Murphy hissed and went to him, her voice raw. “Jared.”

Jared. Huh.

“Dresden.” Kincaid gasped. “Dresden.”

They laid him down, and I shambled over. I managed not to fall down on him as I knelt beside him. I’d seen him wounded before, but it hadn’t been as bad as this. He’d used the tape the same way, though. I checked. Sure enough, there was a roll of tape hanging from a loop on Kincaid’s equipment harness.

“Just like the vampire lair,” I said quietly.

“No claymores here,” Kincaid said. “Should have had claymores.” He shook his head and blinked his eyes a couple of times, trying to focus them. “Dresden, not much time. The girl. They got out with her. She’s alive.”

I grimaced and looked away.

His bloody hand shot out and seized the front of my coat. “Look at me.”

I did.

I expected rage, hate, and blame. All I got was a look of…just, desperate, desperate fear.

“Go after them. Bring her back. Save her.”

“Kincaid…” I said softly.

“Swear it,” he said. His eyes went out of focus for a second, then glittered coldly. “Swear it. Or I’m coming for you. Swear it to me, Dresden.”

“I’m too damned tired to be scared of you,” I said.

Kincaid closed his eyes. “She doesn’t have anybody else. No one.”

Murphy knelt down by Kincaid across from me. She stared at me for a moment, then said quietly, “Jared, rest. He’s going to help her.”

I traded a faint, tired smile with Murphy. She knows me.

“But—” Kincaid began.

She leaned down and kissed his forehead, blood and all. “Hush. I promise.”

Kincaid subsided. Or passed out. One of the two.

“Dresden, get out of the way,” Gard said in a patient voice.

“Don’t tell me you’re a doctor,” I said.

“I’ve seen more battlefield injuries than any bone-saw-flourishing mortal hack,” Gard said. “Move.”

“Harry,” Murph said, her voice tight. “Please.”

I creaked to my feet and shambled over to Michael and Sanya, who stood looking out at the dolphins and the little whales in the big pool. The water level had dropped seven or eight feet, and the residents were giving the newly inundated area of the pool a wide berth. If the presence of the rotting thing behind me made the water feel anything like the air was starting to smell, I couldn’t blame them.

“He looks pretty bad,” I told them.

Michael shook his head, his eyes distant. “It isn’t his time yet.”

I spocked an eyebrow and gave him a look. Sanya gave him one very nearly as dubious as mine.

Michael glanced at me and then back out at the water. “I asked.”

“Uh-huh,” I said quietly.

Sanya smiled faintly and shook his head.

I glanced at him. “Still agnostic, huh?”

“Some things I am willing to take on faith,” Sanya said with a shrug.

“Luccio took down two,” I told Michael. “What’s the count?” I didn’t need to be any more specific than that.