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“Just go with it, Lainie. When you wake up, we’ll have a nice chat before you die.”
She passed out.
WHERE WAS LAINIE?He glanced up but saw nothing. Tate had not awakened after James had gotten his pulse back and was still hoveringbetween this world and eternity. James checked his phone again. Wonder of wonders, he had a signal.Thank you, Jesus.
He dialed 911 and got dispatch, gave their location, and told them to be aware of a possible shooter still in the area.
And then the call dropped. But he’d gotten what he needed. Now, he just needed Lainie to get back. He glanced at the Jeep once more.
No Lainie.
What was taking her so long?
A cold feeling started to build in his gut. “Lainie? You find it?”
No answer.
“Lainie!”
Where was she?
Take care of her—please, God.He checked Tate once more and his pulse was steady for the moment, but that didn’t mean it would stay that way. Did he dare leave him to go after Lainie?
Did he dare stay?
James stood, gasped, and went back to his knees. His leg screamed its protest and blood from the thigh wound dripped to the ground. With gritted teeth, he tried one more time, keeping most of his weight on his good leg, and managed to hobble to the bottom of the incline to look up. “Lainie! Answer me!”
The sirens in the distance reached him and he looked back at his phone. Still no signal. He vowed to get a SAT phone as soon as he and Lainie got out of this situation.
“Lainie!”
His voice hoarse from calls and his throat raw, he contained the scream battling for release and scrambled back to Tate.
The sirens pulled closer, and within seconds he heard his name on his partner’s lips. “James!”
“Down here. He’s got Lainie and I’ve got a seriously wounded guy here and need a basket. Check on the officers who went over the side a few yards back from where we went over.”
“Hold on!”
Paramedics appeared and began their descent.
“Get a rope and drop it over. Then pull me up!” He was climbing up on his own no matter how much his leg wanted to remind him that it was probably a bad idea.
A rope dropped over the side and slapped the ground next to him. He glanced up and saw Cole. Thanking God for a partner who knew when to argue and when to keep his mouth shut, James grabbed the rope, and just like when he’d been injured in the IED blast a few months earlier, he shut his mind to the pain, ignored the swimming in his head, and climbed. Cole was waiting on him and, as soon as his partner could reach him, grabbed him around his wrist and pulled him the rest of the way up and onto the side of the road. James lay on his back, trying to stop the sky from spinning. Lainie...
He struggled to sit up and Cole dropped next to him. “Dude, are you okay?”
“Yeah. We’ve got to find Lainie.”
“As soon as you said he’s got Lainie, I had an officer start calling, looking for anyone who has security cameras trained on this road. When we figure out which way he went, we can do more.”
“Good. Good.”
James pulled himself up to a seated position as he worked to catch his breath and fought the throbbing in his thigh.
“You need that looked at. I know you want to go off after her, but you’re losing blood in some concerning amounts there.” He waved to a paramedic, and James realized there were three ambulances on scene.
“How are the officers who went over?”
