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The air vacates my lungs in a painful burst. “What did you do?”
She waves the gun, then snags my hair, wrenching my head to lead me to walk. We trek haphazardly through the edge of the trees. “You remember what the first dose was like. Imagine that times a hundred. A triple dose of pure Trifecta. His insides are liquefying as we speak.”
I fight against her hold and yank free. “Call Quinn,” I demand.
This raises her light eyebrows. “My amusement is wearing thin. You’re making this so cliché. Don’t make me do cliché things to you, Avery.”
“I have an antidote.” At least, I might. Never tested, I have no bases for comparison, or proof that it will work…but it’s better than anything the ER will administer to counter the effects. “I’ll go with you, do whatever you want—”
“Look around.” She fans her hand. “You’ll do whatever I want anyway.”
I bite my tongue. “I’ll do so willingly. Which will make for far better results. But only if Carson does not die.”
Her gaze roams over me, a bloody smile curling her lips. “See? This is why you’re so important to me, Avery. An antidote.” She laughs. “You really are brilliant. Just think of what we can develop together.” The gun digs into my side, and I wince. “But I don’t give a fuck about Carson. Walk.”
I rack my brain, thinking of anything to tempt her. If Carson dies, it’s just one more weight added to my already heavily burdened conscience. As selfish as that sounds, I can’t be responsible for his death.
The scent of fresh water drifts through the trees, and suddenly, I have an idea of where we are. “What’s unacceptable,” I hedge.
She doesn’t answer right away. Still dragging her injured leg, Lena’s steps are slowing, her breathing becoming labored. “We’re being delayed.” She coughs. “Only for a few hours.”
Desperation makes us do impulsive things. I keep her talking, tiring out her lungs. “You killed your mother, a woman you hated. Why use her nickname for yourself?”
The gun leaves my side as she struggles to walk. “You’re a brilliant scientist, but you’re not as clever as your profiler friend,” she says. “Stop trying to distract me. I’ve told you everything I’m willing to tell. For now.”
God, Carson. I hope you appreciate this. I shift my balance to my right leg and pivot. “But I have been trained by one of the ACPD’s finest.” I head-butt her, aiming for her injured nasal septum. Her nose cracks. The spray of warm blood coats my face.
She covers her nose, gun held aloft—and I seize it.
The resounding bang is followed by deafening silence.
18
Partners
QUINN
My call to Wexler will cost me my job. He’s probably already filing to have me removed, pension stripped. I think I heard the moment Wexler’s sanity snapped, the vein in his forehead that usually pulses under stress probably finally burst.
You have to have balls to tell your captain a Fed is dirty. Even bigger ones to accuse the head of a whole FBI division of being a criminal network mastermind. But when shit hits the fan, I need someone I trust to know the truth.
For now, I shut out all background noise as I speed up to the morgue curb. Run right up on it and throw my car in Park, not bothering to shut off the engine. Sadie has Carson’s arm draped around her shoulder, holding up his dead weight.
I meet her there and grab his arm, hauling him over my shoulder. “Where are you taking him?”
“I was hoping you’d know. The ER won’t know how to handle this,” she says.
“Get the door,” I tell her.
Once I have him inside the lab on a gurney, I check his pulse. It’s faint, his skin clammy.
Luckily for Sadie, she doesn’t say who can help him. She was supposed to be with Avery. My wild gaze snaps to her face. “Call Paulson,” I order, and her eyebrows push together in question. “He’s the closest thing to Avery we have.”
She nods, then stalks off to make the call. I drive my fist into the foot of the gurney, anger mounting. Carson stirs. It’s then I notice the tent in his pants. “Christ.”
“He was drugged,” Sadie calls over her shoulder. “When he started unconsciously humping my leg…I assumed it was Trifecta. A lot of it.”
Fuck. I remember Avery?
