Page 115 of Deathmarch

The house to his right was still dark, but more lights were coming on in some of the other houses around them. The gunshots and all the yelling had roused people. Harper could see them silhouetted in their windows.

Someone from the PD would go around to tell the neighbors what was going on, but it wasn’t going to be him.

“I’ll let Joe finish here. I’m taking you to the hospital.”

Her head came up. “I’m just scraped up. Nothing serious.”

“How’s the foot?”

She pushed away from him to show him she could stand on her own, but she winced.

He swept her off her feet, biting back a curse. She’d been out in the night, hurt and freezing, hunted. He locked his arms around her as he walked out into the open with her.

Mike was standing next to Joe. They both looked up.

“She okay?” Joe asked.

Mike said, “Ambulance’s on the way.”

“They can take dipshit here.” Harper walked toward them. “I’m driving Allie to the hospital.”

Allie had been looking at Dusty on the ground, but her gaze snapped to Harper. “Couldn’t the EMTs look at me too? Please? They could clean me up. I want to go home.”

And by that, she meant what?

Home.

Harper was clear on the concept: his place, with Allie in it. Something they needed to talk about sooner rather than later.

Dusty was staring up at the sky, blinking slowly, calm now if only because of the blood loss. He looked as if he was only half-aware of what was going on around him. Harper walked past the bastard, ignoring the urge to kick his ass.

“Fine.” He carried Allie toward his car, the nearest source of heat. “We’ll have the EMTs take a look at you. Then I’ll take you home. My place.”

“Don’t I have to give a statement?”

“If you’re up to it.” He wanted to button Dusty down, but he wasn’t going to push her.

“Some hot coffee, and I’ll be good to go,” she promised, laying her head on his shoulder.

“I should have been there.” The words tasted worse in his mouth than the worst thing he’d ever eaten—a mummified cockroach in the gym in high school, on a dare. “I shouldn’t have let him take you. I’m a freaking cop. How the hell did this happen?”

Now that he wasn’t scared to death for her, fury hit him for all that had happened to her. She’d beenhurt. On his freaking watch. “It’s not going to happen again. I promise you that.”

“I’m fine. Nobody could have predicted any of this. I’m not blaming you. God, Harper…” She looked up at him. “If you hadn’t gotten here when you did, he would have…”

Harper held her closer as he carried her past the houses to his unmarked police car, letting her slide to her good foot while he opened the passenger-side door wide so he could help her in.

“Let me know when you’re warm enough,” he told her as he slipped behind the wheel on the other side and cranked up the heat.

He sent off a quick text to his mother to let her and Shannon know he had Allie safe and sound. Then another one to the captain. And then he took Allie’s hands to warm them between his. “The heater will kick in, in a minute.”

A new set of lights swept down the street. Chase pulled up behind them.

“Hold on for a sec,” Harper told Allie as he let her go and rolled down his window. “I need to talk to him.”

“Everything all right?” Chase shouted, running up. Then he reached them and he bent down to look past Harper, at Allie. “Are you hurt?”

While she shook her head, Harper said, “Banged up and half-frozen, but we got here in time. Joe and Mike are out back with the suspect. Dusty Chotkowski. I shot him. He shot at me first. Ambulance is on its way.”