Down: Trilogy Box Set (156 page)

“Help him!” she shouted.

The medic got to John the same time Trevor and Ben got to Trotter. They wrestled the gun away from him and took him down to the floor. Trevor punched him over and over and would have killed him if Yates hadn’t pulled him off.

“Get me those,” Yates shouted, pointing at a pack of zip ties the MI5 agents had left behind the day of their transfer.

Ben kicked the pistol aside and after binding Trotter hand and foot, he collapsed on the floor and put his head in his hands.

The medic ripped John’s shirt open and saw the wound, just below his sternum. He tried to put pressure on it but the blood kept coming.

“I used both bags of fluid on her,” the medic said helplessly.

Yates grabbed the headset and said, “This is Captain Yates. We’ve got a gunshot victim. We need emergency services. What’s your ETA? That’s not good enough. We need a trauma team now.”

Emily was kneeling beside John. He lifted an arm and made a small gesture for her to come closer.

“Emily,” he whispered, “I love you.”

Through her tears she said, “I love you too. More than you’ll ever know.”

“I’m dying,” he said weakly. She had never heard his voice so small.

“No you’re not.”

“I am. I need to tell you something.”

“No!”

“Please.”

She nodded.

“I’m going there.”

“Where?”

“I’m going to Hell. I killed a man. In Afghanistan.”

“You were a soldier,” she whispered desperately. “Soldiers in wars don’t go to Hell. You know that.”

“It was murder. I murdered a man. I threw him out of a helicopter. I’m definitely going. I’m …”

He stopped talking, his eyes were still looking into hers but they saw nothing.

“John!” she screamed. “No!”

The medic put his ear to John’s chest, straining to hear a heartbeat. He shook his head.

“Oh Jesus,” Trevor wailed. “Oh my God!”

No one but Trotter saw Emily stumble toward the spot where Ben had kicked the pistol.

No one but him saw her pick up the gun.

When he shouted “No, don’t!” it was too late for anyone to stop her putting a bullet into Trotter’s brain.

And it was too late for anyone to stop her from putting the gun to her own temple and pulling the trigger.

They were in Dartford village in the middle of the muddy road just outside Dirk and Duck’s cottage.

John looked at Trotter and he looked at Emily.

“What did you do, Emily?” John shouted. His eyes filled with tears. “Tell me what you did?”

“I did what I had to do,” she said. “I did what I wanted to do.”

Trotter pushed himself up from the mud. He opened his mouth a few times, gasping like a fish pulled from the water.

Then he ran.

John caught him in a few strides and began to strangle him.

“You’re not going to die. You know that, don’t you?” John shouted as he crushed his throat. Trotter’s face turned the color of a bruise and his eyes bulged. “I’m going to leave you in a fucking ditch. The animals and the bugs are going to eat your flesh. You’re going to suffer and suffer and suffer and suffer.”

John’s hands were shaking with the exertion and when he let go, Trotter fell face first into a muddy puddle.

John went to Emily and held her. “Why did you do this? Why did you throw your life away?”

“I didn’t want a life without you.”

“But this?”

She kissed him. “At least we’ll be together forever.”

He repeated the word. “Forever.” Then he said, “Come on, let’s go.”

“Where to?”

“We’ll get some of those AK-47s our soldiers left behind.”

“And then?”

He took her hand and they began walking toward the river.

“Then we’ll find our friends in Francia and help Garibaldi win his war. After that, I don’t know. We’re going to have to figure that out together.”