‘Thank you for coming, honey, it means so much to me.’
Jack smiled, his gaze intent on hers. ‘My pleasure, Cos…always.’
The trash can across the street exploded. The noise shattered windows and caused everyone to panic.
Then the shooting started. A man, a pistol in his hand, fired rapidly at the group. The smoke from the trash can blinded them all as they tried to duck. Jack grabbed Cosima and pushed her into a limo; Mikah threw himself in front of Harpa. Arlo, shocked, watched from the ground as the limo with Cos and Jack in screeched away from the scene. He felt relief – Cos was safe – but the shooting continued. Suddenly, Naveen, on the ground beside him, swore violently, and Arlo looked to where Mikah, on the ground, had been hit in the shoulder. Naveen was up then, ripping his concealed gun from his hip and shooting back at the attacker. Three pops then the shooting abruptly stopped.
Arlo scrambled to his feet to see the gunman lying in the road, his chest a mess of bloody holes, sucking air in. Arlo dropped to his feet. ‘Who are you? Why have you done this?’
The gunman breathed in one last rattling breath and then his chest stopped moving, his eyes stared unseeingly.
‘Fuck!’ Arlo shouted then scooted back to his friends. Mikah sat against the building, his shoulder pouring blood. Harpa was beside herself, trying to call the emergency services.
Arlo took her phone from her and calmly dialed 911. After he had finished, he crouched down. ‘Let me see, Mikah?’
Mikah moved his hand, and Arlo could see his blood pumping from the wound. ‘Jesus.’
‘It’s not too bad,’ Mikah said calmly, ‘Could be a lot worse. Everyone else okay?’
Arlo checked everyone. Tal, Jennifer, and Margaret were shaken but physically okay, Nav had a cut on his forehead from dropping so quickly to the sidewalk, but he nodded when Arlo asked him if he was alright. ‘Fine, Arlo. Harpa…sweetheart, it’s okay, now, he’s dead.’
Harpa, by Mikah’s side, looked shell-shocked. ‘Where’s Cos?’
‘Jack got her into a car and got her away.’
Harpa sighed with relief. ‘Thank God. Let’s call him, tell him the danger’s over.’
Arlo nodded and pulled out his cellphone. Jack didn’t answer for a while, and Arlo began to get anxious. Finally, the call was picked up.
‘Arlo! God, man…’
‘Do you have Cos? I saw you get her in the car…tell me she’s okay.’
Jack hesitated and in the second, Arlo knew. His heart dropped to the floor. He went back inside the restaurant so the others couldn’t see his face. ‘Jack…’
‘She was hit, Arlo. She took a slug to the gut…I drove straight to the hospital but, man, it’s bad…she’s lost so much blood…’
‘She’s not dead,’ Arlo almost screamed it down the phone, ‘Cosima is not dead…’
‘No. she’s not dead, but it doesn’t look good. Come to the hospital, now, Arlo, right now…’ He gave Arlo the address and Arlo was out of the door. He grabbed Harpa on the street.
‘We have to go to the hospital…Cos was hit.’ He couldn’t say any more; his terror making him numb.
Harpa shook her head wildly. ‘No, no, Arlo…that’s wrong, it’s wrong, Jack got her in the car.’
‘Not soon enough…’
Naveen stepped forward, his own face drawn. ‘I’ll drive you.’
Harpa went to find Mikah, the paramedics still attending to his shoulder. ‘I really do advise that you let us take you to hospital, sir.’
Harpa took his hand. ‘Yes, that’s a good idea.’ Mikah stared at her.
‘What is it, what’s wrong, baby?’
She looked at him, her eyes full of the deepest sorry.
‘Cosima was hit. She was shot. Oh my god, Mikah…’
***
Arlo met Jack at the reception and almost threw up when he saw Jack’s shirt covered in blood. ‘Is that?’
‘It’s not mine,’ Jack said gently. He hugged Harpa. ‘She’s in surgery. Come; let’s go to the relative’s room.’
Once there, Arlo let out a shaky breath. ‘Right, from the beginning, what happened?’
‘It must have happened as we got into the car. One minute she was okay then when we were in the car, I tried to talk to her, but then I noticed she was breathing hard. That’s when I saw the blood. She got hit in the abdomen and Jesus, there was so much blood, and I think the bullet must have hit an artery. There was no exit wound. There’s blood all over the car. I got her here as soon as possible, and they took her straight down to surgery. Arlo, Harpa…it doesn’t look good. If that bullet tore her abdominal artery, she doesn’t stand a chance.’
Harpa gave a strangled cry of anguish and Arlo sucked in a sharp breath. Jack grabbed his shoulder. ‘I’m so sorry, man. What happened to the shooter?’
‘Nav took him down.’
Jack looked up at the silent Indian standing in the doorway, noticing he looked wan and devastated. Nav nodded. ‘I have a concealed weapon’s license. As soon as the shooting started…’
‘You probably saved everyone else. The downside is we don’t know who the killer…sorry, I mean, the shooter was targeting. Obviously one of you.’
‘Of course, we know,’ Harpa exploded. ‘It’s him! It’s the fucking psycho who took her….I knew he’d kill her in the end, that cocksucking motherfucker…’ She was screaming now, raging in her grief.
‘She’s not dead,’ Arlo said quietly, his voice cracking and broken, ‘she’s not dead.’
‘The surgeon will come see us when he can,’ Jack stood. ‘I have to go brief the police on what happened.’
‘Where’s your driver?’
‘With the police, he's pretty shaken up as you imagine. Stay strong, folks.’ And he left the room.
Harpa and Arlo stared at each other. ‘She’ll come through, she has to.’
But they both knew it would take a miracle.
***
The surgeon pulled his gloves off and went to scrub out. He hated cases like this when he couldn’t give the family a definitive answer. The bullet had nicked Cosima Malhotra’s abdominal artery, and it was weakened, possibly in danger of rupturing. A graft to help strengthen it had been applied – but if it ruptured, the young woman would bleed out in seconds.
God, the things we humans do to each other. The bullet had smashed into the young woman’s belly but had not exited, bouncing around, causing major damage. He’d already had to remove her spleen, a kidney, and her liver was damaged. It would take a strong person to come through that.
The nurse came to see him, and he gave her aftercare instructions. ‘I want her monitored closely, blood and saline in. Pain meds…because if she wakes, she’s going to be in agony. I’ll go see the family.’
When the surgeon entered, Arlo stood, his whole body feeling like ice. Harpa had gone with Mikah to get his wound looked at. Arlo was glad she wasn’t able to see the doctor’s solemn expression.
‘She’s stable for now. We removed the bullet and repaired what we could, but she is in a delicate situation. We’ll monitor her closely, of course, but I’m sorry I can’t give you better news.’
‘Can we see her?’
‘Later. She’s in ICU. I’ll come back when we have more news, but there isn’t much you can do here. I suggest only immediate family stay.’
Naveen told Arlo he would drive the others back to their hotels. ‘I’ll wait until you have news but if you, any of you, need me, just call. Tell Mikah I hope he’s not in too much pain. I mean it, if you need anything…’
Arlo saw Jack’s eyes following Naveen out of the room. Jack noticed his scrutiny and nodded. ‘I don’t trust that guy,’ he said in a low voice to Arlo, ‘Who knew we were going to be at that restaurant tonight?’
Arlo was silent for a moment. ‘I won’t believe it until there’s proof, Jack. I don’t think Naveen would do that to Cosima…certainly, not to Harpa.’
‘Don’t be fooled. Once a killer, always a killer. I hear h
e didn’t blink taking that shooter down…covering his tracks?’
‘Jesus,’ Arlo rubbed his eyes. ‘Can we talk about that later? I just want to focus on Cos’s recovery.’
‘If she recovers.’
‘Jack, Jesus…’
Jack sighed. ‘Look, I’m going to check in with the investigation. Call me when things…change.’
And he was gone, and Arlo was alone. He sat down and dropped his head into his hands, feeling utterly bereft, and powerless. He didn’t think it possible to feel worse than he had when Cos was abducted but this was actual hell. She was dying, and he could not do a thing. He could pay the best surgeons in the world to come, that might be something, but the surgeons here were already amongst the best of them. When Mason, his brother, had been stabbed to death, the doctors here had worked on him for hours – even though Mason was already dead by the time he had reached the emergency room.
That was a scintilla, a glimmer of hope. While she was alive, she could breathe, she would fight. Fight, Cos, fight.
He sucked in a deep breath and got up, meaning to go find Harpa, but she came through the door at the same moment, followed by Mikah, his arm in a sling. He patted Arlo on the back with his good hand.
‘Just a flesh wound, no biggie. How’s Cos?’
‘No more news yet.’
Harpa clenched her hands into fists. ‘I can’t bear this,’ she said, her voice breaking. ‘I thought we were good now, I thought everything would be fine. After everything we’ve been through…’
Arlo hesitated before he spoke. ‘Harpa, I think you should know…Jack thinks Naveen might have had something to do with this.’
Both Harpa and Mikah, with some force, spoke up. ‘No.’
‘No way.’
‘I agree. I think Jack, like the rest of us, is just reaching. He's hurting, looking for any explanation.’
It was Mikah who spoke next. ‘Arlo, what you didn’t see, while we were in India, something was forged then. Between Harpa and her father, but also between Harpa and Naveen. They found each other, truly. Naveen would never do anything to hurt Harpa, and I think he’s very, very fond of Cosima. He really would not do this.’
Harpa smiled at her boyfriend gratefully and nodded in agreement.
Arlo sat back down. ‘At the moment, all we know is that asshole on the street shot Cos. Keeping her alive is all that matters right now.’
They sat in the relative’s room for hours. The night turned into day turned into evening. Naveen came back just as they returned from grabbing something to eat in the cafeteria. When Arlo told him there was no news, Naveen’s body slumped. Harpa slipped her hand into his.
‘Where have you been all day?’
Naveen smiled ruefully. ‘Talking to the police. I went in to see them as no-one had contacted me about shooting the guy…which I thought was weird. I asked about Jack’s driver, if he’d made a statement but no-one knew anything. So I went in and talked to them for hours, handed in my gun and went through some formalities. They’re not charging me with anything, so that’s something, not that I wouldn’t do it again. First time I’ve had my fingerprints taken.’ He held up his hand to show her the ink on his fingertips and smiled.
‘Have you been there all day?’ she asked, her eyes widening. ‘Did you come straight from the police station?’
He nodded. ‘I wanted to do anything to help, I would have stayed longer. I asked around…Arlo, apparently the shooter was from New Orleans – and get this – he was in construction. Maybe he worked on the L’Atelier Cosima? If he did, he could have fixated on Cosima during construction. I tried to find out more, but they clammed up so I came straight here.’
Arlo looked at him gratefully. ‘That means a lot, man. Thank for the information…I guess we’ll find out about this guy over the next few days.’
Naveen nodded his thanks as the door opened and the surgeon, looking as exhausted as they did, came in. He nodded to them politely then turned to Arlo. ‘We had to go in again and stabilize her artery, prevent further blood loss. She has a fever which is not unusual in gunshot wounds to the abdomen, but we think she’s picked up slightly this afternoon. You can go sit with her if you’d like, but please, not too much physical contact. She’s very susceptible to any infection or virus so use the antibacterial gel on your hands beforehand.’
‘Doctor? Will she live? I hate to be blunt, but we all need to know.’ Harpa’s voice wavered but didn’t falter as she locked her gaze on the surgeon’s face.
‘I don’t want to give you false hope, but I think she has a very good chance of recovery. She’s young and healthy. Listen, gunshot wounds, especially close range, are nasty but survivable if they don’t destroy organs or shred arteries. Cosima was lucky the bullet only nicked her abdominal artery and that she can live happily with one kidney and no spleen. It could have been a lot, lot worse.’
‘Can we go see her now?’ Harpa said before anyone else could speak.
The doctor smiled. ‘Of course.’
***
Cosima drifted back into consciousness, but the fog in her mind would not lift. She could remember nothing – only that a trash can had exploded, some firecrackers – had it been firecrackers? – something making a pop pop sound anyway then after that…
God, her whole body hurt. Where the hell was she and why was this tube in his mouth? She opened her eyes.
‘Cos? Darling?’
Arlo. She tried to smile, but any movement was agony. She moved her eyes around to focus on him. He looked so tired. She tried to raise a hand to touch his face, but she was so weak. She felt his fingers interlink with his. Try to squeeze them. She watched his face as she tried to move her fingers and saw him smile. Good.
‘Sweetheart, just fight, okay, just keep fighting. We’re all here, and we love you so, so much.’
She managed to nod her head a little then winced as pain shot through her body.
‘Cos?’
Harpa. A small hand was placed on her other arm. ‘I love you, sis. Please be better.’
I’ll try, I promise. But she couldn’t say anything. A wave of weariness passed over her, and she closed her eyes again. She felt someone come into the room, murmur something then a needle was pushed into her arm, followed by a wave of cold medication being pumped into her. The morphine spread quickly, and she drifted back down into blackness, glad of the relief from the pain.
***
Three a.m. Cosima slept, Arlo at her side, stroking the hair back from her forehead. Harpa and Mikah were asleep on the cot at the other end of the room, Naveen stood at the window, gazing out into the night.
‘She looks a little better, don’t you think?’ Arlo said softly. ‘There’s more color in her cheeks.’
Naveen came over to the bed and studied her. He smiled at Arlo. ‘I think so.’ He reached down to squeeze her fingers then glanced back at Harpa and Mikah. ‘Listen, Arlo, I don’t know how to put this, but something struck me earlier when the doctor was talking – ‘
‘Hey.’
They both turned at the sound of Jack’s voice. He stood in the doorway, not taking his eyes from the young woman in the bed. ‘How is she?’
They told him what the doctor had said. ‘Good, that’s good.’ But Arlo found the expression in his eyes hard to read.
‘What is it, Jack?’
Jack shook his head. ‘Just…we have no leads. No-one – ‘ and he glanced quickly at Nav – ‘no-one knows who could be behind this.’
‘Perhaps,’ Nav said, his voice cold; he hadn’t missed the accusatory glance that Jack had thrown his way. ‘Perhaps the shooter was working alone. Perhaps he was aiming for someone else but hit Cosima by mistake.’
‘Who else would he be aiming for?’ Jack retorted. ‘He’s clearly the man who abducted her, planned to kill her. He was just finishing the job.’
‘How the hell did he know we’d be there tonight?’
‘Maybe he followed Arlo or Cos or anyone of us.’
Arlo stopped them. ‘Enough. You’ll wake Cos again.’
Jack look startled. ‘Again? She’s been awake? That’s great.’
Arlo nodded. ‘But she needs to rest so if you two are going to argue, take it outside.’
‘Sorry, Arlo,’ said Naveen and turned away from them. As he did, he saw the Mikah was awake and looking at him. Almost imperceptibly, he nodded then looked at Jack then back to Naveen. Naveen’s heart began to thump. Mikah was thinking the same thing as he was. There was someone else who had been close to Cosima, who had been in love with her, who’d had a knowledge of practically every move she had made in the last twenty years. Someone who might be driven to madness by the fact she was head over heels in love with Arlo. Someone who would kill her rather than lose her to another.
Mikah got up; making sure Harpa was still sleeping and nodded to Naveen. ‘Let’s go grab some coffee for these guys, Nav.’
They walked down three corridors before Mikah stopped Nav and stared at him. ‘Close-range gunshot,’ he said simply, and Nav nodded.
‘Yeah.’
‘Jesus Christ.’
Nav could not think of anything else to say. Nothing. Because it was unthinkable; it was disgusting that they even considered the worst. But both of the men knew in that instant that it must be true. There was only one possibility.
Jack had shot Cosima.
***
Jack grabbed Cosima and wrenching open the door of the limo, pushed her into it, diving in behind her. ‘Get going,’ he shouted at the driver who pulled away immediately.
Cosima whirled around. ‘We have to go back…Arlo might be hurt, Harpa…’
‘They’re fine.’ Jack’s voice was cold and Cosima gaped at him.
‘How do you know?’
She watched him throw his agency pistol to one side then reach inside his jacket pocket.
‘Because the shooter wasn’t aiming at anyone, he was just there to provide cover.I paid him to be there.’
Cosima shook her head. ‘What are you talking about? Cover for what?’
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