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“The ambulance is still ten minutes out. You got a decompression needle in that kit?”
“Yup.”
“Ever done one before?”
“Once. You?”
“Never had the pleasure.”
“What’s going on?” Brooke asked. “What are you talking about?”
Deck squeezed Addy’s hand. “I have to put a needle in your chest, sweetheart. It’s gonna hurt, I won’t lie, but I need to do it. Better if you close your eyes, okay?”
Addy didn’t say a word as Deck felt his way down her sternum and across her chest, but she did close her eyes as instructed. A good thing, because the needle had to be four inches long. Nico was tempted to close his eyes too. Deck found the right spot, and Luca helped to hold Addy still as the needle pierced skin and muscle. Fuck. A guard caught Brooke as she fainted, and would someone quiet those damn dogs?
There was a hiss of air, and blood sprayed across Deck’s chest. Some of it settled on Addy’s face too, and her tears left clean tracks through the scarlet speckles. But she began to breathe properly again, and when she opened her eyes, she only had one thing to say.
“You have to find Katy.”
40
NICO
At first, Nico had been annoyed by Deck’s insistence that he drive—because whose girlfriend had been abducted?—but now he realised that Deck’s skills extended past lifesaving field medicine and into cornering like a maniac. Nico almost asked him to slow down, but he managed to bite his tongue.
“You might want to check your gun,” Deck said.
“I didn’t bring a gun.”
And now Nico was kicking himself. Yes, he’d begun carrying a weapon again when he went out, but not at home. He’d felt safe at the Peninsula. Back in Moscow, he’d slept with a semi-automatic under his pillow, but he’d been out of his father’s murky world for too long, convinced himself that going straight was the noble thing to do. If he survived today, he was going to buy his own shooting range and use it excessively. People thought he was the Bad Samaritan? Ha. Pretending it might be true had been fun for a while, but now he had regrets. Boy, did he have regrets.
“Look behind you.”
Nico twisted to find a familiar wooden box on the back seat. The box that held his favourite 9mm. The box that usually lived in a hidden compartment built into the baseboard beside the refrigerator in his kitchen. He was about to ask how the hell Deck had found it when he remembered who had installed his cabinets.
At least one of them was thinking straight under pressure.
“Thanks.”
As Deck focused on closing the distance between his truck and the Cavallaro vehicle, Nico called Emmy. She’d tried to warn him, but neither of them had realised how imminent the danger was. Nico still didn’t understand how Cesare could have found Kaylin and Matty in Baldwin’s Shore so fast. What had happened on Saturday? Until then, he’d still been chasing his tail in New York.
“Problem?” she asked.
“Yes, there’s a fucking problem. Kaylin and Matty are gone, a friend’s been shot, and I’m heading for an RTA with the local carpenter driving.”
“All in the space of half an hour? Shit.”
“Cesare found them here, and it happened fast. Could someone on your team have talked?”
“Absolutely not. Only a handful of people knew both Kaylin’s identity and your destination, and I’d trust all of them with my life. Any idea where they’re headed?”
“South. At a guess, Medford.”
“I’ll see what assets we have in the area.”
“You’d better do it fast.”
Nico felt as if he was going to throw up, and it wasn’t only due to Deck’s driving. In less than a month, he’d finally found the woman he wanted to settle down with, discovered he might be cut out for fatherhood after all, and lost his new family. He’d promised to keep Kaylin safe, and he’d failed.
