Chapter Eighteen #2
“Please,” the governor said, hands raised, terror etched across his tanned face. A fit-looking man for sixty-eight, salt-and-pepper hair and sharp features, decked out in his golf apparel. “Don’t let him shoot me.”
“You already had your chance to speak, Arlo.” Sean’s voice was calm and steely. “Now shut up.”
Olivia crept forward, one small step at a time. “How do you see this playing out?”
“With you putting your weapons down, turning away while I finish my objective, and letting me walk out of here,” Sean said.
“That’s never going to happen. You’re outnumbered and outgunned.” Eli had his weapon aimed at Sean while Lenek stayed focused on Brandon.
No one could take a shot at Sean until he redirected his gun away from the governor’s head.
“You’re a sick, twisted man,” Eli said, “if you think you’re the good guy.”
Brandon’s eyes shifted around the room, bouncing between Lenek, Eli, and her. His knuckles wrapped around the handle of the gun were white, but his grip was rock steady.
“Shepherd,” Agent Lenek said, a tremor running through his hand, “we’ve engaged with your men and already took down two. The rest will follow shortly. We’ve got backup from the sheriff’s department inbound. This is going to end. Soon.”
“Yes, it is.” Sean pressed the muzzle against the governor’s skull and looked at Olivia. “I guess you didn’t betray me completely.”
She assumed he was talking about not revealing his real name. “I never wanted to at all, but you left me no choice.”
“There’s always another option,” Sean said, laser-focused on her.
“Choose the one where you don’t lose your heart’s desire and drop your weapon.
” A cold smile played on his lips, and her chest tightened with an icy fear that froze her lungs.
“You, too, Lover Boy. You’ve got three seconds to decide. ”
Agent Finch and Chance charged into the room.
“Drop your weapons!” Finch said, aiming at Sean, but there still wasn’t a clear shot. “Release the governor, Shepherd! Hands on your head.”
“One.” Sean held her gaze.
The air crackled with tension. She knew Sean was serious. Yet, she couldn’t see how he planned to win, how he could possibly beat the odds.
“Two.”
Nonetheless, there was a way, and she was missing it.
“Three.” Everything changed. Sean’s expression hardened, then his focus shifted along with the muzzle of his gun. “Now!”
With no clear shot of Sean, Olivia spun, redirecting her aim at Brandon in anticipation of him making a move.
But Lenek swung his gun to the right, pulled the trigger, and shot Finch in the head. The other FBI agent dropped.
A maelstrom of gunfire erupted in the library.
Olivia shot at Brandon and ducked for cover.
Bullets were flying in all directions. Brandon fell backward, his gun clattering to the floor, but she wasn’t sure if it was her shot that got him.
Crying out, Chance grabbed his arm. Lenek dropped next, clutching his neck, blood spurting between his fingers, writhing on the floor.
The governor was struck in the knee and crumpled to the ground, holding his leg.
She could only assume it had been from friendly fire, to get him out of the way and save his life.
With the governor on the floor, Olivia took aim at Sean. His gun was pointed at Eli. She pulled the trigger twice, hitting him in each shoulder.
Eli was on him almost instantly, followed by Chance.
Olivia stared, almost numb, as they wrestled Sean onto his stomach and zip-tied his wrists behind him. Trujillo stormed into the room flanked by two sheriff’s deputies. Everyone crowded around Sean, trying to subdue him.
Even injured and bleeding, he kicked and thrashed, refusing to go quietly.
In the library, there were three dead bodies and so much blood.
She stepped around to the other side of the sofa and glanced at Brandon and Lenek. They were both still, eyes open. The double agent, Lenek, had been giving Sean a status report right in front of them, telling him the sheriff’s department was on the way and how they were running out of time.
Chance and Eli maneuvered out of the way, letting the deputies take over. Blood trickled from Chance’s arm, but it looked like he’d only been grazed.
The deputies hoisted Sean up onto his feet and started dragging him from the room.
As they were about to pass her, Sean bashed his skull into a deputy’s head and rammed his boot heel down into the knee of the other. He jerked toward her, but Trujillo and Chance caught his arms, holding him back.
“I’m not sorry,” Sean growled. “Not for any of it. Not even the part that’ll break your heart. I warned you.”
A dark foreboding slithered through her.
“Let’s get him out of here,” Trujillo said. They hauled him into the hallway. “The governor needs medical attention up here!”
Sean’s parting words echoed in her ears, and the dread spread, sinking deeper, crawling and pulsing beneath her skin.
Olivia spun around, facing Eli. She noticed a bullet lodged in his vest. It didn’t penetrate. Still, it must’ve been agonizing.
“Are you okay?” Eli asked, his chest heaving. His eyes looked wild, probably from the spike of adrenaline, but his face was pale.
“I’m fine. How about you?”
Eli stepped toward her. Then he stumbled over onto a sofa.
Olivia’s heart went into freefall as she rushed to him. “E?”
He leaned against the couch, clutching his lower abdomen, right below the bulletproof vest, where his stomach was exposed. Blood dripped between his fingers.
No!
A bloodcurdling sound filled her ears, like that of a wounded animal, and she realized it was coming from her. Tears welled in her eyes and spilled down her cheeks. She didn’t want to cry, to dissolve in panic when he needed her to be strong, but she couldn’t help it.
Paramedics hurried into the room. “Where’s the governor?”
“Over there. He was shot in the knee,” she said, pointing and an EMT hustled to him. She jumped up, grabbing the other medical technician and bringing him to Eli while the other attended to the governor. “Help him. Please. I think it might be fatal.”
The guy looked Eli over and deemed him the priority. “Let’s get him on the cot.”
“Hey, what about me?” the governor asked.
“Another ambulance will be here momentarily,” the paramedic said.
Once Eli was on the ambulance cot, they quickly bandaged his wound, to slow the bleeding, and carried him out. Olivia was right behind them all the way to the ambulance.
“I need her to ride with me,” Eli said, putting out his arms, stopping the techs from loading him inside.
“Is she family, sir?”
“Yes. She’s my family.” Eli’s voice had a slight tremble. “There’s no one in the world more important to me than her.”
“Okay, ma’am.”
They put Eli into the ambulance, and she climbed inside. Sitting on the bench, she clutched his hand as the paramedic started taking his vitals, and the vehicle took off, sirens blaring.
“Liv, I know you think everything about us is wrong.”
She tightened her fingers around his. They were slippery, so slick with blood, but she didn’t let go. “Don’t talk.”
“I need to say this. We may have started for the wrong reasons.” Gasping, he winced. “But we kept going for the right ones. We made a baby.”
Yeah, they did. “Please, stop talking.”
“I’ve never loved anyone or anything the way I love you. Marry me,” he said, and more tears fell from her eyes. “I’ll sacrifice for you. As long as we’re together. Till death do us part.”
“No talk of death, okay?”
He nodded.
“I love you, Eli. I have for years.”
“Kind of suspected,” he said, and she laughed through her tears, her heart aching with fear. “Why else would you put up with me for so long?”
“You can’t leave me hanging.” She wouldn’t recover. Their baby deserved to know how extraordinary he was. They deserved time together.
“I won’t leave. Won’t…won’t let Sean win.”
“You’ve got to pull through this, Pioneer.”
“Yeah.” He closed his eyes. “That’s the deal.”
For hours, Olivia sat in the hospital, waiting, hoping, with the others from Ironside. Sean had shot Eli twice in the abdomen. According to the doctor, the surgery was touch-and-go, requiring critical intervention. His spleen ruptured and his internal bleeding was nearly fatal.
But he made it through the surgery. The doctor said he was lucky and expected him to make a full recovery.
She sat at his bedside, her hand in his, until finally he opened his eyes. “Hey,” she said.
“Hey.”
“You’re going to be fine. But you did lose your spleen.” Better than him losing his life.
“Didn’t need it anyway,” he said, and she grinned. “But I do need you. You’re my yellow sun.”
Her grin widened. “I’m right here.”
“In the ambulance, you didn’t answer my question. About marrying me. I kept my end of the deal.”
“E, I won’t hold you to that. You thought you were dying.” So did I.
“Everything that’s beautiful in the world is wrapped up in you, Liv. You make me a better man. I’m in love with you. I was afraid of how I felt before, but not anymore. Guess all it took was almost dying. So, what do you say? Will you marry me?”
“Yes, Eli.” She kissed him softly. “I’ll marry you.”