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She didn’t respond to his voice, so he tried to find a pulse in her wrist, holding her hand gently with both of his while he searched for at least a small sign of life. “What did she do to you? We’ll find her, Dee. We’ll find that woman and she will pay for everything she did to you.”

He heard the distant sound of squeaky wheels announcing the imminent arrival of the Piper’s Ridge Fire and Rescue team. She’d be in good hands, but he didn’t want to let her go. The last time he’d walked away, she’d disappeared.

The men quickly made their way to Dee and Brendon realized quickly he was in the way. They took out a pulmonary resuscitator and began squeezing air into her lungs while they took her vitals and checked her wounds. The pair of them worked together quickly, with almost no speech. One of them was in contact with a hospital, relaying what was happening.

“Any of you know what drug she was given?” One of the men looked around. “If we know, it will be easier for the emergency department to treat her.”

If she was still alive, it couldn’t be what the nurse had used on those she’d killed. “I have no idea. We didn’t catch the person who gave the injection.”

“Yet,” Connor said from behind him. “I remember the license plates from when we drove in and one of them managed to get away during the shootout. I already phoned it in to Nixon, who told me he’d pass it on to the State Patrol.”

“Still. She got away.” He wasn’t sure how she’d managed to escape when they’d been by the front door. If he hadn’t raced down the hall to avoid getting shot, they might have caught her trying to escape. He would’ve recognized her. Her face would be forever burned into his memory along with the sight of Dee mangled on the table.

Vengeance was anger, but God understood. He’d even created cities where innocent people could go to avoid the vengeance of families who wanted someone to pay for the death of a loved one. In this case, though, this woman wasn’t innocent. She wasn’t guiltless. This was cold-blooded and calculated. He wanted her to pay for what she’d done.

He backed away further, letting the men do what they needed to. He’d expected them to arrive, get her on a gurney, do a few things, then get her headed to the hospital, but they kept working on her even as his own stress sent painful tingling through his legs.

“I’ve got a pulse,” said one of the men. “Faint, but steady.” He looked at Connor. “Hey, I need to keep this bag going until we can get her to the ambulance. Help him push.” He pointed to the end of the bed and climbed onto the gurney, straddling Dee while he kept a slow and steady action on the resuscitator.

Brendon followed as Connor took the back of the gurney and the other EMS worker took the front. Her head jostled on the pillow and Brendon’s chest ached as blood pooled on the pillow from the gashes on the back of her head.

“We’ll need to wrap her head. We can’t get a steady BP when she’s bleeding so much,” said the man riding on the gurney.

“We’ll get it as soon as we get her inside,” the other man said.

Brendon followed, feeling like he didn’t belong. Even if he were her husband, there was no room in the back of the ambulance for him, unlike if he was someone who could walk. The world wasn’t made for people like him. Itaccommodatedhim, but wasn’t made for him.

The man climbed down as the other lined up the bed to push it inside the ambulance. In seconds, she was in, and they were closing the doors. No one said where they were taking her, nor did they ask if anyone wanted to come along. The engine started along with the lights and sirens as they hastily drove away.

Connor laid a hand on his shoulder. “You did really well. I need to stay here because I’m sure after that ambulance call, Nixon will be here shortly and one of us will have to answer for what happened. So, I volunteer to stay since I’m the one who made the decision to go in. Dad will take you to Cheyenne if you want to go.”

He absolutely wanted to go, but he wanted to drive himself, so he was in control of the entire situation. His new car had just been delivered, so he finally had a vehicle he could use again. Not to mention that there would be security concerns to take care of, so Teddy shouldn’t be away from Wayside for what could amount to days.

“I’ll ride with him back to Wayside. Then, I’m just telling you right now, that I’ll be gone until I know for sure that she’ll be alright.”

“And if she won’t? I have to ask. What will you do?” Connor said. “No one would blame you if you took a sabbatical.”

He’d always thought the entire idea of taking a long break from life was a weak way of dealing with an issue, but if Dee didn’t make it, he was going to need some time to regroup.

“I’m holding onto the hope that I won’t have to make that decision.”

“In the meantime, I’ll be by my phone waiting for word from both you and Nixon. We’re not going to rest until this woman is caught. I can promise you that.”

“I would’ve gone after her like a bloodhound even without what she did to Dee. But after that, she’d better never stop to rest.” Brendon cracked his knuckles, releasing the tension in his fingers. “I’ll pray that Nixon is the one who finds her.”

“Probably a good plan. Be safe.”

Brendon headed back inside just as Teddy came out. “Teddy, I could use a ride back to Wayside. I’m going to drive over to Cheyenne so she’s not alone when she wakes up.”

He grinned. “That’s the best-laid plan I’ve heard all day.”

* * *

Hours later,a few different doctors had been in to see Dee. Doctors who specialized in different things, but Brendon couldn’t recall their names or even what he’d said to them. The day had turned into a vague blur eclipsed by the sight of Dee with her head almost completely wrapped in gauze fighting for her life.

Before that day, he would’ve equated fighting a battle with guns, or muscles, or action. Now he understood that some battles were fought with very little movement at all. Her body was fighting on the cellular level with a cocktail of drugs that a nurse had plunged into her veins.

The nurses had found three separate puncture wounds on her neck, meaning that whatever the nurse had given her had gone quickly to Dee’s brain. They’d done an EKG though and she had brain activity. That was one more thing that gave Brendon hope.