I could feel soone pull off the sick bastard.
"Dr. Butler, Miss Lewis is asking for you!" soone scread. Reason slowly seeped into my mind and I turned slowly towards the source of the voice.
I stiffly turned towards Evie and found her being attended to by two paradics. I had to slap myself to control my thoughts as I kneeled beside her.
"How is she looking?" I asked, my voice shaking. The paradic, who was busy wrapping a tourniquet around my injured thigh.
"She is losing blood because of the drugs in her system. It has reduced clotting of blood cells and therefore she is at higher risk at the mont," he said without looking at .
"She is going to be okay, right?" I gulped.
"Yes. Once we have her in the hospital and ween her off the drugs, we will have stabilized her. I will need you to accompany ," he said quietly.
I blinked but nodded. I looked around the room and saw the people lying on the floor. "What about them?" I asked finally.
The paradic looked around. "They were shot strategically it looks. They should be fine when we get the bullets out," he assured. He patted on the shoulder and called the other man to transfer Evie onto a bed.
"I'll help!" I volunteered imdiately. My vision blurred as moisture poured out of . There was relief, but also fear that this was not the end.
I looked at Evie's glassy eyes and felt a sob rip through my throat. "Evie, can you hear ?" I asked once we had transferred her onto the bed. I cradled her face. I knew she was barely conscious of the pain, but the paradic had asked to check on her once in a while. It was better if we transported her to the hospital while she was awake.
She squeaked, the sound making my heart ache. She was in visible pain but they couldn't dicate her or alleviate it because they didn't know what drugs they had pumped in her or how long she hadn't consud any drug.
Without the full knowledge, any dication they gave could push her to death.
"I'm right here. I found you, see?" I told her. There was no smugness in my voice or victory. I wanted to inflict the sa wound on as punishnt.
How I had boasted of being a genius. Of solving every case. But I couldn't solve sothing so simple.
"I shot," she said, her voice low and wavering.
"I know. You did so well. This was your first ti shooting at a person, right?" I asked. I patted her shoulder, trying to keep her awake. "You could have died but you only incapacitated them."
"Mm. I'm free," she said. A small, pained smile overca her lips.
"Yes. We got him. We got them all. Once you feel better, I will tell you everything, okay?" I assured her.
"Director-General," she mumbled.
"Yes. It was his son," I answered. So intelligent. "Don't worry. We trapped him. They won't get away with any of those cris," I told her.
Evie was already unconscious when we reached the hospital. The beds were wheeled in, all ergency cases. Gene received a full body check-up and her parents filed into the hospital room to make sure where she was. They glanced at standing outside Evie's room and ca over to thank .
"I heard your fianc saved my daughter," the mother sobbed as she cradled my hand. I nodded stiffly but didn't respond. A an comnt was lurking at the tip of my tongue. I was not proud of it.
I heard the buzz of people inside Evie's room, the panic in the doctors and I couldn't think of a single reason why I should speak nicely to them.
"Thank you so much!" she cried. The father seed to have sensed my discomfort and pulled the mother away.
I looked towards the room Jade had been taken in. It was a more serene picture in there. The doctors asked her questions and perford the sexual assault tests. She looked defeated but there was still a spark of life in her.
Right down the hall, Bernard Page and Lucy Page were kept in one room, handcuffed to the bed after ergency surgery to take out the bullets had been perford. Guards waited outside, prim and proper, looking around for possible threats.
At the very end of the hall, in a VIP room was Benny Phillips. He was still the Director General's son and so far, the police officers hadn't questioned anyone and found him guilty of being one of the assailants.
I sank to the floor and waited patiently for them to tell she was fully conscious. I wasn't allowed inside. Who knows what they were doing to her in there?
It felt like an eternity before I felt a pat on my shoulder. I looked up to find Nash.
"Are you doing okay?" he asked calmly. His eyes held pity.
I shook my head in response. "I can't possibly be okay. She is still sleeping," I told him. "She should have been awake already, but she keeps sleeping."
Nash sighed. "Sebastian, you know that the body is not the only thing that controls us. She needs to sleep. She needs to process what happened," Nash soothed.
"She shot all of them," I told him. "She didn't shoot to kill them even though they had guns." I hung my head in defeat.
"She didn't want to die, Sebastian!" he told . He was shaking my shoulder, trying to make listen.
"How do you know that?" I asked defiantly.
"I sat in on Jade Walsh and Gene Winters' interviews. They painted a very vivid picture of what happened," he told in the lowest voice. "Evie had only one aim: get all of them out of there alive. She assured Gene and Jade everything would be okay and she knew they wouldn't kill her. That's why" he trailed off.
"Her reckless streak. It scares . I thought it was getting better after her sessions but how did her instincts not make her think of herself first?" I questioned. "She she is so preoccupied with not becoming a monster that she didn't kill them. It was self-defense, she knows that but she still didn't."
Nash sighed. "She would never be able to forgive herself. Even if they are evil incarnate, she couldn't kill them. It would destroy her."
Stupid Evie.
"She watched so many people die she doesn't look at death the sa way as others do. If you give her a dilemma, she tries to debunk it and save everyone. That is how Evie is. She mourns everyone."
I shook my head. "Why can't she be selfish? Others who undergo a trauma or go to the brink of death beco selfish they are violent. But not her. She's always so scared she will hurt soone"
I don't know how long I cried, but Nash accompanied throughout.
It was the middle of the night when Nash brought in packets of food. "I asked soone from the station to send over the food I bought," he said with a smile. "See? We can eat it with her in front of us."
He placed the boxes in front of . "She can't eat because she is on intravenous dicines and saline, but we need to eat, right?" he joked.
I sniffed as I nodded. "What happened to Billy Phillips?" I had forgotten all about it.
"You have another solved cold case under your belt. I spoke to the lawyers. They are ready to waive trials and admit all counts of murder. I dangled the carrot in front of him: if he tells everything about Benny's movents and the things he has cleaned up, I would plead with the prosecutors and judges to forego the death penalty."
"And he said everything?" I asked. "I thought he was an affectionate father." I scoffed. "He saw his son as a location to show off his power. When said son went out of control, he must have felt a mixture of pride and fear that he would be found out. He didn't want to die, so he chose to rat out his son. That is good for us," I analyzed.
"And it's all because of your brain. I don't know how you make connections like this, but you did so well. If you keep this up, they are going to transfer you to the capital to work for the central investigation bureau," he frowned. "What will I do then?" he asked.
"You could just co along," I shrugged. I looked over at Evie. "She will need ti off. A lot of ti off. I don't even know if she will ever be able to work in the field again."
I shook my head at the thought.
"I highly doubt that would happen. The research assistant position at the central research institute I wrote her a recomndation letter for it. Dr. Singh did the sa. If she gets through she can get away from direct cases and focus on getting her Ph.D. What do you think?"
I didn't have an opinion on that. "It's her decision to make," I told him softly. "If she doesn't want to work anymore I'll go along with her. I don't care as long as she is healthy."
As long as she is alive and well, I didn't care for anything else. I had just learned what those books glorified. It was a hard pill to swallow.
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