Her fingers curled around Frank’s. His lips moved, trying to soundlessly form the words that he couldn’t speak.
Footsteps thundered outside. The EMTs. Coming to try and save Malone.
“Frank?” Not the EMT. That was Max’s desperate voice. No, no, he couldn’t be there.
“I-I did it!” Quinlan’s scream. “Oh, God, me!”
Frank spasmed. The EMTs pushed through the doorway and shoved Sam away. She grabbed Max, holding onto him, smearing his stepfather’s blood on his shirt. “You can’t be here.” Crime scene. Evidence. But more… You can’t see this.
“Quinlan?” Max whispered his name.
His brother’s head wrenched up at the sound of Max’s voice. Quinlan tried to stand, but his legs gave way, and he hit the floor again.
The EMTs swarmed around him.
“M-my fault…”
Max shook his head and lunged for his brother.
“Get him out of here!” Luke ordered.
And Sam had to do it. She grabbed Max and held tight when he fought her. “Come on.” He couldn’t be there now, couldn’t see—
Frank die.
Two officers helped drag him outside. Outside, into the air that was already too chilly for the fall but didn’t reek of blood and death. But it wasn’t so dark outside now. Lights spilled from the cop cars that had swarmed the scene. Spotlights had been brought from some of the vehicles to illuminate the area as they searched for evidence and secured the perimeter.
“He’s alive.” Max’s hands were clenched into fists. “Sam, he’s alive.”
Quinlan was.
“Frank.” He said the name and shook his head. “I-I saw him. H-he’s going to be okay, right?”
He hadn’t seen, not in the darkness.
“He was hurt, Max. Badly.” She tried to pull him away, needing to shield him from what was coming. But his shoulders just stiffened in a move she’d seen him make so many times now.
“He tried to save Quinlan.” Certainty there, in his voice and eyes. “When I saw Beth’s car; I knew it was him. The way he acted at headquarters, trying to get out so fast…” Max broke off, shaking his head.
The front door burst open, and two EMTs ran out, pushing a gurney. Their patient was the man from the hallway. His eyes were closed, and his dirty blond hair was matted with blood.
A gun had been on the floor next to Frank. Had he shot Kevin? Kevin fit Monica’s profile… early twenties, definitely strong build. And he’d been at The Core, so he sure would have had plenty of opportunity to commit the crimes.
Another gurney emerged from the warehouse. This one carried Frank’s still body. Too still.
The lights from the cars hit him and revealed too much.
“What the f**k?” Max’s startled cry. “Frank!”
The EMTs pushed the gurney into the back of the ambulance. The lights flashed on as the siren screamed.
Frank Malone wouldn’t have long.
“Go with him,” Sam whispered. Quinlan would be out next. Max shouldn’t have to choose between them. “Go.” She pressed her hand against his back.
Quinlan would make it. He’d better. But Frank…
Max hurried forward and jumped into the back of the ambulance. Before the doors closed, his eyes met hers. Held.
Sam didn’t blink. Not until the doors slammed closed. Then her eyes squeezed shut, and a shudder shook her body.
When Quinlan was wheeled out moments later, he was calling for his father, a broken, weak cry because he knew what he’d done.
“Take him,” Luke said from behind her. “We’ve got the scene.”
Sam climbed into the ambulance. Quinlan’s chest looked like hell. The flesh was red and criss-crossed with knife marks. His left arm had been slashed from shoulder to elbow. And his left hand… bandages had been looped around his knuckles, but the EMT was cutting them away and revealing the small stump that used to be his ring finger.
“I killed him.” His hollow confession.
Her gaze rose to his tear-stained face. “Frank’s on his way to the hospital. We don’t know…”
“Jesus Christ!” The EMTs had cut away Quinlan’s jeans. Deep slashes lined his legs and cut across his thighs. It had been so dark that she hadn’t even noticed those wounds. “What did he do to you, man?” the EMT asked.
The siren wailed. Luke slammed the doors closed behind them.
“He wanted me to beg,” Quinlan whispered sadly.
Beg, bitch. Beg me. The memory slipped through her mind. Another time, another killer—only he’d wanted her to beg.
She grabbed Quinlan’s hand and held tight.
“I did.” Quinlan’s voice was as broken as his body. “But he didn’t stop, he just—just—” His eyes rolled back in his head as his lashes fluttered. “K-kept… cutting…”
Her fingers clenched around his. “You’re safe now.”
CHAPTER Eleven
I’m sorry, sir, but there was nothing we could do.” Cold, inadequate words.
Max blinked and stared at the doctor. The guy’s green scrubs were stained red with Frank’s blood.
“By the time your stepfather arrived at the hospital,” a helpless shrug, “it was already too late.”
The doc’s face was lined, his gray eyes bloodshot. Max knew that he should probably say something but he just felt so numb.
“Your stepbrother…” The doctor swallowed. “He’s still in surgery, but it looks like he’ll be all right. As soon as he’s in recovery, I-I’ll let you know.”
“Thank you, doctor,” Samantha said. She stood beside Max, quiet and calm. She’d been there just moments after he’d arrived. She’d come in right after the doctors had run down the hallway, screaming orders, and he’d seen Frank’s pale hand fall off the gurney.
He’d known then. Dead.
Max stared in silence as the seconds ticked by. After a while, his breath heaved out, and he turned away, stalking for the door.
“Max!”
He didn’t stop at Samantha’s call. What was he supposed to be feeling? Frank—dead. And Quinlan. Oh, damn, Quinlan.
His palms slapped against the emergency room doors. He hurried out as the security beep sounded behind him.
“Max, stop!” Samantha caught his arm and swung him back to face her. “Max, I’m sorry.”
So was he. Sorry he’d trusted the FBI. “Why was he there, Samantha?”