Chapter Seventeen

Instead of mandating the buddy system for leaving the compound, Dallas should have brought the whole damn market to them.

Jasper wrapped his fingers around the pile of money Rachel had handed him and peered down at her list. "Why don't you come with us?" he asked.

"Insert myself into your quality alone time?" Rachel shook her head. "No, thanks. If the list is a problem--"

"It's not," he interjected.

"Well...okay, then." She grinned and pulled the dish towel off her shoulder as she backed toward the bar. "Quit complaining and pick up my shit."

"Smartass."

Noelle arrived a moment later, pushing through the employee door in jeans and a tank top that showed off her tits and her ink. She was clutching a list of her own, which she waved at him with a smile. "Nessa asked me to pick up a few things for her."

He held up the list in his hand. "Rachel's."

She reached his side and rose on her toes to brush a lingering kiss over his lips. "Hopefully we can carry it all back."

Jasper caught her around the waist and held her, his mouth hovering close to hers as he drank in the sensation of her soft curves against his body. "If not, fuck 'em."

With a teasing wiggle of her hips, she laughed at him. "That sounds fun too."

"More fun than shopping, anyway," Lex drawled from the doorway.

Noelle glanced over her shoulder without pulling away from Jasper. "Hey, Lex. I was looking for you earlier. Everything okay?"

"Peachy. Heard you were headed down to the market."

"Right now," Jasper confirmed. Rachel might have had qualms about intruding on their walk, but Lex wouldn't.

She proved it with her next words. "Can I come along? Dallas has had me locked up tight."

"Sure, that's fine." Noelle met his eyes, resigned but pleading. "Right?"

She looked so hesitant that he blew out a breath and smiled. "Orders are orders, right?"

Smiling, she kissed him again and eased away. Her fingers trailed down his arm to twine with his. "You can help us carry all of Rachel and Nessa's requests back."

Lex wrinkled her nose, but Jasper turned for the door, his hand at the small of Noelle's back.

It was still early, and the sun hadn't quite had time to burn the chill off the air. He shrugged out of his jacket and draped it around Noelle's shoulders.

"Thanks." She pulled the jacket tight and kicked an empty liquor bottle off the sidewalk. Her gaze jumped to Lex, then back to Jasper. "Do you know how long Dallas wants us going out in groups?"

Damned if he'd tell her they still didn't know who'd bankrolled Trent's attack--or what it meant. "Until further notice, sweetheart."

"Just curious." She bumped her hip against his. "I don't mind the company, and I still get turned around in all these back streets. Though it would be fun to get a chance to test my cuffs."

At the moment, the O'Kane ink could be more of a bull's-eye target than a warning. Jasper opened his mouth, but Lex cut him off.

"Hey." She stopped Noelle with a hand on her shoulder. "Testing your ink is a shit idea right now. Dallas is a prick, but he's not stupid. If he's restricting our movements, it's about safety."

Noelle studied Lex's face as she rubbed her thumb over the sleeve of Jasper's jacket. "Should I have covered it up?"

She shook her head. "If things were that dire, we wouldn't even be allowed out with Jasper."

Relief filled Noelle's features as the tension in her posture eased. "Okay. I don't want to do anything dangerous, but..." She shrugged. "I like showing it off."

Jasper cupped a hand under her elbow. "I get it. We don't hide our ink, Noelle. But smart is smart. Someone's gunning for Dallas right now."

And hurting Lex would be a prime way to kick him in the gut. Judging from the look on her face, she knew it. She crossed her arms over her chest, her gaze darting back and forth as they walked. Watching, assessing the potential danger.

Noelle seemed to realize it, too. Her worried gaze followed Lex as they rounded a corner, and her hand snuck out from under his jacket to find his. "I'm all for smart."

So was he. The few people going about their business in the alley seemed interested in their movements, but most were faces Jasper recognized. Faces that bore no hint of deception or guilt. Still, by the time they cleared the end of the alley, he was ready to call off the trip. Anything that left him feeling this uneasy wasn't worth it.

The problem was the marketplace. Though it was early in the day, the place would be throbbing with people, crowded and loud, and any asshole with a sharp knife would only need a second of distraction to do his job. In and out in the confusion, gone before Jasper ever realized someone was bleeding.

He rounded on Lex. "This is a bad--"

A loud crack. The dirty brick in front of him chipped, drawing his gaze even as tiny shards flew back to bite into his cheek. Shots. He reacted on instinct, drawing Noelle and Lex in front of him as he hustled them around the side of the building, into the alley.

"Stay down." Jasper whirled, already drawing his pistol. No one on the street, which meant eyes up high. He scanned the broken windows on the opposite building, looking for the telltale flash in the morning sunlight. Come on, where are you, you bastard--

Another shot.

A cry of pain. Noelle's voice, shocked and cut off as she clamped her teeth together. He turned in time to see her slap a hand to her arm.

Jasper's gut clenched. "Lex."

"I got it." She shielded Noelle's body with her own and tugged at the jacket. "Let me see, honey."

"I don't think it's bad," she whispered, sliding her hand away. Pain bracketed her eyes, but she held it together as Lex ripped away the hem of her faded T-shirt and wrapped it around Noelle's arm.

Jasper locked down his panic, shut it away behind the cold wall that would allow him to function, and kept looking for the sniper. "Get her back inside before he takes another shot. Hurry."

She dragged Noelle up, her uninjured arm draped over Lex's shoulders. "Let's go, baby girl."

A third sharp crack almost drowned out the last word, and Jasper felt a surge of satisfaction as he finally spotted the rifle barrel in a fourth-story window, along with the vague outline of the shooter behind it. He fired off three shots in quick succession, and the rifle slid out of the window and tumbled to the ground as the shooter vanished.

"Jasper!" Noelle's voice again, but not pained this time. Panicked. He whirled to find her kneeling next to Lex, both hands pressed to Lex's side as blood welled between her fingers. "I don't know what to do!"

Fuck. He holstered his gun and glared at the handful of people clustered at the other end of the alley. "Go get help. Now."

One man rushed off, and Jasper dropped to the cracked asphalt beside Noelle. "How bad does it look? Can we move her?"

"I don't know." Her hands trembled. "I've never dealt with anything you couldn't fix with med-gel. Should I move my hands? What if the bullet went through--?" Her voice broke. "Lex, can you hear me?"

She didn't stir, so Jasper smacked her on the cheek. "Lex." She struck out, swinging one fist, but only clipped him on the shoulder. "I'm going to pick you up, get you inside where it's safe."

Boots pounded on the concrete behind him, followed by Ace's swift, vicious curse. "Jesus Christ," he muttered, dropping to the opposite side of Lex's body. "Someone flagged me down and--fuck, it doesn't matter. Should I carry or cover?"

"Cover." Jasper's self-control was starting to fray around the edges, and he avoided looking at Noelle as he gathered Lex in his arms and rose. "I think I hit the bastard, and he dropped his rifle. Might be able to trace it."

"I'll send Bren." Ace drew his gun and pulled Noelle to her feet. "Stay close, sweetheart. Between me and Jas, okay? You with me?"

Noelle said something that was lost under the scuffle of Ace's boots, but it must have reassured him because he lifted his voice. "Got your back, brother, and hers. Let's roll."

It took an eternity to reach the door. Rachel had it open and waiting, her face peaked and worried. "I heard the shots, but I didn't know they were so close." She turned to Trix. "Fetch Dallas."

There wasn't a good place to put Lex, so Jasper laid her out on the edge of the stage and shoved her already-torn shirt higher. "Left side. Probably missed her liver."

"Still plenty of things it could have hit. Spleen, for one." Rachel helped him ease her up onto her right side to check her back. "Exit wound. We need that doc--the surgeon."

"I'll get him," Ace said from behind them. "And then I'll find Bren and take him back to the alley."

The front door slammed shut behind him, and Noelle appeared at Jasper's side with the Broken Circle's heavy med kit in one hand. "What does she need? What can I do? Clean towels or bandages..."

All they could do was try to staunch the flow of blood and wait, hope the wound was superficial and she wasn't bleeding even worse on the inside. "Towels. Rachel--"

But she was already on it. She unfolded and refolded the terrycloth, pressed it tight to the holes on either side of Lex's body.

Jasper was left with nothing to occupy his shaking hands, and he found himself reaching for Noelle. "Your arm."

"I'm all right." But the words trembled, and she shivered uncontrollably as she stared at Lex with huge, terrified eyes.

"Hey." He caught her chin and forced her to meet his eyes. "Don't lose it. Quick help--that's all we can do."

After an endless moment, she blinked and focused on him. She drew in a deep breath, another, and nodded. "I think my arm needs some gel."

He shook his head and peeled the makeshift bandage away just enough to catch a glimpse of ravaged, bleeding skin. "Looks like a flesh wound," he muttered through the rage. "It'll hold until we take care of Lex."

"Okay." She grabbed his hand. "Are you okay? Did you get--?"

"What the hell is going on?" Dallas's roar made Noelle start, her fingers clenching convulsively around Jasper's. Dallas shoved through the door from the back hallway, a frantic Trix half-running to keep up with him.

He took two steps into the room and caught sight of Lex. The rage and worry slipped from his face, leaving behind the blank, cold mask that scared the living hell out of Jasper.

He stepped between Dallas and the stage. "Sniper. Ace went for the doctor."

Dallas's head turned toward him first, followed belatedly by his impassive gaze. The effect was chilling. "Who's going after the sniper?"

"If he hasn't bugged out already, Bren will round him up."

"Good. Now get the fuck out of my way."

"I'm sorry," Jasper rasped. "We were headed back--"

Dallas punched him, snapping his head to one side, then strode past him without another word. Noelle pressed close to his side and lifted her good arm to touch his jaw. "Are you all right?"

A sniper, and Lex bleeding on the Broken Circle stage. Jasper swallowed a mirthless laugh. All things considered, he was damn lucky to only get smacked in the face. "I'm fine."

Dallas spoke from the stage, where he was bent over Lex, stroking her hair. "If you're fine, go meet up with Bren. Find the bastard who did this."

Noelle's fingers tightened at the words, but Jasper peeled them away from his arm. "You'll be all right." he murmured. "Doc can take a look at your arm too, okay?"

She opened her mouth, but Dallas cut off any chance of a reply. "Now, Jas. I'll take care of your woman."

The way you should have taken care of mine. He didn't say it, but he didn't have to. The words echoed in Jasper's head, followed him all the way out into the sunlight.

He skirted the spot where Lex had bled on the dirty asphalt. Bren was standing at the end of the alley, the offending rifle in one hand, his gaze riveted to the building that had served as the sniper's perch.

He turned at the sound of Jasper's footsteps. "Fourth floor?"

"Yeah--that window right there." He pointed. Already, his hands were steadier. The immediate danger was past, Noelle was fine, and Lex would be too--she would be, damn it. For now...he could occupy himself with work.

Bren hefted the rifle. "Top of the line. I've never seen one outside of Eden before."

That drew Jasper up short. "You think this was a city hit?"

"Not just. Military police. They use these Mark 30s on the guard towers out at the wind farms. They're fast, they're accurate--" He met Jasper's gaze, cold and calculating. "They're traceable."

"To users?"

"Uh-huh." He tilted the rifle and slid his thumb over a shiny square panel at the base of the stock. The panel flashed red, and some mechanism inside the rifle clicked. "Modified at issue for maximum ergonomic efficiency and encoded with biometrics. I've already got Cruz tracking down the serial number on this one. As long as we have a thumb, we'll know we found our guy."

"We need answers." An MP sniper on a hit in the sectors was certainly something one of Eden's powerful councilmen could have ordered. "We need him alive."

Bren snorted. "Fuck answers. Do you know anyone stupid enough to end the guy before Dallas gets his pound of flesh?"

No. Jasper knew he was one of Dallas's most trusted men, but he was still lucky to walk away from the whole clusterfuck with no broken bones--and he hadn't even been the one shooting the place up. "I think I winged him when I fired back, but it could have been a more solid shot. We should do a sweep."

"Nah." Bren pointed to the broken window. "We can check that room, see if you killed him. If not, he's in the wind. But we'll get him back."

He seemed so damn sure of both points that Jasper didn't argue. "You know Eden politics. Do you think Noelle's father is cleaning up loose ends?"

"Couldn't tell you." Bren shrugged and started backing away. "I'm out here because I was particularly bad at Eden politics, remember?"