Page 141 of Under Arthur’s Protection

He yanked. Me, the case, both. I stumbled into him, and his hand clamped around my throat. The case hit the floor. His mouth was at my ear. “This isn’t over.”

His free hand dropped.

A sudden loud thwack came from somewhere behind me, and Rick screamed. He went down, and I went halfway with him before his grip loosened and I pulled free.

“Nobody move!” hollered Arthur, at a volume I didn’t think he had. “Hands up! If anyone fucking raises a finger, you’re all dead!”

Other voices yelled, “Hands!” and “Nobody move!” and other things I couldn’t make out.

Hands rose inside the safe room—all of them.

Except Rick’s. His were wrapped around his thigh, where blood ran between his fingers, down his pant leg, onto the concrete.

Arthur had shot him. Arthur had actually shot him.

The scream turned into curses and unintelligible threats, barely making it out through his clenched teeth.

“Gwen.” Arthur again. Quieter now. “Come here. Now.”

The case lay on the floor by Rick’s boot. It had some blood on it.

I bent and picked it up.

My clothes had blood on them.

Not a lot, but definitely blood.

My lungs didn’t know what to do. I was pretty sure they were supposed to breathe. But the blood. It was a lot more blood than Arthur had lost from the knife wound.

“Gwen!” shouted Arthur. “Walk to me, sweetheart.”

Sweetheart. He meant me.

Right.

I walked backward, unable to tear my eyes off Rick. And the blood.

“This truce lasts,” said the old man, stepping forward to match me, “as long as you’re silent.”

I nodded slowly at him and at Dr. Hopkins, who joined him.

“I got you,” Arthur whispered as he tucked me behind himself.

His team folded around us, dark gear and crisp movements, and we backed out of the room, up the stairs, and past a dozen Custodians sitting zip-tied in the center of the beautiful room with the chandeliers. They kept their heads down. Whether they’d been like that all along, or if the single gunshot and Rick’s screams had ensured their cooperation…

That isn’t important, is it, Gwen?

Once we were through the doorway where I’d seen the men with the flashbang, Arthur released his gun, pulled his facemask down, and got an arm around me. His breath came out shaky, and the gear in his vest dug into my chest as he held me. “I shouldn’t have left you alone in the cave.”

The little itch started at the back of my eyes, but I wasn’t sure I had tears left to cry. My knees grew weak, and I let my forehead fall against his shoulder. “You came for me.”

“Of course I did.” He leaned back until his face came into view.

I wanted to kiss him, hold him, just be in his presence. I wanted to tell him what I’d found in the study. Tell him how I knew he was there before I even saw him.

“We need to exfil,” said one of the masked men. “We’ve got a second job tonight, after you’re safe.”

“Right.” Arthur released the hug, and the team moved. But his weapon stayed lowered. The team covered us, while Arthur kept his hand at the small of my back, as though he weren’t ready to fully let go yet.