CrossFire (Love & Lies #1) Read Online Free PDF Page B

the flabbergasted driver.
    Reid got in, but kept the door open just enough to aim a few more shots at the men chasing them, then closed it as they sped away. Reid twisted in his seat to look out the back window and saw two pissed men arrive where the taxi had been parked only moments ago.
    “Fuck, Jackson,” Aaron called from the front seat. “What happened to your back?”
    Reid’s hand reached around and felt the warm sticky liquid. He’d had his share of scrapes and bruises, but as Reid pulled his blood drenched hand back around, he didn’t remember ever seeing this much red.
    “I think I’ve been shot,” he said quietly. As Reid’s heart rate slowed, he could feel the pain replacing the adrenaline that had been coursing through his body.
    “Davies,” Aaron barked, “put your hand over it. We need to stop the bleeding.”
    All color had drained from Davies face, and he looked like he was trying to decide whether to puke or pass out.
    “It’s okay,” said Reid. “I think I can put pressure on it from here.” But his vision was already starting to blur.
    “We’re almost there,” said Aaron. “Stay with me, Jackson!”
    Aaron’s voice sounded so far away. Reid could see Aaron’s lips moving, but he couldn’t make out the words as everything went black.

 
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
    CHAPTER FOUR
     
     
    Jillian walked into the back room during her break and pulled the phone from her locker. Still no word from Reid. Could it really be that hard for him to send a simple text? Maybe he was waiting for her to say something, she thought as she went into her messages. Maybe he was waiting to see how mad she was. Scowling, she shoved the phone back into her locker without sending anything. She was still mad. It was probably for the best that he wasn’t calling her, she decided, and walked back out to her register.
     
    Whispering. Soft, yet somehow grating whispers as Reid came to. He slowly opened his eyes, struggling to adjust to the brightness.
    “He’s very lucky,” said a voice he didn’t recognize. “Another inch north and he would’ve been looking at months of recovery, not days.”
    “So you’re saying I won’t have to train a new partner.”
    Reid smirked as he opened his eyes more fully. “You should be so lucky.” The difficulty of the words surprised him.
    Aaron and a doctor looked at Reid.
    “Welcome back to the land of the living, Jackson,” said Aaron. “You are one lucky son of a bitch.”
    “I don’t feel lucky,” Reid said, grimacing from the pain. “What the hell happened?”
    “You were shot.”
    “But the vest…”
    “The bastards had steel core bullets,” said Aaron.
    “Fuck,” Reid muttered. “How bad is it?”
    “Not as bad as you would expect,” said the doctor. “Your vest may not have been able to stop it, but it was slowed considerably and settled into muscle without damaging any vital organs. The biggest concern was the blood loss. That’s why you blacked out. We had to give you a transfusion before we could go in and attempt to remove the bullet. Your stitches can come out in about ten days and the muscle where you were shot is going to be tender for a while. But you should be good as new in no time.”
    “That’s good to hear,” said Reid scratching an itch on his left arm, but his fingernails only met with bandage. He looked at it, remembering the bullet graze, then to Aaron.
    “How did you come out unscathed?” he asked.
    “Guess I’m just more graceful,” said Aaron.
    Reid started to laugh, but was stopped short by the searing pain in his back.
     
    Forty-eight hours later Reid was back at work, being debriefed with Aaron.
    “This is the man who was supposed to meet with Davies?” Reid asked, looking up at the screen.
    “Anton Casimir,” said Rollins, “a for-profit terrorist. Born in the Ukraine, he was imprisoned at the age of sixteen for murdering his mother’s abusive boyfriend. Two years later he escaped killing a guard in