Page 98 of Keeping Kara

There were a lot of people in the small cabin now, but Kara only had eyes for one man.

“Here, use this,” someone said.

Arrow’s gaze was locked on hers. Black was slowly creeping in at the edges of her vision, but she refused to let go.

“Hurry, Buck! Cut the rope!” Chaos shouted.

The pressure on her throat disappeared immediately and Kara opened her mouth to gasp, but again, no air flowed down her throat.

She felt herself being lowered to the ground, her hands still restrained at her waist, but that was the least of her worries right now.

“Breathe, Kara! The rope’s gone, you can do this. You have to do this. For me. I’m here. I’ve got you.”

She wanted to. Desperately, but no matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t suck in air.

The last thing she saw before her eyes closed and she gave in to the inevitable, was Arrow’s face above hers, his brows furrowed as he stared at her with love and concern, and not a little bit of panic.

* * *

Chaos didn’t spare a glance for Nolan Colins, who’d been shot by two of the SWAT officers after he’d pulled a knife from a holster at his back and spun back toward Kara, clearly to finish what he’d been doing when they’d all burst into the cabin—murdering the woman strapped to the wall like a piece of beef in a butcher’s shop.

All his focus was on Kara. He could see finger-shaped bruises around her throat, but it was the rope digging into her flesh that was the biggest concern to him. He could see her desperately trying to breathe, with no luck.

“Here, use this,” one of the officers said, holding a knife out to Chaos. But he couldn’t let go of Kara long enough to grab it.

“Hurry, Buck! Cut the rope!” he said desperately.

Within seconds, the cord around her neck loosened and Chaos lowered her to the ground with Buck’s help. He hovered over her, begging her to breathe. His heart stopped beating in his chest when her eyes closed and she went limp.

“She’s not breathing!” he told his friend, panicking.

“She’s got a heartbeat,” Buck told him. “Rescue breathing, Chaos. Now!”

Chaos’s training kicked in and he moved to kneel beside Kara’s head. He tilted her head back, pinched her nose with his fingers, and covered her mouth with his own, forcing life-giving oxygen into her starved lungs.

He did it again. And again. Watching her chest rise and fall with each of his exhalations. He continued his breaths every five seconds, praying each time that she’d start breathing for herself.

“Chaos, stop. I think she’s breathing on her own.”

He was afraid to stop, but he loosened his fingers on her nose and lifted his head, staring at her chest, desperate to see it move.

And it did. It wasn’t a lot, but she was breathing.

The tears started, and Chaos didn’t give even the smallest shit. This was both the scariest moment of his life, and the happiest.

“The son of a bitch is dead, right?” Casper asked from behind him.

Turning, Chaos saw his team leader standing there with his pistol trained on Nolan, who was lying nearby, motionless and bleeding.

“He’s dead,” one of the SWAT officers confirmed. “Took one in the head and one in the heart.”

“Good. We need to get Kara to the hospital. Buck and Obi-Wan, you stay here with the officers. Pyro and I will take Kara and Chaos to the nearest medical center.”

“Before we left the choppers, we notified our chief of what was happening. He said he’d contact local PD with our location. We’ll be fine here until they arrive. Go,” the same SWAT officer said.

Without waiting for help, Chaos stood, then leaned over and gathered Kara into his arms. She wasn’t moving, wasn’t conscious, but she was still breathing. He kept his gaze glued to her chest to make sure of that. Her throat was a mess, swollen and bruised. She’d been through hell, and he refused to let her die now. Not when she’d made it this far.

He’d almost been too late. His sixth sense hadn’t been wrong. If they’d waited for backup, or if they hadn’t seen those images on the FLIR, she’d be dead right now. The thought was repugnant.