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off the desk and onto the floor.
    She looked up just as he pulled a pistol from behind
his back. The muzzle centered on her forehead.
    “ You’ve endangered yourself, me,
Cash and his whole family.”
    Scarlett was too terrified to move. “What are you
talking about? I didn’t find anything. It was just a general
search.”
    “ You think they don’t know? You
tripped search alerts all over the damn place. Now they know you’re
alive.”
    The potential consequences of her search registered.
If they knew she was alive, they could trace her killer’s movements
right to Ruby’s house.
    “ Give me one good reason I
shouldn’t save them the effort and kill you right now.” The gun
wavered.
    Then she noticed it, the growing blossom of red on
his shirt. Her eyes followed the stain down to the floor and all
the way back to the elevator. “Because if you kill me you’ll
die.”
    Neil looked down at the growing puddle of blood at
his feet. “Aw, fu...”
    The weapon dipped and his hand went slack. Metal
clacked against the concrete floor. Neil’s body followed, landing
face first.
    “ Neil? Neil! Shit!”
    Scarlet scrambled to him. A quick check showed he
still had a pulse. It was weak, but it was there. She rolled him
over onto his back and gasped. His once-white shirt was now bright
crimson. The sickly wet cotton material clung to his skin.
    “ Oh shit!”
    Random, panicked thoughts raced through her mind.
Forcing herself to focus, she tore open the shirt. A single dark
hole oozed blood from just below his ribs.
    Scarlett put one hand over the bullet hole. She
shoved her hands into his pockets. “Dammit Neil, where the hell’s
your phone?”
    Every second that passed pushed him closer to death.
She finally found the phone and hit the power button. In his
contacts list she found the one set of initials she recognized.
“Sorry Neil, but I gotta do it.”
    She hit dial. “C’mon, c’mon!” The phone rang too
many times. Scarlett started to worry that no one would answer. She
sighed when the familiar voice finally replied. “Why are you
calling me?”
    “ Cash, Neil’s in trouble. Get
Ruby.”
     

Chapter 12
Surgery
    The human body has nearly a gallon and a half of
blood. It is terrifying how fast it can leave through one tiny
hole.
    * * *
    Blood trickled between her fingers. Scarlet shifted
the palm of her hand and pressed harder. “He’s your friend Cash.
What the hell do you mean ‘no’?”
    Cash’s voice cracked with fatigue. “Exactly what I
said. No.”
    “ He’s dying!” she
screamed.
    The voice on the other end sighed. “I understand,
but I will not put my family in the middle of his bullshit. That’s
why I left that kind of work. I have to keep them safe. Please, do
not call me ag...”
    “ They’re already not safe!” Blood
continued to seep from between her hand and Neil’s chest. “I broke
cover.”
    She wasn’t sure why she was fighting so hard for
Neil’s life. She barely knew the man.
    Cash’s response came with a slow, deliberate anger
she’d never heard from him before. “What?”
    “ I was looking up Universal
Dynamics on the computer here. He said they know I’m alive. Cash,
if they track that dirtbag’s cellphone movements...”
    Cash sighed again. “Scar, you didn’t break cover.
Neil’s network is invisible to the Net, it doesn’t leave any
tracks.”
    She didn’t have time to argue with him. Even if what
Cash said was true, Neil was still in trouble.
    “ Cash, dammit! Help me. If he
dies, I have nowhere to go. They’ll find me and then they’ll find
you.” Tears streamed down her face. Scarlett tried to stifle the
sobs in the long moment that followed.
    “ Alright. Just keep him breathing
and try to stop the bleeding. Someone will be right
there.”
    “ Okay.” She sniffed. “I’ll
try.”
    Scarlett kept one hand on Neil’s wound and hung up
the phone with the other. Seconds and minutes ticked by slowly. She
pressed a button on the phone and the