Cold Shadow (Cold Country #2)(87)

The gun shifted in her hand. The movement was minute, but Drew couldn't wait for Nathan to try to talk her down. He threw himself across the lot, forgetting the pain in his thigh, to tackle Quinn.

One blast, then a second filled his ears. He curled around Quinn and rolled across the gravel, dragging him away from the bullets.



       
         
       
        

"Drop the gun, Tori!" he heard Nathan shout. "Don't make me … " A third gunshot and the world went strangely quiet.

He could feel Quinn beneath him. He felt so warm. Blood dripped into Quinn's face and smeared his hands.

"Drew." He heard his name called as if from a great distance. Drew saw Quinn's lips move, his name followed. Like watching a movie on his grandfather's projector when he was a kid. Sometimes the sound would come after and the actors looked funny saying words that didn't match their lips.

Quinn reached up with blood-stained hands to cup his face. "Don't die, Quinn … just don't fucking die … " he said. There was a high-pitched ringing in his ears. And Quinn was bleeding all over the place.

"Drew!" Quinn screamed in his face. The world spun around and Drew was looking up at the sky instead of at the ground. There were stars. He never saw the stars anymore. He missed the stars more than anything.

Quinn hovered over him, blood on his face and in his hair. "Hang on, Drew. Okay. Just stay with me, okay? Help is coming."

Red and blue lights flashed all around him. He lifted his head, fighting a wave of sick, to orient himself.

The woman lay on her back in the gravel. One leg bent back like some broken Barbie tossed to the ground. Nathan took a step toward her before slowly sagging to his knees. He laid his gun on the ground and raised his hands in the air.

The other guy was too far away. People swarmed around them. Drew looked back to Quinn and reached up. His hand wasn't bloody. "It doesn't hurt," he said, his throat so dry the words stung. Tears fell from Quinn's eyes leaving tracks in the blood that smeared his face. "It doesn't hurt."

"That's good, Drew, so good. Stay with me, okay? I can't lose you, okay?"

Drew nodded. There was something he needed to tell Quinn. Something that he needed to tell them both. He couldn't think of what that might be.

The red lights were too pretty. The blue lights soothing. He liked the blue. It calmed him.

"Love you." He heard from a distance.

"Me too."

There were no more lights.

And no more pain.





Chapter Twenty-Five




So much happened at once, Quinn could hardly grasp any of it. Drew slammed him to the ground. Dripping blood on his face. Quinn heard Nathan yell out, but he couldn't hear what he'd said. Two shots from a handgun sounded like little pops after the rifle. He twisted and rolled with Drew in his arms.

"Okay, okay, okay," he whispered, his heart beating so fast he couldn't think. Nathan slowly sank to his knees on the ground. He had one hand up, he laid the gun on the ground with the other and put that hand in the air. 

Drew lay gasping in his arms. Quinn mumbled something, he couldn't remember. Then shouted for him to stay. Jesus. He was back in that pit in his mind. He'd done this before. Except this wasn't Nathan, this was Drew. Like some nightmare he'd had over and over again. As if it had been either him or Drew that night, instead of Nate. As if he'd wished this upon them.

The red and blue swirling lights made the world all that more surreal. Car doors slammed. Feet ran on the gravel. Someone shouted, "Move away from the gun!"

Nathan didn't move. He tucked his hands behind his head and stared at the Agent in Charge. "We need two ambulances," he said as if he were in complete control of the scene. His face was a mask of … nothing. He was detached and cold and …  Quinn couldn't tell what else. Drew reached up and gripped his chin. He tried to speak. He didn't make any sense. "Agent Walker is down. The victim is inside."

As if he'd been summoned, Lonnie stumbled through the shattered door frame in the middle storefront. He was naked and barely able to stand. The agents started shouting for him to freeze. Did they really say freeze? Holy fuck.

Guns were aimed at the man as if he were a threat. The Agent in Charge shouted again. Nate didn't stay down; he was on his feet and running. He threw himself between the drugged man and the feds. "No, goddammit. Don't shoot."

Another voice joined in the confusion. Natalie screaming, "Nooo, that's Lonnie, he's not armed. Don't. Noooooo."

Someone caught her and dragged her away from the active scene. "I need a medic!" Quinn screamed over the sirens and the confusion and the agents shouting. "Agent Walker is bleeding out. Get me a fucking medic."