Page 163 of Five Fingers of Death

“Take…care…family.”

“I will,” I whispered, not wanting Kate to hear what I was saying. “I swear it. They’ll be safe.”

“Cash…” he whispered, trying to get out something else, but I couldn’t understand him as the doors slammed open and the EMTs ran over, shoving me out of the way.

I grabbed Kate by the arm, pulling her back as the EMTs got to work. “Let them do their jobs.”

“I’m a doctor!” she shouted, struggling to get back to Knight.

“You’re too close to this. You’ve done all you can.”

“No!” she fought, tears slipping free. “Let me help him!”

I was about to pull her back when she lost it, spinning and slamming the heel of her palm into my nose, breaking it. I stepped back, knowing there was no point in interfering further.

Blood gushed down my face and Jack strode over, tossing me a rag. I quickly clotted it the best I could, but I didn’t dare interfere further. There was no point. It was only a few minutes before they had Knight on the gurney and were wheeling him out to the ambulance.

“I’m going with him,” Kate insisted.

“We’ll meet you there,” Jack told her, turning to find Fox still hacking away at his latest victim. “Fox! Let’s move!”

The glow in his eyes as he turned to us was a little freaky, but damn if I wasn’t glad he was on our side. I ran outside just as Johnny was pulling up with our vehicle. I wasn’t sure when he went to get it, but I was relieved we didn’t have to trek back through the woods to get to it. With one look back at the building, I thanked my lucky stars that no one else had been injured.

I tugged the door open, my eyes still on the shadows of the building. That’s when I saw him…Just at the back of the building, standing with Michael, was Cash. Fury swept over me as I watched him hiding out. We came here to find him and rein him in, but instead, all we found was his brother bleeding out on the floor. Why the fuck hadn’t he come over to help?

I was about to march over and ask him that, maybe even beat the shit out of him, but then I saw the gun in his hand and something stopped me. Whatever was going on, I had to believe that if he wanted to come to us, he would. If I went over there now, I knew I’d fuck something up.

With a swift nod, I got inside and slammed the door, though everything inside me was screaming to find out what the fuck was going on. “Let’s move!”

“Did you see him?” Jack asked.

“Yeah,” I grumbled.

“Michael was with him,” Johnny piped up. “Whatever the fuck happened in there, they weren’t on Knight’s side.”

“How can you be sure?” I asked.

“Because there’s no way in hell Cash would leave his brother to bleed out. Which means he couldn’t go to him. And the only reason he wouldn’t be able to go to him after we showed up is because he was working on the other fucking side.”

Now that he laid it out like that, I realized he was right. And that just made all of this more complicated. “I guess we’ll find out when we get to the hospital and talk with Knight.”

“If he’s still alive,” Jack muttered.

The ride seemed to take forever, and with no idea what was happening in the ambulance, we couldn’t even report in. We’d had no choice but to let Kate go with Knight alone. They wouldn’t have let us ride in the ambulance with her. I had to hope that nothing bad was happening to her. She was our responsibility, and I’d sworn to Knight that we’d take care of her.

The minute we walked through the doors of the hospital, we found Kate yelling at one of the nurses at the desk. Covered in blood, she looked like something out of a horror movie.

“I don’t care what the protocols are! He’s my husband and I’m a doctor. I know him better than anyone, and if you think for one minute that?—”

“Kate!” I grabbed her arm, pulling her against me just as she gasped, breaking down in tears. She flung her arms around me, holding me tight as her legs gave out. I hauled her up in my arms, carrying her over to a couch that I knew would stain with the blood coating her skin the second I set her down.

“Hey,” I whispered, forcing her to look at me through the tears rimming her eyes. “He’s going to be okay.”

“You don’t know that,” she sobbed, wiping the back of her hand against her nose.

“I know he’s strong, and I know he wouldn’t leave you behind for anything.”

I didn’t know shit about Knight, but a man like him would give anything—even sell his soul to the devil—if it meant staying with the woman he loved.

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