Page 108 of Talk to Me

The driver had already taken off running. More people were fleeing the outdoor mall. It was utter chaos. The comm line was nothing but static.

“Stay awake,” I ordered Patch and she stared up at me.

“What?”

“Stay awake,” I said before I was behind the wheel. Movement had me claiming the gun again and I hit the button to lower the window and sighted the man pointing a gun at us—no not at us—at her.

I shot him twice in the chest. The third shot went into his head. All the screaming around us seemed to climb and I hit the button to roll the window up as I slammed my foot down on the accelerator.

“Stay awake, Patch.”

“Not so loud,” she said. “Head hurts.”

A flick of a look in the rearview showed her expression going more lax. Nope. Not okay.

“Stay awake, luv,” I ordered her. “Need you to stay awake, so we can take care of you.”

“Where are we going?”

“Somewhere secure.”

Back to the cabin if necessary, though we’d need a different car and I’d have to burn the interior on this one. Distance didn’t seem to matter to the comms.

Locke and McQuade were both painfully silent. The plan if it went tits up was to scatter. Well, this had definitely gone tits fucking up.

“I’m tired…”

“Stay awake,” I said, turning on a side street to avoid the oncoming stream of police vehicles and ambulances. “Talk to me…”

There was no answer and I twisted to find her slumped, chin down and eyes closed.

Bloody hell.

“Goddammit, Fallon. Talk to me…”