Page 6 of No Merciful Corruption

And then he aims his gun at me.

I hear the explosion but I don’t feel the bullet. This isn’t my first time facing death and seeing as how I’m still on my feet, it won’t be the last. There’s no fear or loss of consciousness but confusion settles in. It all happens so quickly.

Dahlia sprints forward. The gun goes up and fires into the air. By the time I realize what’s happening, Li and Dahlia are in a struggle over the gun and I’m running across the bridge so fast that when I start sliding across ice, I don’t stop.

The gun goes off again. A patch of black ice sends me crashing to the ground.

Dahlia manages to push Li off her and empties the rest of the magazine his chest. Five resounding bullets, each one piercing his chest with such incredible force it sends him flying several steps backward.

She saves the last bullet for his left eye. Li topples over the edge of the bridge and falls into the icy depths below.

This bridge feels…endless. I run and run and run yet somehow, the distance between us doesn’t get any smaller.

She loosens her grip on the gun and lets it fall to the ground. When she turns to face me it’s with an emotion I can’t name.

“Alex…” My name is a whisper on her lips.

“Dahlia?” The closer I get, the more unsteady I feel.

She takes a step toward me and only then do I see the hand she has pressed into her side. Her knees give out almost immediately and I get there just in time to catch her fall.

“Dahlia? Dahlia, ¿qué tienes? ¿Qué te pasa?”

A shaky breath leaves her lips and she extends her hand to me; it’s covered in blood. “Alex?”

“Oh my God…oh my God,” I press my hand into her side. “Alyssa? Alyssa!”

“Alejandro?” Her voice echoes across the park. “I heard gunshots…I wasn’t sure if it was safe⁠—”

“Get up here now! Call an ambulance!” I yell. “Jesus Christ.”

Dahlia shifts in my grasp. “Alex, listen⁠—”

“No pasó nada, no pasó nada,” I yank the scarf off my throat and use it to stop the bleeding. “You’re fine, all right, you’re going to be fine.”

Footsteps come up behind me and a high-pitched scream fills the darkness. “Oh my God, Dahlia!”

Lyss bends down but I wave her away. “Help Rian! Go!”

Lyss sobs as she dials 911 and blurts a mess of incoherent instructions at the operator. She kneels beside Rian and helps him into an upright position where she cradles him against her chest.

I can’t think…I can’t think. My brain is shutting down.

What do I do, what do I do, what do I do.

“Just…just hold on, okay? Lyss is calling an ambulance and⁠—”

“Guys!”

I look up and across the pond, Damiano is waving us down. He runs to meet us and comes up on Rian’s side of the bridge with a pair of security guards close behind.

“Alejandro,” Dahlia reaches up and grabs my face. “Listen.”

Her breaths are shallow and shaky. The cold may be slowing down the blood loss but God only knows how many hours she’s been out here. Her pupils are dilated and her hands are trembling. All the color has left her face and lips.

“If something happens to me, t-t-take care of Lyss…and Karina…” she struggles to finish her sentence. “Please.”

“It’s just a bullet wound, Dee, I’ve survived plenty of them. Look, I bet I can find an exit wound⁠—”