Between the Spirit and the Dust

Chapter Twenty Two

Two things happened before Jenna released the trigger.

One, I made a split-second decision that would save my skin. Realizing that it was up to me to save myself now, I smashed my elbow into Jenna’s gut and then dived towards the floor.

Two, Collins fired.

The air was knocked out of me as I landed awkwardly on the floor, with my palms resting on top of the pieces of glass from the perfume bottle. Panting hard, I quickly regained my bearings and crawled away, wincing as the glass went deeper into my flesh. 

With my ears still ringing from the shots fired, I snuck a glance up at Collins and his team to assess the situation.

One of his team members had rushed forward, tucking his handgun into his pocket. The other, the one with the crew cut, was on the phone but with my ears still ringing from the shots, I couldn’t hear what he was saying.

And Collins. The look of horror on his face made me stop and turn.

Jenna had crumpled onto the floor and bright red liquid bloomed on her shirt, spreading out from her stomach. She was ashen, staring down at herself as though she couldn’t believe what was happening. The agent who had rushed forward was squatting down next to her, whispering urgently to her and applying pressure on the wound.

As my hearing came back to me, I became aware of the agent on the phone, yelling for a medic 

In a trance-like state, I stood up, unable to tear my eyes away from Jenna.

Jenna took in a shuddery breath and said something softly to the agent next to her. He nodded in reply and then said, “Collins, Jenna wants to talk to you.”

Collins stiffened. Turning towards the other agent, he barked, “How long till the medic gets here?”

“Two minutes, sir. They were supposed to be here when we arrived but they got caught in a jam.” The agent cleared his throat, avoiding where Jenna laid and said, in a lower tone, “But sir, you know how it is with stomach wounds, she doesn’t have—" 

Collins ignored the agent, walking swiftly towards Jenna. 

I balled my fists, hapless but unable to stop myself from the scene. Jenna pulled his hands into hers, speaking softly but rapidly but eventually, her words grew slower and her eyes, which were at first focused on Collins’ face started drifting towards the ceiling.

 The agent with the crew cut realized that I was watching them, came up to me and put his arm around my shoulder to steer me out. I let him. 

It felt like the minute we’d left the room, the medics stormed into the apartment. Three of them hurried into the room where we had just walked out and the last one started examining me. The agent with the crew cut slipped back into the room. 

“Sweetie, let me take a look at your hands,” said one of the medics.

I opened my fists and she whistled at the mess of blood and glass.

“Okay, let’s sit down and get those pieces out, shall we?" 

Nodding mutely, I sat down.

As she settled down into work, I kept replaying what had just happened. Everything had happened so quickly. Jenna came back, I’d found out that she was the mole, she’d wanted to ask me something and now…she was shot.

No matter how hard I’d tried, I couldn’t wrap my mind around it. Why would she do something like that? Why would she be willing to work for Gabriel St. Clair, when she’d known all along what he was capable of.