Elemental Assassin 03 - Venom

something, anything, to her. Anything to keep her right where she was—
    “Gin! Gin!”
    A male voice shouted my name. A moment later, Finnegan Lane stepped underneath the yellow crime scene tape and hurried over to me. Finn wore his usual uniform of a perfectly fitted, impeccable suit. A navy one today, with a powder blue shirt underneath. Even in the semidarkness, the light color further brightened his green eyes, which always reminded me of the smooth, polished glass of a soda pop bottle. His walnut-colored hair just curled over the collar of his suit jacket in an artful array of thick, sexy locks.
    In addition to being my best friend, Finn was the son of my mentor, Fletcher Lane, the old man who’d taken me in off the streets years ago. An assassin himself, Fletcher had taught me everything I knew about my former profession.Finn was like a brother to me and one of the few people I trusted since the old man’s murder a couple of months ago. Even though I’d retired from being the assassin the Spider, Finn was also my handler now, for lack of a better word. I might not be dealing in the shady side of life anymore, but Finn kept me informed of any goings-on that might impact me—as well as his own lucrative schemes in the corporate world of investment banking that he inhabited.
    Finnegan Lane squatted down beside me and stared into my face. His green eyes swept over my bloody features, analyzing and assessing the damage just like his father, Fletcher, would have done once upon a time.
    “Geez,” Finn said. “I thought you looked bad yesterday. You look like shit tonight.”
    “Great to see you too, Finn,” I replied in a dry tone. “Yesterday I just had the flu. As you can see, it’s turned into something a bit more serious.”
    “Indeed,” Finn murmured. “Indeed. And you can tell me all about it later. Right now, we need to get you out of here. Xavier, if you would be so kind?”
    The giant nodded, put his free hand under my legs, and scooped me up into the air the way a child might pick up a wayward puppy. Finn held out his arms, and Xavier passed me over to him. They were being as easy and gentle as they could, but the movements hurt. Pain tightened my chest again, making it hard to breathe. Felt like one of my cracked ribs was scraping against my lungs. More blood also pooled in my mouth, but I swallowed it down. I was in enough agony already. I didn’t want to have to listen to Finn bitch about me spewing blood allover his precious suit too. At this point, my ears were just about the only part of me that didn’t burn with pain.
    Finn turned toward the crime scene tape, but Bria got to her feet and stepped in front of him.
    “Hold it,” she snapped. “She’s not going anywhere. The paramedics aren’t here yet, and she needs medical attention.”
    Finn did what he always did when confronted by an angry woman—he checked out her boobs. His green eyes landed on Bria’s breasts, analyzing and assessing them just the way he had my injuries a moment before. His lips curled back into a wolfish grin at the sight. If I’d felt stronger, I would have punched him for ogling my sister.
    Once Finn got his fill of Bria’s breasts, his green gaze drifted up to her face to check out the rest of the perky package. He’d seen the same photograph of Bria that I had. It took him a second to recognize her, but when he did, Finn’s smile cracked, then flaked off his face like old paint. He blinked a couple of times, trying to make sure he was seeing exactly what he thought he was. When he realized that it really was Bria, Finn immediately looked down at me to see if I’d noticed her, if I’d recognized her. I nodded the tiniest bit to him.
    “She’s not going anywhere. The paramedics aren’t here yet,” Bria repeated and stabbed her finger into Finn’s shoulder for emphasis.
    That got Finn’s attention. He didn’t like anyone messing with his clothes, unless they were female and taking them off him. “I’m taking her to an Air elemental healer, and she’s going to get the best medical attention there is in Ashland as soon as I get her out of here,” Finnsnapped. “Gin is my sister, and she’s coming with me. So back off, copper.”
    Back off, copper?
Geez. Finn had been watching too many old crime movies with Sophia Deveraux.
    Bria’s blue eyes narrowed. “Why don’t we leave it up to Gin? See what she wants to do?”
    Finn narrowed his own eyes in response. “Fine. She’ll tell you