Page 72 of Ride Forever

“I’m not ready to die just yet.” I coughed, my ribs grating together.

“Even if we have to spend the rest of our days in a maximum security prison?”

“We won’t go to prison, Sloane.”

“Says who?”

“Says the signed letter from the director of the FBI.”

“Assuming it’s real,” she complained.

“We’re out of options,” I said, wincing as my head began to throb with a sharp headache. “I’m fairly sure I need a hospital. Butcher can’t fix internal bleeding.”

A tear fell from her eye, and her hands found mine. “What do we do?” she said, her voice breaking. “I don’t know what to do.”

“Shh,” I murmured. “It’s going to be okay.”

“It’s not okay.It’s not.”

“If we leave the penthouse, we’re done. If we do manage to get out, they’ll find us at the hospital along with the FBI. If we can give them the evidence they need to dismantle the Hollow Men for good, with or without the signed deal, we have a chance.”

Sloane nodded. “If we leave, then someone else will just step into King’s shoes.”

“It has to stop here…or it never will.”

“Self-sacrifice sucks, by the way,” she drawled. “We can always jump off the roof…”

“We won’t be immortalized in a movie,” I replied. “There’s nothing in it for us. If there’s a chance…” I trailed off, my limbs feeling sluggish.I was so fucking tired.

“I know,” she murmured. “Let’s take it. All or nothing, right?”

“Freedom, family…”

“Love,” she finished for me.

“Give me the phone,” I said, holding out my hand.

Reaching up to the bedside table, she plucked the phone up and handed it to me. Dialing for an outside line, I punched in the only number my fading consciousness could remember.

“911, what’s your emergency?”

My head swam, and I tasted blood on my tongue.

“Hello?” the voice asked.

“My name is Gunnar Mason, and I want to talk to the director of the FBI.”

“Sir?”

“I have information that can dismantle a domestic crime syndicate, and I… I don’t have much time.”

Sloane’s grip tightened on my hand.

“Tell them… Tell them, the King is dead.”