Fatal Courage: Shadow Force International, Book 3 (Shadow Force International Romantic Suspense Series) (24 page)

“Jesus, you are in the boonies,” Rory said. “If you needed a cornfield or a pig farm, you’d be set. A clinic like you’re talking about is at least forty miles away.”

With Chief Rolands running point for them, they could get there in under half an hour. “Send me the coordinates,” Beatrice told him. “Make sure they’re ready for us.”

“Roger that,” Rory said. “Before you hang up, there’s someone who wants to talk to you.”

Emit’s voice took over. “B, what the hell are you doing?”

“Apprehending our target, who at the moment is bleeding out. What do you need?”

“You’re supposed to be in DC getting ready to have a kid.”

Jax was sticking an IV in Hayden’s arm while Ruby held a pile of bandages on his leg. Rolands stepped forward to hold the IV bag above Hayden’s body. “The baby is uncooperative and I have a job to do.”

Strained silence. “I could have gone out and retrieved Jax and Agent McKellen. You didn’t need to fly here and take over.”

“I have experience with government cover-ups. My expertise was needed.”

“You’re having a goddamn baby, and a woman as far along as you is not supposed to fly. What if the baby has problems?”

“There is no evidence that flying is harmful to an unborn child or the mother if the mother is in good health. I am in good health and so is my son.”

Another round of silence, full-throttle exasperation coming through the invisible phone line. “Do you know how many ways your husband is going to kill me when he finds out you’re here?”

“He already knows and I suspect he’s on his way to Chicago to drag me back to DC against my will at this very moment. I’m here, so arguing is a waste of your time and mine. Let me get Elliot Hayden to a safe clinic and I’ll deal with Cal when I’m done.”

She hung up before Emit could say anything else.

Jax put a stethoscope to Hayden’s heart, felt for a pulse. “We’re losing him,” he announced, straddling Hayden and starting CPR.

Ruby grabbed Hayden’s hand and watched Jax pumping on the man’s chest. “Please save him, Jax. You have to save him.”

Jax was singing. Beatrice couldn’t quite make out the tune, but it sounded familiar. “Is that
Staying Alive
, the pop song?” she asked Trace.

Her bodyguard glanced at her. “Most med students learn to sing that song, at least mentally, or
Another One Bites the Dust
, while performing the recommended one hundred chest compressions per minute. Both songs have the appropriate beat.”

Why did she not know this?

“Sure you don’t want me to help out?” Trace asked. “He’s in great shape, but he can’t keep up compressions for more than a minute or two. No one can. Except maybe, me.”

Beatrice weighed the pros and cons. Zeb shot her a look over Ruby’s distress. “Zeb,” she called. “Watch our six. Trace, help Jax.”

Trace nodded, switching places with Zeb, and then taking Jax’s place over Hayden, continuing the chest compressions.

“Adrenaline, in my bag, Ruby,” Jax ordered as he shook out his hands. “Can you find it?”

Ruby bit her lip, let go of Hayden, and came up with the syringe from the bag a second later. “Is this it?”

She handed it to Jax, who nodded and tore the plastic covering off. Taking his place at Hayden’s head, he primed the syringe, brought it up, paused, and plunged it down, straight into Hayden’s heart.

The body convulsed, Trace stopped chest compressions, and Jax slowly pushed down the head of the syringe.

Seconds ticked by. Jax removed the needle from Hayden’s heart, threw it down and leaned over to put his ear next to the man’s lips.

Hayden was stone still. So was Jax. His massive body was so inanimate, Beatrice found herself holding her own breath in anticipation. Jax closed his eyes and Beatrice thought
oh no
.

They’d lost Elliot Hayden.

Now they’d never know who he’d been working with or what plan he had put in motion. They’d never know what had cost the man his life. His and Nelson’s and James’.

Ruby’s shoulders shook, her sobs silent. Her chin went to her chest.

“Dammit,” Zeb swore, shaking his head.

And then, without warning, Jax reared back and sent a fist into Hayden’s chest. “You goddamn bastard.” His voice echoed across the field. He reared back and hit him again. “Don’t you dare die on me.”

A moment later, Elliot Hayden’s body convulsed. His eyes flew open and he sucked in a sharp breath.

Chapter Seventeen

_____________________

______________________________________________________

T
RACE
H
UNTER
M
OVED
off Elliot and Ruby didn’t know whether to throw herself at her former partner and hug the crap out of him, or slap him across the face for scaring her to death.

Slapping an injured man who’d just come back from the dead was loathsome and barbaric, so she threw herself at him instead.

“Elliot!” She cradled his face, touched his shoulders. “It’s me, Ruby.”

His eyes were dazed, pupils unfocused as he stared past her at the sky. His mouth moved, but no words came out.

“Ruby, back up,” Jax said.

His face was tense, a muscle in his jaw jumping, brows drawn in a severe frown. Looking at the man who’d saved her partner, she nearly threw herself at him as well. “Thank you for saving him. You’re amazing.”

At her words, a light came into his eyes. Confidence. Pride. And then it was gone just as quickly. “We’re not out of the woods yet. Hunter, we need a blanket.”

From the black SUV came Beatrice’s voice. “Get Mr. Hayden in the vehicle and let’s go. Time is of the essence for both him and us.”

“He’s not stable,” Jax argued. “He could go into cardiac arrest again at any moment.”

Elliot’s eyes stayed open, his focus landing on Ruby as his lips trembled with the effort to speak.

“Rub…sor..ry…”

“Shh,” she said, stroking his battered face again. “It’s okay.”

From the Escalade, Beatrice’s tone brokered no room for negotiation. “I suggest you do your best to keep that from happening, Jaxon. An appropriate clinic is forty miles from here. The sooner we get Agent Hayden there, the better.”

Ruby saw the struggle on Jax’s face. He wasn’t about to lose his patient, even if he did hate the guy. “I need five minutes.”

“You have three.”

He sent his boss an ugly look, but kept his mouth shut as he searched his black bag for something.

Elliot blinked and Ruby squeezed his hand. She wanted to believe he had a good reason for what he’d done. A reason she could get behind. “El, tell me what happened. Who did this to you?”

His gaze zeroed in more intently on her, his eyes sunken in his pale face. He’d lost a lot of blood, his body definitely in shock. Nothing came out of his mouth but nonsensical whispers.

Ruby leaned forward, placing her ear close to his lips in hopes of figuring out what he was saying. He grunted and she knew he was trying.

Jax took another syringe from his bag and injected it into the IV port. He tugged her out of the way so he could listen to Elliot’s heart.

Ruby watched, a flood of emotion heating her chest. Jax looked rough and tough, a day’s worth of beard on his face, the tats on his arms and the scar on his temple suggesting he was a fighter, not a healer. There was nothing about him that looked like a competent, skilled doctor, and yet, at that moment, Ruby was sure Elliot couldn’t have been in more capable hands.

“What can I do to help?” she asked.

He glanced at her, slinging the stethoscope around his neck. “Let’s get a bandage on his leg.”

“Time’s up,” Beatrice announced. “We need to move.”

“That wasn’t three minutes,” Jax yelled.

“Rory has informed me that we’re about to have company,” she replied. “They’re coming in hot.”

“Who?” Hunter and Jax asked at the same time.

“Their identities have not been ascertained yet. Therefore, I advise we depart without further delay.”

No worry in her voice, no concern. Beatrice was calm under the most extreme situations and something about that calmed Ruby as well.

Ruby said to Jax. “I’ll help you move him.”

“Jax and I will move him,” Hunter informed her. “You grab the bag.”

They worked together, the three of them, with Chief Rolands holding the IV. Hunter grabbed a blanket from the back of the SUV and he and Jax lifted Elliot and placed him on it.

Zeb folded down the second and third row seats and the two men easily carried Elliot to the vehicle and slid him into the makeshift hospital. Elliot grunted a couple of times from the treatment, but he maintained consciousness.

Ruby made sure they left nothing behind—no bandage papers, no plastic bags from the syringes. She even took a quick moment to fluff the crumpled grass where they had walked. Unfortunately there wasn’t anything to be done about the blood on the road and under the spot where Elliot had lain.

Zeb took over holding the IV bag, while Hunter hopped into the driver’s seat. Beatrice instructed Chief Rolands to take off without the sirens, then she gave him the coordinates to the clinic.

Whoever was approaching was no friend, Ruby was sure of that. Were they after Elliot? Or was it a cleanup team to take out all of them? The CIA? Homeland?

Between her, Hunter, and Jax, she wasn’t worried about a confrontation. Hell, even Beatrice probably knew a thing or two about guns and self-defense. But with Beatrice being pregnant and Elliot in critical condition, a stand-off with a possible wet job team was a losing battle from the get-go.

The gravel road was bumpy as hell as they flew east. The sun sank behind them, streaking the sky with amber. As Zeb balanced the IV near Elliot’s head, Jax and Ruby sandwiched their patient between them and went to work re-bandaging the gunshot wound.

There was still so much blood, Ruby wasn’t sure exactly where it was all coming from. She used her phone’s flashlight to illuminate the area and lifted Elliot’s leg when Jax instructed her to so he could wrap the thigh with gauze.

Rolands took them around a bend in the road and past an abandoned farmhouse. In the distance, shadows grew as a wooded area came into view.

No one was riding with the chief, and while Ruby heard the soft chatter of radio communications coming from the front where Hunter and Beatrice were monitoring police channels, she had a sudden spurt of uncertainty.

“You trust Chief Rolands?” Ruby called to Beatrice as he took them on another unpaved road leading toward some woods.

“Hey,” Zeb complained. “That’s my brother.”

“Half-brother,” Ruby reminded him. “Sorry, but I can’t take chances.”

“She doesn’t trust anyone,” Jax added.

Beatrice glanced back. “Rolands is our best chance at getting us where we need to go.”

Not a definite yes or no. Ruby suspected Beatrice didn’t fully trust many people either.

But she sure believed in Jax.

That makes two of us.

A fresh bump sent all of them bouncing. Elliot cried out and Jax swore. Elliot’s hand grabbed onto Ruby’s and he mumbled something.

She leaned forward, desperate to hear what he was saying and reassure him at the same time. “We’re headed for a clinic where they can remove the bullet, El. Just hang in there.”

“N-n-n…”

His face strained, his jaw clenched. The hand holding hers loosened.

While she was desperate for answers, she was just as desperate to keep him alive. “Don’t talk. Save your energy. Once you’re patched up, you can tell me everything.”

Another curve. Ruby couldn’t see anything through the windshield except trees, trees, and more trees. They seemed to be going downhill—she saw the flash of a creek bed to her left—but the overgrowth was blocking out the last of the sun’s rays.

Elliot worked his mouth again. “N-n-night…”

Night? “Yes, it’s almost night. Don’t worry about what time it is. Focus on conserving your energy. We’re taking care of you.”

Jax finished securing the bandage. In the glow of the flashlight beam, he sent her a look that sent a chill down her spine. “Let him speak. It may be his last chance to tell us what we need.”

Last chance.

Those words. Heartless, cruel…but realistic. Jax was doing everything in his power to save Elliot’s life, yet he knew his chances of survival were slim.

“…coming,” Elliot murmured.

“Who’s coming, El?”

The man’s throat worked. His lips parted, closed, parted again. A sigh escaped them, and then he looked her right in the eye. His sunken sockets looked bruised, terrified. “Ghost. Night…shade,” he whispered.

“Nightshade?” she echoed. “What are you talking about?”

Before Elliot could say anything else, bullets riddled the back end of the SUV.

“G
ET
D
OWN!”
J
AX
shouted, pushing Ruby to the floor between the flat seats and covering her with his body.