Chapter 4
“It’s a flesh wound, Cam,” Laurence
said, kneeling at his side. “She’ll be fine.”
“She’s bleeding, you son of a bitch,”
Cam answered, his only dress shirt pressed to her shoulder. The
rest of sweet Ellie was slack, her head turned to the side, lips
parted as if asleep while warm blood flowed from her wound. The
reality of what he had done made him sick. “Does that look like
fine to you?”
Live, baby,
live.
Cam couldn’t believe he’d fired, but
what else could he have done? She’d seemed to be okay, her shadow
and body together as one, but then the shadow had leaped out of
Ellie like a black jungle cat after its prey. And unlike that
soldier yesterday, Cam knew that shooting the shadow would do
nothing. To stop her, he had to fire on Ellie herself.
The angel had obviously
failed.
Come on,
honey.
“You weren’t even aiming to kill,”
Laurence said.
Thank God for Segue training. The first
couple weeks, he’d been a terrible shot. Only lately, with Jose’s
insistent derision, had he gotten any better. But Cam had never
expected to use the skill. Never. He was a
scientist.
Segue sucked. Worst place to work. He
quit.
Laurence chuckled. “I don’t think
there’s any quitting for you, but I’ll allow that your job
description just got a lot more difficult.”
No, Cam was pretty damn certain. He was
taking Ellie and getting them both the hell away from here. He
could handle her shadow. Of course, her shadow would probably be
pissed as all get-out at him. He didn’t care.
Footsteps had Cam raising his head to
the door. Marshall pelted inside, his own piece in his hand. With
all this angel business, no wonder Marshall hadn’t wanted to know
anything.
“I shot Ellie,” Cam confessed, voice
breaking. Fuck. Now he was going to cry like a girl.
“You shot her?” Marshall glanced at
Shelstad, who’d backed up to the wall. He pulled out a cell phone
and requested immediate medical aid. Then he got down on the floor
on the other side of Ellie.
“It was warranted,” Laurence said when
Marshall was finished examining her. “Cam did what he thought he
had to do to stop the shadow from killing Lenny, who was attempting
to steal the painting.”
Marshall observed the damage to the
painting and whistled. “Thorne is going to be pissed. I’ll have to
take Shelstad into custody”—he glanced over at the man still
sniveling in fear—“Don’t try to run. There’s nowhere to
hide.”
Cam kept the pressure firm on Ellie’s
wound, though the blood flow seemed to have diminished. He wasn’t
taking any chances.
“Should I keep Ms. Russo unconscious
until we decide what to do with her?” Marshall asked Laurence. “Her
shadow is a menace. Does The Order have a facility that can deal
with her problem?”
Poor Ellie. Cam shook his head, wishing
he could stroke her hair, but too scared to let up on her
shoulder.
“No,” said Laurence. “I think she’ll be
all right on her own.”
Cam looked up in surprise. “But . . .
how do we keep this from happening again? If you hadn’t stopped her
shadow, Shelstad would be dead.”
There was no good way out of this.
Drugs? Constant sedation?
“I didn’t stop her shadow,” Laurence
said. “Ellie did.”
Cam shook his head, no. “I saw the
shadow freeze mid air, just like in Ellie’s room.”
“That was Ellie.”
“What happened?” Marshall
asked.
Cam ignored the question. It seemed
he’d gone stupid again. “Ellie stopped her shadow.”
“Yes,” Laurence said. “The merging was
successful. I’d hoped they would be completely unified, but clearly
that was not meant to be. Nevertheless, Ellie has proven that she
can master her dark half.”
Lots of words were coming out of
Laurence’s mouth—the angel sure loved to talk—but Cam only
understood one thing. If his hands hadn’t been occupied, he’d have
wrapped them around the angel’s throat.
“You mean I shot her for no good
reason?”
Ellie was sleepy and comfortable, but
the bed was softer than she was used to and the room smelled
sharper than home, in a clean way, so she cracked her eyes to see
where she was. Looked like some kind of a hospital room, not that
she’d ever visited one in person.
A blur of movement—had to be her
shadow—but no . . . suddenly Cam was leaning over her. He had such
pretty green eyes, but just now they were bloodshot.
“How are you feeling?” he asked. His
voice sounded gravelly.
“Fine.” She guessed. Her mouth was so
dry. And well, actually, her shoulder kinda ached. And her other
arm was cold. She lifted it to find what looked like an IV. “What
happened?”
“He shot you,” her shadow said
bitterly.
A flash of his distressed expression,
the smoking gun, and Ellie’s mind cleared. She glanced at her
shadow, who was darkening fast, a look of recrimination on her
face.
No, it wasn’t like
that. Ellie pulled her shadow up short, and with a snap that
stabbed at her shoulder, they were one again. It was a strange
sensation, full of intensity.
Well, actually,
it was like that. Tears welled at the
deep down hurt. He’d shot her down like a dog. Lifted a gun and put
a bullet in her. She’d liked him, trusted him, and he shot her? Yeah, she was mad. She should be
mad.
“I’m so sorry,” he said, clearly
miserable. “I didn’t know you had your shadow under control. I was
afraid that she’d—that you’d—kill him.”
That’s right. She’d controlled her
shadow. Was controlling her even now.
Ellie grinned, suddenly breathless with
excitement. Look at me, Gran!
“I saw her leap, and I
just—”
“It’s okay,” Ellie said. She would have
laughed her happiness but her shoulder hurt too much. “I
understand. I put you in an awful situation.”
“No, you didn’t. Laurence did. He warned me that I might have to . . .”
Cam shook his head. “. . . but I didn’t actually think . . . Can
you ever forgive me?”
Poor man was torturing himself. And on
such a good day.
He’d thought her shadow was going to do
the worst, and he’d stopped her. Way deep down in her gut, it still
hurt that he’d pulled the trigger, but . . .
“I’m glad you did,” she said. And she
was.
It meant she could trust him. It meant
if her shadow ever got too strong for her, if her shadow ever got
away, someone would do what had to be done. It was a safe feeling,
and she hadn’t felt safe since Gran died.
Safe was good.
“You’re glad?” Cam held her cold hand.
His warmth made the rest of her warm up too. It was kinda like
magic.
“Yeah,” she said. “Makes me worry a
little bit less, ya know?”
She could see from his eyes that he
didn’t get it. Sometimes the brilliant scientist was a little slow.
That was okay. She’d take him anyway. If he’d have her, that
is.
Ellie looked over at the door as a man
entered. Tall. Handsome features. Direct gaze. She knew him to be
Adam Thorne, from her pre-trip online research about
Segue.
Cam squeezed her hand, his body
tensing. “Don’t listen to a word he says.”
Mr. Thorne’s mouth twitched into a half
smile. “Ms. Russo,” he said, “it’s so good to see you awake. Are
you in any discomfort?”
Ellie was a little, but because of
Cam’s warning, she shook her head no.
“Good,” Mr. Thorne said. “My employees
get the best care always.”
“She doesn’t work for you,” Cam
grumbled. “And neither do I.”
“Employee?” she asked. Didn’t she have
to work for Thorne to be considered one of those?
“Don’t go there, Ellie,” Cam said. “You
don’t want to know. I’ve already submitted my
resignation.”
Thorne made a face of mock
consternation. “I didn’t receive any resignation.” When Cam huffed,
Thorne continued speaking, his words directed at Ellie. “You, and
Dr. Kalamos for that matter, have had a glowing recommendation from
a very trusted source. I don’t think you can do much better than
The Order.”
That had to be Laurence, who’d put her
together. He must have thought she could handle her shadow just
fine now. With a little work, maybe she could.
“She doesn’t want a job,” Cam said.
“We’re leaving Segue.”
Thorne gave Cam a full grin before
turning back to her. Thorne was enjoying himself as much as Cam was
protesting.
“You have a unique gift in your
shadow,” Thorne said, “and I can’t think of a better place than
Segue to explore your ability and put it to use.”
“This place is a nightmare,” Cam ground
out.
Thorne looked at Cam. “Actually, I was
thinking of an alternate location. Cam can head up the facility.
I’ll see that he gets excellent access to Shadow for his own
studies, and you for yours.”
Ellie glanced over at Cam. That didn’t
sound too bad.
“And you can be together,” Adam
finished.
“We’d be together anyway,” Cam shot
back. He gripped her hand. “Don’t listen to him.”
Together. She liked the sound of
that.
A sensation grew inside Ellie, like a
balloon of happiness expanding in her chest and threatening to
burst. She’d never felt like this. So good she just might cry. Must
be joy, so her shadow was happy too.
She licked her lips again, wishing for
a drink. She smiled back at Thorne—she couldn’t help it—though she
made Cam’s scowl deepen.
“Could you give us a minute to talk it
over?”