Page 45 of No Reason to Trust

“You broke my leg,” the man on the ground yelled.

“Hey, we didn’t kill you,” Jake said. He moved closer and kicked the gun out of his reach. “I know that’s what you intended to do to me, so count yourself lucky. You’ll probably even walk normally again -- after a lot of painful physical therapy.”

Jake stood over him, patted him down then stared down at the man. “Did Alexei order you to kill me?”

“Didn’t need to order anyone.” The gunman’s hands gripped his leg so tightly that his fingers were white. No matter how hard he squeezed, it wouldn’t make the pain go away. “Was the plan all along.”

“Sorry to disrupt your plans, but I’m not ready to die.” He stepped in front of Livvy. “Neither is my friend. Too many things left to do.”

He crouched next to the bleeding man. “Tell you what I’ll do. Once we’re out of this alley, I’ll call the cops. Tell them there’s a wounded man in this alley. That he needs some help so he doesn’t bleed out.”

Jake stood up and put his foot over the bullet wound. “Anyone else coming after me? Maybe going to the other end of this alley?”

The man’s teeth clenched tight, and he held Jake’s gaze, but didn’t say a thing.

“Really? You want to lie here until someone else walks through this alley? Could be quite a while.” He nodded at the growing pool of blood around the bullet wound. “Not sure you have a lot of time left.”

Jake waited a long moment, but when the man didn’t answer, he pressed down lightly on the ugly wound. The guy screamed, and the high-pitched, agonized sound bounced off the fence on the other side of the alley. “Is one more man in the alley,” he finally managed to say. “Others on the streets.” He swallowed hard. “Call an ambulance. I don’t want to die in this alley, surrounded by garbage.”

Jake looked at Livvy. “I think he’s talking about me,” he said to her. “But that’s okay. I’ll call him an ambulance.” He held the guy’s gaze. “What’s this alley called?”

“Is known as the shortcut alley,” the guy managed to say. “Between the business district and the canal.”

Jake removed his foot from the guy’s wound, dug his phone out of his pocket and dialed 911. “That wasn’t so hard, was it?”

When the operator said, “What’s your emergency?” Jake said, “There’s a man lying in the alley. He called it the shortcut alley. Looks like he’s been shot. Bleeding like a son-of-a-bitch. And he’s in a lot of pain.”

Jake listened for a moment. “Nope. Rather not do that. The guy who was shot knows my name, because he was assigned to kill me.” He listened for a moment, then said, “You need to get here soon. He’s lost a lot of blood.” He ended the call and slid his phone back into his pocket.

Jake looked down at the man on the cement again. “Is this where Alexei told you to shoot me?”

“Alexei didn’t order it. But I knew this was best place for it,” the man said, grimacing as he held his now blood-covered hand on his wound.

Jake shook his head. “Now you’re just lying to me. I saw hope for my death in Alexei’s eyes. The plan was always to kill me.” He backed away from the guy. “But an ambulance is on its way. With a little luck, you’ll make it to the hospital. And since I don’t want to be associated with you, I’m outta here. Good luck. They’ll get that bleeding stopped and get you to an ER. You’re gonna be fine.”

He and Livvy started to walk away, and the man called after them, “You don’t know that. I might be dying.”

“Anything’s possible. But as long as that ambulance gets here soon,” Jake stopped and listened. “In fact, I hear it how. You’re gonna survive. Good luck with the rehab.”

The siren was closer now, as if it had turned into the alley. Jake grabbed Livvy’s hand and tugged her around the next bend. Once they were out of sight of the wounded man, they ran.

As they reached the other end of the alley, they heard the ambulance slow, then its siren died. “They’ve got him now,” he said, tightening his hand on Livvy’s.

“You think they’ll spot us?” she asked.

“Hell, no,” he said. “They’ll be too focused on stopping his bleeding, starting an IV and giving him meds for his pain. By the time they’re done treating him on-site and loading him into the bus, we’ll be back in the hotel.”

“Let’s hurry,” Livvy said. “I don’t want to take any chances. Don’t want to give anyone a chance to see us out here.”

“That guy said there was someone else in the alley. Keep your eyes and ears open, and I’ll do the same.”

“Right,” Livvy said. “Figured there’d be someone else. Alexei would be stupid if he didn’t have a backup, and he doesn’t strike me as a stupid guy. Nelson wants to make sure you’re dead, and he wouldn’t hesitate to send a bunch of men after you.”

“Afraid he’s gonna be disappointed,” Jake said. “I have no plans to die today. Or letting you die today.”

Livvy grabbed his hand and squeezed. Pulled him to a stop. “I saw someone stick his head out from around the corner of the alley up ahead,” she whispered into his ear.

Jake nodded but didn’t answer. He studied the buildings that lined the alley. Most of them looked like the backs of small shops. He peered over the fences on both sides of the alley, until he found a shop that had a walkway on one side of it. It looked like it led to a street.

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