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Lake grinned widely. “Welcome aboard.” He held out his hand for his new partner to shake.
From the other side of the room, Harry spotted the exchange and gave him a thumbs-up.
Callum saw the gesture and groaned. Lake just chuckled as he drank the rest of his beer.
12
* Joe *
“Is anybody there? It’s Rainne here.”
The women in the master bedroom screamed en masse when a voice boomed out from the wall. Joe swung in the direction of the voice. Gun out.
For a second nobody moved.
“This is Rainne. We’re in the guardhouse. Can anybody hear me?”
“Caroline?” Joe barked.
“The intercom!” Caroline rushed for the old unit on the wall beside the bed. She flicked a switch. “We’re here. This is Caroline.”
“Thank goodness.” Lake’s sister sounded slightly tinny, and tight with emotion. “Is everyone okay? There was a guy out here with a gun. He shot at Alastair’s truck.”
“We’re okay. We’re holed up in the tower bedroom,” Caroline said. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah, we’re—”
Joe reached past Caroline and flicked the switch.
“Can they hear this conversation in the rest of the house?” The last thing he wanted was to broadcast their situation to the enemy.
Caroline shook her head. “Not now that I’ve answered. Now it’s just between here and the guardhouse.”
Joe relaxed slightly. “Okay.” He switched the intercom back on.
Kirsty pushed her way to Caroline. The redhead had circles under her green eyes that testified to weeks of sleeping badly. Tension radiated from her, and Joe suspected it wasn’t only due to the situation and her ruined wedding.
“Ask her if they’re injured,” Kirsty said.
“I can hear you, Kirsty,” Rainne said. “The truck rolled off the road. I’m okay, a few bruises, but Alastair is pretty banged up. He hurt his head. His wrist is swollen. I don’t know if it’s a sprain or something worse. His ribs are bruised too. He says they aren’t cracked or broken, but I’m not so sure.” Her voice was shaky. “He went to sleep a few minutes ago and hasn’t stirred. I don’t know what to do. What if he has a concussion? Should I try to make him wake up?”
“How’s his breathing, Rainne? This is Joe.” Joe stepped up beside them. He wasn’t sure how good the mic was on the old system.
“Steady, I think.”
“Is it raspy, slower than normal?”
“No.”
“Okay. What about nausea? Vomiting? Is his speech slurred?”
“No
nausea or vomiting. He slurred his speech a little when he first woke up, but it’s been normal since then.”
“Okay, that’s all good. I think he’s going to be fine, Rainne. Try not to worry. It doesn’t sound like his lungs are impaired. Let him rest. It’s probably just the warmth from the fire and the shock of his injuries that have wiped him out.”
“Aren’t you supposed to keep someone awake when they have a concussion?”
