CHAPTER 64 #2
I didn’t bother to tell him that Caed was alive. Had I not seen the proof of that myself a few moments ago, I’d have happily dragged Lippincott into the autopsy room and dissected him alive.
“Do it,” he taunted. “You don’t have the balls to kill me.”
I grinned at that. “What makes you think I’m so merciful as to offer you a quick death?” I pushed off him, biting back laughter when his eyes damn near bulged out of his sockets.
He looked toward his glass on my desk and back to me. “What have you done?” When he tried to lurch toward me, he let out a pained groan, cradling his hand again. “What the fuck have you done!”
At the sound of a distant thud, I snapped my attention to my computer, where an alert notified me that someone had opened the door to the lab from upstairs. I yanked the plug on my computer and hustled across the room, peering around the corner.
“Winthrop has had it in for you for a while,” Lippincott said, pushing to his feet. “You’re fucked, Devryck. The Rooks are coming for you.”
Three men in black suits strode toward my office. All three of them I recognized as current members of The Rooks.
I knew damned well it wasn’t me they’d punish, though. I was too important. Years, I’d gone with little liability. Nothing they could use against me.
Lilia. I needed to get to Lilia. If they imagined for one moment that she was alive and had any connection to me, at all, they would use her against me.
I slipped out of my office, and at the first crack of gunfire, I ducked low and plowed through the laboratory doors.
Perhaps I was wrong about them not wanting to kill me.
Footfalls told me the men were in pursuit, but by the time they reached the lab, I was already crashing through the door to the autopsy room.
A searing hot pain flared in my shoulder as the adrenaline from before wore off, but I pushed the agony aside, making my way toward the cadaver entrance. Another shot fired. And another. As I rounded a corner, a bullet whizzed past me, exploding against the stone wall ahead.
With my gun-toting arm, I slammed through heavy steel door on a jarring ache that spiraled up my neck and found my car still parked in the lot where I’d left it.
The cool nighttime air failed to extinguish the scorching burn of my muscles as I jogged across the lot and skidded around the back of the car to the driver’s side.
Once the men had breached the exit, I fired a shot.
One of them let out a curse and fell to the ground, holding his leg.
The other two kept on toward me.
I scrambled into the driver’s seat, fired up the car, and threw it into reverse before gunning it right toward them.
The car plowed at them like a bowling ball, scattering the men as they dove out of the way.
A quick shift to drive, and I hammered the gas on a squeal of tires, catching a glimpse of them clambering to their feet in the side mirror.
A bullet hit the back passenger window, shattering the glass.
Another hit the back of the car somewhere.
Given the shitty aim, it seemed they were only trying to slow me down.
To apprehend me, rather than kill me. The plinking metal sound beneath the car confirmed that theory, as one of them shot toward my tires.
Once outside of the lot, the surrounding trees swallowed me in darkness, and the gunshots faded.
As I sped along the mountain road, I dialed Lilia’s cellphone number.
No answer.
I dialed again.
Again, no answer.
A searing ache throbbed in my shoulder, and using the hand of my shot arm to steer the car, I palpated the back of it for an exit wound.
My nerves screamed a fiery hell and nausea gurgled in my throat, as I ran my fingers over ragged flesh that marked the bullet’s passage.
Meaning, I wouldn’t have to dig the thing out of me, thank fuck.
I sped through town, toward the mansion, and caught sight of someone flagging me from the side of the road.
Gilchrist.
Part of me wanted to zip past her without bothering to stop, but her presence sent up red flags, particularly when she kept glancing over her shoulder, as if something followed her. I slowed the car and rolled down the passenger window.
“Devryck, thank God. If you’re headed to the Bramwell Estate, know that Lilia isn’t there.”
“How do you know that?”
With a shake of her head, she gave a dismissive wave. “It’s a long story. I apparently met your charming twin?” she asked the question as if expecting me to confirm, which I didn’t. “Lilia is with him. Some men in suits arrived, looking around. I snuck away, as I noticed they were carrying guns.”
The Rooks, if I had to guess. Probably waiting for me to return.
“Where was Lilia taken?”
“They’re headed back to the university, as far as I know. You didn’t pass them?”
I couldn’t recall having passed a single car on the way there. Teeth clenched, I let out a growl of frustration. “If you need a ride, get in.”
As she hurried to open the door, my muscles bunched with annoyance for having to wait on her. Once she’d plopped into the seat, I turned the car around and headed back toward the university.
“Oh, my, your … your shoulder is bleeding!”
“Brilliant observation.”
“Are you hurt?”
I slid a frown toward her. For an expert, she certainly asked her fair share of stupid questions. “I’m fine.” I jerked my head toward the glovebox. “Hand me the betadine, tape, and gauze from the first aid kit, will you?”
“Of course.” She shot forward for the kit and pulled out the requested supplies from inside. “Would you like me to dress the wound for you?”
“No.” I didn’t want her hands anywhere near me. “Tear off a piece of tape and stick it to the dash. Then take the wheel.”
She did as I asked, and as she gripped hold of the wheel, I pulled up on the gas a little and peeled my shirt back.
Ignoring her gasp, I sprayed both the entrance and exit wounds thoroughly, allowing the excess fluids to drip at either side.
One-handedly, I wrapped my shoulder in gauze and secured it with the piece of tape.
She lowered her hand from the wheel, as I took control of it again. “Are you in some trouble? Who were those men in the suits I saw back at the manor?”
“Evangelists. Looking to spread the word,” I said in a humorless tone. I twisted my arm, checking the seal of the tape, when I heard her give a small chuckle that withered to a sigh. I wanted to ask what the hell she was doing back at my father’s home, but wasn’t interested in engaging her.
“Devryck, I …. You love her?”
I didn’t answer her. I hadn’t said those words to Lilia, so why she thought she deserved to know first was beyond my scope of giving a fuck.
“Silly question, I suppose,” she prattled on. “I’m sorry. And I’m not saying that for her sake, or for the sake of whatever relationship you have with her. I’m saying it to you.”
“Perhaps it’s best we remain silent on this drive.
” I didn’t have time for petty platitudes.
Especially not when they arrived so late.
Neither did I have time for conversation with a person I had no interest in talking to.
With my foot to the floor, I ignored the woman who’d stirred so much trouble and gunned it toward where I hoped I’d find Lilia.