Page 72 of The Secret Librarian
‘I don’t have any medical training other than basic first aid,’ she said quietly, not wanting Camille to hear. ‘She needs to go to a hospital, she needs a doctor or at the very least a nurse who knows what she’s doing, but that person isn’t me.’
‘No hospital,’ Camille whispered.
Avery shook her head. ‘No, sheneedsa hospital. I don’t see that it’s a choice!’
‘Hospital means questions, and I’m guessing you’re here on false papers?’ James asked, looking past Avery to Camille. ‘She’ll be arrested if we’re not careful, we all could be, and you’re more capable than you’re giving yourself credit for.’
Camille nodded, then groaned as she writhed on the spot, her hands still pressed against her side as Avery watched, feeling more helpless than she ever had in her life.
‘Your job is to stop the bleeding, make sure she’s warm and keep her fluids up,’ James instructed.
‘I can’t do this without you, James. You need to help me, to—’
‘I have to clean up here, Avery. There are going to be questions, and if I don’t stay here and deal with the mess, the PVDE will be searching for all three of us and charging us with murder,’ James said. ‘You need to get her out of here before anyone sees you, and leave the rest to me. I’ll be there to help just as soon as I can, but you can do this. I believe in you.’
He went into William’s hotel room then, stepping over the body and emerging with a coat.
‘Put this over her so no one sees the blood, and take her to the bookshop. Do you hear me?’
Avery swallowed, tears burning her eyes as James hauled Camille to her feet, and Avery put her arm around her friend to support her weight.
‘I’ll help you get her into the elevator, then it’s over to you.’
She nodded, keeping a hold around Camille’s waist, knowing that she’d find the strength to carry her if she had to, to get her to safety. It wasn’t that she didn’t want to help, she just had no idea if she’d be able to save her.
Camille wobbled to the elevator, her feet dragging. James took most of her weight, pressing the button then standing back, his eyes meeting Avery’s.
‘You can do this, Avery. You’re all she’s got. Now go.’
Chapter Twenty-Three
Camille
Every step hurt. Every time Camille lifted her left foot, she felt more pain than ever before as it ran up her leg and exploded in her side.
She placed her hand there again, and it came away wet. Sticky. She recoiled, lurching forward and being sick all over the pavement.
‘Come on, we have to keep going. Just one step after another.’
‘Can’t. Keep. Going.’ Each word was painful, almost impossible to push out, and Camille groaned as Avery adjusted her hold on her.
‘I can’t carry you. You have to keep moving.’ She could hear the pain in Avery’s voice, hear her start to cry. ‘I can’t lose you, Camille. Please, just keep going. Do it for me.’
Tears slipped down her cheeks as she held on to Avery, trying so hard to stay upright. But it was just so, so hard.
‘Just a few more steps,’ Avery whispered. ‘Keep going. Keep walking.’
Camille stumbled, falling against a door as Avery fumbled in her pockets, cursing as more pain spiralled through her. Then she realised they were at the bookshop. But when she tried to speak, the words caught in her throat, the pain in her side so severe thatit was like she’d been set on fire, the agony searing straight through her insides.
The pain only intensified when the door opened and she fell through, and suddenly she was being dragged across the floor in the dark, heard the sound of a door shutting, of someone crying, panting, breathing too heavily, and she wondered if it was her or someone else.
‘Hugo?’ she murmured, reaching out when she heard a voice. ‘Hugo, is that you?’
‘It’s me. Camille, it’s me, Avery?’
‘Avery?’ She wasn’t sure if the word had even come out of her mouth.Avery. Of course it was Avery. But she’d been so certain she’d heard Hugo’s voice, that she’d felt him beside her.
‘You’ve lost a lot of blood and the bullet wound ...’ She could hear Avery, but her friend was starting to sound as if she were talking to Camille from far away, her voice almost like it was disappearing down a tunnel.
