Page 94 of Keeping Penny

The next ten minutes were spent dealing with the arrival of the police, thanking the fishermen for taking care of Bowie until Penny could get there, and making sure Bowie wasn’t scared out of her wits by the shrieking ambulance. The paramedics were awesome, and they had her laughing within a couple minutes of her sitting on the stretcher in the back of the ambulance.

Overall, her little girl was doing amazingly well. She had scrapes on her knees as well as her palms, she was hungry, tired, and dirty, but not seriously hurt. And Penny knew without a doubt it was because of Pyro. He’d protected her, just as he promised he would. But in doing so, he’d left himself vulnerable. He was still in the hands of the people who’d taken them with the intention of doing him great harm. Selling him. Possibly even killing him, since they had to know by now that Bowie had escaped.

Her worry for him was overwhelming.

“Hang in there, Penny,” Mandy said, putting her arm around her shoulders.

Bowie was currently giggling as the female paramedic let her listen to her heartbeat through a stethoscope, as the other medic got the paperwork ready for Penny to sign, declaring she didn’t want her daughter transported to the hospital.

“The guys will find him. I know it. They might be the best pilots the Army has, but they’re also damn good soldiers. And no one messes with one of their own,” Mandy said softly.

Penny nodded, though her anxiety didn’t wane. Losing Pyro, when she and Bowie had just found him, wasn’t something she wanted to contemplate.

The wail of sirens cut through the quiet morning once again…and they sounded close.

Penny’s gaze met Edge’s.

“Is that…” she whispered.

“I don’t know.”

But they both knew what it was. Bowie had walked from the house where she’d been held, which couldn’t be that far from where they were now.

“Can we go? We need to go!” Penny said urgently, needing to see where those sirens were heading. Needing to know what was happening.

“I think we should stay here, wait to hear from Casper or one of the others,” Edge said.

“No,” Mandy said firmly. “We have to go. You need to help, Edge.”

He wanted to. Penny could see it in his body language.

“Pyro would murder me if I exposed you to any kind of danger,” he said. “Especially after he worked so hard to get Bowie out of there.”

“We aren’t going to get in the way. By the sounds of it, the police will get there before us anyway. But we can see where they are and stay back until they secure the scene.” Penny had heard that term on a crime show or two. She had no idea how things really worked at an active kidnap-rescue situation, but she had to see for herself if Pyro was okay. And if he wasn’t⁠—

No. She shoved that thought away. He’d be okay. He had to be.

“Please, Edge?” she begged.

“Fuck. Okay. But you, Mandy, and Bowie stay in the truck. I mean it. You don’t get out until I come get you. If you can’t agree to that, I’m taking you straight back to your apartment.”

“I swear,” Penny said without hesitation. She’d do whatever it took to get to Pyro.

The paramedics finished up with Bowie, and she climbed out of the back of the ambulance. Her hands and knees had been cleaned and she had a smile on her face. Then she paused, her head tilted, and she said, “More sirens, Mommy.”

“I hear them, sweetheart. Are you ready to go?” She wasn’t about to tell Bowie they were going back to the house where she’d been held captive, or even mention Pyro’s name. If he wasn’t all right, she didn’t want Bowie to know.

They all piled back into Edge’s truck and pulled out of the parking lot. Mandy was in the front seat now, and Penny was in the back with Bowie. She had her arm around her daughter, and she pressed her lips to the top of her head. Bowie leaned into her, and Penny realized she had to be exhausted. She’d been up for who knows how long, walking in a strange area, filled with fear and adrenaline as she tried to find help for herself and Pyro. She really should get Bowie home…

Some people might call her a terrible parent, but the need to see Pyro was too overwhelming.

Closing her eyes, Penny prayed he was okay. That this nightmare would be over soon…for all three of them.

* * *

Pyro was losing. And it pissed him off.

He wasn’t losing because the man he was fighting was bigger and stronger, or because he was better at hand-to-hand combat. It was because Pyro had lost so much blood. The concrete floor of the basement was covered in blood, both his and his opponent’s. They’d both managed to make contact with the sharp edges of their blades. But the wound in Pyro’s thigh and his broken leg were definitely having an effect on his ability to fight.