Dealers' Choice - Susan Hayes Page 0,59

sent her crashing back to the floor with a frustrated cry. Time skipped again, and when she came back to her senses, there was blood in her mouth, and her shoulder felt like it had been dipped in rocket fuel and set on fire.

Boots appeared in her vision, and she blinked at them blearily, trying to guess if they belonged to Ward, Victor, or their attacker. No, it wouldn’t be the clone. A fragment of a memory came to her. The male dropping the gun, eyes wide, mouth open impossibly wide as he screamed and crumpled to the ground. Had she done that to him? She thought she might have. She didn’t have the energy to feel bad about it. Maybe later.

“Hey, blossom. You still with us?” Gentle hands turned her over, and she looked up into Vic’s amber gaze. He was grim-faced with worry that only softened a little when he saw she was awake.

“Still here.” Her words came out thick and flat. She reached up to touch her lips. Ow. Bad idea. Her lip was cut, and she suspected her nose was broken, too.

“What the hell were you thinking charging at him like that?”

She started to smile, then winced as even that small movement added new pains to the growing list. “If I hadn’t, one of you would have done it instead.”

He knocked on his chest plate, knuckles rapping against armor. “Well, yeah, because we came prepared to get shot at.”

“Not the point.” She lifted her good arm and touched his cheek. “I know you would both make that sacrifice for me without hesitation, but I love you both too much to let either of you do that.”

“Is that so?” He leaned down and kissed her softly on her forehead. “I feel the same way, so how about we make a deal? None of us goes for the sacrifice play, and we all get the hell out of here alive.”

“Sounds good. Better tell Ward, though.”

“I will. I need to get a look at your shoulder. It’s going to hurt. You ready for that?”

She risked a tiny nod. “Can’t hurt more than it does already.”

He grunted. “I wouldn’t bet on that.” He placed a gentle hand on her shoulder and then her world filled with pain beyond understanding. A moment later it faded away, along with everything else.

When she came to again, she was in someone’s arms. Her mind was foggy, but the pain was less than it had been. Not gone, exactly, but very far away.

“Welcome back. How are you feeling? I dosed you with some powerful pain-blockers, they working, yet?” Vic asked.

“Feeling better.” She smiled, and this time it only stung a little. “Drugs must be working.”

“Good.”

“So good,” A memory drifted through her awareness. A male aiming at her. Shooting. Screaming. “Did…did I harm someone back there. Before?”

Vic paused, then nodded slowly. “I don’t know what you did, or how, but you put that guy down without laying a finger on him. Ward dealt with him while I was looking after you.”

“I think I should feel bad about that. But I don’t.”

“He doesn’t deserve your sympathy, or your regret. He tried to kill you.”

There was a distant sound of someone shooting. She flinched and tried to curl up tighter in Vic’s arms, but something thick and blocky made it impossible. She moved her good hand down her chest and discovered she’d been wrapped in a piece of body armor. She reached for Vic, pressing a hand to his unprotected chest. “Why am I wearing your armor?”

“To keep you alive.”

“But what if they shoot you instead?”

“That’s why I’m carrying you. You’re my shield.”

Even drugged, that didn’t sound like a great plan to her, but she was in no position to argue. They ducked into a side corridor as another round of shooting started. “Where’s Ward?” she asked.

“Right here, sweetheart. Just clearing a path for us. We’re on our way to rendezvous with the others.”

He sounded so calm it was easy to forget what his words really meant. He was killing the last of the clones so the three of them could escape. She wondered if Five was still alive. Probably not.

“You happen to know how many female clones were on this ship?” Vic asked.

“No, but they’re created in batches of fifteen if that helps,” she replied.

“Not a lot of crew on this ship,” Someone, she thought it was Ward, said. It was getting hard to think again.

“It’s for transport, I think. Mostly. They were taking me to a