“Dane.” I didn’t like that lethal blade to his voice that sliced through me.
He was slipping back into that dark and dangerous place in his mind.
I knew he wanted vengeance. And he certainly deserved it. Yet it was what he was willing to do in the name of retribution that alarmed me.
“Kyle, you’re on-watch,” Amano said as he gestured to Tom, then shoved his gun in his holster. “Don’t touch the rifle. We don’t want to smudge the prints on it.”
“You got this?” Kyle asked me of Dane’s wound.
“Yes.” I bucked up. Forced my hands to steady.
Kyle crossed to the other side of the kitchen and said, “My GLOCK’s in my room.”
“You’ll survive.”
“Seriously, you’re leaving me unarmed with him?”
“The man is unconscious, Kyle,” Amano stated in a flat voice.
“Or dead,” Kyle mumbled.
“He’s still breathing. Just keep an eye on him. If he comes to, you know what moves to use on him.”
Kyle’s chest puffed out a bit. “You got that right.”
Amano left us briefly, evidently to retrieve Dr. Forrester from the other side of the massive walls surrounding the estate, which sat in a secluded portion of a box canyon in Sedona. Though we were surrounded by breathtaking red-rock formations, I currently found no beauty in our grim world. Not with my insides twisted and Dane and Kyle bleeding. The scent and sight of it made me nauseous, but I tamped down the bile burning my throat.
I eyed Dane closely, seeing the rage burning within him. I had no doubt it took all the willpower he possessed—and then some—to keep from either shooting Tom himself or kicking the shit out of him. Good thing the man was already down for the count.
Forrester and his team arrived.
“Do something, quick!” I urged the doctor. “He’s lost a lot of blood.”
“Ari, baby.” Dane planted his hand on my hip as I stood between his veed legs while still applying pressure to his shoulder. “I’m all right.”
This made the tears fall faster. “There was a gun pointed at your head.”
“There was one pointed at yours, too.” His gaze locked with mine, holding it unwaveringly, conveying a wealth of emotion that tore at me.
I nodded slightly. He understood exactly how I felt—he felt the same. Had been just as horrified when I’d been the target. He just controlled his emotions better, kept a cooler head.
“Okay,” I said, though my voice cracked. “I’ll be calm.”
It was a lie, of course. And he knew it. But what good would hysterics do us at this moment? I also had the baby to think about. I hated bad vibes coming his way. So I took several full breaths.
Dr. Forrester had brought two assistants, who joined us. One saw to Tom. The other started in with stitches to Kyle’s arm. Forrester himself took care of Dane, declaring it was indeed an exit wound.
Of course, Kyle could attest to that—and did with a smirk. Knowing my courageous and somewhat crazy best friend, he likely felt heroic for taking part of the bullet. That worried me substantially, but Kyle had superman qualities springing to life around every treacherous corner. There was nothing I could do about that.
I helped Dr. Forrester move Dane to a bedroom. The physician patched him up and hooked him to an IV to replace the blood he’d lost. Apparently, Dane donated regularly to his own cause and Forrester kept the supply on-hand for him, and traveled with all the necessary equipment. A haunting thought, yet a comforting reality.
Still quaking from head to toe, I washed up at the kitchen sink, and Kyle did the same while Dane rested. The assistants donned gloves, suits, and boots to clean the mess on the floors and the island. Then they disinfected, as though hazmat duties were just part and parcel of their jobs. I didn’t want to know how true that might be, given their connection to Dane’s network.
“That was a little too close for comfort,” Kyle said after they’d left and we were alone.
“You don’t have to tell me that.”
“I hate to admit it, but if Dane hadn’t been here…” Kyle grimaced. “Tom wouldn’t have let me near you, and you would have been a bull’s-eye in a wide-open space.”