464 Get Rid of the Body

Seeing Chris on the ground all bloody, black and blue with bruises, and pale as a ghost was very unexpected. Katherine and Damien stared at him, wondering what the hell happened when they just saw him not long ago. Half of Chris's body leaned against a wall and his lower half sprawled against the ground, his hand pressing the wound on his right side.

They were shocked and couldn't decide right away whether they should help him or not. It could be a trap and they surely weren't ready for any surprises or whatever they were about to face.

It was Damien who got over the shock first and did the rational thing he could think of. "I'll call an ambulance," he said as he was already dialing 911 on the phone when he heard Chris speak.

"No. No… hospitals. Parker…" He grimaced and groaned, and the couple exchanged looks when they heard him mention Parker's name.

"911. What's your emergency?" An operator came on the speaker from Damien's phone. Upon hearing Chris's statement, he quickly went to inform the operator, "Sorry, there's no emergency. I dialed by mistake." Then, he ended the call.

"What did you say?" Katherine probed at Chris.

"Parker… has men swarming all over the city… I can't—Argggh!" He groaned once again.

"What do you mean? Parker did this to you?"

When Chris cried out in pain again, she turned to the man next to her, "Damien…"

"We can't take him upstairs," he said, and she knew why they couldn't. It was too risky and they did not know what was going on yet.

"So, what do we do? We can't just leave him there…" she muttered, glancing over Chris who was getting paler by the second. He must be losing a lot of blood.

Damien tapped his phone several times and spoke as soon as the receiver picked up, "Meet me at the east entrance of Hillcrest now." Ending the call, he turned to Katherine and told her, "First, let's get him inside the car."

She nodded and without any more delay, they went over to Chris and helped him up from the ground. She was thankful that she had changed out of the dress when her own clothes now had his blood on them.

"Isn't... Hillcrest… hospital?" Chris asked in between breaths as Katherine and Damien assisted him towards the car. Each step he took was agonizing because apart from the wound on his right, he also had one on his left leg. "Ngnnnh… No… Hospitals…" he said under gritted teeth.

Damien was not having any of Chris. He was already pissed at the fact that he came back and now they were helping him. "Shut up or I'll leave you on the streets to die. Don't tempt me."

Katherine and Damien managed to get Chris at the backseat of the Range Rover where he leaned on the backrest. She climbed on the passenger's seat and Damien drove them to Hillcrest Hospital. He sped through the traffic, maneuvering along the length of the busy road and ignoring the traffic lights. Despite loathing Chris, he couldn't have him die on the way.

"Why did Parker send his men to get you?" Katherine asked.

"Not… not just his men, Katherine…" Chris answered. "He sent the Vertex."

Hearing the term, she snapped her head towards Chris, her eyes growing wide as the thought registered in her brain. "Why? Why would he send them to you?"

"What's the Vertex?" Damien questioned.

Katherine was still in shock but she replied, "It's a team of assassins. The best of the best among the agents in Shadow. They're an elite team of three members. Everyone aimed to be part of this team as they would get almost all of the highly ranked missions… But the only way to be one is if one of them dies or is canceled."

A small smile spread across Chris's face when he added, "And Katherine was a candidate to replace any one of them who would be out of commission. It was only a matter of time… until she decided to bomb the base."

Hearing all this information, Damien glanced at Katherine who met his curious stare, thinking about how she was back when she was still in Shadow.

At one point, she did aim to be one of the Vertex. She didn't want to remember her days in Shadow at the moment, so she faced Chris again and repeated, "Why did Parker send Vertex to you? Did he find out about what you were doing?"

"Are you worried about me?" Chris smiled and coughed then his eyes closed as he mumbled, "I knew you don't really hate me…"

Katherine frowned and Damien glanced at him through the rearview mirror. The man still had the audacity to joke at this point while he was in such a condition.

"Don't get me wrong. I only want you to live so I can kill you myself," she said.

Chris laughed in response, but his laugh was forced and he coughed harshly. The next second, he fainted and fell sideways to the cushion.

"Damien…" she called upon seeing the unconscious Chris.

Then, Damien floored the gas pedal and the vehicle zoomed past the road.

Katherine unbuckled her seatbelt and climbed to the backseat of the car to check on Chris. "He's still breathing, but his pulse is very weak." She removed the scarf that was on her neck and pressed it onto his wound, putting pressure on it.

Damien glanced at the rearview mirror again and said, "We're almost there."

Soon, the Hillcrest Hospital sign was visible through the windshield, and he headed towards the east entrance where he asked Jeffrey Evans to meet him. Luckily, Jeffrey was still in the hospital and Damien could see him standing by a post, donned in his white lab gown, waiting for them. The Range Rover screeched to a stop in front of Jeffrey.

"Why did you want to meet me here? Is everything okay?" Jeffrey asked. 

Damien swiftly got out of the car with his engine still on. He rounded the vehicle and opened the door to the back seat, then he told his friend, "Jeff, I need your help."

Jeffrey, who still had no idea what was going on, saw the blood on Damien's clothes. "What happened?" He watched the other step aside after opening the back seat, revealing Katherine with a man next to her who was unconscious and had blood all over. He widened his eyes as his mind ran wild at the possibility of what was happening in front of him.

Without taking his eyes off the bloody sight, Jeffrey blurted, "Shît. Who is that? Is he dead?! Do you need my help to get rid of his body? Is that why you're here?"