Page 40 of Critical Strike

At least, she hoped that was still true. If not, the police would just have to add breaking and entering to their list of reasons to arrest her.

The studio apartment wasn’t much. Boxes and supplies took up one entire wall. There was a small full bed in one corner and a love seat in front of the TV in the middle. She helped Luke sit on the carpet, leaning his good side against the couch so he wouldn’t get blood on it. Khan started his rounds, sniffing the corners of the room, while Claire closed all the blinds.

Once she was confident no light would escape the apartment and give away their presence, she switched on a standing lamp. The paleness of Luke’s face was striking, made even more prominent by the dark circles under his eyes.

“We need to get your shirt off so I can see the cut.” Sitting on her knees next to him, she helped remove it. He winced when he had to move his hurt arm but didn’t make a peep.

His shirt was completely ruined and most of his back was covered in blood. She gasped when she saw the cut. It wasn’t very deep, but it was long and had to be painful. “Luke, you need stitches.”

“No.” His voice was thin, weak. “They’d put my name in a computer. Ballard would have us in thirty minutes.”

“Luke...” An invisible weight pressed against her throat and chest. He was too big for her to force to a medical facility.

She gritted her teeth, hating that it was her situation that was causing him literal physical pain right now. Her situation that meant he couldn’t get the help he needed.

“Let me see what I can find.”

Rooting around in the cabinet under the sink, she found a fully stocked first aid kit, as well as some protein bars and nutrition drinks. Those would help his body begin to replenish everything it had expended.

When she returned, Khan had stopped his exploring and sat next to Luke, licking his hand.

She opened a drink and handed it to him before settling cross-legged behind him. She pressed a clean piece of gauze to the cut but fresh blood quickly seeped through.

She changed out the gauze and applied pressure the best she could as he finished one nutrition drink and she handed him another one.

“How’s it looking back there?”

He finally sounded like Luke again, like he wasn’t about to keel over. But she still had to tell him.

“It looks like this gauze isn’t enough. You need stitches. Really, Luke.”

“Okay.”

“We can go to the hospital?”

“No, you’re going to use that suture kit over there and do it yourself.”

She looked over to where he was pointing, and sure enough, resting on one of the boxes of supplies was a sealed suture kit for the clinic.

She shook her head frantically and scooted back from him. “No, I can’t do that. I don’t know how to give someone stitches.” She was glad for the nutrition drinks and that a chance to rest had him feeling better, but this was crazy.

“When you worked here at the vet clinic, did you ever see them stitch up an animal?”

“Sure, a lot.”

“It’s the same concept. Basically, just sewing. I had to do it once in the army when our medic got injured while we are on a mission. He talked me through it. I can talk you through this.”

“If you’re Hannibal Lecter,” she muttered.

He chuckled. “That was the other guy. Hannibal just ate them.” He turned so he was facing her more fully. “I know this is gross, but it’s our best bet.”

“It’s not that it’s gross...” she whispered. “It’s going to hurt you.”

He leaned over and kissed her tenderly, his full lips soft against hers. “I’ll be okay, I promise.”

“I don’t know if I can do this.”

“You can, Kitten. I trust you.”