Her finger tightened on the trigger, but before she could fire, a shot came from the van. Something slammed into her shoulder, knocking her to the hard ground. For a moment, everything went black.
“Come on,” she muttered. “Get up.” She pushed herself on to her elbow as the van pulled away. All around her, people were screaming. She tried to stand but couldn’t. Instead, she rolled over and dragged herself across to where Roz lay unmoving. For a second, she thought she was dead, but then she saw the small dart embedded in Roz’s shoulder. Reaching out she rested a finger against her throat and felt the slow steady throb of her pulse.
Only then did she heave a sigh. At that point, pain hit her like a sledgehammer.
She’d been fucking shot.
She glanced up and caught people in the crowd staring at her. Clenching her teeth against the pain, she peered down. Her left arm was drenched. While it hardly showed against the black of her suit jacket, her left hand was stained crimson. The thick, cloying, sickly sweet stench of blood filled her nostrils dragging her back to that long ago time. Her mother’s body had also been daubed in crimson. So much blood.
“Hold on, love, we’ve called the ambulance—they’ll be here in a moment.” A man couched down beside her. He reached out a hand and then pulled back. “Lie still.” Something pressed against her shoulder.
The pain was coming in waves now, rolling over her, sucking her under. In the distance, an ambulance siren whined and as the next wave rose to a crescendo, she let the pain take her and drag her down.
Chapter Ten
Ash slammed through the swinging door and came to an abrupt halt.
Faith lay on the bed, her face even paler than usual, her eyes closed, her lashes dark shadows against her skin.
She was hooked up to some sort of intravenous drip, and she looked so small and helpless that the rage built inside him. He wanted to smash whoever had done this into tiny pieces.
“Hey, get a grip.”
Ash glanced away from Faith to see Ryan standing on the other side of the bed, his brows drawn together in a frown.
“You’re eyes have gone all demonic,” Ryan said. “You might want to calm down before anyone else notices.”
Ash gritted his teeth, took a deep breath…
“She’s going to be all right.”
Some of the tension left him. He moved farther into the room and halted by the bed. For a woman who came across as so tough and in control, he kept seeing Faith vulnerable, and he didn’t like it. Didn’t like the way it made him feel as though he needed to protect her and had no clue how.
He’d been in the Abyss, catching up on some chores—he had a lot of people who relied on him down there and he’d been neglecting his work—and got back to find a message from Ryan saying he was at the hospital with Faith. Ash had immediately thought it must be related to the headache she’d had the other night. Perhaps she’d blacked out again.
He’d rushed over here, not really knowing why, but not slowing down long enough to think about it. Now, he noticed that the sheet was folded down, revealing the faint curve of her breasts and the white bandage wrapped around her.
“What happened?” he asked.
“I’m not sure,” Ryan replied. “She was shot. That’s all I know. I was contacted because she has me down as next of kin.”
“She has no family?”
“None that I know of. She’s lost a lot of blood, but she should be fine.”
Something occurred to Ash. “She was meeting Tara and Roz this evening.”
“Tell me something I don’t fucking know.” Ryan took a deep breath and visibly pulled himself together. “Roz is in the next room, unconscious. But she’s fine, just drugged. The doctor said she should wake with no effects. The same with the two guards on duty.”
“And Tara?”
Ryan glanced away. “We don’t know.”
“What the hell do you mean ‘we don’t know’?”
Ryan took another deep breath; whatever it was he was about to say, he didn’t want to say it. “I think she was taken. I think it was a very neat setup.”
Fear gnawed at Ash’s insides. He’d only recently found his daughter. He couldn’t lose her. “Why would they take Tara?”
“I don’t know. Maybe they came for Roz and took the wrong woman. We’ll know more when Roz or Faith wakes up.”
Ash paced the room. He couldn’t stand the waiting. Outside darkness had fallen. No doubt, Piers and Christian would be here soon and then all hell would break loose.
Literally, if he didn’t keep himself together.
He needed to be strong, stay focused, but he could feel the darkness pulling him. If anything happened to Tara, he would rip those responsible into pieces and cast them into the darkest corners of the Abyss.
A movement in the doorway made him glance up. Roz stood, leaning against the frame for support. Though she was pale, there was no other sign of damage, so at least they wouldn’t have to deal with a demented Piers. Just a demented Christian. Shit, this was going to be bad.
“Is she okay?” Roz asked.