“Cas, you good?” he asked.
The man nodded his head.
“I mean, I see three of you. That can’t be good, but I’m alive,” he said, his voice filled with that pain.
Oh, and Elizabeth knew why.
Uriel’s best friend was dead in that vehicle, and it was all her fault. She’d needed a ride, and he’d died because of it. One simple thing led to a travesty.
“Did you kill the bitch?” Uriel asked, angrily.
Raphael wished he did.
“No, Mom saved us both. It was almost three dead Marines,” he admitted.
Uriel glanced over.
“Mom, are you okay?”
She said nothing, and that silence spoke volumes to both men. No, she was not.
Now, the men knew one thing.
It was time to protect her.
Raphael went there.
“My shoulder is out. I need you to help me get it back in before anyone gets here. I can’t be taken away in an ambulance. We have to make sure we both stay on duty. Pop me back in.”
Uriel headed his way, crawling because standing up was going to make him puke. When he got to his other friend, he grabbed his arm, and yanked so hard, until they heard a pop, and Raphael’s close-mouthed scream.
“Fuck, that sucked,” he muttered.
They all forgot that the president was still connected via Elizabeth’s vest.
“Jack just called me back,” Gabe said. “They are locking down the scene, and they will contain it for us. They know it’s you. You’re getting transported ASAP.”
Tears were in her eyes.
“Gabe, Jet is dead,” she said. “One of my Marines is in the car. I can’t leave him here.”
He heard the tone, and he knew.
Hell!
They all knew.
“Hold it together, Deputy Director. Fall apart as soon as the cops get you three into a vehicle. Tiffany has Secret Service agents coming to escort you.”
She knew he was right.
Oh, but it wasn’t easy. Elizabeth took this shit personally, and if Devon Slater put intel on the internet, she was going to put her boot in his skull.
For.
Jet.
Killing her Marine just changed everything in this game. If he wanted a scorched-earth free-for-all, he was about to get one.
