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As terrifying as Giorgio was to most, children didn’t fear him. In fact, it was the exact opposite—children walked right up to him. Random toddlers would sit at his feet to play in the mall or ask him to pick them up so they could play with his hair.
The boy spotted Giorgio and crawled toward him. Joel had kept an eye out while the rest of the team did a final sweep. That was when he noticed movement among the dead bodies.
A man’s head had appeared between the limbs.
A gun followed.
At the last possible moment, he shoved Giorgio and the girl out of the way and lodged a bullet in the man’s trachea. In the process, he took a shot to the shoulder and then fell onto the same shoulder.
Giorgio and Gage rolled him to give Dez access to his back. Then he heard Dez say, “This doesn’t make any sense.”
“What doesn’t?” Gage asked.
“The angle.”
“Was I right? I was right, wasn’t I? I hit somebody out in the woods, and I’m telling you, it wasn’t one of these guys.”
Mumbling followed.
Julien and Mike left his side.
“There’s a mark on this window,” Mike said.
“And this guy’s bullet’s still in the chamber,” Julien added. “The shot didn’t come from…”
The rest of Julien’s words fizzled out.
Next, he felt himself being hoisted, and as Giorgio and Dez helped him to the exit, the rest of the team remained on alert, almost as if there was still a threat in the woods, waiting for them to let their guard down.
CHAPTER31
“No hissing and moaning this time?” Dr. Nkosi asked, examining the injuries to his shoulder.
Joel plastered on his most innocent smile and shook his head. “No, doc. I’ll be good.”
“How unfortunate. I rather like hearing you hiss and moan.” She pointed at his left hand with her chin. “I see you still have that ring on your finger. Are you still faithful?”
“That’s a tricky question.”
“Why is that?” She leaned over him, pressing different parts of his shoulder, a beaded necklace around her neck touching his exposed collarbone. Every so often, she looked down, searched his face, and slowly shook her head.
“The ring doesn’t mean the same thing it used to,” he found himself sharing. “Me and my wife got divorced.”
“Is that an offer?”
“Just making conversation.”
“What did you do?” She motioned around. “Or was it all of this? She didn’t know how to handle it any longer?”
“It was a big part of it.”
“And there’s someone new.”
He raised an eyebrow. “Why do you say that?”
“You were different.” She shrugged. “The last couple of times you all came and I saw you, it wasn’t the same. The rest, they have their moments, but you can tell when they have talked to those they love. It’s like going from walking on Mars and returning to Earth. But you? You never came back. It was six bodies and five minds. Five heartbeats.”
“And now?” he asked.
