Nightshine: A Novel of the Kyndred Read Online Free

assistance.
    Or the rich asshole told his driver to make a U-turn on the bridge and caused the accident, Charlie thought. That would be more logical.
    She needed to learn what she could before the sun rose, so she closed her eyes and listened. The blare of the rig’s sirens and her own fluttering heartbeat dwindled away and a different sound filled her thoughts.
    The thought stream came roaring through her. Can’t give in can’t let her be shot he won’t die she will the pain I can’t stand it damn it let me think.
    The agony he was feeling came along with his thoughts, and racked her with such intense pain that she almost doubled over. She managed to shut off the stream and looked at the CHP vehicle, but she couldn’t tell whether the thoughts were coming from the trooper.
    As Vince drove up behind the trooper’s car, Charlie’s eyes went into snapshot mode, taking in the scene with brief, intense glances. Car doors left hanging open. The flash of an orange taillight. Two bodies sprawled in the middle lane. A third lay half in, half out of the compact’s driver-side door. She focused on the most important elements at the scene—the victims—and began to assess. Bloodied clothes, slack faces, awkward positions. None of them moved.
    Death. Once more, the bridge was covered in it.
    “Shit.” Vince reversed, turning the rig so that they faced oncoming traffic, and switched on their front and side flashers. “You ready for this?”
    She nodded. “Go.”
    Charlie jumped out, running behind to yank open the doors and grab their carry-ins. She paused only long enough to stuff two handfuls of bandages into a side pocket before she trotted around and tossed Vince’s bag to him. Her partner ran to the two victims in the road while she went to the officer.
    “Officer, why are you . . .” She stopped as she saw the telltale spiderweb of cracks around the small hole in the patrolman’s front windshield, and the corresponding hole in the officer’s forehead. She reached in to check for a pulse that no longer beat before she grabbed her handheld. “Dispatch, Echo one-M-seven, EMP Charlie Marena, ten ninety-seven S-one pylon, ten one-oh-eight, officer down, GSW to the head, request immediate assistance—”
    Something cracked sharply, then whined in her ear as her radio unit exploded in her hand. At the same time a man’s voice shouted, “Get down.”
    Charlie wrenched open the trooper’s door and crouched behind it, looking out at Vince, who was trying to shield the victims with his own body.
    Another disjointed thought stream began jabbering inside her head: Golden giant midnight girl all here now master I see I can do this I can take them bring them have my reward live forever yes live forever at his side his forever always eternity yes I can do this forever and ever and ever.
    “Charlie.” Vince grabbed both bodies by the collars of their clothes and began dragging them toward her. “Shooter.”
    Staying crouched over as far as she could, she met her partner halfway and seized one of the bodies under the arms.
    “The cop?” Vince demanded.
    “Dead.” She saw her patient’s chest move and the blood oozing from the head wound of Vince’s vic. “But these two aren’t. Let’s move it.”
    They managed to drag the two victims behind the patrolman’s unit and grab Charlie’s bag before another shot rang out. This time it shattered the back window of the limo.
    As they went to work on the victims, Vince popped his head up to look around. “Did you see where he is?”
    There were no other vehicles at the scene, and hardly anyplace on the bridge where a gunman could hide. But the morning fog had effectively blanketed the bridge deck all the way past the south tower, so for all Charlie knew he could be standing out in the open on one of the walkways, or even atop the safety railing.
    As the gunman fired again, she grabbed Vince’s shoulder and jerked him down. “Careful.”
    “Always . . . right.” Her