AllFreeNovel
Share Us
presumably Xander’s partner, if the way they communicated so easily was anything to go by—arrived in the vault, rushing over to tend to Victor and Rosalie as Xander dropped to Camila’s other side. “This place is swarming with cops, and Intelligence will be here in less than five minutes. For now, maybe let’s just get these two to the hospital.”
So many things Roman wanted to run with, there. But he could have the jurisdictional pissing match with the Intelligence Unit’s leader, Sergeant Sam Sinclair, once the guy arrived, and anyway, Xander was right. Getting Camila into an ambulance so she could be checked out by a doctor or six was of the most pressing importance.
“Oh, hi, Xander,” Camila said, snagging the cop’s attention. He dropped a wide-eyed stare to Camila’s face, concern taking over his expression for only a second before he blanked it.
“Camila?” He shot a nonverbal WTF at Roman that Roman promptly ignored. “Sorry, I didn’t know that was you. Quinn and Luke will be here in a second, okay? So will your brother. Just sit tight.”
She groaned. “I’m seriously fine.”
“You’re not fine,” Roman countered. His tone earned him some raised eyebrows from Xander, but oh look, Roman didn’t give one single fuck. “Your head is still bleeding, and you lost consciousness. You need to go to the hospital.”
“Hate to say it.” Xander leaned in, his smile probably much kinder than the scowl Roman knew he was wearing. “But Roman is right. At the very least, you’ll need to get checked out.” He turned and looked at his partner before Camila could protest. “You good?”
The officer, a petite woman with light brown skin who Roman would put in her early forties, gave Xander a look that suggested she was very rarelynotgood. “Rosalie, here, is doing just fine. Victor, too.”
Voices filtered over the radio at her shoulder, echoed by the one on Xander’s gear, and he nodded, then looked at Camila. “Paramedics are here.”
Relief flooded Roman’s chest as Xander turned toward the two-way and responded with their location in the vault, requesting a second gurney. Two paramedics, who Roman recognized as a husband and wife team he’d met the same night he and Camila had engaged in their flirt-a-thon last year, moved briskly over the threshold. The blonde headed their way, jump bag at the ready, while her husband moved toward Rosalie.
“Hey, Xander. Oh.” Her blue eyes rounded in surprise as she caught sight of Roman, still stabilizing Camila’s head and neck. “Okay, the FBI is here. It’s a party.”
“Roman was in the bank when it was robbed,” Xander said, while the woman—Quinn, Roman remembered—rushed forward. “So was Garza’s sister, unfortunately.”
Quinn’s brows shot upward, but she didn’t falter as she knelt by Camila’s shoulder, opposite Xander. “Hi, Camila. It’s me, Quinn. I need to take a quick look at you and see what we’re dealing with, here. Is that okay?”
“Yes,” Camila said. “But please make sure Rosalie is okay, too. She had an asthma attack.”
“Luke’s with her,” Quinn promised, looking across the vault just long enough to get the thumbs-up from her husband. “She’s in great hands. Speaking of which”—Quinn did a lightning-fast assessment of Roman’s hold on Camila’s head—“it looks like Agent Roman’s got you pretty stabilized, so can you tell me if you’re in any pain?”
Quinn did a rapid trauma assessment, asking a handful of questions as she expertly slid a C-collar around Camila’s neck, then took her vitals and replaced Roman’s makeshift bandage with sterile gauze pads. Of course, Camila didn’t giveQuinnany shit when she asked if Camila was sure she didn’t have any other pain. But the paramedic earned a lot of points from Roman when she got to the next bit.
“Okay, Camila. I’m going to get a backboard to stabilize you fully while we take a ride to Remington Mem.”
“I’m fine,” Camila protested, but nope. Roman had had enough.
“You’renot,” he argued, ignoring the looks he got from both Quinn and Xander in return.
Quinn responded first. “I think what Agent Roman istryingto say is that you’ve been through a lot.” The glance she shot his way told him in no uncertain terms to stay quiet, and he bit his tongue, but only because they were wasting time.
Quinn continued, “You’re awake and alert, and those are both really good things. But adrenaline is tricky. It can make you feel fine even when you’re not. Plus, you lost consciousness, so by rule, I have to take you to be checked out. I know it sucks.” She squeezed Camila’s hand. “But the docs at Remington Mem are the best. Trust me, you want them to take a look. If you’re okay, they’ll give you the green light to go home. I promise.”
“Fine,” Camila whispered, her eyes filling with tears that she furiously blinked away, and God damn it, Roman was going to make sure they melted the key once he brought these assholes in and locked them up. He forced himself to focus on the step-by-step of helping Quinn get Camila strapped to the backboard and gurney she and Luke had brought into the vault upon arrival. Another pair of paramedics had arrived to help Rosalie, which left Roman to very reluctantly step back from Camila as Quinn and Luke prepared her for transport. They were the experts, though, and he’d already lost precious minutes on the hunt for these bank robbers. Roman turned to call his boss and secure jurisdiction over this case once and for all, but a very angry, very familiar voice cut through his thoughts to claim his full attention.
“Where is she?” Matteo Garza asked, rushing into the vault a nanosecond later.
Camila tensed on the gurney, which made Roman tense in return, and seriously, what waswrongwith his ability to compartmentalize today?
“I hope you have a sedative in that bag,” Camila muttered to Quinn as Garza ran over, his jaw cranked tight. “A big one.”
“Jesus. Camila.” Grabbing her hand, he turned toward Quinn while something very protective and weird unfolded in Roman’s gut. “Is she okay? Tell me she’s okay.”
“I’m fine, Matteo,” Camila said, tacking on a slightly irritated, “also, I’m right here. Awake and everything. Just in case you wanted to askmeif I’m okay.”
“You’re bleeding from a head wound that you sustained in an armed bank robbery, Camila. Nothing about that is fine,” Garza pointed out, and huh. For the first time ever, he and Roman agreed on something.
Camila sighed. “Okay, yes. I have a bump on my head. But it’s not a big deal. Rosalie, the bank manager? She had an asthma attack and couldn’t evenbreatheuntil she got her inhaler. That’s far worse.”
“Rosalie the bank manager isn’t my baby sister.” Garza looked at Quinn again. “You’re taking her to the hospital, right?”
