City of the Lost (Casey Duncan #1)(131)

I hear the shot, and I see Anders, and in my head I hear myself screaming, but I don’t say a word. I just keep running, toward Jacob now as he stands there, and I dimly see them both on the ground—Anders and Dalton—and I see blood blossoming on Anders’s shirt, and I see Jacob and that gun, still pointed at them.

“Drop it!” I say as I burst into the clearing, my weapon trained on Jacob. “Lower that gun right now or I swear I’ll shoot.”

He lowers it.

“Drop it or—”

It falls from his hand, and he says, “Eric?” and totters there, and when I run over and take the gun, I see his face, the shock on it as he stares at his brother, on the ground, under Anders.

“Eric?” he says again.

I grab Jacob’s hands and pull them behind his back and bind them with the cable tie. He doesn’t resist, doesn’t seem to notice. I bind him, and I shove him aside so hard he falls as I race over to Dalton. Anders is still on top of him.

Anders has been shot. And I don’t care.

No, that’s wrong. I do care. I just don’t want to.

My impulse is to shove Anders off to get to Dalton, but I can’t manage that. I don’t need to. I can see Dalton’s wound—it’s a bullet to the top of his shoulder, and he says, “I’m okay, Casey. It’s Will. Help Will.”

He’s been saying that for a while. I just haven’t paid attention. He’d say that if he had a bullet through his heart.

Don’t mind me. Help the other person.

Except the other person betrayed him. Isn’t worthy of his attention. Yet that other person just saved his life. Threw himself in front of a bullet, and no matter how hard Anders might have protested his loyalty to Dalton, this proves it, and I cannot argue with that.

I check Anders. It’s a through-and-through shot to the chest bypassing his heart. He’s fading into shock, and I pull him back by saying, “What can I do?”

“I’ve got it,” Dalton says as he heaves himself up, face contorting with the pain.

“Sit down,” I say. “You’ll only hurt yourself more and—”

“It’s my shoulder, Casey. Not my spine. I’ve got Will. You call Beth.”

I stop. “Beth …”

He grips my shoulder, hard, peering down at me as if I’m the one going into shock.

I shake him off. “I’m fine. Where’s the—?”

He pulls the radio from Anders’s jacket and slaps it into my hand and then kneels beside the wounded man.

“Will? It’s Eric. I’m going to tell you where you’ve been shot, and you’re going to tell me how to help you. Got it?”

I move away with the radio. I pass Jacob, who’s blinking hard, as if trying to rouse himself from a trance. I keep walking, and Dalton says, “Casey?”

I wave that I’m just stepping away, but he starts to rise, to come after me, and I realize I’m going to need to do this in front of him. I motion for him to return to Anders. Then I radio Beth. As I talk to her, Dalton glances over, his face screwed up as if he’s misheard, and he’s opening his mouth, but before I can silence him, he shuts it. He nods. Then he returns to Anders.

I finish the call, and I kneel beside Jacob.

“Something’s wrong with me,” he’s mumbling. “Something’s wrong.”

“I know,” I say. “But I need to ask you a few questions. Do you think you can answer them?”

He blinks harder and rubs his cheek against his shoulder, as if trying to wake from a deep sleep. Then he nods.


Beth arrives at a run, radio in one hand, lantern in the other as I give her directions until I can see her, and then I shout and jog to meet her.

“You left him?” she says.

“It’s too late. I think he’s gone.”

“Wh-what?” Her eyes bug as she runs to me. “Y-you mean—No, that’s not—”

“Not possible?” I say. “Of course it is. What did you expect?”

She stops so fast she stumbles and grabs a tree for support. “Wh-what?”

“You drugged Jacob. I don’t know what you gave him, but whatever it was, it was intended to cause delusions.”

She stares at me. “What are you—?”

“You gave Jacob drugged food, telling him you were a friend of Eric’s. He’d seen you out here with Eric before—you made sure of that first. It solidified your story. Then, when he started getting sick from the food, you ‘treated’ him. While telling him about Eric’s newest friend. A woman who wasn’t any good for him, would hurt him, was keeping Eric away from his brother. It worked—Jacob did come after me. Only what you didn’t anticipate is that little boy inside him, the one who still blames his big brother for leaving, the one who still wants to lash out at Eric, to hurt him.”

Beth rocks there. Then she looks around wildly. “Take me to Eric. You’re not a doctor.”

“True,” I say. “I could be wrong. But you were right about one thing, Beth. I am bad for Eric. I think he’s a sweet guy, and a really sweet f*ck. But that’s it. What matters most to me is justice. So, if you want to treat Eric before he bleeds out, you’re going to have to give me a confession.”