“Where is she?” he yelled, giving him a threatening shake.
“Ran…away,” he managed, too far gone to keep his mouth shut. All he wanted was for the pain to stop.
“Where?” the man snarled.
“W-woods.” The fist knotted in his shirt gripped harder, then shoved him again and let go.
“Find them,” Amir heard him growl to the others.
His eyes slid closed once more as the man giving him medical attention pulled a tourniquet around his arm and poked a needle into his forearm. Everything began to fade away, the grip of the pain easing, and he welcomed it. Maybe death was preferable after all to what he’d face if he survived this.
Nearing the edge of the tree line, Sean stopped to make sure they weren’t being followed. He shifted Zahra on his shoulder, aware of the blood streaming from her left lower leg. The lower part of his shirt and his jeans were wet with it and he could smell the iron tang on the air.
Once he was certain no one was coming after them, he eased her to the ground and reached between his shoulder blades to peel his shirt off, then knelt before her. “Let me see,” he whispered, grasping her left ankle. She flinched but didn’t fight him as he rolled her pant leg up and out of the way.
Blood glistened darkly in the faint moonlight filtering through the trees. Zahra hissed in a breath and grasped his hand when he tested the wound. The bullet had torn a chunk away from the back of her calf, about halfway up. Since she’d been running on it he was pretty sure it wasn’t broken but flesh wounds hurt like hell. “Hold still.” He wrapped the shirt around the wound and tied it as tightly as he could to staunch the bleeding, hardening his heart against her pain.
From his back pocket he pulled out the flip-style cell phone he’d taken off one of the dead shooters, and dialed Hunter’s number. “Where are you?” Sean asked when Hunter picked up.
“We’re here, and we’ve got Amir. Where are you?”
Sean gave him his best guess based on what he knew of the area.
“We’re less than a mile from you. Either of you hurt?”
“Zahra was hit in the leg.” His throat was tight as he said it. He fucking hated that he hadn’t been there to take out the third shooter, hated even more that she’d been hurt on his watch, and by a gun. “I think it’s only a flesh wound though.”
“Your six clear?”
“Not sure. There were three of them in there. I took one out and hit the other. If you’ve got Amir then there might be one more out there somewhere.”
“Zahra shot Amir.”
“She did?”
“Yeah. Right in the gut.”
A fierce satisfaction rose inside him. She amazed him. He set a hand on her shoulder, rubbed to help stem the tremors that raced over her skin. “He going to make it?” They needed to question him.
“Doubt it. We’re rolling to you now. You should see us in the next minute or so.”
“Roger that.” And fuck, he’d be glad to see them. “One more thing.”
“Go ahead.”
“They used an EMP weapon of some kind. That’s why my phone died in the middle of our convo.”
“You’re shitting me.”
“Nope. Has to be nearby. Get what you can out of Amir before he croaks.”
“With pleasure.”
Disconnecting, Sean snapped the phone shut and reached out to gather Zahra into his lap. “You got him, sweetness. Got him good.”
She nodded against his shoulder, her body vibrating from a combination of shock and cold. Sean was so fucking proud of her for overcoming her fear and aversion to firearms and protecting herself like that. It couldn’t have been easy for her.
He buried his face in the cool silk of her hair. “I’m sorry I wasn’t there.”
“It’s ok-kay.”
No it wasn’t. She’d been forced to shoot to save herself and been wounded in turn because he’d left her alone. If the shooter had had more light, she would’ve died. The guilt sat on his chest like an anvil. Keeping his ears cocked for any danger, he cradled her against his chest and willed Hunter and the others to hurry the fuck up.
Finally the distant rumble of an engine met his ears. Sure enough, moments later headlights appeared over the crest of a hill. Recognizing the outline of the government issued SUV, he relaxed. He scooped Zahra up and pushed to his feet, carrying her out of the trees to the edge of the road. The vehicle raced up and stopped next to them. Gage popped out from behind the wheel and Hunter from the passenger side, Ellis and Alex from the back.
Hunter and Ellis were suited up with body armor and NVGs, rifles at the ready. “Okay?” Hunter asked as he approached.
“Yeah, but she’ll be better once we get the bleeding stopped,” Sean answered, carrying her toward the back. Alex stood at the rear, lowering the tailgate for him. In the overhead light Sean could see the worry etched into the lines of the man’s face as he scanned Zahra.
Sean gently set her inside the back as Alex leaned in. “Ambulance is on its way, but it’s at least forty minutes out,” he said, reaching out to grab one of Zahra’s hands.
“No, no ambulance,” she protested, wincing as she scooted back. “Please, my leg’s not broken and Sean says it’s only a flesh wound.”
“I didn’t mean
only
as in it’s no big deal. You still need to be patched up,” Sean told her, unwrapping his sodden shirt from her calf.
She stifled a moan when he pulled it away from the wound and Sean got his first look at the damage. It’d been a while since he’d had to use the medical training he’d received in the military. The bullet had entered the outside of her left calf and torn its way across the fleshy part beneath the gastrocnemius muscles. It was ugly but not serious, though she’d have a hell of a scar back there once it all healed. The wound bled steadily without pumping out, so he was pretty sure no arteries had been damaged.
“How bad is it?” she asked, wiping the back of her hand over her damp upper lip.
“You’re gonna need a few stitches.”
“Can’t we just drive to the hospital? I don’t want to wait out here anymore. Or can’t one of you just stitch me now and then take me to the hospital?”
Yeah, they could, and Sean didn’t blame her for wanting the hell away from here. Truth be told, he didn’t like leaving them exposed on this road for a second longer than necessary. Other attackers might be nearby or en route. He pinched the edges of the wound together, ignoring the pained growl Zahra gave, and looked at Alex. “Well?”
Alex glanced at her face then back to the wound and sighed. “I’d rather get moving too, and leave the ambulance for Amir and his buddies. Been a while since I stitched anyone up though.”
“I’d do it, but if we’re going to the hospital anyway, the staff there will just take everything out when they treat her, and they’ll be able to do a better job of irrigating it than I can here.” Gage tucked his sidearm into his shoulder holster as he came around the back. “Unless you want to stitch her up,” he said to Sean, obviously not wanting to overstep his boundaries with Zahra.
While Sean could do sutures if he had to, he’d prefer to not have to repeatedly stab a needle into her flesh after all she’d already been through. And besides, he was so keyed up about almost losing her that his hands probably wouldn’t be steady. “Nah, just bind it up for now. I’ll keep her warm.”
“I’ll stand watch,” Alex announced, and went around the side to pull out a rifle before positioning himself between the SUV and the edge of the woods where Ellis and Hunter had disappeared into.
Sean climbed in beside Zahra. He squeezed between her and the back of the seat to act as a bolster, wrapping his arms around her waist and turning her to face him so the back of her wounded leg was more easily accessible. Gage reappeared with the med kit and started pulling on some latex gloves. “Gotta get you warmed up so you don’t shiver so much and make it harder for Gage to stop the bleeding.”
She didn’t respond other than to lean her cheek against him and close her eyes. “Does Alex know about the weapon?”
“Oh, I’m very much aware of it,” Alex answered from beside the vehicle. “Evers and some of his federal pals are questioning Amir while he gets a nice blood transfusion to keep him alive.”
“Where did you guys even come from?” Zahra asked.
“We were close to Hunter and Ellis, helping out with recon when Sean’s call got cut off and we all had a bad feeling so we headed here just in case. Amir said the other cell members came back to pick up the weapon, and confirmed it’s some sort of portable EMP device.”
“The other shooters had a vehicle. They left it on an access road, can’t be more than a mile from here,” Sean said.
“Amazing what kind of toys Hassani has at his disposal over here,” Alex muttered sarcastically.
“Why use it here though? To target me at my cabin? That seems like such a waste of effort, it doesn’t make any sense,” Zahra added, flinching as Gage probed at the wound. Sean hugged her tighter, wishing he could make the pain go away.
“It’s a statement,” Alex answered. “He’s a goddamn self righteous megalomaniac and wanted us to know he has access to the technology, to show us what he’s capable of unleashing here in the states on a broader scale. This is his way of giving us a taste of what’s in store if we don’t catch him in time to stop it. He thought he could use Amir’s connection with your father to get to you, and through you to the rest of us.”
“Just fucking with our heads,” Gage agreed matter-of-factly, then glanced up at her questioningly. “This’ll only take me a few minutes. You want me to freeze this first though?”
“If it’ll take too long then I guess I can handle it without,” she said hesitantly.
Sean huffed out a breath. “Freeze it,” he said to Gage. Jesus, she didn’t need to prove to the rest of them how tough she was and he had no desire to stand by and watch her suffer through more pain if relief was available.
Zahra tensed and sucked in a sharp breath when Gage injected the wound with lidocaine. “I know, stings like a motherfucker, doesn’t it? Give it another minute and you won’t feel anything at all. There’s a small hospital less than an hour from here. I’ll tape this all up for the trip.”
“Yeah, fine. I just want this over with so we can get moving.” She tipped her head up and looked at Sean. “Where are we going to stay?”
“After the hospital you’re both coming to my place,” Alex answered before Sean could say anything, and neither he nor Zahra argued. It was obvious Alex felt protective of Zahra and wanted to keep watch over her himself. Which was fine as long as he realized that Sean wasn’t leaving her side.
Zahra closed her eyes again when Gage started binding up her leg. The edges of the wound were jagged due to the bullet’s angle. Watching Gage pack and bind her leg, Sean was filled with anger at the shooter and himself all over again. He counted almost four minutes passing before Gage finished and reached for another syringe.
“Roll over,” Gage said cheerfully.
Sean helped her ease onto her side and unzipped her jeans so she could wiggle them down far enough to expose her right hip. The sight of the surgical scars puckering her smooth skin there made Sean’s throat burn. She’d been through so much, too much, and all he wanted to do was hide her away from the world so nothing could ever hurt her again.
Gage made quick work of injecting the antibiotics into her hip and peeled off his gloves. “I’ll get you some pain pills and water in a sec.” When he went back to the front of the SUV Sean slid out from behind Zahra and carefully eased her out into his arms. Carrying her to the back seat, he set her down and climbed in beside her. She accepted the pills and water from Gage and swallowed them down.
Gage nodded and stepped back, tapping his earpiece with a finger. “Go ahead… That’s affirm… Roger that.” He climbed in behind the wheel. “Boys are on their way out. One KIA and one wounded, but he’s unconscious and probably won’t make it. K-9 unit already found the vehicle. Feds are having a field day drooling over the weapon.”
“That’s because it’s one of our own top secret prototypes no one was supposed to have access to,” Alex muttered as he strode around to the front passenger door. He slid in and shut the door. “Hunt and Ellis will catch a ride back with the Feds. Someone will stop by your place and grab your stuff, make sure nothing’s been tampered with,” he said to Zahra then spoke to Gage. “Let’s get to that hospital.”
So Zahra wouldn’t have to see the body and the wounded shooter when their teammates brought them out. Sean sighed in relief and draped an arm around her shoulders. “Sleep if you want to,” he said softly next to her ear as Gage started the engine and drove away.