“Tell it to the cops,” he said, and slipped through the window.
The window faced the mouth of an alley on the north side of the building. Lily stood a few feet away, her back pressed against the dirty brick as if she were no longer capable of standing on her own power. Her face was so white, she looked like a ghost. All Chase could think was that she’d been shot.
“Lily, are you all right?”
He didn’t wait for an answer. Striding toward her, he set his hands on her shoulders. “Lily.”
“I’m…okay.”
He tried to touch her, but she slapped his hand away. “Don’t.”
“You’re pale as hell.”
“That animal in there tried to kill me.”
“Calm down, honey. I just need to make sure you’re all right.” Clenching his jaw against the remnants of anger, of fear, he ran his shaking hands quickly over her for a cursory physical assessment. His heart tumbled into his stomach when his left hand came away red.
“My God, you’re bleeding.” His stomach plunged. “Where are you—” He thought of the baby, and the earth seemed to wobble beneath his feet. Dear God, if he’d caused her to go into early labor…
“Chase.”
He barely heard her utter his name. He was too intent on the blood. Her blood. On his hands. The symbolism was almost too much to take.
“Chase.”
Something in her voice snapped him out of it. He glanced over his shoulder to see two men with guns sprint past the mouth of the alley just thirty feet away. No time to rest or assess her injury.
“It’s not the baby,” she said. “I’m cut.”
“Where?”
“My thigh. It happened when I went through the window.”
A weird sense of relief rippled through him. Simultaneously, inappropriate thoughts of her thighs crowded his mind, but Chase quickly banked them. “You must have been terrified to risk going through that glass.”
“He would have killed me if I hadn’t.” Placing a protective hand over her abdomen, she looked away.
Guilt churned hot and jagged inside him. He hated it that she’d been hurt. That she could have been killed. Why the hell did these violent men have to involve her?
“I’m not the only one bleeding,” she said.
Chase looked into her eyes. The beauty of her face made him ache deep inside, nudged the fear he’d felt earlier to the back of his mind. More than anything he wanted to hold her. He wanted to touch her and make sure she wasn’t seriously injured. For the moment he had to settle for keeping her safe.
“It’ll keep.” He grasped her hand. “We have to go.”
He took her to the opposite end of the alley. Cars and several groups of people crowded the street. Some of the Chinese vendors had set up tea lights at their doorways where they congregated, no doubt guarding against vandals and looters.
Looking both ways, Chase turned south and pulled Lily into an easy run. Easy for him, anyway. He could only imagine how physically grueling this was for her. His mind spun through possible hiding places.
Next to him, he could feel her lagging. Worry nipped at his conscience. At the end of the block, he slowed to a jog and cast her a look.
He checked both directions. “This way.”
Sticking to the shadows beneath the many storefront canopies, he walked briskly, tugging Lily along behind him.
“Where are we going?” she asked breathlessly.
“A place where we can disappear for a little while.”
As they approached Atlantic Avenue, the darkened shadow of the forty-one-story South Station Tower loomed over them like some behemoth beast. Beyond, Chase could just make out the ornate granite facade of the century-old South Station bus and rail terminal.
It was the perfect place for two people to get lost in the crowd. Hordes of weary travelers ebbed and flowed on the wide walkway in front of the building. The old-fashioned streetlamps stood dark, making it difficult to see individual faces, a plus in this case.
“If we go in there and we’re followed, we’ll be trapped,” Lily said, eyeing the place.
Chase stopped and set his hands on her shoulders. She was so small and soft. She felt fragile beneath his hands, though he knew Lily Garrett was anything but. Still, she was pregnant and injured; there was no way they could continue without rest.
“I’ve still got a few cards up my sleeve,” he said.
She searched his face. “You always do, don’t you?”
The words were more accusation than observation. Not wanting to go there, he put his arm around her shoulders and guided her through the arched doorway and into the throngs of disgruntled rail and bus passengers. Inside the great room, the station management had set up generator-powered lighting.
Chase ushered her to the bank of elevators. He’d known the cars wouldn’t be operational because of the blackout, but he was still bummed. “Damn.”
“Where are we going?”
“I studied a map of this place once during a mission a few years back. If I can get us into the underground level and find the right door, I think there’s a place where we can lay low for a while.”