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“I speak German,” I said. “If you need someone to talk to them.”
“Perfect,” Ajax replied. “Let’s move.”
He pulled the SUV to the right, bringing us onto a small dirt road that led to a farm in the distance. My gut tensed at the idea of pulling up onto some poor family’s property and demanding help. But there was nothing else to be done. Kid needed immediate medical attention.
The door to the farmhouse opened as the vehicle pulled to a squealing stop, dust from the tires kicking up into the air. An older couple, the man wiry and the woman stout with blonde curls, stood and watched what was unfolding.
Ajax turned to me. “Vic, tell them that we don’t mean any harm. We just need a place to do some quick surgery and bandaging, and that we’ll be out of their hair before they know it.”
By then, the couple had emerged from the house and come over to the side door of the car. I pulled it open and greeted them. The man asked “what is this?”in German, and I had to take a moment to recall what I knew of the language.
I told them that he was hurt. But as I prepared to tell them the rest, the woman’s eyes went to me.
“Die Prinzessin von Candara!”
She smiled, totally starstruck. The husband seemed less impressed, but when he looked back and saw Kid, he turned to me and barked out a command, telling me to get him out of the car, to come this way.
“What’re they saying?” Hud asked.
“They recognize me. And they want us to bring Kid with them. Come on!”
The man said something to the woman, who hurried into the house while the man stepped aside and gestured for us to bring Kid out of the car. He let a cry of pain as the boys eased him out of the back seat. It killed me to see him like that, to know he was in such agony.
“You guys get him in there,” Ajax said. “I’m going to pull the car around so no one can see it from the road.”
Once we were on our way, Ajax pulled off. The man led us toward the barn, holding open the doors and pointing toward a table, telling us to get Kid onto it. There were horses in the stable, snorts sounding here and there, and the scent of hay and manure thick in the air. Beams of light from the sun streamed in through the spaces in the wooden walls.
The man’s wife arrived right at the moment we had Kid on the table. She carried a black leather satchel, and I recognized it right away as a medical bag. She placed it on the table, and her husband wasted no time opening it and going to work. He cut through Kid’s shirt, exposing the wound on his shoulder.
I felt sick, knowing that one of the men was hurt because he’d been protecting me. It was a nightmare, and the idea of anything bad happening to Kid was enough to make my stomach tense with fear.
“What is it?” I asked. “Is it bad?”
The man held up a finger, indicating to wait, then went in for a closer look. He pressed on the edge of the wound, a bit of blood seeping out. Kid let out another cry of pain. Then the man said something, looking at the guys.
“What’d he say?” Hud asked.
“Lift him. He wants to get a look at the other side,” I said.
The boys did as they were asked, the man craning his head and peeking under. He then gestured for the guys to let Kid down, saying something to me as he did.
“He said it’s a clean wound, in one side and out the other. He said he missed an artery, but just by a little. And he’ll need some time to stitch it all up.”
“What’s the status?” Ajax asked, coming into the barn after parking the car.
I repeated the information to him, a wave of relief washing over his face as he took it all in.
“Thank God. Tell them ‘thank you.’ And…”
I passed the thanks along to the couple as Ajax thought the matter over.
“We need to try to get back to the house while they work on him,” he finally spoke.
“What?” Hud asked. “Why?”
Pyke seemed to understand, however. “Because this is going to take some time. And there’s too much gear at the house to risk letting it fall into the hands of anyone else. Ajax, you and I can go while Hud holds down the fort and watches the princess.”
“Please, be careful,” I said.
