21. Chapter 21
Chapter twenty-one
Mitch had just made it to the last step when he was thrown backward. A sharp burning pain radiated through his shoulder. He heard Isla scream as she fell beside him. Max ran out onto the deck with his gun drawn, followed by Dirk and Colt.
“Where the hell—” Mitch looked out at the water.
“That boat out there, it had to have come from that boat. It’s the same boat I saw the other day.
” He grabbed the gunshot wound and winced as blood flowed through his fingers.
“Everyone in the house! It looks like we’ve been found. Get ready to move.”
Colt helped him up and supported him as he ran up the stairs. Isla ran behind them, Dirk shielding her body with his own. “Mitch, I need to look at your shoulder before we go anywhere,” she said, oddly calm.
Once in the house, Colt sat Mitch on the barstool and Lara came out of the control room with a first aid kit.
Isla pulled the bloody shirt off him. Lara handed him a clean towel and ran to the sink to get a bowl of water, so she could clear away the blood.
“It looks like it went right through the muscle. Are there sutures in there, Lara?”
“There are. What else do you need?”
“Peroxide if you have it.”
“Got it, and here’s some gauze pads and tape.”
Mitch’s vision was blurring at the edges, but he just focused on Isla’s face.
She was a nurse. She knew what to do. She would make it better.
Her voice came to him as if from across the room even though she was right next to him.
“Mitch, this is going to hurt, but I need to stitch this now. Unless you want us to take you to the hospital.”
“No time for the hospital,” he sputtered. “Just do it. I’ll be fine.”
Isla started stitching. Sweat beaded on his forehead and ran down the sides of his face. But he wouldn’t flinch. He didn’t want her to know the pain he was in.
“Pack up—we’re out of here,” Mitch directed, his vision snapping back into focus. “Colt, did you call Agent Walters?”
“I did—they’re en route. ETA three minutes and we’ll have backup. The Coast Guard has been called as well.”
“We don’t have time to pack,” Mitch ordered. “We’re out of here. Load up.”
Isla finished patching him up ten minutes later. “How are you?”
“I’ve had worse,” he said. “I’ll be fine.”
“Mitch, you were just shot! You are not fine.”
“I’m fine. Let’s just get out of here.”
“Mitch, you can’t drive.”
“I can—let’s go.”
Colt threw a T-shirt at him, and he caught it with his left hand and pulled it over his head. “Let’s move out. Once we’re on the road, we’ll figure out what we’re doing. Follow the plan we have in place unless otherwise directed.”
Isla moved toward the door in a daze, taking only the clothes on her back.
Colt ran around the front to help her in as Mitch jumped into the driver’s seat.
They sped up the driveway. “Isla, get down on the floor,” Mitch commanded.
“I don’t know what’s in front of us when we leave the gates.
Our backup should be there, but we don’t know. ”
Isla’s body shook. She cowered on the floor, praying that they would all make it out of this mess in one piece.
She couldn’t even think. She just kept seeing Mitch on the ground with blood seeping through his jacket.
If they had gotten any closer, they could have hit him in the chest or even the heart.
He had taken the bullet that was meant for her.
Any nursing bravado she’d had back there was wearing off now that she didn’t have a wound to stitch.
After sitting on the floor for ten minutes, Isla looked up at him. “Mitch, can I get up now?”
“We’re clear. I think we’re okay,” he said. “I haven’t seen anyone tailing us. Buckle up.”
She climbed off the floor and buckled her seatbelt. Then looked around at her surroundings. “I thought we’d be on the highway.”
“We’re safer on the backroads. This way I have a better chance of losing them if they’re following us.”
“Where’s the rest of the team?”
“I was just going to call them. They’re acting as a decoy so we can get away. They’re following the plan we had decided on previously. We’ll meet up with them when I think it’s safe to do so.”
“Mitch, we really should be getting you to a doctor,” Isla said. “You’re going to need antibiotics.”
“I’ll be fine. As soon as I’m sure we’re safe, I’ll call the boss and have him get me some.”
“How is your arm?”
“I’m fine. It’s sore, but I’ll be okay. Like I said, I’ve had a lot worse. I once walked through the jungles of Brazil ten miles with a bullet in my thigh when I was a SEAL. This is nothing but a scratch.”
“Don’t give me that, Mitch. You could have been killed and it’s all my fault,” she cried. “You could have died!”
“And I didn’t. I’m right here. And who better to be with me than my own personal nurse?” She shook her head at him as he grinned.
Mitch put a call through to his team. As planned, they were traveling in the opposite direction.
Agents Walters and Butler were in the middle vehicle acting as a decoy, taking the danger away from them.
The team would travel to the Bureau’s office in Philadelphia and wait it out.
And while there, they’d try to find out how the hell Hernandez had gotten their location.
Mitch and Isla would be on their own. They’d travel the long way around South Carolina and then travel the backroads to Virginia. They’d spend the night in a motel and be in Virginia by early afternoon the next day, if things went according to plan.
Isla looked down at her shirt—it was covered in Mitch’s blood. “Mitch, look at me! Anyone that sees me is going to think that I killed someone.”
“You have a bag packed in the back. Remember you packed one when we first got to Virginia? I’ll pull over in a little while and you can get it. Isla, we’re going to be okay.”
“Only if they don’t find us again. They’re not going to stop looking. All we did since the last time they found us was slow them down. And it gave us a false sense of security because they almost killed you.”
“I should have been more aware. I had a bad feeling when I saw that boat so close on Wednesday and I didn’t act on it. So stop blaming yourself—I’m to blame here.”
Mitch stopped an hour later, and Isla crawled over the seats to get her bag from the back. She pulled the shirt over her head and rummaged through the bag for another. Now that she didn’t look like a serial killer, she felt a tiny bit better.
“You’re tired, get some sleep. I’ll wake you when we get to where we’ll be spending the night.”
“I’m not going to sleep, Mitch. I’m still not happy that you’re driving in the first place. I could drive if you’d let me.”
“I can’t let you do that. If we’re found, I need to be able to get us out of the situation.
We’ll drive another three hours and find a place to stay for the night then get something to eat.
There are protein bars in the glove compartment and water on the floor in the back. Would you grab me one of each, please?”
“Sure thing.” She opened the bottle of water and put it in the drink holder between them, then unwrapped the protein bar and handed it to him.
“You need to stay hydrated. You lost a lot of blood. How are you feeling? I have ibuprofen in my purse. Eat the protein bar and I’ll give you some for the pain.
And don’t say you’re not in pain. I’m a nurse, I know you are. Stop being a tough guy.”
“Okay, it hurts. But it’s bearable. I’ll take the ibuprofen—thank you.” He smiled at her, then grabbed her hand and brought it up to his lips. He swept a kiss across her knuckles.
“We’re going to get through this, just like we have everything else that’s been thrown at us. Have faith. We’ll be back at the compound before you know it.”