Bad Blood (Book 4 of The Warden series) (22 page)

“Why?”

“Danato, trust me. Don’t let them shoot me or Efrat.” Her voice was soft and pleading, but her eyes were still scolding him.

She turned to Belus and gave him a frown. “Belus,” he tilted his head signaling that he was listening. “I love you.” The sweet words would have melted any man’s heart. Danato wasn’t sure if they were enough to melt his, but there wasn’t a whole lot of time to discern his reaction since Cori pulled her pistol and shot him.

41

Danato wasn’t sure what came first the gunshot to Belus’s torso or the electrifying blue that lit up Cori’s body. She fell to the ground in a heap and Belus fell to his knees before keeling to his side and rolling to his back.

There were no other gunshots. He didn’t order any either. He wasn’t sure if it was at her request or if he was simply too shocked to move. Cori had just shot Belus. Why would she do that?

Danato looked across to Efrat who was looking down at Cori as if he was waiting for her to magically jump up from the attack. He approached her to check her pulse. If Efrat had killed her, there would be a hail of gunfire no matter what Cori had wanted from him. He reached down to touch her neck, but she stirred. She raised her weapon either with the intention of aiming it or just repositioning it, but he didn’t take any chances.

He ripped the gun from her hand, catching her finger on the way. She hissed in pain, but did not try to keep the gun. “Belus?” She whispered.

“You shot him!” He yelled pointing the gun back on her and retreated away. He didn’t want to point it at her, but he had no choice. She looked to Efrat and he nodded. Efrat moved toward Belus. “Don’t touch him!” Danato seethed at him.

Efrat raised his hands defensively, which for him was not a comforting gesture. Instead, Efrat moved back to Cori and helped her off the floor. He wanted to yell at him not to touch her either, but he could see he was not trying to hurt her.

Cori immediately went to Belus and checked his pulse. “We need to get him to the infirmary,” Danato said to his men.

“Not yet!” Cori gave a generalized bark, not really directed at anyone. “I can’t feel anything,” she said to Efrat who knelt down on the other side of Belus.

“I can get him back on track. Stand back so I don’t get you again. You’re already amped enough to charge batteries.”

“I haven’t jumped. This future is being overwritten. Whatever happens from here on out is permanent.”

“I know.”

Cori leaned back away from Belus and Efrat jolted his body. She checked his pulse again. “I think so.” She looked over Belus. “There’s so much blood. I don’t remember there being so much.”

“Blood can be replaced.” Efrat double-checked the pulse. “They can move him now, he’s stable.”

Cori looked around the room for someone. “Duke, we need Belus in the infirmary now. He’ll need a transfusion right away.”

“Yes, ma’am,” Duke didn’t hesitate to follow her orders. He grabbed three other men and they carried Belus away in a linked arm stretcher. Several men accompanied them to fetch the elevator and to take the stairs ahead of them to warn the doctor of an incoming gunshot wound.

Danato’s men were in fine form even if he wasn’t.

When he finally took his eyes off his friend being carried away, he looked to Cori as she approached him slowly. She looked to be herself again; her transformation into hard ass had worn off. All that was left was an after midnight Cinderella, a Plain Jane little girl in a woman’s body. She looked fearful now.

It wasn’t until she reached him and pressed her hand on the muzzle of the gun that he realized he still had it pointed at her heart. He inhaled and dropped the threat to his side. She seemed to relax a little, but she still looked concerned that he might reach over and snap her neck in a fit of anger. “What the hell just happened?”

“When Efrat shocked me, the first time, I was in the process of shooting him. What I didn’t know was that I was actually here, when I did that. My consciousness anyway.”

“Why didn’t you just ditch you gun?”
“For a number of reasons I can explain later. Right now, I need you to listen again. What I’m about to ask you is vital?”

“What now?” He didn’t like any of this, but somehow he knew this was going to be the worst of it.

“Efrat was here to save Belus’s life. The only way this morning could end well was with Belus being shot, but I also needed to give him his best chance of survival. I know what you think of Efrat, and believe me, you are right, but I’ve made a promise to him.”

Danato shook his head even before she spoke the debt.

“You need to let him go back up to the upper level without telling the military about his escape.”

“That’s impossible. He’s been walking free for months now.”

“Maybe, but until today, we didn’t know that. His purpose is a little sketchy, but so far he hasn’t exactly been killing people or letting out prisoners, so I’m inclined to assume that he isn’t a threat to us, unless we become a threat to him.”

“Cori…” She placed her finger over his mouth and lowered her voice even further.

“And telling the military is a threat to him. They will kill him if they know he can leave at will.” She let her hand slide down to his chest. “I’ve been through this again and again. Please Danato, I’m not asking as your friend, I’m asking as your employee, please don’t ask me to knowingly send a man to his execution.”

Finally, it clicked. He understood why she was protecting him. “Do you know for certain General Clark will kill him?”

“In cold blood, without so much as a villainous catchphrase.”

Danato glanced behind Cori at Efrat. He observed their conversation with great interest. If Cori was right, he was either the man to stay his execution, or hammer the first nail in his coffin.

He looked down at Cori. “You’re asking me to save a man that I would gladly be rid of. He’s a killer.”

“I know. I’m not denying his character and believe me, I came close to taking him out of the equation myself, but we aren’t a death row prison.”

“What’s the verdict, kitten?” Efrat hollered over when he couldn’t take it any longer. Cori flinched from his voice, but she waved her hand dismissively not turning to him. Efrat took a few intemperate steps forward, and Danato spun Cori behind his back. He didn’t have to give the guards any commands. They were already surveying him like vultures. His movement spurred a united advance that was as striking to Danato as a ballet.

“One word Efrat,” he threatened.

Efrat scoffed. “I’ve been with her all morning. If I haven’t killed her by now, I don’t think I will.” Cori scoffed behind him peeking around to glare at him. They both looked at her for the meaning of that, but she shook her head and ducked back behind him. “I saved your man’s life, you owe me.”

“You’ve got to kidding me.” Danato couldn’t believe that was his argument for saving his life. “Do you know how many of my men you’ve killed? You’ve killed dozens, and you expect me to thank you for saving one.”

“And Cori,” Efrat added.

“She wouldn’t be in this mess if it weren’t for you!” He stepped forward prepared to take this fight into a shoving match, but Cori jumped between them.

“Please!” Her hands were shaking and she was looking pale. “I can’t watch anyone else die. Please Danato, just post guards outside the upper level until we can figure out what to do with him.”

“Cori we can’t just put a bandage on this and walk away.”

“Told you he wouldn’t listen to you,” Efrat mumbled.

Cori whipped around so fast Danato felt her ponytail smack him in the face. “Shut-up, shut-up, shut-up! Do you think you are helping your case? Do you think anyone wants to help a sardonic, psychopathic, sadist?” She shoved him back and he took it without defense, despite the grimace of pain he showed with each impact. He reached for her to ease her back, but she sloughed his hands away. “I have been shocked, strangled, slapped, and punched by you today, and I am still standing here defending you!”

Danato kept up with her forward movements, in case Efrat decided to put her down. He should have tried to stop her, but he had never seen her so mad before. He had seen her irritated and offended to the point of tantrums, but this was unlike anything he had witnessed. Either the day had been too much for her, or Efrat had.

She shoved him again. His jaw clenched, but he took it. “Do you know why he’s having trouble deciding if he should save you? Because deep down inside, he wants you dead!” She shoved him again, and a crack of electricity echoed the room. The men closed in, but Efrat placed his hands farther away from Cori. “No one here gives a crap about you! They hate you!” She pushed again, but this time the only crack was in her voice. “I did all this to save you. I could have shot you in the face like the General and been done with it. I should have!”

Her head slunk and Efrat examined her, as if he was unfamiliar with this emotion. Danato pulled her away from him and embraced her as she wept. He looked over Efrat as he stared at the ground.

“I hate him,” Cori mumbled into his shoulder. Efrat looked up at that comment, infuriation filled his face, but it faded and he met Danato’s steely gaze. For a moment, Danato just cradled her, scolding Efrat with a glare for causing her so much pain. He didn’t understand Cori’s reaction entirely, but something about this man put her on polar opposites of herself.

“She speaks very highly of you,” Efrat said breaking the silent backdrop to Cori’s sniffles. “She said that you wouldn’t knowingly send me to my death. I of course told her that she was a fool. I told her that you weren’t the man she made you out to be.”

Danato tightened his grip on Cori. “Why should I help you? Give me one reason to think you are a decent enough human being to keep alive.”

Efrat eyed Cori in his arms. “How about the bullet in my arm?” Cori looked up to him. “It was meant for her, but I took it. As I understand, the timeline that it did end up in her, I was who removed it and stitched her up.” He looked down to Cori and she nodded in confirmation. “Saving your friend’s life might not be reason enough, but I wonder if protecting that beautiful treasure is.”

Danato didn’t like the choices that were in front of them, mainly because there was only one to choose. Clearly, Cori had the moral choice in mind when she started this. She may have been regretting it now in light of Efrat’s uncanny ability to be a pain in the ass, but placing Efrat in a position that would certainly get him killed was morally bereft. Logically, financially, and emotionally, he would have been happy to pull the trigger himself, but as Cori said, this was not a death row prison, and he was not an advocate of capital punishment.

“Fine, I’ll post the guards.” Cori pulled away and turned to wipe her tears as if she hadn’t already left the evidence of her meltdown on his shirt. “I’m only doing this for her. I know she’ll blame herself if you’re killed.”

“She does seem a bit heavy on the ethics,” Efrat said.

“My men will escort you to…”

“I want Corinthia to take me back.” Cori looked back at him distrustfully. “I’d like to express my gratitude properly, without an audience.”

“I’m not leaving her alone with you.”

“Then chaperon if you must, but I won’t cooperate unless she takes me back up herself.” He looked at Cori, but she just shrugged and rolled her eyes. Her tears had dried and she was back to being annoyed. She was likely to agree to anything just to get the rest of this morning over with.

“I’ll be chaperoning with this.” Danato waved Cori’s pistol to remind him that he still considered execution an option for him, even if Cori did not.

42

Cori couldn’t have felt more unease if she were standing on the edge of a cliff holding an anvil. Belus was probably fighting for his life because of her…hopefully fighting, and not already lost. She was stuck in an elevator with Danato and Efrat, which was like being stuck in an elevator with a grizzly bear and a mountain lion. Sure, when push came to shove the grizzly bear would probably win, but she would have been collateral damage either way.

She stayed against the back wall with Danato and pressed as close to him as possible. She hadn’t been afraid of Efrat most of the day, but for some reason, now, in the presence of others he didn’t seem to be the same person. She told herself she had just been trying to see the good in him because it made it easier to put her trust in him.

He wasn’t good.

At all.

But why did he put himself in the way of the bullet? Was it instinct implanted by special ops training, or was he really saving her? And why did he save Belus? Because she asked him to? Was that really the answer?

She didn’t want to think about it anymore, but as Efrat leaned against the sidewall watching her, she felt like a petri dish. The only reason she agreed to bring him up, was to hopefully stave off any last second attempts at escape.

She caught his eyes and she tried to look stoic, but all she wanted to do was bury her head in Danato’s shoulder and beg him to send the bad, bad man away. She cleared her throat and decided that silence was the incendiary device in this scenario.