Indelible, Laurie Buchanan [the kiss of deception read online txt] 📗

the cave into the fresh air, he feels her blood ooze down his arms, slow and insidious. The moonlight is tangled in Emma’s dark auburn hair. Please God, let her be okay.

Joe joins Mick. “I’ll shine the light on the ground in front of you ’til we get to the top. It’s rough going under the best of circumstances, but if we both try to carry her, we’ll jostle her too much.”

“Thanks, buddy. Did you call Niall?” Mick asks.

“Yes, he’s on his way. Can you tell where she was hit?” Joe asks, worry evident in his tone.

“He shot her in the back. It hit the left side, between her scapula and spine. When I first heard her breathe, there was a sucking sound. I think a bullet may have hit a lung. I plugged the wound so she can breathe easier.”

“So that’s why you’re missing a sleeve,” Joe says, nodding toward Mick’s bare arm.

Just then they hear Hemingway bark. “We’re almost there, Emma. Hang on,” Mick whispers.

When they reach the top of the canyon, Herb, Chris, Joe, and Niall lift Emma from Mick. Once he’s seated in the back of the ATV, they transfer her back to his waiting arms. Mick’s heart thrashes against his sternum as he looks at her. Please don’t die.

From the side of the ATV, Hemingway tries to nudge Mick. “It’s going to be okay, boy.”

Turning, Mick says, “Chris, will you please take Hemingway up to the main house? I know Libby, Fran, and Cynthia can use your assurance.”

Motioning for Joe to step closer, Mick says, “Now’s the time to call the FBI. Bring them up to speed on the situation, and then you and Herb head back down to Toni. I’m sure she’d appreciate it.”

Joe nods his agreement.

And with that, Niall drives toward the front gate.

“Herb, you head down to Toni,” Joe says. “I’ll be right there.”

Whump-whump-whump. They hear the sound of rotating helicopter blades long before they see the chopper. As they drive through the front gate and stop, it swiftly sheds altitude and lands about a hundred feet away. Its prop wash pummels them and bends the tall grass back.

Two first responders exit the bird with a stretcher and make the expert transfer look easy. “We’re taking her to St. Joseph’s. It’s the closest hospital with a helipad,” one of them shouts.

As Mick makes to join them, one of the guys shakes his head. “There’s only room for the triage unit,” he yells.

Mick nods in understanding. “I’ll be there as soon as I can,” he yells back.

The noise is deafening as the turbine gears up for liftoff.

Niall says, “Mick, if you let Libby call Emma’s parents while you shower, you can be on your way to St. Joseph’s all the sooner. I’ll have a fresh pot of coffee ready by the time you head to the hospital. You’re a little on edge to be the one to call her folks.”

“You’re right,” Mick agrees. “I almost killed a man tonight, Niall.”

Resting his hand on Mick’s forearm, Niall says, “We were wondering what happened in The Devil’s Canyon. But from the bits and pieces we’ve put together, it sounds like the world would be a safer place without him.”

Mick runs his hands through his hair and down his face. He exhales deeply through his mouth and inhales through his nose, trying to wrap his mind around what’s happened.

Above them, the stars seem weary in a sky bleached thin by the neighboring city’s lights.

“Jason was going to slit Emma’s throat,” Mick says. “Everything happened at once. She stood up fast and caught him under the chin with her head and stabbed him in the leg. He shot her in the back. I shot him in the chest.”

“Emma stabbed him?” Niall asks, impressed. “Where’d she get a knife?”

“I think it was Jason’s. When he reached for it in his pocket and it was gone, he pulled a gun instead. That’s when Emma stood up. He didn’t expect it. She blindsided him. Remember, he wasn’t in the kitchen the night she showed us what she’s been working on—that she can stand.”

Toni slaps on a pair of latex gloves and rummages through “Jason’s” backpack. She shakes her head at the number of aliases she’s known him to use. She checks every compartment but doesn’t find anything of use.

Turning her flashlight onto Alex’s body, her eyes are drawn to the knife sticking out from his right thigh. Emma, you’re one smart cookie. She nods with admiration.

Picking up an empty bottle of Jack, Toni looks at Alex’s motionless body and says, “Everyone has an Achilles heel, and this is yours.”

She starts pacing—back and forth, back and forth. I can punch his ticket right now, and no one will be the wiser. Just pinch his nostrils, cover his mouth, and it’ll be over. She pauses and turns around, directing the beam at Alex’s face. He’s one of the most dangerous and volatile men I’ve ever known. She draws in a long breath, then blows it out, giving herself a moment. He’s got a hole in his chest. It would be a “mercy” killing. Her brief smile is followed by a frown. But I want to know what he meant by, “I told her.” Who, Emma? And just what did he say?

As she walks over to the wheelchair, she’s impressed that it’s still upright. But that makes sense. Emma fell forward when she was shot in the back, and Alex fell backward when he was shot in the chest.

With nothing else to do, she peels off the gloves, sits in the chair, and waits for the others, callous to the fact that someone is dying a few feet away.

“I’ll meet you in the kitchen with a thermos of hot black coffee,” Niall says as he pulls away from the front of Mick’s cabin.

“I’m just going to shower and change. I’ll be right over.”

The wind kicks up, howling its worry as Niall pulls around to the