“What’s your location?” the operator asked.
I rattled off the address of the bar. My hands were shaking now from the sudden rush and loss of adrenaline. The operator assured me that the police would be here soon, and I shoved my phone back into my pocket before going to check on Nick.
He was leaning against the side of the car now. His face was pale, and even in the darkness, I could see that it was covered in a thin sheen of sweat. He was staring down at the suspect, who was still prone on the ground, with an intense look of contempt.
“You okay?” I asked as I approached him to examine the wound on his arm. Dark red stained the shoulder and collar of his shirt, and he was still holding his arm limply.
“Yeah,” he sighed. “It barely hurts.”
“That doesn’t sound good,” I muttered. “It could mean you have nerve damage.”
“I said I’m fine,” he grumbled. “Anyway, good shot back there. You got him on the ground with one bullet.”
“Of course I did,” I smirked proudly in spite of the situation. “You really should sit down, though, while we wait for backup.”
After helping Nick into the backseat of the car, I turned to look back toward the bar. Even though the men had gone back inside and everything seemed to have returned to normal, I couldn’t shake the feeling we were still being watched.
33
Nick
I didn’t like hospitals. I didn’t like being stared at and analyzed or being poked and prodded. Jase wouldn’t stop nagging at me to go, though, so I’d finally relented and agreed to ride in the ambulance to the hospital while he accompanied the police in transporting the subject back to the station.
“You were lucky.” The doctor informed me as he pointedly attempted to ignore the tapestry of scars woven across my body. He was doing a poor job of it, as most people did. It was just another reminder of my former life with the mafia. “The bullet only grazed your shoulder, so the damage was all superficial. It’s a pretty deep laceration, though, so you should try to rest that arm in order to avoid popping the stitches. If you do, the injury might become infected and get worse than it is now.”
“Got it.” I smiled cheerlessly as I buttoned my shirt back up. The left shoulder felt uncomfortably hard now that the blood had dried against it.
“I’ll give you a prescription for the pain,” The doctor continued as he clicked a few keys on the computer. “You should make an appointment to come back in two weeks for a check-up and to get the stitches out, but other than that, you should be good to go.”
“Thanks,” I replied as I got to my feet and headed straight out the door. I wanted to get away from the harsh fluorescent lights and the scent of antiseptic as quickly as possible. I only stopped at the check-out desk for a moment to grab the prescription before heading straight for the entrance.
The darkness that enveloped me as soon as I stepped through the doors felt soothing against my eyes. I took a few steps into the parking lot before pulling my phone out of my pocket to call Jase.
“Hello?” he answered right away.
“Hey,” I sighed tiredly. “I’ve been discharged. Come get me.”
“I’m already here,” he replied. “I’m in the main parking lot, all the way in the back.”
I looked up into the sea of cars in front of me. Even though it was pretty late at night, there were still dozens of cars in the lot. As I was scanning over them, one at the very edge flashed its lights twice.
“Do you see me?” Jase asked as he continued to flash the lights.
“Yeah,” I replied as I ended the call and headed for the car. As I got closer, I could make out Jase’s form in the driver’s seat. I was confused for a moment because I didn’t recognize the car he was driving. Then I remembered that his regular car had just been shot to pieces.
“Why’d you park so far?” I grumbled as I opened the passenger side door and climbed inside.
“It’s easier to find parking out here where there are no other cars.” He shrugged as he started the ignition and pulled out of the spot. “And it’s closer to the exit.”
“So you made an injured person walk all that way,” I shook my head in mock disappointment, “just so you wouldn’t be inconvenienced.”
“I’m sorry,” Jase scoffed. “I could have sworn it was your arm that got shot, not your legs. And weren’t you the one whining about how you didn’t want to go to the hospital and kept insisting you were fine?”
“Fine, fine,” I replied in surrender. “Forget I said anything. Anyway, what’s going on? Can we interview the suspect?”
“Yeah.” Jase nodded. “Flint pulled a few strings and arranged it even though it’s past one in the morning already. The guys at the station weren’t pleased about it, but Flint explained that time was of the essence.”
“Good,” I replied with relief. Ryan Rothschild had been killed in the hospital before we got a chance to properly interrogate him, and a fake lawyer intercepted Ian Brooks before we could speak to him as well. There was no telling what the mafia might do to keep the suspect silent, so it was imperative that we move as quickly as possible.
I was jittery for the entire drive over to the police station. I was itching to come face to face with the man who had shot me.
I unbuckled my seatbelt even before Jase had fully pulled into the parking spot outside the police station. I threw the door open and stepped out quickly before turning around to wait impatiently for Jase to get out too. As soon as he’d locked the doors behind us, I turned around again to head into the
