Forty-three

I came back. My only plan being to have some faith in my brother and try to follow his scent. Hopefully, he and Rae had settled somewhere safe. I led Chloe to a window and cleared the sill of broken glass. We didn't want to leave a trail of blood.

A door banged.

"Chloe? Derek? I know you're in here. The door was broken."

We sprung into action, running and tucking ourselves underneath some tarp. I smelt blood.

"You're hurt," I whispered.

"Just a scratch." She played it down, stupidly. I could scent the wound. It was not just a scratch and her lying about it didn't impress me.

"No, it's not."

I took ahold of her arm and rolled up the sleep. "Fuck."

"Bad?" she asked.

"Deep. Gotta stop the bleeding. We need a bandage." I went to pull off my shirt.

"Hold on," she stopped me. "That's all you've got. I'm layered up."

I turned and waited until she handed me her shirt and then ripped it clean in half. Chloe's face stared at me in shock, "No one's around." I explained. "I can hear them searching the warehouse." I bandaged her arm, still tracking the voices and footsteps. "They're all in the warehouse now. Time to move. I'll try picking up Simon's scent. Follow my lead."

I moved aimlessly, purely following the scent and also keeping a handle on Chloe's to ensure she didn't fall too far behind.

Found it. "Got him," I whispered. I saw him not long after and then I saw Rae waving like a lunatic. For fuck's sake. We raced over to their hideout, which smelled of tobacco smoke so strongly that my nose tried to die.

"What are you doing here?" Rae whispered, staring at me"You're supposed to be—"

"Change of plans."

"Good to see you, bro," Simon said, slapping me on the back. "I was worried Chloe'd never find us. There's a whole bunch of people looking for us."

"I know."

Simon moved to the edge, looked out, then walked over to Chloe, handing her a backpack. "You okay?"

I glanced at Chloe, thinking about what had actually happened in the last hour. I was relieved when she nodded. "They have guns."

"What?" Rae's eyes rounded. "No way. They'd never—"

"Tranq guns," I corrected.

"Oh." Rae seemed placated, I didn't think the tranquilizers necessary lessened the danger we were in, but they were better than guns.

"Who've you seen?" I looked to Simon. Rae appeared to be useless. Why was she here again?

"Van Dop, Davidoff, and, I think, Talbot, but I'm not sure. No sign of Gill."

"She's back at the house," Chloe said. "But there are two more we didn't recognize. A man and a woman." She turned to me. "Undercover cops, you think?"

"No idea. We'll worry about that later. Right now, we're sitting ducks. We need to get out of here."

I went to look out and heard Simon whispering. "Thanks. For finding him. Was everything okay?" How sweet.

"Later," I barked. "There's another warehouse farther back, with broken windows. It's probably abandoned. If we can get to that—"

"Chloe?" Rae said, staring at her arm. "What's all over your sleeve? It looks like…" She touched the fabric. "Oh, my God. You're bleeding. You're really bleeding."

Simon ducked around to get a look. "It's soaked. What—?"

"Just a cut," Chloe said.

I rolled my eyes. "It's deep," I corrected. Again. "She needs stitches."

"I don't—"

"She needs stitches," I repeated. "I'll figure something out. For now—shit! They're coming." I scowled. "This is the lousiest hiding place…"

"I know," Simon said, looking contrite. "I wanted to find a better one, but..." A pointed look at Rae said she'd refused to leave. Useless.

"What's wrong with here?" she said. She backed up against the wall. "It's completely dark. They won't see me."

"Until they shine a flashlight on you."

"Oh."

We had to get out. I forced the door open using all my strength and frantically waved them inside, when it loudly opened. "Find cover!" I ordered in a brusque whisper.

Rae stopped by the doors as we raced through until I shoved her. Idiot.

"Keep going!" I instructed.

I listened intently, but it was clear as day to us all that they had caught up with us. Goddamn it. "It's open!" a man yelled. "They came through here."

"We've got to get out. Split up. Find an exit. Any exit. Then whistle, but softly. I'll hear you."