Titanium Promises

Twenty-six

I stand there, frozen.

"Let's go!" Ollie yells, attempting to drag me towards Luke's car.

My body goes frigid. "I won't leave him," I say, my voice firm. The pain from my side only pumps me with more adrenaline.

Ollie stares at me. "He told you to get out," she says. "Listen to him."

How can I? He came back for me even if it meant risking his own life. I would risk everything if it meant he's safe.

"No."

I push away from her and run inside, towards Luke who's still running down the hall. I see him just as he turns a corner and barrel after him.

"Reid!" Ollie yells from behind me just as I'm about to turn the corner. She catches up to me easily, slamming into my back and getting a firm grip on my arm. "We have to go! Stop this!"

I don't say anything and rip away from her, running faster this time. I make it around the corner, my lungs burning.

I freeze at the gunshot.

Luke crumples, his side slamming into the stone ground as he lets out a heart wrenching gasp of pain. Maverick stands above him, gun in hand, still pointed at Luke. The group of men around Maverick all begin swarming Luke, grabbing at him.

No.

Luke groans, clutching his bleeding shoulder as a crimson pool forms around him. It soaks through his shirt, coating his hands. He rolls onto his other side and faces me. I stare at him, and his eyes widen.

"Reid," he breathes out, scrambling to sit up. "Run!" His voice gets loud.

"Get him out of here," Maverick snaps as one of the men grabs Luke, hauling him onto his feet. Luke doesn't break eye contact with me and continues struggling to pull away.

Maverick looks up at me, raising his gun. "You shouldn't have come back," he says, glaring at me. "He can't be saved anymore."

Ollie's hands are on my arms, pulling me away from the hallway. I watch as the men drag a shouting Luke away.

"Luke!" I scream.

A bullet chips at the wall next to my head.

"Final warning!" Maverick shouts, cocking his gun for a second shot. "I won't miss this time!"

"Go!" Luke yells, frantically shaking his head. I can see the fight in him wavering. "Now! Get out of here!"

Ollie doesn't let go this time. She pulls me with more force than she used before and drags me out of the house. I'm too shocked to fight back.

Sometime during the chaos, Ollie got the keys. She unlocks the car and pulls both of us inside as she awkwardly adjusts herself into the car seat. She turns on the car and barrels out of the driveway, darting through the open gate.

"We're going to the airport," Ollie says before I can ask, or even think.

She hands me an unlabeled envelope. I remember it now. It was the same envelope Luke gave her when we first came to his house.

He knew this would happen?

Ollie explains the contents of the envelope as I open it.

"It's a plane ticket and three hundred dollars cash," she says. "That should get you to where you need to go. Oh." She reaches into her pocket and pulls out my phone. "Here. And put this on."

She throws me a clean black shirt that was hiding in one of the car's compartments. I put it on immediately, tossing my bloody shirt to the floor of the car. The memory of it sends chills up my spine and pain shooting through my side.