Page 55 of Ryder’s Storm

The moment Scarlet stepped around the SUV, she saw a young woman crouched down next to another woman. Even though there were no streetlights, light from the buildings backing up to the alley provided sufficient illumination for her to see that both women were covered in blood. Shock raced through her body.

“Nessie,” Ryder called out and joined them.

“Thank God you’re here,” Vanessa said. “I can’t stop the bleed. I’ve already given her my—” She stopped abruptly, her gaze landing on Scarlet.

Ryder looked over his shoulder. “Scarlet, please stay in the car.”

“I can help.” And by the looks of it, the injured woman needed all the help she could get.

“Is that her?” Vanessa asked her brother.

“Yes, that’s Scarlet.”

“You brought her? Are you insane?” Vanessa ground out under her breath, but Scarlet heard it nevertheless.

Ryder shot her a scolding look. “Nessie!”

Vanessa met Scarlet’s eyes. “Nothing personal, Scarlet, but this is not for the faint of heart.”

“If you can handle it, so can I,” Scarlet said. After all, Ryder’s sister couldn’t be any older than herself. And Scarlet had never been squeamish around blood.

The injured woman moaned in pain.

“We’ve got you, Lizzy,” Vanessa said. “We’ll take care of you.”

Scarlet stepped closer, and watched as the two siblings put pressure on the woman’s wounds and applied tourniquets with strips of ripped fabric. From what Scarlet could see in the dim light, she was bleeding profusely from her neck and her chest. Her hands, lying by her sides, were bloody too as if she’d fought with her attacker. Scarlet’s eyes fell on the woman’s clothes and shoes: a hyper-short skirt, high heels, and stockings. Her top, which was soaked in blood was low cut. She didn’t want to judge, but if her clothes were anything to go by, then this woman was a prostitute.

Scarlet guessed that a potential customer had done this to her. A fucking psychopath! As part of her undergraduate degree, she’d studied the profiles of men who attacked prostitutes. Psychopaths who found pleasure in hurting women who were already down on their luck. Her heart went out to the girl.

“She needs an ER. Now, or she’s gonna bleed out,” Scarlet said, concerned. Nobody deserved that, no matter how they made their living.

“No,” Ryder said firmly. Then he looked at his sister. “Did you call ahead?”

“Mom is waiting at HQ for us. She’s prepping for surgery.”

“Then let’s get her in the car. You drive,” Ryder said. “I’ll stay in the back with her to keep pressure on her wounds.”

Scarlet watched how Vanessa and Ryder carried the gravely injured woman to the car and put her on the back seat with her head on Ryder’s lap, while he pressed his hand on Lizzy’s neck wound.

Vanessa slammed the door shut, then nodded to Scarlet. “Let’s go.”

The moment Scarlet sat in the passenger seat and closed the car door, Vanessa was already stepping on the gas. Scarlet didn’t even have time to put her seatbelt on. Vanessa was driving just as fast as Ryder had on the way here. At the next intersection the signal was turning red, but Vanessa didn’t slow down. Instead she hit a button on the dashboard, and a police siren sounded, accompanied by flashing blue and red lights. Scarlet was stunned by it. She’d had no idea that Ryder’s car practically turned in to a police cruiser.

“Nessie!” Ryder called out from the back seat. “Don’t drive like an old lady. Step on it!”

Finally, Scarlet managed to click the seatbelt in. Just in time, because now Vanessa raced through the streets, dodging obstacles with such skill that Scarlet wondered if Vanessa was a professional race car driver. Vanessa’s reaction speed was something Scarlet had never seen in anybody before.

Scarlet was glad to be strapped into the passenger seat now, or she would be in danger of flying through the windshield when Vanessa hit the brakes and then made a ninety-degree turn.

“How’s she holding on?” Vanessa asked.

“Barely,” Ryder said. “Her pulse is getting weaker. How much did you give her?”

“A couple of ounces,” Vanessa replied with a quick sideways glance at Scarlet.

“She needs more,” Ryder said.

“More of what?” Scarlet asked, looking over her shoulder.