Master No (Masters and Mercenaries, #9)(100)

She nodded.

“I got her back,” Erin said from behind Faith. “When we get out in the open, head for the van. It’s got the most cover. I’ll drive since I know the road. Hutch can follow in the Jeep and Brody can keep everyone off our ass from the back.”

“I will join him.” The Russian’s voice was bitterly cold, his eyes narrowing as he seemed to understand everyone was looking at him. “I will do my job.”

Ten nodded, accepting the plan. “Brody, pop up and give us some cover. We go on three.”

Her heart was racing, adrenaline pouring through her.

She glanced back, but she couldn’t see Des anymore. Her body was lying somewhere about a hundred feet to her right, but just outside cover, just where they couldn’t get to her. Had there been anything she could have done?

These people had lied to her, but it seemed like that was something everyone did. She didn’t want them to die. No one had lied to her more than Tennessee Smith, but she wasn’t sure what she would do if he’d been the one lying out there in the dirt.

Tears blurred her eyes. She had to stop that shit. She couldn’t bring them down anymore than she already was. She had to do exactly what Ten had said so they could move. Then she would have a part to play.

“Go,” Ten said.

Theo stepped out and there was the sound of a gun popping off. Theo raised his weapon and returned fire. “We’re clear. Go.”

But she watched as Theo looked down at his chest. He put a hand over his heart and when he pulled it away, it was covered in bright red blood.

“No!” Erin screamed the word and she was running toward Theo.

“Motherf*ck.” Ten stepped out, giving her cover.

The world seemed to slow. She could hear them yelling, heard the gunfire cracking through the air around her. The door behind her came open and then slammed shut again. They’d said her sister was still in the building.

Her sister was a brilliant surgeon. Better than Faith. Faith was more of a GP. Hope had done things in the operating room that could be called miracles. It had been a shame that she’d gone into research, but that was where the money was. Hope in a battlefield theater could have saved god only knew how many lives.

Now Faith only wanted to save one. Just one.

Faith turned and pounded her fist on the door. “Hope! Get out here. He’s been shot.”

She tried to pull at the door, but the way it had exploded had left nothing but a jagged mess where the handle had been. She needed someone to push it open from the inside. She tried to look through the hole that had been left, but the lights were off inside. She couldn’t see anyone.

She hit the door again, so hard her fist ached. “Hope, please. Please. You know you can save him. Open this f*cking door.”

She needed someplace clean. Someplace to lay him out. Blood. She might need blood. God, where was she going to get blood?

Calm. Faith took a deep breath. Her sister wasn’t coming out. She was alone and they were under fire and Theo had been shot. He didn’t need her panic. He didn’t need her insecurities. He needed the doctor, not the woman.

Erin dragged him back, Ten giving her cover fire.

Faith was on him, sure that the others would protect her. There was no question of protecting herself. She had a job to do and those f*cking bullets flying her way meant nothing.

“It’s bad, Doc.” Theo looked up at her.

Assess. It was the first thing she needed to do. Evaluate the injury. She tried to view him as a patient and not her friend. Not half of Erin’s heart.

“What can I do?” Erin asked.

“Hold his hand.” Theo needed support. Erin tended to shut down when things got emotional.

Erin’s eyes went wide, but she reached for his hand.

Blood. It was everywhere. The dark shirt he was wearing masked it, but the minute she touched him, her hand came back covered in blood. He had a massive chest wound.

“We need to move,” Brody said. “They’re coming over the wall.”

“I can’t move him.” If she did, he was dead. She was surprised moving him back to cover hadn’t killed him.

His breath rattled in his chest and Faith felt her stomach drop. It was a wheezing sound, like air escaping from a balloon. She pulled the shirt up and was glad the lights were on. She could see the bullet wound, estimate how close to the heart it had struck. Close. Way too close, but she had to worry about his lung first. If she was right, he had an open pneumothorax. Sucking chest wound. To top it off, he was bleeding profusely. She would bet his chest cavity was filling with a massive hemothorax.

“I need something to seal his lung,” Faith said calmly, her hopes beginning to diminish. This was the kind of wound that was iffy in the best of conditions. “And then I need to get him to an OR. I need a chest tube to get this blood out. I can’t see anything for all the blood.”

“Get Erin out of here, Ten.” Theo coughed and blood trickled from his mouth.

Erin leaned over. “Don’t. Don’t you dare do this, Theo. You promised me.”

He reached up and brushed his fingers over Erin’s face. “I did. Promised I’d love you until I died. Kept it, baby. Kept it.”

Faith put her hand over the wound. “I need something plastic.”

She could stabilize him. If she got something thin and plastic she might be able to stabilize the lung so he could breathe. Then she would work on the blood loss. Yes. She could do this. Her hands were coated in blood, but he was strong. She could do this. She had to stop being cynical.