Crossing the Line (29 page)

He nodded, never breaking my gaze. “I'm going to try a different angle.”

He stepped around and settled above my head to try coming at the bullet from above. He directed Nikki to my left side, away from the injury. She was out of my field of vision, so this time I focused on Travis's forehead. His face was scrunched in concentration and his thought wrinkles were deep. I felt the tweezers back on the edge of my wound. They scraped through tissue and I squeezed my eyes tight.

“Come on, Raven. Stay with me.”

I forced my eyes open again.

“Good.” He sounded a little out of breath. “You're doing great.”

I focused on his eyelashes. They were long and dark enough to make a girl jealous.

The tap of the tweezers around the bullet made me shudder. Travis froze. “Sorry,” I said. Breathless pain tinged my voice.

“It's okay.” He paused for a moment. “Listen, Jocelyn. I have the bullet. All I have to do is pull it out.”

“Okay.”

“It's going to hurt like hell, but I need you to not move. If you do, I may hit another nerve.” His voice was calm, but I could hear the intensely serious undertone.

“I get it.” I gritted my teeth and clutched the towels.

“Nikki, I need you to hold
both
of her shoulders.”

“Both?” There was a fair amount of uncertainty in her voice.

“It'll hurt, but it will be worse if she moves.”

“Okay.” She still didn't sound sure, but she did what he asked. The pain in my shoulder intensified, but I told myself it would only be for another moment.

Travis took a deep breath. “One.” He studied my face. I braced myself. “Two.” He ripped the bullet out of my shoulder and this time I cried out, the rope falling out of my mouth. It was like he'd hit every nerve in my body. I rolled onto my shoulder, trying to protect it. Tears streamed down my face and I struggled to get enough air to breathe. Then I felt Travis and Nikki pulling me back over, onto my back. Travis propped my head up on his knees. “Don't do that. You're going to make it worse.” He grabbed the alcohol and poured it into the hole in my shoulder. I tried to roll in the other direction, but Travis put the bottle down quickly and kept me still. “Just let it settle,” he whispered.
He had one hand draped across my collarbone, and the other holding my good shoulder in place.

I panted and squirmed. My heart slammed against my ribs. “I can't breathe.” My voice broke. “I can't—”

“I know.” He moved his hand from my collarbone up to my hairline. “Give it a minute.”

I swallowed and focused on taking each breath in. The agony eventually evaporated, but my shoulder was still killing me. I had never felt this much pain sober.

He squeezed me a little bit tighter. “We're almost done. I just—I just have to cauterize the wound.”

I closed my eyes tight, and nodded. “I can handle it.”

Travis looked disgusted at the prospect. “You've been burned enough.” His fingers brushed my old scar. “I hate that I have to do it again.”

I tried to smile. “It's okay. I know what to expect.”

He exhaled heavily, not feeling any better. The fireplace was above my head. I could hear the wood shifting. Travis pressed his elbow into my good shoulder and his forearm across my collarbone, holding me in place. “Are you ready?”

I nodded and rolled my head into his stabilizing arm. Nikki grabbed my hand and squeezed. I closed my eyes and braced for the pain. I heard Travis lift the rod out of the fire. A few seconds later my shoulder exploded. I screamed into Travis's arm and he tightened his hold on me. I wasn't sure how long it lasted, but I was left gasping through tears.

He rubbed my hair, trying to soothe me. And the truth is, his being there kind of did.

“I need to do it one more time,” he said. “It's not fully closed.”

I was tired and sick to my stomach. I just wanted to be done, but I nodded into his arm. He dug his elbow into my good shoulder again, and I buried my face deeper into his bicep. This time he didn't hesitate before lowering the rod to my skin. We both wanted this over with.

Travis leaned over my wound when he pulled the rod away. “All right,” he said. “It's closed.”

I felt every muscle relax with relief. Then the door opened. It was Rachel.

“What the hell is going on in here?” she asked. I rolled back into Travis's arm. She was the last person I wanted to see me like this.

“She had a bullet in her shoulder,” Nikki said.

“Well, give her something,” Rachel snapped. “Before we have the neighbors reporting us.”

I felt the muscles in Travis's arms tighten.

Nikki stood up to face her. “Get out.”

“What?” Rachel sounded stunned.

“Go!” Travis practically growled at her. A few seconds later, the door slammed shut.

“Let's get you into a bed,” Travis said, calmer, propping me up a little bit more.

“No.” I tried to move away from him. “I want to stay here.”

“You're not going to get the rest you need here.” He sounded stressed and tired. “It's not that far. Nikki and I will help you.”

I grimaced, but nodded and let them pull me to my feet. I staggered when we started walking, but they were quick to stabilize me.

“Easy,” Travis said. He had my good arm draped around his neck, letting me lean against him for support. They got me over to the bed and eased me onto the edge. “Go check on Rachel and Cody,” he said
to Nikki. “I've got her.” Nikki nodded, then gave me a final concerned look before leaving.

Once she was gone, Travis slipped in behind me, lying next to my good side. He slid his arm under my neck and along my collarbone again, only this time he was tilting my head onto his shoulder and away from the bullet hole.

“What are you doing?” I asked, barely able to get the words out through the exhaustion and pain.

“Making sure you don't move too much. If you pull the skin you could reopen the wound and we'll have to do it all over again.” He squeezed me.

I rested my head on his shoulder and sighed. “Thank you.”

“Get some rest.”

I felt myself finally relax and drift off to sleep.

I
startled awake and sat up straight. Pain shot through my shoulder and I stifled my reaction.

“Take it easy,” Travis said, annoyed, pressing me back down. “You lost a lot of blood, and it wasn't like we had any way of replacing it.”

I swallowed the pain and took a few deep breaths. “How long did I sleep for?”

“A few hours.” He leaned over me to take a look at the wound. “This looks good.” He rubbed some antiseptic cream on it and I tried not to flinch. Then he covered the area with gauze and taped it into place.

I struggled to sit up straighter and this time he let me. “We've got to start moving,” I said, wincing as I felt my injury with every slight movement.

“The others left a little while ago. We're trying to stagger our exits.” He arched his eyebrows. “They're going to call us when we're ready to go, but I don't think I'm really liking the idea of moving you.”

I shrugged my good shoulder. “It's not like we have a choice. The longer we stay here, the more likely it is that KATO is going to find us. If they figure out I haven't left, they'll scour the country looking for me.”

Travis gave me a hard look. “If we go now and get ambushed, there's no way we're going to be able to hold off an attack,” he said. “Not with the condition you're in.”

I rolled my eyes. “It's going to be a little while before I can put up that kind of a fight. If we're going to make it out of this country we need to move
now
. Before they figure out we're still here. It's the only chance we're going to get.”

His lips thinned and his eyebrow furrowed. He knew I was right, I could tell. Now he was just trying to come up with a way around it. After a few moments, he nodded. “Okay.” He rooted through the backpack. “But first, lie back.”

“What?” I asked. “Why?”

“Dr. March walked me through your acupuncture treatments. You have to be feeling it right now. If we're going to pull this off, I don't want to have to worry about that.”

“The only thing I feel is the pain, which I'm guessing you can't do anything for,” I said, and it was the truth. I would have taken anything for the pain if it wouldn't jeopardize what I'd worked for.

A sympathetic expression crossed his face. “Trust me, if I could do something for that, I would.”

“I know,” I said, smiling lightly. “The craving isn't that bad.”

He considered me carefully. “I'd feel better if we did this to be sure.”

I bit my lip and nodded, then lay back down. Travis sat down on the edge of the bed. He brushed my hair away from my ears and gently pushed the needles in.

He pulled them out after fifteen minutes. “You good?”

“Yeah.” I sat up.

He held my eyes for another moment, then started moving around the room, packing things into the backpack. “Can you fire a gun with one hand?”

“Not as accurately,” I said, “but I can hit my target.”

He nodded and tossed me a gun. I caught it easily with my left hand. “I'll get in touch with Command and let them know we're ready. Then we'll move.” He threw a balled-up piece of cloth at me. “Put that on. If you argue with me, we're not going.”

I held it up and saw he'd made a sling for my arm. I took it without complaint and dragged myself into the bathroom with a change of clothes to try to get myself together. I flicked on the light. There were three bulbs, but only one of them was working. I struggled into a clean tank top and slipped the sling over my shoulder. Then I stared at myself in the mirror. My hair was flat, limp, and hung loosely around my face. My eyes were bloodshot with dark circles around them, and my face was startlingly pale, which I suspected was from the blood loss. I splashed some water on my face, leaned over the sink, and forced myself to breathe easy. We made it out of KATO, but we weren't safe yet. If they caught us now, Travis and the others would be dead, and I didn't even want to think about what they'd do to me.

Travis knocked on the door. “Joss?”

I tore my eyes away from the mirror. “Yeah.” I opened the door quickly. “We ready?”

“They've got a team en route to China. We have to get across the border and meet them outside of Fushun,” Travis said. “They'll swoop in and pick us up there.”

“How are we getting out of the country?” I asked.

“Freight train.” He leaned against the doorframe. “There's one
leaving the station in half an hour. Sam said the others are already on one of the loaded cars. We have to get there before it leaves.”

I shook my head. “They'll be searching the trains.”

“I know,” he said. “We're going to have to find a really good hiding spot. It's the best and most direct way out of the country. They'll never let you through an airport, and a bus or a car won't give us enough of a place to hide.”

I bit my tongue and nodded. I hated it, but he was right.

“The train makes two stops on the way. One is before the border. My best guess is that they'll have a military presence on the train looking for us at any point from the time we leave until we get to China.”

I swallowed. “So we pretty much need to find a car that has a place to keep us hidden the entire time.”

“That's the idea.”

“And we have half an hour to avoid the police, the military, and KATO; get on a train; and get hidden without anyone noticing we're there,” I said. My voice was even.

He nodded. “That's it in a nutshell.”

“Then we should probably get going.” I tried to step out of the bathroom but he stopped me.

“We need to hide you better,” he said, holding up a wig with bangs and straight shoulder-length black hair. “They don't know me well enough to know what to look for, but they know you. And if they see the two of us together they'll have no doubt who you are.” He made sure to tuck my hair tightly under the wig before tugging it down as far as he could. His fingers brushed the burn on my neck as he lowered his hands. It fell just below the length of the wig. “We're going
to have to find something to cover that. If KATO's looking for distinguishing features, it's a dead giveaway. Here's your comm.”

I grabbed it, not remembering anyone taking it out of my ear. He stepped away from me and went to the closet in the corner. The IDA seemed to stock their safe houses with essentials, including clothes and disguises. When Travis came back, he had a light scarf in his hand.

I took it from him and wrapped it twice around my neck with my good arm, making sure my scar was covered. “Do we have everything we need from here?”

Travis nodded. “We're good to go.”

I stepped past him, then picked up my gun and put it in the waistband of my pants. I grabbed the jacket I had worn in, which was still sitting on the bed. “They'll be looking for someone with an injured arm,” I said, struggling with the jacket. Again, I got my good arm in, but I couldn't get a good enough grip to pull it around me. I found myself more afraid now than I had been before this mission started. I flipped the jacket again, trying hopelessly to get it to land on my shoulder.

Travis went behind me and put the jacket over me. Even though I knew he was there, I jumped. He came around to stand in front of me and zipped it up so I wouldn't lose it if we had to run. He studied me intently. “Relax,” he said, gripping my shoulder. “I've never seen you like this. I knew you were worried before, because there was no way you couldn't have been. But right now, it's written all over your face.”

I swallowed. “They weren't looking for me before.”

“They're not going to get you again,” he said. His eyes met mine, and they weren't letting me go until I believed him.

“Okay.” I was still terrified, but I nodded anyway. “Okay, let's go.”

Travis grabbed the backpack and led me out the door.

 • • • 

Maneuvering through the city wasn't easy. The train station was about twenty minutes away by foot, so we had cut it pretty close. And we still had to find a way to get to the train undetected. I bit my tongue as we weaved through the crowd in the station. Every time someone bumped me, a searing pain shot through my right arm. We had one close encounter when we passed some of the People's Military. I ducked my head so the wig's hair hid my face. Travis grabbed my hand and pulled me closer. I caught on quickly. We were less suspicious if we looked like a couple.

Once we got outside onto the platform we worked our way to the edge of the crowd until we were standing next to a big yellow building. We had four minutes to get on the train. Travis pushed his comm. “Command, we're in position.”

“Okay,” Sam said. “The cameras are down for two minutes.”

I pulled Travis behind the building and dropped his hand. We jumped down off the platform so we were level with the tracks and ran between the trains, putting a train in between us and the platform.

“Command, what train are we looking for?” I asked.

“You've got to get to the other side of the tracks. That's where they load the cargo-only trains. Once you're there, you're looking for train three-seven-four,” Sam said.

Travis and I moved swiftly through the trains. We had a minute and a half before the cameras came back on. We ducked between the next row of cars and I stopped quickly, throwing my arm out to keep Travis from going any farther. There were voices coming from a few
cars down. Travis shot me a grateful look and I peeked out around the edge of the train. The one we wanted was sitting on the tracks in front of us and three cars down.

I took in the situation and stepped back. “Everything is being loaded from the other side of the train. If we avoid the cars that are open and actively being loaded, we can make it.”

Travis glanced at his watch. “We have thirty seconds before the cameras come back on.”

I nodded, and the two of us darted across the gravel ground and pressed ourselves against the cars next us. I edged down the row with Travis close behind me, stopping when we got to the end of the train. I took in the brown cars of our train, listening to the workers loading.

I started to step across the small gap between the train we were hiding behind and the one we needed to get to, but Travis pulled me back. “Let me go first,” he whispered. I didn't get it, but I nodded, trusting he had a reason.

He stepped in front of me, his back inches from my face. He darted quickly across the gap, then motioned me to follow. Once I was next to him, he edged down the side of the train, stopping short of the open car.

“Get this shit in the car,” a worker said in Korean. “She's moving out.”

Travis ducked down and slid under the opening.

“The cameras are live in fifteen seconds,” Sam said.

I hunched down and followed Travis. He was an entire compartment ahead of me, and had the small door open at the head of the car. I hurried over to him.

“Ten seconds,” Sam said.

Travis laced his fingers together and gestured for me to put my
foot in his hands. Once I did, he lifted me up and I twisted so I landed on my good side.

“Five seconds.”

Travis hoisted himself up and into the train, then jumped up quickly to pull the door shut.

“Cameras are live,” Sam said. “Please tell me you made it.”

“We're clear,” I said, breathless. I heard one of the big cargo doors slamming shut outside, and then a second one. We had just barely dodged two catastrophes.

Travis grabbed my arm and pulled me away from the window. “Come on, we've got to find someplace to hide.”