Finlay Donovan Jumps the Gun (Finlay Donovan, #3)(81)

“I’m fine,” I insisted, “but Joey hit his head pretty hard.” Georgia was already kneeling beside him, her phone pressed to her ear, calling for an ambulance. As Nick went to check on his partner, Vero threw her arms around me, the toilet paper dispenser swinging hard against my back.

“You’re okay! I thought Feliks was going to kill you!”

I hugged her back. “For a minute, I thought he was, too.”

Joey groaned as he tried to sit up. Nick held him down, checking his head. Joey lay back, his eyelids drifting shut again. “Where’s his Glock?” Nick asked me.

His Glock. Vero and I exchanged a look. I hadn’t thought to look carefully at the gun Feliks had put in my hand. “Feliks took it,” I said.

“Feliks was here? You saw him?” Nick asked.

“I already told him,” Vero interrupted with a pointed look at me, “that you and I were in the bathroom and we heard a commotion in the gym. I was indisposed,” she said, holding up her wrists, the toilet paper dispenser swinging between them, “so you came to check it out. By the time I got free, Zhirov’s goons had already dragged you into their soiree with Joey, so I ran for help. And that’s all I told him.”

Nick’s eyes skated between us as he withdrew a key ring from his pocket and unlocked Vero’s cuffs. “Why do I get the feeling there’s something you’re both not telling me?”

Vero pressed her lips shut.

Better to stick close to the truth, I reminded myself. Nothing Vero and I had said so far had been a lie. It just hadn’t been the whole story. “Feliks was here looking for Joey,” I said cautiously. “He said something about a photo. He thought Joey had emailed it to him last night.”

Nick narrowed his eyes. “Joey? But that’s not possible. Joey couldn’t have sent that photo. He was…” Nick’s thoughts trailed. I could see him trying to work through it—the timelines, the possibilities.

An EMT brushed past us. Two more came right on his heels, wheeling a gurney. The gym erupted in chaos as Wade, Ty, Roddy, and Charlie burst in, breathless and sweating. Roddy shouldered his way through the crowd, red faced and panting.

“Anything?” Nick asked him.

Roddy shook his head. “The media are here. They’re looking for a statement from you about Zhirov’s escape. I could use a little help getting their vans clear of the gate.”

Nick scrubbed a hand over his face as the EMTs put a neck brace on Joey. “We can’t let the press get wind of what happened here today. If Feliks thinks Joey’s dead, then Joey’s only safe if it stays that way.”

“Good luck keeping it quiet. The ambulance rolled in with lights and sirens, and now every reporter out there is frothing at the mouth. Commander Ortega wants the campus locked down.”

“Great,” Nick muttered. “Where are the students now?”

“Sheltering in place in the mess hall.”

“Have them escorted to the dorm. I want an officer stationed on every floor.”

“What are you going to tell the press?” Roddy asked.

“As little as possible.” Nick put his hands on his hips, frowning as he watched the EMTs strap Joey on a gurney. Joey’s eyes were closed. An oxygen mask covered his mouth. Nick reached in his partner’s pockets and collected Joey’s wallet and phone. He tapped Georgia’s shoulder on his way back to us, beckoning her to follow. “Stay here with Joey,” he told her. “I want the EMTs to leave quietly through the front gate. No lights. No sirens. Roddy, I want you to leak word to the press that the ME is on his way. Then have the EMTs circle around and pick up Joey from the back. Georgia will ride with him. When they get him to the ER, make sure he’s listed as a John Doe.”

“We’re going to fake his death?” Georgia asked.

“For as long as we can,” Nick answered.

Vero looped her arm in mine and turned for the door. “You heard the man, Finn. We’d better get to our room.”

Nick caught us by our elbows. “Not so fast. You two are staying here with Roddy. We’ll need statements from both of you.” He drew me aside, tipping my chin up. “You okay?”

I was not okay. None of this was okay. I nodded into his hand.

“Stay close to Roddy and Ty. I’ll find you later,” he promised before he disappeared into the crowd.





CHAPTER 31


It was well after nine o’clock that night when Vero and I were finally escorted to the dorm. After three hours, Nick hadn’t returned to the gym. The EMTs and Joey were long gone, the parking lot already cleared of reporters by the time Roddy had relented to let us wait in our room. Someone would come for us later, he’d said, once Nick was finished putting out fires and had time to take our statements. Roddy had called him and offered to handle it, but Nick had insisted he be the one to do it.

Our escort followed us upstairs, unlocked our door, and did a quick cursory check of our room before retreating to the hall, where he would presumably remain until Nick was ready for us. The officer’s radio squawked outside, his voice low and muffled through the wall.

Vero kicked off her shoes and shucked her coat with a shiver. She whipped a blanket from her bed, swinging it over her shoulders like a cape. “It’s colder than a bag of frozen body parts in here.”