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“And now we know.” She slaps an oxygen mask over Minka’s face and applies bandages to the gash on her brow. “You’ve informed us, Detective. And the second we’re in house, I’ll let the trauma team know.”
“She needs surgery.” I lean closer and study Minka’s closed eyes. Her long lashes, kissing the tops of her cheeks. The smattering of blood on her neck, and the nicks from the glass I couldn’t stop.
Worse is the fact her face isn’t bleeding as much as I’d expect.
She hit her head a couple of months back, and it was like a fire hydrant being released. But today, there’s hardly anything.
“She’s already bled too much,” I choke out. I stroke her bruised wrist and scan her battered body. “There’s none left for the new cuts.”
“The hospital is expecting us.” The EMT bumps me back and makes her way along Minka’s body. “They’re aware of her injuries, and they’ll have factor packs ready to go. They’ll also pump her with a transfusion. She’s gonna be just fine.”
“One minute,” the driver calls from the front. “Get ready.”
“I want Doctor Cleary.” My throat turns hoarse, while somewhere in the back of my mind, I wonder about Slade. And his kid. And Cleary—Where the hell is she? “She knows Minka’s history.”
“We’ve relayed that, too.” The medic makes quick work of bandaging Minka’s various injuries to minimize bleeding, but she doesn’t touch the shoulder. Doesn’t even pull back the material of her blouse. “They’re aware and ready for us, Detective.”
“Thirty seconds!” Cars drive ahead of us as normal, puttering along like it’s noon and they’re out for a leisurely drive, rather than midnight and with an ambulance flying toward the hospital. “Trauma team is waiting for our arrival.”
“Patient is stable,” the woman murmurs. “We’re ready.”
I wonder where the security guard is. And Aubree. And the hostages I helped escape. I wonder where Tim is, and if he took Aubree to the hospital, or simply… away. To safety.
I study Minka’s hand, then her chest.
Then I think about her necklace.Does Slade still have it?
“Fuck.” I drop my head, and scrub a hand across my face while my own chain dangles free with the movement of the ambulance.
I should’ve gotten hers back. The wedding band. I should’ve thought to get it for her, so when she wakes, I could give it back.
I should’ve been faster. Stronger. Or better yet, shopped for Mia’s toy myself. Gone to the damn bank myself.Dammit!Minka should’ve been at home, resting, infusing, watching trash TV, and eating takeout while I took care of my own shit.
“We’re heading in now,” the medic announces. She mumbles orders into her radio and holds Minka’s bed when we bounce from road to driveway. Then we’re screeching to a stop, and the doors swing wide to reveal harsh bright lights. “And we’re moving.”
She shoves past me and unsnaps whatever keeps the stretcher secure in the van, while the driver flies out of the front seat and comes around so they’re both moving Minka.
A dozen doctors surge forward in scrubs, gowns, gloves, and masks. Everyone barks orders. I hear Minka’s name,hemophilia, trauma. Blood. Factor. Emergency. Finally, as we push through the hospital doors, they speak of her shoulder. After slamming her bed into a bay, they tear off her shirt so her simple black cotton bra stands out in stark contrast to her pale skin.
Pale, except for where she’s bruised. Which is every-fucking-where.
“We’re moving her up to OR three!” some doctor announces.
Not Doctor Cleary. Not the one I want. But the man’s word is absolute and gets everyone moving again.
“Twenty-eight years old,” someone else shouts. “Hemophilia patient. We’ll pump factor before we cut, but we have to start now or we risk hypovolemic shock.”
“Sir, you have to wait down here.” A nurse plants herself between me and Minka’s retreating bed, pressing her hands to my chest when I keep moving. “Sir!”
“I’m her husband.”
“You can’t follow her.”
“I’m a cop!” I’ll use whatever label I need. Whatever authority I can scrounge up. “That’s my case.”
“You still can’t—”
I stop by the security doors and glance down to meet the woman’s stare.I’m a man willing to kill for Minka Mayet.
