Page 72 of Russian Rescue

I glanced at the black garter around her other thigh and saw the discreet windlass inside it.

“Okay. Here. Put pressure on the wound.” I placed her hand under mine and pressed it onto the wound.

Voices down the hallway pushed me to move fast as I unclipped the garter off her right leg and moved it to her left. Piper groaned as I fastened it above the gunshot wound. When her hand slipped off it, fresh, red blood oozed out again. I wasn’t a trained medic, but I’d been in their ear on enough ops to know this wound wasn’t good.

“Just twist the windlass. Tight,” she breathed out.

I did what she said, my stomach clenching from her pained moans as I tightened it until the blood stopped.

“Status?” Knox asked.

“Bleeding is temporarily controlled, but I have to get her out of here. Is there a mobile surgeon in Moscow?”

“Yeah. I’m messaging Oleg to send them now. I’ll let you know which way to drive to meet them.”

Even from the safety of my living room like I’d been in previous ops, it was always scary knowing one of our team was hurt. But it was another thing entirely holding Piper in my arms, praying we’d make it to the medics in time. Normally, when one of the team got shot or injured, I organized the mobile medics who served the special agents and other assets around the world. Just like the weapons suppliers and tactical tailors, there were doctors and surgeons who operated under the radar to treat anyone with the dough to pay them. Walking into a hospital with a gunshot wound would bring the police, and we didn’t have permission to be in Russia. If something went wrong and the government didn’t have our backs, it would be a one-way ticket to a Russian prison like I’d threatened Petro with.

“Are we clear? I need to get her out of here. Now.”

“Negative,” he responded. “You two stirred up a hornet’s nest. I have no fucking idea what the hell happened in there, but at least a dozen guards are moving through the mansion now. You need to haul ass out of there. The party heard the gunshots, and everyone is panicking. If you can get into the crowd rushing for the exits, you can hopefully blend in and get the hell out.”

“Can you walk?” I turned to Piper.

She shook her head. “No. I think he missed the femoral, but he hit bone. No way I can bear weight. Just go, Wes. Get yourself the hell out of here.”

The thought of even a moment without her turned my stomach. “I’m not leaving you, Piper.”

“Yes. You are. I’m not letting you die with me. I’m toast, and I can hold them off so you can get out alive. Just go.”

“I’m not leaving you, baby. I swore I’d never leave you, and I fucking meant it. Now tell me how the hell to get us both out of here.”

“You guys have major company coming your way,” Knox said. “Forty seconds to contact. Move. Now. Head left down the corridor when you exit the room.”

I cracked open the door and looked into the hallway only to see the bloodbath from the dead bodies Piper had left behind her.

“Go, Wes. Save yourself. Just fucking go,” Piper breathed out as she leaned back against the wall.

“I’m not—”

“Yes. You are leaving me. That’s what happens now. You have to survive, Wes, and your chances are better without me. I love you, Wes. Okay? I do. I fucking love you, and I will stay behind and hold them off so you can get out of here. I love you too much to let you die trying to save me. So go.”

As I looked into the emerald eyes normally hardened and sharp, I saw a softness inside them now as she stared back at me. I saw the truth in her words.

My heart detonated in my chest.

She loved me.

“I’ve been waiting forever to hear you say that. Literally, since the first day I laid eyes on you. If you think I’m leaving the woman I love, the woman who loves me, behind to die, you’re out of your fucking mind. You’ve spent your whole damn life looking out for yourself and looking out for other people. Let me look out for you, okay? I fucking love you too. Now quit trying to be a martyr, get your shit together, and prepare to be in a lot of pain. I’m dragging you out of here whether you want it or not.”

“Wes, I can’t walk,” she started to argue, but I reached down to grab her, pausing for a second to place a quick kiss on her lips.

“I love you too. More than you can imagine.”

She smiled as she kissed me back, then moaned in pain when I grabbed her around the waist and tossed her over my shoulder.

“Hey, lovebirds. Contact in ten. Move!”

“You still have bullets in that gun?” I asked Piper as I moved out into the hallway with my gun leading the way.