Chapter 13
Zane’s system went on instant overdrive. Heat burned through him, and adrenaline pumped through his body.
He grabbed Willow by the waist and flung them both through the cemetery gates to the ground, causing her to cry out again even as he tried to keep her on her back. He didn’t know how badly Willow was hurt, but he had to get her out of the line of fire.
Zane had his Glock out in a second. With one hand holding his weapon, he kept a tight hold on Willow and scooted behind several ancient headstones.
At the same time, he drew his handgun, Zane pressed a switch on his holster for emergency extraction.
The moment Zane pressed that button, a RED extraction unit was notified, and they had already honed in on Zane’s location via a satellite link even more accurate than GPS.
Bullets pinged on the metal fence from the direction of the shots. People screamed. An ancient headstone exploded nearby as another bullet missed them.
Zane’s whole body vibrated, and he prayed Willow hadn’t been seriously shot.
His gut clenched. All that blood on the left side of her chest made it look like she’d been hit damned close to her heart. He glanced at her and saw blood coating her fingers and staining the shoulder of her blouse as she pressed her hand to a wound.
On her shoulder, not her chest.
She sounded like she was talking through gritted teeth as she lay flat on her back on the ground. “Don’t worry about me. Just get him.”
More shots rang out.
More people screamed in the street.
Fuck.
Zane stayed low as he held his Glock and looked through a pair of headstones. Anger burned through him as he spotted the shooter, a man with a bloody nose, peering around the side of the chapel.
The man swung around and used his handgun to shoot toward the stones where Zane and Willow were hiding. Another ancient headstone exploded, and hard chunks rained down on Willow and Zane.
From his prone position, Zane held his Glock in a two-handed grip and sighted the shooter. The fury boiling inside him had him wanting to kill the sonofabitch. But he didn’t know why the hell they were being shot at and he wanted to take the man in for questioning. RED would be here any second.
With two rapid shots, Zane put a bullet through the man’s right shoulder, then his left. The screams that followed gave Zane only a little satisfaction as the shooter started to drop and his handgun slid into the street, at least ten feet away from him.
For good measure, Zane shot the man in both thighs. More screams before the man fell on his bloody face.
Hopefully, there was only one shooter since the bullets had come from one direction and the shots had stopped the moment the man was down.
Zane jerked his RED cell phone out of its holster and pushed a speed dial number. He could already hear tires screeching to a halt on the other side of the fence. “One shooter down,” Zane relayed. “He could have another weapon on him. Take him alive for questioning. Not sure if there’s a second or third gunman.”
He jerked his gaze to Willow and his heart nearly stopped beating. “I’ve got a civilian down, too,” he added before he clicked off and shoved the phone into its clip.
Willow’s eyes were closed, and her bloody hand had fallen away from her shoulder wound that was bleeding so badly most of the top half of her blouse was soaked with blood. How close was the wound to her heart?
With the sound of RED agents swarming the area of the park they were in, Zane set his Glock close to his right hand.
“Willow!” He shouted as he patted her face with one hand and pressed his other palm over hers, against the wound.
Fear spiked through him. All that blood—shit. He couldn’t let her fall asleep. “Wake up, Willow. Stay with me.”
Her eyelids fluttered and of all things she gave a slight smile. “Guess I’ll be calling in sick to work.”
* * *
Zane’s templesached and the sick sensation in his gut grew even worse as he paced the waiting room. Willow had been taken to RED’s infirmary because he hadn’t been sure whether or not the shooting was RED-related, and the organization had to take special precautions.
What was taking so long? How badly was Willow hurt? There had been so goddamned much blood. He admired her spunk, the way she’d challenged him, and her fresh honesty and easy confidence. He loved how she constantly surprised him like she had with her basketball skills and every dare she made.
Everything about Willow was special and his chest hurt even more as if he’d been the one shot.
Why would anyone go after Willow?
To get to me.
“Zane!”
He snapped his head up and saw Georgina Rizzo and Lexi practically running into the waiting room.
“How is she?” Lexi asked, her green eyes bright with concern. “Is Willow going to be okay?”
Zane dragged his hand down his haggard face. “They haven’t told me a goddamned thing.”
“It’s only been an hour since you arrived, so this isn’t a bad sign. Just hold on.” Rizzo was still decked out as a mafia girlfriend and holding high heels in one of her hands but wearing snug jeans. “I heard about it the moment you called for extraction—I was in the department.” She swallowed. “I couldn’t go because of what I’d overheard from Albano, so I knew a Petrelli would be there.”
Fire raced through Zane’s entire body. “This was a mafia hit?”
Rizzo nodded. “All I overheard was that they were after whoever was responsible for the bust. I found an excuse to leave and went straight to HQ. Then everything went to hell.”
“It was Henry.” Lexi said and Zane rounded on her and even his ears started to burn. “The information recovery specialists used RED’s truth serum on Filippo Petrelli as soon as they brought him in.”
“I was there when Lexi got the report,” Rizzo said. “Thanks to the serum, Petrelli spilled everything about how they found out Henry was a snitch. The Petrellis tortured Henry the day following the takedown and broke all of his fingers until he told them who’d been responsible for the bust. Then they blew him away.”
“They wanted blood—several of the Petrellis went down that night.” Lexi touched Zane’s arm. “The Petrellis have been following you and Willow the past two days since Henry gave you up.” She glanced at Rizzo before looking at Zane again. “They were waiting for a chance to grab her to hurt you.”
“Fuck!” Zane almost slammed his fist into a wall in the waiting room. This was exactly why he didn’t get into relationships. Someone he cared about could get hurt because of him.
And Willow had been the one to pay for his stupidity. “I shouldn’t have gotten involved with her.” Zane went to a different wall and pulled his arm back, ready to put a hole through it anyway.
“Don’t.” Lexi caught him by the elbow, and he cut his gaze to her and he almost growled. “You didn’t do anything wrong,” she said.
“Like hell.” Zane was about to say more but the door to the infirmary slid open and Dr. Kelly walked through.
“She’s perfectly fine.” Dr. Kelly went straight to Zane and his knees almost collapsed.
“How bad is it?” Zane said in a gravely voice filled with so much he wanted to say and so much anger that he couldn’t express right now.
“Considering she was shot in the shoulder and the bullet chipped bone and tore ligaments, it will take her shoulder some time to heal.” Dr. Kelly continued, “She’s going to be wearing an arm brace and then a sling for a while.”
“Goddamnit.” Zane couldn’t think of enough swear words to express himself right now. “When can I see her?”
“We’re moving her to a private room now.” Dr. Kelly started to turn to the infirmary doors. “About thirty minutes.”
* * *
It wasthe longest ninety minutes of Zane’s life. From the time they reached the infirmary to now as he followed Dr. Kelly to Willow’s room.
When they reached the door, he almost didn’t want to walk in. He sucked in his breath as Lexi said, “Go,” and Rizzo added, “We’ll wait right here for you.”
Zane swallowed and entered Willow’s private infirmary room and he wanted to drop to his knees and beg for forgiveness when he saw her pale face, the dark circles beneath her closed eyes, the IV, and the huge brace on her arm.
Even though his feet didn’t want to move, he made himself go to her and sat beside the bed. He took her hand and squeezed it. “Honey? Are you okay?”
Hell no she wasn’t okay.
Willow opened her eyes and turned her head to face him. She smiled but it was weak, like she was too tired. “They gave me Demerol,” she said. “I don’t know how long I’m going to stay awake.”
“I’m so sorry.” Zane pressed his forehead against her hand. “I should never have?—”
“Shut up.” Willow sounded angry and he looked up and met her beautiful eyes. Anger sparked there, too. “I knew exactly what I could be getting into. Don’t you dare insult me by saying you never should have dated me.”
Tingles prickled Zane’s skin as a strange feeling rolled over his skin. “Willow?—”
“I said shut up.” She looked angry enough to come out of the bed. “You are not going to dump me because of this. Maybe for some other reason, but not because of your feelings of guilt that I got in the way.”
Words wouldn’t come to his mind or his mouth. If he said anything, she’d probably come out of that bed and after him in a flash.
“I’m a big girl, Zane.” Color had returned to Willow’s face. “I may not always do the right things or make the right choices, but with you I have. If you’re going to leave me then it better be a damned good reason because this sure as hell isn’t.”
“Willow—”
“Do I have to knock some sense into that thick head of yours?” She started to rise out of the bed. “Because I will, Zane Steele. How do you think that creep got his broken nose? I’m not above bodily injury.”
To his surprise, he almost smiled as he got up and pushed on her good shoulder to get her to lie back down.
“I can’t help but love you.” The words came to Zane so easily it surprised him. “Everything about you. But it scares me. This scares me.”
Willow’s features relaxed and she smiled. “I know.”
“You’ve said that since the first time we met.” Zane found himself starting to smile. “Do you know everything?”
“Of course,” she said. “And I’m never going to let you forget it.”
He bent over her and stroked her hair from her cool forehead. “Never?”
“Nope.” She shook her head on the pillow. “I intend to kick your brothers’ asses at basketball for a long time to come.”
Zane was almost grinning now. “Are you asking me to marry you?”
Her smile was so brilliant it made his heart thump like crazy. “Is that a yes I see on your expression?”
He moved his knuckles across her cheek. “One thing.”
She raised her brows. “Watch it …”
Zane had never smiled so much in his life as he did around Willow. “You haven’t told me that you love me.”
“Oh, that.” She reached up her good arm and caught him by his shirt, bringing him down for a hard kiss.
God, she tasted sweet and womanly, warm and incredible. She only allowed him to draw away slightly. “I love you, Zane Steele. Now say you’ll marry me. I promise to get a ring and do it right when I get out of this place.”
Zane laughed at the image of Willow on one knee presenting a ring to him. She’d do it, too.
“Yes.” He kissed her again. “When?”
“Before I defend my dissertation.” She smiled against his lips. “Then instead of Dr. Randolph, I’ll be Dr. Steele.”
Willow captured his gaze and held it. “Dr. Steele has a nice sound to it,” he said.
“Yup.”
“I think I’ve found a way.”
She raised an eyebrow. “A way for what?”
“To keep you from picking up strange men in the Common.”
Willow smiled and drew him down to her again. “I think you have.”