Vikram (Barbarian Bodyguards Book 1) Page 15

Miranda used Cassie's distraction to break free, though, and in the frenzy, shot in Vikram's direction until her clip was empty.

  He didn't seem deterred at first, and Cassie wasn't even sure where he'd been shot as he pulled Miranda off her and threw her across the room.

  But then as he should have been launching after her and restraining her, he faltered. He stumbled, and Cassie was immediately beside his huge body trying to pick him up. She forgot all about Miranda for a moment as horror took over.

  He'd been shot.

  He'd been shot a lot.

  His shirt was drenched in blood around his stomach and chest, and when he coughed, blood ran down his chin.

  "No," Cassie cried, helping him onto the couch so he didn't fall forward. "No. No, Vikram, please. You're going to be okay."

  His red skin was fading fast, and he was losing his rage. It had to be bad if he was already going back to normal when Miranda was still alive.

  It wasn't until she heard Miranda scrambling forward to reach her gun she knew she had to act. She reluctantly took her hands from Vikram and grabbed the knife she'd discarded in the flurry. Miranda had gotten her own knife from somewhere, and was running toward Cassie now, brandishing it.

  Cassie's instinct was to run. She wanted to make for the door and see if she could find someone in time, but she fought that instinct. She couldn't leave Vikram here alone when he was suffering, and she knew Miranda was faster. Cassie had been shot in the leg, so she wasn't going to be outrunning anyone.

  She had to stand here and fight.

  She dodged backward as Miranda swung toward her, and swung back herself. They did this multiple times, barely missing the other.

  Cassie was beginning to struggle. The bullet was in her good arm and it was throbbing painfully. Blood was running down the side of her head and into her ear where the first shot had grazed, and her leg was struggling to hold weight.

  She was a mess, and Miranda barely had a scratch on her.

  "Just tell me why," she pleaded with her aide. "Just tell me why you're doing this." Maybe she could stall instead. They were fighting with the door open. Someone had to hear eventually.

  Miranda growled and lunged forward, the knife catching Cassie in the side. She groaned, but the stab wasn't deep. She'd pulled back in time and swung back, forcing Miranda away.

  Miranda wouldn't open her mouth and answer, and it was the drive Cassie needed. She was going to make this bitch pay for her betrayal. Vikram was one of the only things in the world Cassie really cared about, and he was lying on the couch struggling for breath, and Miranda wouldn't even give her a reason.

  She deserved everything she got.

  Cassie grabbed at Miranda's knife hand. She cut her palm, but she got her hand around Miranda's wrist, forcing the knife away and allowing her to make her move. She was swift, pushing Miranda into the table and throwing all her weight to keep her pinned there. Her knife was at Miranda's throat, breaking skin but not enough to kill.

  Miranda struggled with so much force Cassie knew she couldn't hold on for much longer. And when she lost her grip, Miranda would kill her.

  It was do or die.

  And so Cassie did.

  She stabbed Miranda in the stomach, burying her knife to the hilt in her former-friend's flesh.

  She dropped the knife immediately as Miranda groaned and slumped against the table. Cassie's hands were on her face, the cut on her palm smearing blood everywhere, but she didn't stay frozen for long. She found her purse and grabbed her phone, ringing the emergency number and begging anyone and everyone to get to the room as soon as possible.

  She knelt beside Vikram, who was slumped on the couch, eyes closed, and cried. She tried to stop the bleeding with the throw on the back of the couch, but there were too many wounds and it didn't seem to be doing anything. He was still breathing, but his chest was barely rising and falling.

  He was fading.

  "Vikram, please don't die," she whispered, clutching his hand with both of hers. "Please don't die. I think I'm in love with you."

  People rushed in soon after that. She was pushed away from the body and ushered into a corner by police while paramedics did their jobs. She struggled against the police holding her, struggling to get to him. She couldn't even look at Miranda, who was being tended by enough paramedics that she must still be alive.

  "Tell us what happened," one officer said, hands on her shoulders. "Just sit down and talk us through it."

  "I need to see him," she said instead. "Let me see him. I need to know if he's okay."

  The hands on her shoulders were firm. "I'm Krix. I'm just here to help. He's being looked after. What you need to do is tell us what happened."

  "Miranda tried to kill me," she said, stopping her resistance against Krix but not relaxing at all. "She tried to kill me and she might have killed Vikram. Can I just go and ask, please? Just to make sure he's okay?"

  Krix's grip on her shoulders softened, and he nodded to his colleague. "Get a status update on the bodyguard."

  If she strained her ears she could hear what was being said, but there was so much shouting and talking between paramedics and officers and IU staff, and her brain was so frazzled, that she could only pick up snippets.

  "Why did she try to kill you?" Krix tried to bring it back as Cassie stared over her shoulder, chewing her lip and watching the people huddled over Vikram. She couldn't see his face through the crowd.

  She wished she'd told him everything about how she was feeling before this happened.

  "I don't know why she tried to kill me. I thought she was my friend. She must have been working with the assassin who killed Archie."

  Cassie shook her head, running her hand over it and swearing again when she'd forgotten it was still bleeding.

  "Can we have a medic to look at Miss Maxwell, please," Krix called.

  "No, no, I'm okay. I'll be fine. Just make sure Vikram is okay."

  "You've been shot and stabbed multiple times," Krix said, guiding her to a seat at the table and sitting her down. "You need medical attention."

  "The bodyguard is in critical condition," the officer who had been sent to check on him said. "He's going to be flown off-planet to a hospital."

  "I have to go, too." Cassie immediately stood back up even though attention being brought to her wounds had put them at the forefront of her mind. The pain was almost unbearable, but she put on a brave face and tried to look imploring. "Please."

  A voice in the back of her head nagged that she needed to stay on the space station. She needed to deal with the PR fallout and try to manage the press before someone higher up at the foundation could take over.

  But that didn't matter anymore. She was done with that—with putting the foundation above her happiness. She could help people and have a personal life of her own, even if Vikram wasn't going to be the man she settled down and had a family with. He had his own career to put first.

  "I want to go," she repeated, more forceful this time. It wasn't a plea, it was a statement. "Medics can treat me on the way there without being separated from Vikram."

  Krix sighed. "Stay here. I'll talk to the paramedics."

  She barely kept herself in place as she watched him talk to the paramedics, who were getting ready to lift Vikram onto a stretcher. His face was white as a sheet, and it looked so unnatural her stomach clenched. All she wanted was to see a smile back on his face, some light in his eyes.

  Krix came back with her. "You can travel with the guard to the hospital, but I and another officer will come too, and we will need to take a formal statement."

  She was too relieved that she was going with Vikram to bother contesting the fact she was obviously a suspect right now, and he hadn't immediately believed her story about Miranda being the one to start it all.

  That didn't matter, though. She could convince him of that later, when she knew Vikram was going to be all right.

  25.

  CASSIE

  Cassie held Vikram's hand
the entire way to the hospital. Finally by his side, fingers laced through his, she answered all the questions Krix put to her. She told him all about the assassin at Archie's funeral, and how he should check with Miranda's flight records and see if there was record of when she'd set off from the funeral. As much as she hated to admit it, Miranda was probably behind the whole thing.

  Now she had to know why.

  She needed to know why someone she thought was a friend, who had dedicated so many years to the foundation, would turn her back on her colleagues and her cause. It didn't make any sense.

  "We'll get to the bottom of it," Krix promised.

  Cassie scowled, though. "Just like you were always trying to get to the bottom of Archie's death, you mean?”

  Krix didn't look away or give any ground, he simply replied, "I wasn't in charge of that investigation."

  "It's all related, though. Don't you think you'll get shafted from this when you realize it was all part of the same conspiracy?"

  "The conference is over now. I doubt the IU will be too interested in holding back the truth any longer." There was no missing the disdain in Krix's tone, and Cassie was relieved she at least seemed to have one officer on her side.

  "Do you have any news on Miranda?" Cassie asked, flinching as she knocked her shot leg against the bed Vikram laid on. She'd refused to let anyone see her when he so obviously needed help. It was such a short flight to the hospital, she could be dealt with when they go there. "You don't… I didn't kill her, did I?"

  Cassie had never taken a life before, not even in self-defense. She'd worked in some tough environments, but it had never gotten that far. She'd always thought she could do it if she needed to, had prepared herself mentally before she went to a war zone just in case someone got through their defenses, but she'd never considered she might be doing this to someone she considered a friend.

  "She'll pull through. Her wound wasn't as serious as his," Krix assured her. "And then she'll be interrogated until she breaks."

  "She must have been working for someone. I'll bet anything it was Prince Qugrom."

  Krix raised an eyebrow at that. "That's very specific."

  Cassie didn't bother to hold anything back now. He'd abandoned his promise at the conference, and she didn't want to hold onto the information anymore until it was the opportune moment, or to give to someone higher up to make the decision. She'd played her hand and it had failed—it had almost killed her. She wanted to wash her hands of the entire thing, no matter how ashamed Archie might be of her for it.

  Krix watched with rapt attention as she told him everything. The purse she had on her shoulder had the video player, and she retrieved the undamaged memory card from Vikram’s knife, which had been put in an evidence bag, and showed him. "Do what you want with the information. I hope you can nail him with it."

  "It might not be him."

  "It has to be. I don't know how he knew, but it's the only thing that makes sense. He thought Miranda was going to get rid of me, so he didn't change his mind at the conference."

  She'd already decided Krix was a good officer from the hour she'd spent with him, but the fact that he didn't immediately jump at her evidence settled it for her. He wasn’t going to get tunnel vision and ignore the facts, he wanted everything. He was doing his job properly. She decided that as long as he was given the resources and the authority, he could sort this case.

  It was like a weight off her shoulders.

  She was about to thank him when the ship came in to land and they were whisked into the hospital. She tried to keep up with the paramedics rushing Vikram into surgery, but her leg was in agony, and she couldn't hobble fast enough. Krix kept up easily and when doors slammed shut ahead of her, he rested a hand on her shoulder. "Get yourself seen. I'll make sure they inform you when he's out of surgery."

  She dithered in the doorway, but she could see the red light and knew she'd only be a nuisance. "Okay," she finally allowed. There was nothing more she could do for Vikram now.

  Krix quickly hailed a doctor for them and she was taken to a private room to be treated. He stayed with her the whole time, but didn't bother with any more questions. He still had the memory card in his pocket, and even though she'd never been able to feel it in her bra, everything felt easier without it there.

  This chapter was closing, and she was determined to find happiness in the next one.

  26.

  VIKRAM

  Vikram was groggy when he came around. His vision was blurry and everything hurt. It was a dull pain, not unbearable, but definitely there.

  He tried to sit up and almost panicked when his hand didn't respond immediately.

  "What—"

  "Shh." Cassie immediately stood, peering over him, face close to his. "You're all right."

  She looked anything but all right, though. She had a bandage around her head and her face was pale, big black circles under her eyes. "Where am I?"

  "The hospital."

  Everything was taking so long to process. He hadn't even thought to look at his surroundings before asking the question, but the room was sterile and white.

  He remembered what had happened in snippets. It had all been so quick and slow at the same time. "Are you okay?" he asked, forcing his hands to obey as he gripped the railing on his bed and sat up. He groaned as his stomach bent, wounds rubbing against each other. "What happened to Miranda?"

  Cassie sat back down heavily, averting her eyes for a second. "I'm okay. I stabbed Miranda. She's going to be okay, though."

  Vikram bared his teeth and growled. "She's alive?"

  "She's alive."

  "I should have been able to crush her while I had the chance."

  "It wasn't your fault. It was mine for going for her at the wrong moment."

  "It wasn't your fault," he echoed. "It was bad luck. I'm sorry you had to do that."

  Through his pain killer induced haze, he could see how horrified she was that she'd had to hurt her friend. If he'd done his job properly, been more confident in his aim, it wouldn't have come to this. "How long have I been out?" he asked, trying to change the subject.

  "About fourteen hours. You were in surgery for a long time."

  It was no wonder she was so tired. "Have you been here the whole time?"

  "Of course," she replied, indignant. "I was so scared you weren't going to wake up, even though they said you were stable and everything was going to be okay." She snatched his hand between her cold fingers, and chewed on her lip. "You scared me. I was so sure you were going to die. You were so hurt."

  "I’m indestructible,” he reminded her. He was stronger than the average human. It took more to kill him. He knew, in the back of his mind, that he couldn't just lace his fingers through hers and say, “You scared me, too," because his job was on the line and everything was complicated, but he did it anyway. "I thought she was going to kill you."

  When she smiled at him, he knew it was the right move. "I'm stronger than that."

  "Looks like I should have been paying you to guard me." He wanted to know every detail of how she'd managed to beat Miranda, but he held back on his questions. It would only upset her.

  She chewed on her lip, opened her mouth, and shut it again twice. "I should probably wait and ask the hard questions when we're not a bit fucked on pain killers, I think."

  He grinned. "All I feel confident in saying right now is that I'm really glad you're okay."

  There was a knock on the open door, and a police officer appeared with a cup of something. He handed it to Cassie. "I'm Krix," he told Vikram. "I'm the officer in charge of this mess."

  "What's your conclusion?"

  "I'm keeping an open mind until I've reviewed all the evidence."

  Vikram scowled. "If that means you think Cassie might have been in the wrong—"

  Cassie squeezed his hand. "He's just doing his job. One of the only police officers I've met who actually is on that stupid space station."

  He wanted to argue further,
but he didn't. "Okay," he conceded. He'd trust her instincts on this one, since she'd obviously spent time with him. "So what happens next?"

  "You'll both be escorted by an officer until we've gotten to the bottom of what happened, and then I'm sure you'll both be free to go."

  Vikram held his tongue on a snappy comment that they didn't need babysitters. He was confined to a hospital bed, and he probably needed the protection, even if it was emasculating to admit it. "Okay."

  Krix gave one last look at the two of them, and ran a hand through his hair. "I'll be outside if you need anything."

  Cassie smiled. "Thanks."

  When they were alone again, Cassie continued to chew on her lip. "Trying to talk about anything other than the big questions is hard," she admitted. "Will you tell me what your boss said?"

  "He said I had to stop being your guardian and I'd be assigned to men for the rest of my life."

  Her lip quirked. "I'm glad to hear it. I wouldn't want you falling for anyone else."

  He ran his thumb over her knuckles. "Trust me, that's not going to happen." He took a deep breath and admitted, "I want to give it a go between us." He kept it to himself that Rosen had said he wasn’t allowed to see her again.

  She beamed, and then it faded. "I told you not to make big decisions while high off your ass."

  "I made this decision as soon as my boss hung up on me. I want to be with you."

  "I want to be with you too."

  "I can't move enough to kiss you like I want to right now."

  She beamed, immediately on her feet, hands on his cheeks, and kissed him. It was far too graphic for a hospital, but neither cared as they burned together. Their tongues tangled and their breathing was ragged as they had the first kiss since meeting that wasn't met with guilt when it was over.

  She sat back down, wincing just a little as her body moved, but then grinned again. "I feel happy."

  "I hope that's not just the pain killers."

  She batted at his hand, but relaxed further, shutting her eyes. "It's not. I'm certain of that."

  "You should get some sleep. You don't have to stay here with me. Go and get some rest."