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The sound of propellers sounded in the distance, and it grew louder and louder as the chopper approached. When wind started to blow my hair into my eyes, I knew they were landing behind me.
But it was too late.
The helicopter landed, the engine shut off, and then the wind died down. The medics left the chopper and ran to us to start their procedures.
As hard as it was, I let go.
I stepped back, my hands dripping with his blood. I turned around to embrace Raven, but then I realized she wasn’t there. I was alone. I’d thought I would always have my brother, but now I didn’t. I watched the guys stare at us from a respectable distance, assuming the worst.
That the boss was dead.
They placed Fender on a stretcher and lifted him from the ground to carry him into the chopper. I walked at the rear, assuming all they could do was take him to the morgue at this point.
They placed all the equipment on his body, taking his blood pressure, his pulse, putting oxygen into his nose. They got the monitor working. One of the medics said, “He’s got a pulse.”
I stilled at the announcement.
“It’s weak. Probably won’t make it to the hospital. If we can give him some blood, he might hold on.”
The engine started, and the propellers started to spin.
The medic turned to me. “Are you coming?”
I turned around and gave the orders to the men before I climbed into the helicopter and shut the door. Fender looked dead, looked like there was no hope, but there was still a chance…even though it was so small. “What can I do?”
The helicopter lifted from the ground and rose above the forest on its way back to the city.
One medic got an IV line going, while the other pulled out vials and medications.
“Do you know what his blood type is?” the medic asked.
“Yeah,” I answered. “A positive.” I only knew that because mine was the same.
The medic turned to the cabinet and searched the packets of blood. “We’re out.”
“Take mine.”
The medic turned to me. “You have the same?”
I shouted over the engine. “Yeah.”
“Alright. Take a seat. We have to do this fast.”
I sat down at the table and extended my arm, directly beside my fading brother. “Stay with me, alright?”
The medic started the process. “Don’t get your hopes up. I don’t think he’s going to make it.”
When we landed at the hospital, the medical team rushed him into the operating room right away. No one said anything to me. No one gave me false assurances. He was just taken away.
All I could do was sit in the waiting room and stare at the floor.
For injuries of this magnitude, we couldn’t use our own medical team. We needed surgeons and equipment to get this done. It wasn’t a simple bullet in the arm that could be pulled out with tweezers and an old-fashioned suture kit.
He would probably die on the table.
I didn’t know what to do. The girls didn’t have a cell phone, so I had no way to reach them. I could call Miranda and have her go by the place and bring them here, but by the time they arrived, he might already be dead. Raven wouldn’t care less about my brother’s demise, but she would care about my sorrow. And Melanie would care, obviously.
I couldn’t bring myself to talk on the phone, so I texted Miranda and told her what to do.
Then I waited.
I hadn’t moved from my spot in over an hour, staring at the floor and remembering the final fight with Napoleon. That man had always been a liar. He’d purposely made us underestimate him. There was no mistake; he was a force to be reckoned with. He was savage, brutal, straight-up evil.
I wished Fender had believed me. I didn’t know Napoleon was all those things, but I always knew I didn’t like him.
It was a hunch. It was instinct.
I heard a distressed voice coming from my right. “Please help me. I’m looking for my fiancé. I guess he’s in surgery?”
I rose to my feet and walked over to the check-in counter. “He’s here. Just waiting for news.” I’d washed the blood off my hands, but there were still drops on my shirt. My clothing was black so it was hard to see, but it was there, like drops of rain.
Melanie turned to me, her eyes already overflowing with tears, terror in her gaze, looking like she’d lost everything that mattered to her. “Is he going to be okay? What happened? Did you kill the motherfucker who did this to him?” Raven stood behind her, her hand on her sister’s arm but her eyes on mine. She wanted to move into my chest and embrace me, but I was the one clearly uninjured, and her sister needed her right now.
