Nine Lives

Portia

Callahan stands and helps me up.

"Don't look at him. He doesn't deserve your gaze."

Antonio reads something on his phone, and I see the Glock he's holding at his side.

"Our men are on the grounds, not in the house yet though."

I hear gunfire outside the house then, and a moment later, a small explosion.

Callahan goes to the window, one arm wrapped around me, as he looks out over the front yard. I see the men out there, the gunfight. I notice the fire at the far end of the house.

“We need to move," he tells Antonio, then turns his attention to me. "Is Felix on site?"

“I don't know," I say.

He nods. "If he is, I'll find him. But I need to get you out first." He holds my hand, and we walk around the bed to where the dead man is lying face down in his own blood. He bends to tug his knife out of the man's side.

I notice the new injury on his side then. The bandage over the new set of stitches long gone. I touch it tentatively.

“You're hurt."

He takes my wrist, shifting his grip to m