Riley had come for them. If he hadn’t, she had no doubt that both she and Khalil would be dead. She wanted to be back there, she wanted to know if Riley had survived, but the best thing was to get clear of the combat. Her training had that drilled into her to the point she couldn’t go against it even if she wanted to. Besides, Khalil’s life depended on getting to safety.
Businesses clustered along the road. A far different cry from the seemingly rural area they’d been. A sign for Interstate 141 was posted at the red light.
She gassed it, barreling toward the overpass.
Which way did she go? West was out of the congested city. East sent her toward the morning rush hour, and hopefully a hospital.
“Khalil? Talk to me. Tell me about what you’ve been doing the last few years. Khalil?” She glanced at the young man, passed out in the passenger side seat.
Shit.
Erin cut off a pickup and merged onto the entrance ramp.
Khalil’s last act could not be kidnapping her. He had to live to see his parents’ killers brought to justice. He had to have a future.
She wove through traffic, her hands sliding on the wheel from the blood.
A blue sign with a white H beckoned her ahead.
The traffic slowed as morning commuters clogged the streets.
Erin jerked the SUV onto the wide shoulder and accelerated. She flew down the exit ramp and cut off traffic to the tune of half a dozen cars honking at her. Nothing mattered except getting to the hospital.
Red and blue lights blossomed in her rearview mirror.
She didn’t have time for them.
The road turned and a big, red Emergency Department sign came into view.
She ignored the lights and turned into the hospital. She drove straight up to the glass sliding doors with ambulances parked out front and slammed the car into park. Before her slippery hands could get the seatbelt off an officer with a gun in hand was at her driver’s side door.
Erin jabbed the unlock button, and the officer yanked the door open.
“He’s been shot. He’s dying.” She held her hands up.
The officer stared at her, then Khalil for half a second. The paramedics in the nearby ambulance behind her reacted faster.
“He was shot once in the stomach. I didn’t see an exit wound.” Erin kept her hands up while the paramedics put Khalil on a gurney and rushed him inside.
“Step out of the car,” the officer barked.
“Is he going to be okay?” Erin slid out of the car, watching the doors.
“Put your hands on the hood.”
She did as directed, too numb to do anything else. What were the chances Khalil would survive?
Once the officer and his partner were satisfied Erin wasn’t armed, they put their guns away.
“What the hell happened?” the shorter, stouter officer asked. He had a mean glare.
Erin swallowed. Did she trust them with the truth? What she knew, what was on that laptop, it needed to go to the right people.
“These guys... They came out of nowhere and shot Khalil.” She glanced back at the doors. It was at least a partial truth.
“Do you know what they looked like? Where were you?” the taller, dark officer asked. He had a kind smile and a gentler way of speaking.
“Yeah—”
“Excuse me?” The ambulance driver approached them. “I need you to move these vehicles.”
“Sure.” Erin glanced at her stolen vehicle. She couldn’t skirt the truth much farther.
“Park over there, around the corner,” the tall officer said.
Erin was too tired to do more than nod. She was better off here, with police, than by herself until she knew what happened to Mark.
She climbed behind the wheel and rolled the windows down.
The SUV would forever smell of blood.
She shifted into drive and pulled around the corner to wait for the officers who were, no doubt, going to back her into a corner.
Erin glanced over her shoulder.
The right thing to do would be to sit here and explain her story to these cops. How did she explain a kidnapping half a world away resulting in this?
She couldn’t lie. Not now. Which meant these cops were going to take her somewhere, ask a lot of questions and take away the laptop. If NexGen got it, she had no idea if they’d do the right thing.
The only way this would change was if a lot of the right kind of people knew about it. She had to cast a wide net.
Erin parked as close to the building as she could and locked the doors. The cops would be on her soon, which meant she had moments. She pulled out the laptop and set it on her lap.
The battery didn’t have much longer. She had to be quick.
If Mark was still out there, if he’d gotten away, he could come find her the moment she accessed the files. He could also wipe his servers and destroy the evidence.
It was worth the risk.
It was why she’d put it all on the line in the first place.
Erin connected to the hospital WiFi and emailed the link to Colborn. She glanced over her shoulder.
No cops yet.
She had a little more battery life left.
She opened a browser tab and brought up the Department of Defense website and began emailing every address she could find.
If one person knew, they could sweep it under the rug. If a dozen knew, someone would have to speak up.
She glanced over her shoulder again.
Where were the cops? This didn’t make sense.
Erin twisted to get a better view. Had she gone to the wrong spot?
A man stood outside her door, a gun aimed at her.
She hadn’t thought Mark could be that fast...
RILEY GLANCED IN THE rearview mirror. Grant and the others had hung back at the scene to explain to the cops what happened, freeing Riley
