Page 127 of Shrapnel

Elijah. Elijah would do anything for Noah. Since the little lord entered their lives Elijah had been all tied up in knots. His whole world was Noah, and some maniac was pointing a weapon at him. Of course he did it. Elijah probably hadn’t even second guessed it. He would have done it for any one of them.

Jamie looked down at the face of the one person whose role in his life couldn’t be quantified. Best friend? They were so much more than that. Brother? No. Jamie didn’t think brother was right, either. Brother implied it wasn’t a choice. And their partnership, relationship, whatever it was, was so much more than a choice. Elijah was the guy who hugged Jamie when he left to go back to his mother, and then picked up the pieces when he returned. He nursed him back to sobriety when the cocktail of drugs was leaving his system and Jamie didn’t know up from down. He let Jamie copy off his homework, then beat his ass when they sparred.

Elijah was the guy who gave Jamie the strength to confront his father.

And now he was here—dying—and Jamie didn’t think he’d survive without him. His other half. Elijah had called himself Jamie’s shadow, but the truth was that he was the light. All things good and stable.

“How are they going to treat him?” Jamie asked, already knowing the answer.

Molly tapped a lacquered nail on the clipboard in her hands. “Right now, palliative care. They’re trying to get ahead of a drug they don’t understand.”

“He’s dying,” Noah croaked, lips trembling.

Molly nodded. “Yes. We’ve bought him some time. Grant found a leading pulmonologist in Europe. Roland and Willow are bringing him, but it might not be enough.”

“What about an um, a transplant?” Owen piped up, taking Jamie’s hand and holding it. He wasn’t sure whose hands were clammier, but he squeezed anyway.

“Grant is speaking to one of his many contacts now. At this point I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s buying Elijah a new pair of lungs. I don’t know if that’ll help.”

I don’t know. I don’t know.That’s all Jamie kept hearing. No one knew. They didn’t know what this Hellfire was, so they didn’t know how to heal him.

“If you knew what Hellfire was, if you had its components or whatever, could you save him?” Owen suddenly asked.

Molly shrugged. “It would significantly increase our chances, yes.”

Owen nodded. “Then we do that.”

Noah barked a laugh. “We’ve been trying to do that for months.”

“Right, but now we know who made it.” He looked up at Jamie. “We know who Mateo is. We know he made the Hellfire. So now we do what we do best. I’ll find him, I know I can. And when I do, then you grab him.”

“Just like that?” Noah asked hysterically, his voice rising. “Don’t you think I haven’t been trying to do just that?”

Owen squared up to him. “But we have more information now. We know his motivations, we know he isn’t working alone, and we know he’s watching you. That’s the only reason he would frame Jackson—he had to get rid of your bodyguard to get to you.”

Jamie crossed his arms. It made sense. Mateo had to eliminate Jackson as a threat. By planting evidence, he killed two birds with one stone—getting Noah alone and throwing suspicion in the wrong direction.

Mollified, Noah looked back at Elijah. His eyebrows creasing. “Where do we start?”

Owen seemed more confident now that they were in his wheelhouse. “Jamie, you said the bomb was something from your past?”

“I took care of it.” Jamie was already on edge but bringing up his father had him ready to bolt. Or shoot someone.

“Ok, but we can’t dismiss that at some point Mateo, Luther, and the people in your past all crossed paths. We need to find out where, and then go from there. I’ve got facial recognition software running on most of the cameras in the city. But if I can narrow down where he’s been hiding, finding Mateo will be faster.”

“Use the Weaver systems,” Jamie told him, calming the tide of insecurities coming in waves.He’s dead.His father was dead. It was done.

Owen nodded. “What about Jackson? He’s innocent.”

“I can’t help him,” Noah sighed, rubbing his red rimmed eyes. “I’ve lost control. The Mesas wants him dead second only to me.”

“But he didn’t have anything to do with it.”

Noah shrugged. “Doesn’t matter.”

Listening to Noah, it was the first time Jamie realized just how far gone Noah was. He didn’t care that Jackson was going to die. He didn’t care about anything. He recognized that glassy, dead look in his eyes and it was unbecoming. Not on the man Elijah loved. Not on Jamie’s friend.

“All right, Jackson is secondary.” Owen made the decision. If Jamie wasn’t so out of it, he might have smiled at Owen’s take charge attitude. At the way he seemed to shine in this new leadership role.