40. Dane

Dane

" W AKE UP!"

The voice is female, but it fades as clarity grasps my mind and tears away the confusion. No! I look to my left and find Rafael struggling to sit up.

"Get up. We have to go now," I shout at him.

I don't know what it is, but I just feel this urgency, this fear that if we don't get back right now, everything will go wrong.

I lead Rafe through the weeds and grasses and almost throw myself over the fence, collapsing to my knees before I can get my feet under me.

We jog and then run down the street, the sounds of the emergency at Red Shard getting louder and louder. I don't know why I'm running back here, but I'm following my instincts.

Inside, I'm cursing myself, Rafe, the ghosts, this whole fucking city, and that madman.

I'm almost there when Rafe cries out. I whip my head around to look at him and see him frozen, hugging an electricity pole to hold himself up. His eyes on the building beside Red Shard.

River is arguing with a man in a white jacket, but beside him is Doctor Sparrow, and he's escorting a very calm, pale Jax into the backseat of his car.

"No!" I shout. Sparrow gets in the driver's seat of the car, the man in the jacket gets in the back, and before I can get halfway across the street, they're gone.

"No!" I shout!

River looks up. His eyes are streaming with tears.

"What happened?" Rafe asks.

"He shot Mason. Phil did it. He was going to kill Jax, but Mason got in the way. I don't even know how he did it. He wasn't even close."

I close my eyes in relief and grief. The big blond was an okay guy. He'd loved her and supported her in the end. Saved her. I owed him.

"Sparrow came and took her. There's nothing I can do."

"All right, focus River," I say calmly. "You need to call your father. Tell him that Sparrow has Jax and that I will be at the hospital to explain everything in an hour. You also need to let him know about Mason."

River's chin trembles. "And Phil."

"And Phil," I agree. And Titan and this whole fucking mess.

"What are we going to do?" River sobs.

Rafael pats his back and looks at me.

"We're going to make sure Mason gets the best possible chance he can, and we're going to get her back. Then we're going to find Louis."

"He's dead. Titan killed himself," River says on a sob.

"Titan isn't Louis or a copycat," Rafe says calmly. "Most likely, Titan was being blackmailed."

I agree silently, but I don't say anything out loud.

"It's hopeless," River whispers.

I shake my head and reach for Rivers' phone. "It's not hopeless. Not at all. We just need to be smarter, work harder right now. We will get her back."

River nods and presses the phone to his ear.

"Dad!" River starts to sob. "Mason, he saved Jax. He's shot, in hospital, and the psych took her. I don't know, Phil was there with a gun, and they were yelling, Mason moved, and the lights went off-"

I snap my head around to look at Rafe. His wide eyes catch and hold mine. Gideon was here.

My hope rises.

She's going to need us when we get her out. There are people around her who care, who will protect her. We will keep her safe.

Out of the corner of my eye, I see rainbow halos on the street.

"All right, Rafe, this is what we need to do." I lean in to whisper my plan on how to get our girl back.