I palmed my weapon even as she stabbed him in the chest. In that split second when he was screaming vitriol at her, I fired. Then they both slumped.
Chapter 20
Sparrow
One last chance at a beginning.
* * *
They say your life flashes before your eyes when you nearly die, but I thought that was a lie. I’d almost died a few times in my life, and I’d always been too focused how I could save my people and get out of the situation.
This time I only thought of one thing. One person.
Breck.
The sound of the gunshot echoed through my brain, and I blinked away the motion sickness, trying to catch up to reality.
“... Sparrow!”
I looked up, trying to see through the smoke and haze as I crawled from under the man on top of me.
My hand slid on blood, the sticky warmth coating my skin, and I cursed.
I was stronger than this. I could get out of this. I was fine.
I looked up, and Breck was running to me, his eyes wide, fear etched on his face in hard grooves.
“Breck,” I coughed and spat out blood. I cursed under my breath, sucked in a deep lungful of air, and looked at the lifeless corpse beside me.
Truman Nix was dead. The man who had tried to kill my team, tried to kill me, was dead.
And I didn’t know how Breck was going to handle knowing he had done it.
I had to help him somehow. If he’d let me. I almost laughed, wondering why those thoughts were coming to me at this moment. I shouldn’t be worrying about that. I needed to get to my team, but my comms were staticky, and I couldn’t say much. I just looked up at the man that I loved and swore I would do everything in my power to thank God that he was still alive and I was still here to watch Nix be dragged away later.
Everything hurt, and I wanted to roll over and just pass out, but not now. I had things to do first.
“Hey there, prince,” I muttered. I tried to get up, but my wrist buckled and my shoulder slammed into the ground.
“Damn it, Feisty. Stop moving. I need to check your injuries.”
“I’m fine. I can handle this.” My voice was already stronger, and I forced myself to a sitting position. Breck was there, cupping my face and sliding his hands down my arms. I winced at the sensation, and I saw him flinch before I cursed again.
“I’m fine. We need to check to make sure he’s really dead.”
That seemed to pull Breck out of whatever he was doing, and he finally looked at the dead body next to me and blinked.
“I killed him,” he whispered. I reached out, and this time it was me comforting him, checking for injuries.
“You saved my life. You probably saved many lives.”
“That’s your job,” he muttered, and then he shook himself out of whatever he was thinking, but I knew it was still going to be there for a long time. There was no coming back from that, from taking a human life, and he was going to have to work through it.
And, God willing, I wanted to be there to help him.
Maybe I really was a glutton for punishment.
“He’s dead,” Breck said, looking down at the man. “He’s not breathing.”
“Okay, is the team coming? I can’t seem to get my comms to work.” I tapped my earpiece and winced at the shrieking sound.
“They’re on their way. They kind of watched me come after you, and they’re probably never going to forgive me for that.”
I narrowed my eyes at him and looked at the soot on his face, the cuts on his hands, and I let out a soft growl.
“I don’t know if I’m going to forgive you. What the hell? What are you doing here?”
Breck’s eyes clouded. “You could have died.”
“I was going to say that to you. Breck, you shouldn’t have come here. You could have been killed.”
“Right back at you.”
“How? I don’t understand. Why did you trade places?”
“Because I needed to. He was after my brother-in-law. He was after you.”
“And we had it. You didn’t need to put your life on the line. I can’t believe the others let you do that.”
He shrugged then winced. He must be in pain from something, and I was going to kick his ass once I figured out it was. “I’m fine. You don’t look it, though. Come on. We need to get you to a medic.”
“Niko and the others are on their way,” I said and tapped his earpiece. “Isn’t that what you just said?”
He nodded and leaned into my hand. “They are. They’ll get to us.”
“Okay. Since neither one of us is bleeding out right now, do you want to explain to me exactly why you decided to put your life on the line?”
“Because, as I said, it was my family in danger.”
“No, you don’t get to do that, especially when you told me that you didn’t want to watch me die doing my job. And now you do this? You risk everything? Come on Breck, what were you thinking?”
“I was thinking the woman that I loved was out here, and there was something I could do to help her. I am never going to stand in your way again, Sparrow. That I can promise you, but if there is something I can do to protect you? Protect Kannon, London, the baby? You can be damn well sure I’m going to do it.”
I shook my head and immediately regretted it as the world started to spin.
“Shit, you’re hurt. We need to get you somewhere.”
“We will, but first, talk to me.”
“I thought you were dead,” he gasped, his whole body shaking.
“I’m not,” I whispered.
“But I thought you were. The whole place went up in flames, and nobody could get ahold of you. And they kept trying to get me to leave, saying that it would be unsafe for me to go find you, and yet what did that mean for you?”
“My team knows what to do. They would have found me.”
“I need you to know I’m sorry.”
My eyes widened, and I coughed.
It must have frightened him a bit, and he said, “Shit, okay, this isn’t the time for that.”
“I’m fine,” I said. “I’m fine. Tell me.”
“I’m sorry. I know what you do, and I knew it from the first moment I met you, and yet I acted like such an asshole. But the idea of seeing you hurt? Look at me; it’s killing me.”
“What do you think it means to me to watch you be hurt? You’re just as cut up as me.”
“I think we can both agree to disagree on that,” he growled out.
“This time maybe, but Breck? This is my job. I’m always going to be in harm’s way. And I won’t stop, but I can be smart. Not all assignments end with bombs and guns. Sometimes it’s just really boring moments of me standing and watching to make sure the asset is secure.”
“And I’d really rather that always be the case,” he grumbled.
I nearly snorted but knew it would probably hurt.
“Okay, I agree, but that’s not how it happens. I’m going to be in the line of fire. I’m going to be in danger. And if we’re going to be together, you’re going to have to deal with that.”