“Tell us, Doctor, or the Marine here is a dead man. I think you know we’ll do it.”
Well, shit.
They had to have gotten his military file in the house, and Poe knew it was bad.
“I really don’t have it. I only have my brother’s things.”
They took Gamble to the ground, and six guys pummeled him.
Poe couldn’t do it.
He couldn’t watch him die.
“Please. Stop. I’ll get you all of the things I took that were Hemmingway’s. Please just stop hurting him. He’s not part of this,” he admitted.
Poe knew he had to save him. Gamble was better, but he wasn’t ‘have a bunch of men beat him’ better.
Who would be?
At his words, they oddly listened.
Gamble gasped for breath from the ground.
“Poe, don’t,” he whispered. “They’re going to kill us both anyway,” he said, knowing he failed.
Gamble didn’t save them.
Only, Poe knew what he needed to do. If he could draw most of them away from Gamble, he might have a fighting chance to overcome them and escape.
This was about buying time for Gamble.
“I’ll go with you,” he said. “I’ll take you back to my house and I’ll give you everything that I took from my parent’s estate. I’ll help you find it.”
The man laughed.
“Oh, well, that’s convenient.”
Here’s where he took a chance.
“I only ask you let him live. Take me instead, since he’s only a patient of mine. He was only at my home being rehabbed. That’s it.”
It was the ultimate sacrifice, and truthfully, Poe couldn’t lose another person.
Would they kill Gamble?
He wasn’t sure, but if he took half the men here, that gave Gamble a chance to get free.
“Please. I swear. He’s just a patient,” he said, staring Gamble in the eyes. “He hasNOTHINGto do with this. He’s a soldier like most of you. I’ll take the responsibility of whatHemmingway did. I’ll help your boss find the key if you let him live.”
That seemed to resonate with them.
“No tricks?”
He shook his head.
“I swear. Just don’t hurt him. He’s innocent.”
And he loved him.
