Part 20 (1/2)

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 b.a.s.t.a.r.d 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. Rus.h.i.+ng 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 s.h.i.+rt, 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.