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I shoot a glance over my shoulder to see Linc on the phone and Remy at my side. Making a decision, I hand a sobbing Laurence to Linc and follow Remy into the house.
Whatever we’re going to find inside, I don’t want to make Laurence see it again.
“I have a gun.” Remy steps into the house first, and I’m right behind him. If it were any other time or day, I’d be rolling my eyes or giving him a hard time about the fact that I couldn’t bring a gun on the flight with me. Not now. Not with Casper’s life in the balance.
I’ve seen friends of mine, dead by gunshot or explosion. I’ve found corpses that have been left for a week with no one to discover them. I’ve seen terrible things while serving in the military, but none of that could prepare me for what I see inside her house.
Casper, in a pool of her own blood, stares up at me with empty eyes. Her hands are covering her stomach, as though she was trying to protect our baby with her last breath.
We’re there, working in silence together to save her in the next instant.
Remy moves her hands down, pushing on her abdomen to put pressure on the wound. We’re trained to deal with trauma in the field, but never in my wildest dreams did I think I’d have to use it on the woman carrying my child.
While Remy applies pressure, I wrap a hand around her neck, trying to feel for a pulse.
There isn’t one.
“Keep pressure,” I tell Remy as I brace my hands on her chest. “Fuck. This is going to suck.”
One.
Two.
Three.
Four.
I do chest compressions over and over, doing my best to ignore the sound of her ribs cracking.
I don’t stop, and Remy doesn’t let go of the pressure he’s applying to her wounds.
Not when we hear the sound of sirens in the distance, and not when there are EMTs on scene telling us to move.
It isn’t until we’re physically removed from her that we fall back and let them take over.
Covered in her blood and beyond broken, I cry while the paramedics start to work on her.
I don’t even realize it at first. Not until the first splash of water hits my hand while I’m staring down at my fingers and trying to convince myself to move.
The paramedics are still trying to get their machines attached to her chest in a place that doesn’t have blood covering it.
“I can’t lose her.”
I don’t know who says it—Remy or me. Either way, it’s exactly what I’m thinking. We can’t lose her.
The EMTs are a flurry of action as they load Casper on the gurney, and then they’re gone.
“Hospital,” I croak through the tears that clog my chest.
Remy nods woodenly, but it’s Linc who moves first. I don’t even know when he came into the house but there he is.
“The police have Laurence. I called Emmett from your phone. They’re on their way. We need to get to the hospital.” He helps us up. “Let’s go. I called your mom, and she’s on her way with Kennedy too.”
“It was Joel.” I look at Remy with murder in my eyes. “You know it as well as I do. It was him.”
“They’ll find him.” Linc snaps his fingers in front of my face. “Right now, you need to get to Casper. Both of you. Now. Forget your plans for murder because she’s more important than that.”
Casper’s lifeless body is the only thing I can see.
