rolling out like a tank on patrol.
"It looks like she's doing your job for you," Navid said with a smile.
"That's... that's not Caitlin," I managed to say. I stared at him in horror as my heart froze.
We both dived for the door, fumbling with the lock, losing precious seconds to clumsiness. Released, I sprinted back to her house, Navid right behind me.
"How far away are the rest of them?" I panted.
"Ten minutes," puffed Navid, struggling to keep up as he pressed buttons on his phone. I heard him recall the team that should have been here by now, but I made no move to slow my pace.
I was out of breath by the time I reached the toilet, but I wasn't sure if the pain in my chest was from trying to breathe or trying not to shout at Navid for putting Caitlin at risk and not fucking telling me. I had to get her out and somewhere safe, before Laura found her.
The toilet door was still shut, as I'd left it. But, when I tried, the damn thing didn't open. There wasn't a lock – she must have somehow wedged it shut on purpose.
"Caitlin, angel, it's me," I called through the door, but I got no reply. The door was still stuck. I shoved with my full weight and it opened a little. I pushed and widened the gap further, now big enough to get my head inside for a proper look. She was there – lying face down, the soles of her shoes jammed against the door. I'd never felt so relieved.
Laura didn't get to her. I got here in time. Oh, thank God.
"Hey, it's okay. It's me." I knelt and moved her legs so that I could open the door fully. Strange – she was limp. I shook her shoulders, her nightie sliding off her and revealing her bare skin, but she didn't react. I turned her onto her back.
"My God!" The black tiles beneath her were slick with blood, and her face was a mess. Feeling sick, I felt for a pulse that wasn't there. And the smell...
Had all this been for nothing? Stupid, stupid, to have left her alone!
I should have stayed with her – that was what she'd asked me to do. Now she couldn't even have the satisfaction of being right. She couldn't have anything. I may as well have killed her. This was my fault.
I'd as good as killed her.
She was dead.
Shit.
I'd killed Caitlin.
73
I stood up slowly. I had tears on my face and I didn't want to turn around 'til I'd wiped them away. Navid would think I'd lost it. But I'd lost her... Fuck! I swiped at my face with the hand that wasn't covered in her blood.
When I turned around, Navid's hands jerked up in stunned surrender, like someone had jammed something explosive up his arse. I saw light glint on something behind him and realised it was a gun to his head that had him scared shitless. The fingers holding it were small and definitely female, the edge of a black sleeve barely showing at her wrist.
Laura. You fucking bitch. "You killed her!"
Navid had a wife and baby waiting for him at home and I had... nothing. I didn't care what happened to me anymore. I was useless now Caitlin was dead. What else did I have to lose? Maybe the last shreds of sanity, is all.
I heard her hoarse whispered, "Yes," as Navid nodded emphatically, a puppet without strings.
I hoped her throat was sore because Caitlin had tried to choke the life out of her, fighting back to her last breath. Now it was my turn.
I lost all reason then and there. I shoved Navid out of the way and went for her. It didn't matter if I died, just as long as I took her with me. It was the least that Caitlin's killer deserved. All the shit she put that poor girl through...
She tried to hide behind him as she crooked her finger round the trigger. Navid and I both heard the click as her gun jammed. We exchanged a glance and moved together. He pinned her up against the wall, almost smothering her with his body, as I bashed her gun hand on the metal door frame, trying to get her to drop the weapon.
The psychopathic bitch wouldn't let go. She even tried to point the Ruger at me. I'd have laughed if I could unclench my jaw. The bitch's gun was useless and she didn't have a free hand to do anything about it.
I managed to pry my fingers between hers and the butt of the pistol, so the gun clattered to the floor. The noise distracted Navid and that was all she needed to slip from his grasp, sliding down the wall to the floorboards.
From her crouch, she dived between his legs for her useless weapon, but I kicked it away from her scrabbling hands as he flattened her to the floor. Shoving her down, he used his much longer reach to grasp both of her arms and twist them up behind her back. She muttered into the mat.
I couldn't hear everything she said, but it sure didn't sound complimentary. "... Fucking kill you..." was the only phrase I could make out.
I itched to kill her, too, for everything she'd done, but Navid was already shaking his head at me. We had to bring this bitch in alive, even though she'd shot Caitlin. He pulled out some handcuffs, looking up at me.
I swallowed and nodded.
She started struggling to throw him off as soon as she felt the touch of metal, but he held her down as he fitted the handcuffs tightly around her wrists and snapped them closed. Instead of giving up, she struggled harder. Her bare feet drummed on the boards like she was going to kick through the jarrah. Fat chance, bitch. That stuff was harder than my heart.
"Now, look," Navid said reasonably. "You're coming with us whether you like it or not. If you don't cooperate, I'll knock you out and carry you, like a sack of potatoes. Are you going to cooperate?"
"Fuck... you," she panted, her voice muffled by how her face was mashed into the hall runner.
Navid pulled a syringe out of his pocket. "I'm taking that as a no." He ripped the cap off with his teeth and looked at me as he pressed the point of the needle to her neck.
I wanted to be the one to stab her, just for the sheer satisfaction, but I knew it was better if Navid did it. Gritting my teeth, I nodded again.
She jerked her head up at the touch of the needle. "Nathan. Please..." Her eyes met mine. I saw betrayal and terror.
Oh, fuck, no!
I froze in horror. It was only for a moment, but in those precious seconds Navid pushed the plunger on the syringe with his thumb and she collapsed. He rose to his feet, leaving her body where it lay.
No. It couldn't be. I had to be hallucinating. Like the time I thought Caitlin was Alanna in the ambulance.
No. Don't think about that. Lock it down. Think about now and what you need to do.
I dropped to my knees beside the unconscious girl, my hands shaking. I reached out to touch the handcuffs at her wrists and saw the scars beneath the metal. No...
Gently, I turned her over. Her face was streaked with blood and grime, but it was unmistakeably her. I hadn't killed her. She was alive.
I lifted her torso so her head rested on my chest. "Get the cuffs off her." My voice came out quieter than I'd intended.
Navid looked confused. "But... she just tried to kill both of us. I'm not taking her in the car without restraints. What if she wakes up?"
"You're not taking her anywhere. Take the handcuffs off her. I need to get her cleaned up before she wakes up."
Unwillingly, he did as I asked. Gently, I brought her arms around so her hands rested in her lap, trying to rub away the red marks on her wrists. Her expression tightened in discomfort as she pulled her hands away from me, so I stopped.
With a sigh, I shifted, lifting her limp form in my arms as I stood up.
"Get some towels. A lot of towels. And some clean pyjamas for her. Bring them to the bathroom." I strode toward the shower, her body carefully cradled in my arms. I was filled with a desperate desire never to let her go again. "I'm sorry," I whispered to her, too late, as I touched my lips to her blood-matted hair.
Navid hadn't moved – he was staring at the wall. "Navid." He didn't turn around. "Navid!"
He finally turned around, then stared at me, or Caitlin. "But... she killed the girl we were trying to protect. What do you think you're going
to do with her?"
I looked from the bloodied bitch's body on the toilet floor to the unconscious angel in my arms and shook my head. "No. Caitlin killed the bitch we wanted to bring in alive, in what looks like a fair fight." I tasted salt. Too late I realised that it was Laura's blood I'd licked off my lips. I shifted closer to spit the offending saliva on her faceless corpse.
Navid's mouth hung open. "But you said... the girl in the surveillance footage wasn't Caitlin..."
Caitlin couldn't hang from her fingertips, nor use her hands to slowly climb from a ceiling. She didn't move like a tank, either. "She wasn't. That was Laura. Somehow Caitlin managed to take her out and take her clothes, too. She left her own clothes with the body."
His disbelief wasn't easily dispelled. "How can this be the sweet little girl you've been guarding? How'd she beat the killer bitch we couldn't catch? Someone's going to have to debrief her to find out."
Caitlin was stronger than he knew. She'd survived this long against all odds – why be surprised at one more night? "It's over, mate. The three that were left – Nick, Pete, Tom – they're all dead. We don't need to debrief her. We know what she did and we don't need to know how. We're going to make all this go away before she wakes up and remembers what she did."
Navid looked in horror at Caitlin. "There's no way she'll forget this. She killed someone and then we..." He swallowed painfully. He still held the syringe, but he'd put the cap back on. Good thing, too. It was shaking in his hand.
"She's blocked out the memories of a lot worse," I replied. "I'll tell her it