28. Sullivan

28

SULLIVAN

I came to, gasping and trying to catch my breath when the man dropped me on the stone floor.

“I hate that it’s come to this.” I heard a woman’s voice say at the same time I felt the sharp jab of the toe of her shoe in my side. “Had you simply played along, things would’ve gone so much better for you. As it is, you’ve signed your own death warrant, along with the rest of them.”

Still gasping, I got to my hands and knees and slowly raised my head, fighting against the darkness that threatened to take me back under.

“My God, you’ve been working for Weber all along?”

“That no longer matters. You’re finished. Sullivan.”

As Fallon raised the gun, I lunged with all the energy I could muster, grabbing for it with one hand while I reached for her face with the other. When I sunk my fingers into her eye, she screamed. In the next second, I heard a gunshot, but not from the one we were struggling over. I held my breath, but instead of feeling anything hit me, Fallon sunk to the ground, blood pouring from the wound that had resulted from a direct hit to the middle of her forehead.

“Sullivan!” I heard David shout as I also fell, too weak to remain upright.

He scooped me into his arms.

“I’ve got you. You’re safe,” he soothed, stroking my hair.

“This way,” I heard another voice shout. I raised my head and saw Con motioning us to follow him. “It’ll take us to Thistle Gate.”

I rested my head against David’s chest, drifting in and out of consciousness.

“It isn’t much farther,” I heard Con say. “Just through here.” I opened my eyes enough to see him push open a door that led into a storage room.

David followed him up a few steps, then stopped and waited for him to open another door. When we came out the other side, we were in the hallway inside Thistle Gate, right across from the bedroom David and I shared.

He carried me in, rested me on the mattress, then lay beside me and held me tight to him. “You’re trembling,” he whispered.

“I think that’s you,” I said, raising my head and looking into his eyes when he cupped my cheek.

He smiled. “I think it’s both of us.”

“Fallon?”

“She’s dead.”

“I don’t understand…”

David brushed my lips with his. “I don’t either, but right now, I don’t care about any of it. I need to hold you in my arms and feel your heart beating against mine. I love you so much.”

“I love you so much too.” I brought my hand to his face.

When he closed his eyes, a single tear ran down his cheek. “I’ve never been so terrified in my life.”

“Shh,” I soothed, stroking his hair like he had mine. “I’m safe. You saved me.”