AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Or worse.
“I never saw the guys who did this, but it makes the most sense. We get that bullet, and Tommy can match it to the type of gun used.” Alfie raised an eyebrow, and I shrugged. “He knows a guy, I guess.”
“Tommy always knows a guy.” Alfie sighed heavily and pushed off the counter. “I’ll post the watch myself. Johnny’s going to be alright, Connor. Have a little faith.”
He clapped a hand on my shoulder, giving it a squeeze before pushing the door open.
Faith. Fat lot of good faith had ever done me.
I could only hope that maybe this time Alfie would be right.
The blood was washed from my hands and the steel was back in my spine by the time I exited the bathroom, pulling out my burner and dialing the number I knew by heart. Shitshows like this were the kind of thing that sent Callum through the roof.
This was going be a fun phone call.
Waiting never bothered me. Alfie was like a bug on a hot griddle, bouncing his leg, up-down-up-down, in the chair and out of it again, double checking everything. It’s part of what made him good at what he did. The guy never stood still.
Me? I preferred to sit back and observe, and waiting gave me the opportunity to do just that. The opportunity to plan for contingencies, to map egress routes, to evaluate the room for threats. To catch the funny look the intake nurse was giving us and send Finn over to intercept her. To note the fact that the pass card lock on many of the interior doors had been disabled, probably by hospital staff to shave off a few seconds of response time, but ultimately beneficial to us. To clock the cop stationed outside the entrance to the ED, his eyes darting quickly down and away from mine in submission. One of Alfie’s no doubt, on the take and most likely putting a kid through college with dirty money.
I was also clocking the lady doctor coming down the hall towards us, the one who had worked on Johnny in the back of the car. She looked tired, now, but she was carrying herself in a self-satisfied way that told me the news was probably good. Or so I hoped.
Tugging the surgical cap from her head, she hastily brushed her fingers through her hair, pulling a few pretty strawberry blond strands free of her ponytail. She faltered a moment, smoothing them over the right side of her forehead before tucking them carefully behind her ear. I found the gesture odd, her face seeming inexplicably fragile in the harsh hospital lighting.
But then she looked up, saw us waiting, and her face hardened.
Alfie was already on his feet. “What’s the good word, doc?” he asked before I had a chance.
The woman didn’t smile or extend her hand in greeting. “I’m Dr. Cassidy Brannigan, I’m the one who worked on—”
“I remember,” I cut in. “How is he?”
Her lips thinned. The fancy doctor obviously didn’t like to be interrupted. “He’s stable. They’re moving him up to the SICU right now.”
Johnny was alive. I didn’t move a muscle, but inwardly I was dropping to my knees and sending up a prayer of thanks. It felt like I could breathe again.
The doctor continued on. “The surgery went well. The bullet entered the left lung, bounced along the inside curve of the rib, and imbedded itself in the latissimus dorsi adjacent to T6. It did a lot of damage, but after we got the bleeding under control, we were able to re-inflate the lung and repair the damage to the muscle. We’re not quite out of the woods yet, but—”
“When can we talk to him?”
“Did you get the bullet out?” Alfie and I spoke at the same time, cutting her off yet again. Dr. Brannigan’s disapproving frown had thinned her lips away to almost nothing.
“The bullet,” I snapped impatiently, “did you get it."
“No.” The doc focused her attention on me.If that look’s supposed to intimidate me, love, it’s falling short of the mark.“The bullet is too close to the spine. Contrary to what you see in the movies, we rarely remove the bullet these days—only when it’s life threatening. In this case, it’s not.”
Shite. “I need that bullet.”
“Well then, it’s a good thing for ‘Johnny’ that I don’t work for you.” She shook her head in disgust. “I’m not putting a patient’s life at risk just so you can play detective.”
The lass had one hell of an attitude on her. I could see the muscle working in her jaw from where I was standing. When I had stopped her in the hallway earlier, I’d suspected that she somehow knew who we were, judging by the fear I’d read in her eyes. It was an emotion I was all too familiar with. Now, though, there was no doubt. Her posture was defensive, feet shoulder-width apart and arms crossed over her chest, chin tilted up as if in challenge. Pretty green eyes that were cold enough to put me six feet under, if looks could kill.
Dr. Brannigan wasn’t afraid. She was absolutely furious.
Alfie sidled up to her, pouring on his trademark charm. “Listen, sweetheart, he didn’t mean anything by it, we just wanted—”
“Justice for your friend, right?” She flinched away from Alfie. “And what, exactly, does that entail—going to the police? Not likely. You’re nothing but a bunch of thugs. That kid almost died because you were either too scared or too proud to call the ambulance that could’ve gotten him help sooner. No. Instead, you drag him in here yourselves, skidding into the parking lot like it’s some climax scene from a bad heist movie, your friend bleeding out in the back seat with a bullet lodged an inch from his heart, and you ask—scratch that, youbeggedme to save him. And now that he’s barely made it over the first hurdle, all you can think of is getting that bullet so you can pay back violence with violence. You disgust me.”
Her voice barely rose above a whisper, but the words were delivered with enough venom to knock me back on my feet. She was absolutely fearless. Standing there toe to toe with me and not backing down, even though she obviously knew I was connected. It wasn’t something I had seen often, and never had I seen anyone match her conviction or ferocity.
