Nothing but an eerie quiet greeted them the deeper they went. Then suddenly, he heard it. A pounding noise and a muffled voice called through the door at the end of the corridor.
Relief flooded him all at once. It had to be Lainey.
“I heard something. Check down there,” he told the SWAT leader standing beside him, and the men raced forward and busted the door down.
Sure enough, there was Lainey.
“Oh, thank God,” he muttered as he pushed through the small crowd to reach her. She was chained up to a chair, her head lolling down to her chest, her face riddled with bruises and cuts.
She lifted her head up when she heard Lawson’s voice, and a couple of the team set about trying to free her from her chains. Her dull eyes lit up and she tried to grin, though it turned into a grimace. Lawson could tell she was in a lot of pain.
“You found me,” she muttered through her swollen lips, her voice weak. Looked like they might have broken her jaw. Her face was so swollen and bruised, her eyes looked like a couple of seeds in a watermelon.
“I would never leave you behind, Lainey,” he promised her. “Come on, let’s get you out of here and checked out. Then we can get you back to your family.”
Still sitting, she fell forward into Lawson as soon as she was free. She was beaten up pretty badly and was holding her side, but she was alive. That was what mattered.
“Victor Granger’s done?” she asked him.
“He’s done,” he promised her. “You’re never going to have to deal with him again, except to testify against him in court and put him behind bars for the rest of his life.”
She squeezed her eyes shut, and a tear leaked down her face. With Lawson’s help, she got to her feet and gave him as much of a hug as she could, groaning through the pain it caused her.
“Thank you,” she breathed. “I wouldn’t have been able to do this without you, Lawson.”
“You’re welcome,” he replied sincerely as he put an arm around her and helped her limp toward the door. After being tied up for so long, he was sure her legs were starting to ache just from moving again.
He raised an eyebrow at her. “Just promise you haven’t got any more cases you’re going to drag me into, yeah?”
She tried to laughed. “I promise. After this, I think I’m done for life. I don’t want to look at another case again.”
“Let’s get you to the hospital,” he told her.
“Yes, please. Some type of pain meds sounds really good right about now,” she replied.
He chuckled and shook his head. “I’m sure the doctors can hook you up with some good stuff,” he replied firmly.
“I don’t want to put you out—these guys can take me,” she offered.
Lawson shook his head. “I think I’ll make sure you get there in one piece.” Besides, he needed to go there, anyway. He had his own injuries to get looked at.
And because that was where he’d find Sarah. He wanted to hold her, and tell her that, at last, it was all over.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Sarah paced back and forth in the waiting room as she counted out the minutes since Lawson had arrived. She wasn’t sure exactly how much longer it was going to take him to get patched up, but she felt as though she was going crazy while she waited.
He had arrived at the hospital nearly two hours ago with a woman she assumed was Lainey. They’d both been surrounded by medical personnel and taken back to the treatment area as soon as the staff got a look at them.
Sarah had already been looked at and patched up. Her hands had been tended to and disinfected, but she couldn’t go anywhere until she knew that Lawson was okay. She kept watching the doors they’d disappeared behind, willing Lawson to walk out.
“I’m sure he’s fine,” Hannah tried to reassure her. She was sitting on one of the hard plastic chairs that lined the wall, leaning into Xavier’s side.
“Yeah, I’m sure most of his injuries are superficial,” Xavier agreed. “You know he’d want you to go back to the lodge and get some rest.”
She shook her head. “I can’t go yet,” she replied firmly. “I need to know he’s okay.”
“Who’s okay?” a rough voice behind her asked.
