s the strongest man I’ve ever met,” Elizabeth said simply.
Victor swallowed. “Even the strong can’t stop death.” Then he pulled from her. “I have to go call our sister—I have to call Jasmine. She needs to know about Saxon.” He hurried toward those swinging doors.
And Elizabeth was left there. She looked down at her shaking fingers and saw Saxon’s blood on her hands.
So many people had died in this mess. Wesley. The men at the motel. That bastard Taggert.
And even my parents—it’s all linked.
But Saxon, no, he couldn’t die, too. She couldn’t lose him. Not when she’d just found him.
Chapter Nine
“Have I ever mentioned…” Victor demanded, his voice rough and hard, “how much I hate it when you pull your hero crap with me?”
Ah, if Vic was pissed, then Saxon knew he was going to be just fine. With his eyes still closed, Saxon smiled. “’Cause you’re…jealous…when I get the glory.”
“And the bullets in your sorry hide.”
Yes, the bullets. Those would be why he felt so ridiculously weak right then. Saxon sucked in a breath and opened his eyes. Might as well see the damage. But when he looked down, he saw only the white hospital covers.
“They stitched you up. Had to give you some blood because you’d lost too much, but you’ll make it.”
He looked over at Victor. Vic was pale as he sat in the chair near the hospital bed. “You look…” Saxon managed. “Like hell.”
“Yeah, well, you look like shit, so I guess that makes us a pretty good match.” Victor’s lips curled faintly, but the smile didn’t reach his eyes. And, after a moment, the smile faded completely. “I had to call Jazz.”
Damn. “You shouldn’t have…worried her.” Jazz. Jasmine Bennett. Well, now Jasmine Archer. Once upon a time, Saxon, Victor, and Jasmine had come together on the streets. They’d relied on one another for survival, and, as time slid past, they’d turned into a family.
If a fairly screwed-up one.
“She’s flying down here.”
His eyes closed. “I’m fine. She doesn’t need to see me.” The last thing he wanted was to worry Jasmine. She’d been through enough hell. The woman was supposed to be happy now, living the high life with her rich and adoring husband in Vegas. And if that guy ever forgets to be adoring, Vic and I will kick his ass.
“I wasn’t sure you were going to make it.”
Saxon stiffened. “I’m a bleeder.” He hadn’t been that close to death, had he?
“You almost died on the chopper ride here. If you didn’t stay with us, then hell yes, Jazz deserved to know. She would have kicked my ass if I hadn’t told her.”
But Jasmine would just worry about him, and he hated for her to worry. She’d gotten lucky a few months back. Found a smart man who appreciated her for all that she was—a man who’d been willing to risk his life in order to protect Jasmine from the dangers that stalked her.
She deserved some happiness. She didn’t deserve to get pulled back into his and Victor’s mess.
“Tell me,” he said softly, “that Gary died on the chopper.”
One less threat facing Elizabeth.
“He’s in critical condition.”
The machines near Saxon were beeping in a steady rhythm. “I should’ve shot him when I had the chance.”
Victor gripped his arm. “That’s not how the FBI works. You know that.”
Exhaustion pulled at him. Maybe from the blood loss. Maybe from the drugs they’d no doubt pumped into him. But Saxon managed to open his eyes once more. “How many times do I have to…tell you? Not FBI…anymore.”