Page 80 of The Diamond Thief

“Come on, Jacob,” I say. “I gotta get you out of here before I can get you help.”

Blood has soaked through the robe, making it sticky and dark.

We’re still a good distance from the garage where I parked.

“The car,” Jacob says. He staggers to a stop.

“What about it?”

“It will come to us.”

“How?”

He presses a button on the key fob. “Talk to it.”

Seriously? After all that Morse code I did?

“Janet,” I say into the fob. “Come get us.”

I hear the zoom of a motor, and in seconds, the car appears up the street. I hold on to Jacob as it screeches to a stop next to us.

The doors to the club smash open, and a half-dozen guards pour out and lift their guns.

I open the passenger door and shove Jacob in. I don’t bother to go around the car but dive across his body.

“Go, Janet, go!”

I jerk the door shut and stay in Jacob’s lap. Gunfire explodes all around the car as Janet races forward.

“Where would you like to go?” Janet asks, her voice ridiculously calm despite the bright flash of bullets hitting the windows and frame.

“Where should we go?” I ask Jacob.

Janet won’t be able to navigate the city streets well without a clear destination. I learned that on our way here.

“Don’t take me to the Den hospital,” he rasps. “They’ve probably all got a kill order on me by now.”

I press my hands into his chest. The wound is lower than I thought. God. It probably is his lung. Not his heart. He’d be dead otherwise.

“I’m so sorry, Jacob. It was foolish of me to just go blazing in by myself. I should’ve put together a team. I should’ve had a plan.”

He shushes me. “It was perfect.”

His breathing sounds gurgly now. Blood in his lungs. I can hear it.

“I have to tell you something,” I say. “It’s really important.”

Janet careens around the corner, and I hold onto the seat behind Jacob.

“What is it?” he asks.

“I chose you,” I say. “I chose you as my mark on this job for a reason.”

“What do you mean?”

“I was so mad. So dang mad that you turned out to be a jerk. I infiltrated the Den just to find you again. But you were so nasty about women. Such an asshole. I was destroyed.”

“Jade. I’m sorry…”