The Belial Stone (The Belial Series #1)(91)

She thought she should say something to let him know that he had lost. As she looked at the sniveling mess of a man on the ground, though, she realized he wasn’t even worth the energy to speak the words.

“You good?” Jake asked from behind her.

She looked over her shoulder at him. She smiled. “Yeah, I’m good.” She started to turn, when she heard the retort of a gun. Confused, she looked around, trying to determine where it had come from.

Jake closed the distance between them in seconds and grabbed her around the waist. Priddle stood peering over the hood of the car, his gun aimed at them. Somehow, he had crawled around the side, unseen, to take his shot.

Jake pulled Laney close as he shot over her shoulder. Jake’s shot found its mark, right in the middle of Priddle’s face, now all but gone. The force of the shot blast forced him backwards, into the cage where he’d enslaved men to further his own career.

“Laney? Are you all right?” Jake asked, his face a mask of concern.

“Yeah, I'm fine,” she said, as her legs buckled. She stared at the darkening pool on the ground below her with confusion.

Where’s all that blood coming from? she thought, right before her world went black.





CHAPTER 93



Great Falls, MT



Patrick sat next to the hospital bed, waiting for Laney to open her eyes. The bullet had cut through her right lung, just missing her spine. She’d survived the surgery, but the doctors said the next couple of hours were critical.

Patrick looked around the room at the medical equipment, listening to the heart monitor beeping away, keeping track of her heartbeat. He wasn’t sure he could stand this.

Yoni had gone running when he heard the retort of Priddle’s gun. Patrick had hobbled along behind him. The first thing he’d seen was Jake’s anguished face as he knelt next to Laney, the ground stained with her blood. He didn’t remember much after that.

He vaguely recalled the Chandler helicopter landing in the field. He and Jake had flown to the trauma unit at the Benefis Hospital in Great Falls.

The hospital’s helipad already had a helicopter on it, so Jake had made the pilot land in the parking lot, indifferent to the cars and pedestrians who'd had to scramble out of the way.

A medical team whisked Laney onto a gurney right from the parking lot. She'd immediately been taken into surgery. Patrick had stood there numb, watching the doors to the operating room swing shut behind her.

Henry, Yoni, and even Tom had all been by, but Patrick couldn’t have said when they had shown up or when they had left.

Jake had paced the waiting room like a caged tiger during the surgery and refused to leave. The police and feds had shown up two hours ago to get Jake’s statement, after their attempts to get him back to the enclosure failed. Patrick had encouraged Jake to speak with them. He knew Jake needed to do something. He promised to call him if anything changed.

But he hadn’t had to call. Laney lay still in the bed, only the monitor letting him know she was still here. He looked up as a shadow fell over him.

Jake stood framed in the doorway. “Any change?”

“No. Nothing.”

Patrick stretched and looked at the strong man staring at his niece from the door. Jake’s eyes were wild and he could tell he was trying to keep a storm of emotions at bay.

“I guess it’s my turn to speak with the police. Will you stay with her?”

“Of course.” Jake stepped into the room and pulled a chair to the other side of the bed. He leaned over and took Laney’s hand. He looked like a drowning man grabbing onto the last life preserver.

Patrick needed to leave him with some glimmer of hope. He paused in the doorway. “Jake, did you know Laney’s full name is Delaney? Her mother, my sister, wanted her to have the family name.”

Jake looked over his shoulder with a small smile. “Delaney. It suits her.”

“More than you know. Delaney is an old Celtic name that means ‘descendant of warriors’. That’s who Laney is. That’s who she comes from. If anyone can come back from this, it’s her.”

Jake nodded and Patrick walked out of the room, hoping he was right. He walked through the electric doors that separated the intensive care unit from the rest of the hospital. The police were in a conference room down the hall to the right. He turned left. He needed a minute.

He walked the halls of the hospital, glancing into the rooms as he passed. Some patients sat watching TV alone, others had family or friends keeping them company. They all seemed secure, comforted.

Patrick had none of that. There was no comfort for him. He felt an icy coldness to his very bones. What if she died? What if after all of this, he lost her? He had comforted people in mourning. But this felt different. She was part of him.

He only made it to the end of the hall before he collapsed in a chair, his legs too weak to keep him upright. He bent his head to his hands and prayed.





CHAPTER 94



When Patrick left, Jake turned back to the bed. He leaned over to whisper into Laney’s ear. “Come on, Laney. Open your eyes, sweetheart.”

Her eyes stayed stubbornly closed. He gripped her hand tighter. She’d faced attacks by men with superhuman abilities, gun fights, and even capture in that hellhole.

And she’d stood up to all of it. She hadn’t backed down. She’d fought. She’d won. This couldn’t be how it ended. This was just one last challenge for her to overcome.