Deep Bounty

by KD Jones

  No sooner had they gotten outside than Kalen was yelling for them to hit the ground. She heard the shots ring out just moments before she felt pain explode on her side. Then she lost her footing and went down.

  “Lady? Where are you hit?” the perp—Felix—asked as he turned her over to her back.

  “Left...side.” She heard more shots and looked over to see Kalen was returning. A bullet struck next to Felix. She couldn’t let him sit out here in the open. “Turn around.”

  “What?” he asked, still trying to get a look at her injury. He couldn’t help her or himself with his hands behind his back.

  “I’m going to release you from the cuffs. Get in the car and close the door. Keep your head down until Kalen tells you otherwise.”

  Felix turned and she used her fingerprint to unlock the electric cuffs. “Go!”

  He didn’t leave her, though. Instead, he reached for her wounds and applied pressure to stop the bleeding. “I’m going to move you to the car. Ideally, I wouldn’t move you at all, because it will make you bleed even more, but I can’t risk you getting shot again. Put your hands against your side here while I lift you.”

  “No, just go!” Could he really not follow simple instructions? She thought she had been very clear. She tried to shove him away, but that only served to make her arch in pain.

  “Damn it, Elsa! Let the man get you in the car! We’re outnumbered!” Kalen yelled while firing and then changing his magazine.

  “Count of three, I’m picking you up and running for the car,” Felix told her. “One…” He put his arms under her. “Two…” She placed her hand on her side to try to keep the bleeding under control. It was going to hurt like hell when he… “Three!”

  He lifted her up and she felt every bounce as he dashed toward the car. She fought to maintain consciousness, which pissed her off. It wasn’t like she’d never been shot before; she had. It was just...unexpected. She hadn’t worn her vest either. Kalen was going to give her hell about that. Isaac had wanted to update them to some of the new smart armour that looked like regular clothes, but Victor had said they couldn’t afford the upgrade yet. She was willing to bet Isaac would win the argument this time. The thought almost made her laugh, but she stopped herself before it could cause her more pain.

  Felix managed to get them both in the backseat, laying her on her back while he crouched on the floor in the footwell. He moved her hand out of the way.

  “Damn it! You’ve lost a lot of blood.”

  Yeah, she could have told him that; she was feeling weak, really weak. She tried to say something, but the door to the driver’s side opened and Kalen jumped in.

  “We’ve got more incoming. We need to get somewhere to hide out,” Kalen said as he turned on the vehicle, taking it off auto drive.

  “She needs to get to a hospital!” Felix insisted as he took off his his sweatshirt and ripped his t-shirt in half.

  Was it bad that she was admiring his half-naked state while she was dying?

  “You’re not going to die,” Felix reassured her.

  Had she she spoken out loud?

  “And you can admire me all you want.”

  Yep, she had spoken out loud. How embarrassing. “I’m fine. Just get us somewhere so I can get cleaned up.”

  Kalen took a hard right into a u-turn. Elsa couldn’t keep herself from rolling out of the seat. Felix caught her, but it was on the injured side. “I don’t...I…” The last thing she heard was Felix’s low, rough voice whispering to her.

  “Easy, Elsa, I’ve got you.”

  She fell into unconsciousness.

  Chapter 6

  “We should be taking her to a real hospital,” Felix growled as he carried the bounty hunter—Elsa—in his arms. The other bounty hunter, Kalen, had argued with him, wanting to be the one to carry her, but Felix had pointed that he was the doctor here and could handle taking care of Elsa’s injuries. What he couldn’t do was shoot a gun and protect them, so Kalen backed off and took up a position to watch their backs.

  “I need to hide the car. We’re being hunted. Whoever it is trying to kill you is not going to give up. They’ll have someone at every hospital, even the authority stations, waiting for us to show up. We’re outnumbered. The best thing to do is lie low until I can get some backup here.”

  “Backup? How long with that take?”

  “A day or two.”

  “If I can’t get this blood to stop flowing, she could bleed out.”

  “You’re the doctor, fix her.”

  “I don’t have any of my supplies.”

  “What do you need?”

  “A dermal sealant and blood infusion.”

  “Well, that’s going to be tough to get. What else can you use?” Kalen asked as he checked the door to the basement apartment of an abandoned building.

  It wasn’t locked, but it was blocked by something. Kalen shoved hard and the door finally opened. Felix could hear scurrying noises. If they weren’t humanoid, they were creatures that could be diseased. He shuddered. The building had no power and the room was dark, so he couldn’t assess the situation properly. He needed to get a look at Elsa’s wounds. Kalen took something out of his pocket and when he turned it on, it gave off a glow, just enough to light one room.

  He noted there was a beat-up couch in the corner. “Put your jacket on the couch.”

  Kalen grumbled but did it anyway. “Look, I need to go hide the car. I’m trusting you to look after her. If I come back and you’re gone, I will hunt you down and make sure you suffer.”

  “I took an oath to heal, never to hurt.”

  “Fine, Doc, just take care of our girl. I’ll be back soon.”

  Felix frowned at the way Kalen called Elsa our girl. Why it bothered him, he didn’t know. Hell, he was married...or widowed...or something. Elsa moaned, drawing his attention to her.

  “Where…” she croaked.

  “We’re in some abandoned building.”

  “Why?” She managed to focus on him, but he could tell she was struggling to stay conscious.

  Felix gently lifted her shirt and winced at the damaged flesh. The only good thing he could tell was that the weapon had not been an old human gun firing expanding lead bullets. His emergency warzone medical experience told him this had come from something high-velocity and solid-cored, resulting in what appeared to be a straightforward through-and-through. She was bleeding from both sides and there was no telling what internal damage there was.

  “Why did we stop here?” Elsa spoke with a little more force.

  “We were being chased. Kalen wants to hide the car so we can lie low and I need to tend to your wounds.” He moved back and took off his hoodie. Then he pulled the remains of his white t-shirt off.

  “What...are you doing?” she asked, her eyes widening at the sight of him.

  He knew he must look quite a sight, but that didn’t matter. He ripped his t-shirt on one side. “I’ve got to staunch the bloodflow.”

  “With your shirt?”

  “Yes, that’s all I have to use. You’re lying on Kalen’s coat and there’s nothing else clean enough to use. I used Kalen’s knife to cut part of your shirt to get a better look at your wounds.”

  She tried to look down but winced in pain.

  “Easy, you don’t want to make it worse.” He knelt on the floor next to her and gently lifted her a little so that he could stretch his improvised bandage around her waist. He tied the ends together and made sure the knot was on the opposite side from her wound. “There, that will hopefully be able to slow the bloodflow until we get you to a proper hospital.” He rested his hand over the wound, hoping to add pressure.

  “I guess I should introduce myself,” she said. “I’m Elsa Carson.”

  “Felix Roberts, nice to meet you. Even if it is under these horrible circumstances.” He looked into her blue eyes and never wanted to look away. How could he be so attracted to someone he had just met?

  “You could have left me while Kalen
was distracted. Why didn’t you?” she asked him.

  “That’s not who I am.”

  “You were skipping town to avoid the authority,” she pointed out.

  “My lawyer, who was also my father’s best friend, suggested that I leave while he had the murder investigated. It was just supposed to be temporary. I was being targeted and he worried that I might not live long enough to clear my name. I wasn’t hurting anyone when I decided to leave, but I couldn’t let you die, not if I could save you.”

  “You really don’t sound like someone who killed his wife.”

  “I would hope not.”

  “So, does your wife have any enemies?”

  “Not that I know of. I don’t even know who her friends are. I guess I wasn’t a very attentive husband.”

  “Is that why you were getting a divorce?”

  He adjusted his hands on her, careful not to cause her additional pain. “Marrying Bridgette was a mistake.”

  “I saw pictures of her. She was gorgeous.”

  “Yeah, and she knew it, too. I was attracted to her, but that faded quickly when I realized all she ever intended to offer me was sex. There was no real love, no desire to have a family. What she offered me just wasn’t enough. My eyes were open finally and I could see how selfish and unfeeling she was. It took a couple of years, but once I realized that she was more interested in my money than me, it was easy to see who she truly was.”

  “I’m sorry.”

  He shrugged. “If I had any lingering doubts about her feelings, they were put to rest when I told her that I wanted a divorce. She threw a fit, intentionally broke irreplacable family heirlooms that meant a lot to me, and the things she said to me were...well, I can’t repeat the things she said.”

  “Why did you agree to have dinner with her if you were set on a divorce?”

  “I was hoping to settle out of court to keep my family’s name from being dragged through the mud. Pointless now, clearly.”

  “You can always relocate. There are plenty of planets that need good doctors,” she suggested, letting her hand rest on top of his.

  He felt guilty at the spike of desire that went through him at that simple touch. Here she was, shot and possibly bleeding out slowly, yet she was comforting him. Her sympathy was surprising and warming—far more than he’d ever gotten from Bridgette.

  “I’ll think about it.”

  She closed her eyes and started to fall asleep. He needed her to stay awake, so he started asking her questions.

  “Why did you become a bounty hunter?”

  “It’s a long story,” she said with her eyes closed.

  “We’ve got time to kill.” He nudged her again and she opened her eyes enough to glare at him.

  “My younger brother got mixed up with the wrong crowd.”

  “What happened?”

  “He got killed in the midst of trigger-happy bounty hunters who didn’t care about doing their jobs right and a drug deal gone wrong. I always felt that if a bounty hunter had gone after him properly, he would still be alive today.”

  “How did your parents take the news about your career choice?”

  She rolled her eyes. “We don’t speak much.” Her eyes drifted shut again.

  He worried that she lost too much blood. She needed a transfusion. Where the hell was that Kalen guy? The door opened as if in answer to his thought.

  Felix paused to check the bandage, relieved to find it looked like the blood had stopped. Then he stood up and walked over to confront the man.

  “Where the hell have you been?” he hissed.

  Kalen dropped two bags on the floor and raised an eyebrow. “Did you miss me?”

  Felix glared at him. “Elsa needs to go to the hospital. She’s lost a lot of blood...too much.”

  Kalen squatted down and opened one of the bags. He reached inside and pulled out a small box. He tossed it to Felix, who fortunately caught it.

  “What is this?”

  “A little something I picked up while I was hiding the car. It might help.”

  Felix opened the small box suspiciously. Then he smiled. “How did you get these?”

  Kalen shrugged. “I may have made a stop at a hospital emergency room.”

  “I thought it was too dangerous to go to the hospital?”

  “Technically, I didn’t go inside the hospital, I just snuck inside one of the ambulances and...borrowed some of their medical supplies.”

  Felix walked over to Elsa, who was starting to shiver. “I should be outraged that you stole these things, but frankly, I’m glad you did.” He pulled the dermal repair kit out of the box with a sense of great relief. Gingerly, he moved the bandage up to expose her wound.

  “What’s going on?” Elsa asked groggily.

  “I just going to close your wounds up.” He pressed the button and a soft humming noise started. He swiped over the wounds in her abdomen and the skin immediately starting knitting back together. Felix glanced back at Kalen.

  “I need you to help turn her over gently so I can get to the wounds on her back.”

  Kalen came over to the couch and helped lift and turn Elsa. Elsa groaned in pain.

  “I know, beautiful,” Felix murmured, unthinking, “I’ll give you something for the pain in just a few minutes.” He ignored the look that Kalen gave him as he pulled up the t-shirt covering her back wounds. The dermal repair kit worked well and her wounds closed quickly.

  “Okay, turn her back around. I need to see if you managed to get anything for pain as well.” Felix reached for the box again and found two more things he was impressed with. “A pain shot and a clotting agent. It’s not as good as a blood transfusion but still...it will do until we can get her a better treatment.” He quickly gave her the pain shot which eased her shaking and helped her to sleep. He didn’t like how pale she was.

  “I’m impressed,” Kalen said as he moved to pick up the other leather bag on the floor.

  Felix didn’t bother looking at him, he gave Elsa the clotting agent. “I am a doctor.”

  “Not that. I’m just impressed that you didn’t attempt to run away. A lot of perps would have taken advantage of the situation and left Elsa to save their own hide.”

  “Well, I’m not that type of person.”

  “No, you’re not. I think Elsa might be right about you being innocent.”

  That surprised Felix. They had just met and Elsa already thought him innocent? “How long do we need to stay here?”

  “I will find us alternative transportation in the morning. We’ll need to move quickly as far as we can. The guys hunting you are good, professionals. I suspect they’re mercenaries for hire.”

  “Who the hell would hire mercenaries to hunt me?”

  “That’s what we have to find out. Tell me everything you know about your wife. Don’t leave anything out.”

  Felix sat on the floor next to the couch and took Elsa’s wrist in his hand to check for her pulse, finding it steady but weak. “Bridgette...there’s not a lot to tell about her. Where do you want me to start?”

  “The beginning.”

  He kept his fingers on Elsa’s pulse as he began to speak.

  Chapter 7

  Elsa felt lightheaded but her body felt heavy, like someone was lying on top of her holding her down. She opened her eyes and turned her head to look around. It took a moment for her to remember where she was. She reached down to touch her wound, and found that it didn’t hurt nearly as much as it had, though it was still sore. She winced as she tried to push herself into a sitting position and her head spun.

  “Easy, don’t make any fast movements. You’ve lost a lot of blood.”

  “Felix?” She had a hard time focusing her eyes on the shape of the man.

  “Yeah. Let me get the light.”

  She inhale sharply and blinked at the sudden brightness, and then coughed from all the dust. Their hiding place was as bad as she remembered. “This is a real shit hole.”

  Felix paused for a momen
t then burst out into laughter. “It definitely isn’t the nicest place I’ve ever stayed.”

  She couldn’t help but smile at his laugh. He had a great laugh. And a great smile. Sexy, really. He was a smart, sexy doctor who knew how to laugh at a situation. “I like that.” Whoops. She hadn’t meant to say that out loud.

  “Like what?” he asked, moving closer and reaching for her shirt to check her wound.

  “That you can find laughter in a bad situation.”

  He smiled as he gently rubbed a thumb over her newly repaired skin. She felt goosebumps rise at his touch. She wanted him to touch her like that all over. Damn, her thoughts were straying. She cleared her throat.

  “How did I heal so fast?”

  He removed his hands and she missed his touch immediately. She wanted to ask him to come back to her, touch her, kiss her…

  Felix picked up an object and showed it to her. “Your partner Kalen stole a few things from an ambulance.”

  She smiled, trying to picture Kalen, still in his perfect business suit, committing a crime. “I’m sure he’ll make restitution for anything he...borrowed. Where is Kalen? How long have we been here?”

  “Six hours. Kalen is out looking for new transportation.”

  “Great. Then we’ll get you safely to the authority and report the attempts on your life.”

  “Kalen says it’s too dangerous to go to the authority until the threat is taken care of.”

  She raised an eyebrow at him. Kalen must like Felix; he rarely spoke to others like that, and certainly never to perps. “What else did Kalen say?”

  “I insisted that we take you to a hospital for a blood transfusion, but he says emergency rooms would be watched as well. And I asked if you had anyone that we needed to contact, but he said you just broke up with your boyfriend.”