Chapter 5 - THE BLEEDING WOLF
The explosion of glass was followed instantly by the deafening roar of a flashbang grenade detonating in the center of the bedroom.
Blinding white light and a concussive boom disoriented everyone in the bathroom. Arthur stumbled backward, dropping the tablet. The man holding a gun to my head instinctively threw his hands up to shield his eyes, his grip on my hair loosening.
That was all Liam needed.
Despite the catastrophic injuries ravaging his body, Liam launched himself forward with terrifying speed. He didn't go for the man holding me; he went straight for Arthur. He tackled his half-brother through the bathroom doorway and into the smoke-filled bedroom.
The guard beside me recovered, his vision still blurry, and raised his weapon toward the chaos.
Without thinking, I grabbed the heavy marble soap dispenser from the vanity and smashed it as hard as I could against the side of his head. The guard grunted, his knees buckling, but he didn't go down. He swung his arm blindly, backhanding me across the face.
The blow sent me flying into the shower enclosure. I hit the tiles hard, tasting copper as my lip split open.
Through the thick, acrid smoke pouring into the bathroom, I saw a massive figure step through the shattered window. It was Leo. He was covered in drywall dust and his tactical vest was heavily scorched, but he was alive, and his assault rifle was raised.
Two suppressed shots echoed through the room. The guard who had hit me crumpled to the floor, motionless.
“Emma!” Leo shouted over the ringing in my ears. “Are you hit?”
“No!” I coughed, scrambling to my feet.
“Stay behind me!” Leo ordered, advancing into the bedroom.
I followed closely, my heart in my throat. The smoke was clearing, revealing a scene of utter devastation. Liam’s pristine bedroom looked like a war zone. And in the center of it, Liam and Arthur were locked in a brutal struggle on the floor.
Arthur had a combat knife, fighting desperately to plunge it into Liam’s chest. Liam was holding Arthur’s wrist back with both hands, but his strength was failing. The physical toll was too great. The fresh bandages around Liam’s abdomen were completely soaked, blood pooling on the hardwood floor beneath him.
Leo raised his rifle, trying to get a clear shot, but the two brothers were rolling, too tangled together.
“Boss, break away!” Leo yelled.
Arthur snarled, bringing his knee up hard into Liam’s shattered leg, right where the metal pins entered his flesh.
Liam let out a guttural roar of agony, his grip faltering for a fraction of a second. It was enough. Arthur wrenched his hand free and drove the knife downward.
Liam twisted at the last possible moment. The blade missed his heart, burying itself deep into the meat of his left shoulder.
“Liam!” I screamed.
Arthur didn't pull the knife out. He released the handle, scrambling to his feet, panting heavily. He looked at Leo’s leveled rifle, realizing he was outmatched. Without hesitation, Arthur bolted toward the blown-out doorway, diving into the hallway just as Leo fired a burst of rounds into the wall where he had been standing.
Leo moved to pursue, but Liam’s ragged voice stopped him.
“Let him go... Leo.”
Liam was lying on his back, his breathing shallow and rapid. The handle of the knife protruded from his shoulder, but the real danger was his abdomen. The stitches had completely torn open during the fight. He was bleeding out, fast.
I didn't wait for permission. I fell to my knees beside him, my nursing training taking over completely. I ripped the ruined bandages away, exposing the catastrophic surgical wound. It was a disaster.
“Leo, get my medical bag from the corner! The intact one! Call the estate doctor, tell him we need O-negative blood, surgical kit, and a sterile field down here NOW!” I barked, pressing both of my hands firmly over Liam’s open wound to apply direct pressure.
“The estate doctor was killed in the initial breach,” Leo said grimly, tossing my red medical bag beside me. “We’re locked down. The police are useless here; Arthur owns the local precinct. We’re on our own.”
Panic fluttered in my chest, but I shoved it down. I couldn't afford to panic. Liam was looking at me, his icy blue eyes hazy, the edges of his vision clearly darkening.
“Emma,” he rasped, his hand weakly reaching up to touch my wrist. The wrist wearing Tommy’s braided bracelet.
“Shut up, Liam. Save your energy,” I snapped, digging through the bag with one hand while keeping pressure with the other. I found hemostatic gauze and trauma pads.
“He’s going... to the hospital,” Liam forced the words out, coughing weakly. A speck of blood appeared on his lips. “He’s going for... Tommy.”
My hands froze for a microsecond. The reality of the situation crashed over me again. Arthur had fled, which meant he was going to his leverage. He was going to my brother.
“I know,” I whispered, tears blurring my vision as I packed the hemostatic gauze directly into Liam’s wound. He flinched violently, biting back a scream. “I’m sorry, I have to pack it deep. Just breathe.”
“You have to go,” Liam said, his voice barely a whisper now. “Leo... take her.”
“I’m not leaving you to bleed to death!” I yelled at him.
“If you stay... Tommy dies,” Liam said, his eyes locking onto mine with desperate intensity. “Arthur won't wait. He’s humiliated. He’ll take it out on the boy.”
A sob tore out of my throat. He was right. Every second I spent trying to save Liam was a second Arthur was getting closer to Chicago Memorial. But if I left Liam, he would die within twenty minutes. The internal bleeding was too severe.
I looked at Leo. The hardened security chief was watching me, his face unreadable, but I could see the conflict in his eyes. He was loyal to Liam, but Liam was ordering him to save my brother.
“Leo,” I said, my voice remarkably steady despite the tears streaming down my face. “How fast can you drive?”
“I have a reinforced SUV fueled out back,” Leo said. “I can make Chicago in forty-five minutes if I ignore every law in the state.”
“Do it,” I said.
I pulled my hands away from Liam’s stomach. I grabbed a massive roll of pressure tape and began wrapping it tightly around his waist, securing the trauma pads.
“What are you doing?” Liam asked, confusion breaking through his pain.
“You told me once that you don't like being helpless,” I said, tying the tape off with a brutal pull that made him groan. I reached for the knife still embedded in his shoulder. “I need you awake. I need you angry. And I need you to tell me exactly how to get past Arthur’s men at the hospital.”
I gripped the handle of the knife.
“On three,” I lied.
I yanked it out on one.
Liam roared, his back arching off the floor. I instantly slapped a pressure dressing over the puncture wound.
“Welcome back to the land of the living,” I breathed, my hands stained crimson. I looked at Leo. “Load him up. We’re taking him with us.”
Leo stared at me like I was insane. “He won't survive the ride.”
“He’ll die if he stays here,” I shot back. “He knows his brother’s tactics better than we do. And he owes me a ten-thousand-dollar paycheck.”
I looked down at Liam. He was staring at me, panting heavily, a mixture of shock and sheer respect in his eyes.
“Let’s go save your brother, Nurse Hayes,” he whispered.
As Leo hauled Liam up, my phone—the cheap burner phone Leo had given me when I arrived—buzzed violently in my pocket.
I pulled it out. It was a video message.
May you like
I clicked play. It was Tommy. He was sitting in a wheelchair, crying, being pushed out of the hospital automatic doors by two men in suits.
Text appeared below the video: The price just went up. You have one hour. Or he goes in the river.
