Page 179 of Dark Night of the Soul

“Besides,” I added, “if you don’t get on the damn thing, I’ll let them sedate you.”

His eyes went muted green with a don’t test me look and I knew I was in dangerous territory. Too bad. I was testing him anyway.

A pause.

“Traitor,” he murmured. But there was no heat in it.

“But your favorite one,” I said.

His mouth twitched.

They eased him onto the gurney. He didn’t fight it but the look on his face said he didn’t love it either. They started the long trek out of the apartment and down the stairs.

I’d already packed everything we owned into two duffel bags and grabbed them, following them out. I paused only a moment to close the door behind me. Goodbye, bloodstained kitchen table. Good riddance.

And I stood there at the top of the stairs wondering if the next safe house would be the last safe house. Or if we’d be running forever.

It was still a few hours before dawn and the air was chilly as I made my way down the stairs. Like the season was about to change. When I’d been taken it was late June. I’d lost track of how many weeks ago that was.

Time had become meaningless. Before Munich. After Munich. That was all that mattered.

Ludwig wore paramedic green like he’d been born in it. Ulrich pushed the gurney with calm efficiency. And Kincade—pale and stitched back together with borrowed time—looked exactly like someone who belonged in the back of an ambulance. Because he did. And that terrified me.

If anyone stopped us now, he’d die. And I wasn’t ready for that.

The ambulance lights washed the concrete and steel building in red and white. There were a few nosy neighbors on their balconies to see what the commotion was about, but largely no one was interested in what we were up to.

When he was in the back, I hopped in. Ludwig closed the doors. And moments later we eased onto the street.

“ETA twelve minutes,” Ludwig said.

“I’d rather be unconscious,” he grumbled.

“Perhaps I should have let them sedate you then,” I said, airily.

“You wouldn’t dare.”

“I’ve dared a lot of things with you.” I smiled. “You keep getting me into trouble.”

“You’re trouble,” he said. “Not me.”

“I’m regretting the choice of ambulance,” Ludwig said.

Ulrich snickered.

“Drive,” he snapped.

Ludwig did—and the cabin settled into an easy silence. The more distance we put between the Haidhausen safe house, the better. I was ready to be done with that place even though we were only there a short period of time.

His eyes drifted closed. His jaw was tight. And even though he’d never admit it, I could tell he was in some serious pain. I rested my hand on his forearm. Warm. Solid.

“Still here,” he said.

“Good. I’m not done yelling at you yet.” Once he was stable enough to take it.

He gave me a faint smile, eyes still closed. “Can’t wait.”

The ambulance slowed then as it turned down a narrow residential tree-lined street. Houses spaced far enough apart for privacy but yet close enough to signal this was an elite neighborhood. A place where the wealthy counted their money behind ivy-choked stone façades.