Page 53 of Chasing Shelter (Sparrow Falls #5)
TRACE
The world around me slowed and sped up all at once, everything in supersonic speed until it froze for single snapshots. The sedan jerking to the right. Someone screaming. Ellie’s head snapping up. Her eyes going wide with shock.
There was nothing between her and the vehicle other than open road and a curb. Nothing that would slow or stop it. Some part of me was aware of movement. I ran. With everything I had in me.
A burn lit in my thighs, my lungs. I pushed harder as the smell of burning rubber filled the air. I hit Ellie around the middle, sending us both flying. We landed hard, me on my back and Ellie on top of me, but I didn’t stop. I rolled us until we reached the cover of a parked vehicle.
I caught the sound of brakes and squealing tires again, then nothing. For the count of one, two, three. Then shouts, a muffled array of voices. But all I could think about was Ellie.
I rolled us one more time until I had her on the sidewalk, being as gentle as possible. Her eyelids fluttered as she looked up at me. “ Wha?—?”
My hands hovered over her face, where an angry gash sliced her brow. “Tell me where it hurts.”
“I-I don’t know. Trace, are you—?” She started to sit up, but I held her down.
“Don’t move. Not yet.”
Her brow furrowed, and then she winced in pain. “You’re moving, and you’re the one who pulled some Hercules, football-star move.”
Relief flooded my system at Ellie’s fire returning. “I’m fine,” I assured her, but my head thrummed, and my back was on fire.
Footsteps thundered down the sidewalk.
“What the hell happened?” Gabriel barked.
“Tan sedan, darkened windows, some dents and scratches. Didn’t get a make, model, or plate, but it wasn’t super new.” The description poured out of me automatically.
Beth was there, repeating it into the radio at her shoulder.
Gabriel turned to the other deputies and began snapping orders. “Where the hell are the EMTs?”
As if he’d beckoned them by sheer force of will, sirens sounded. An ambulance and a fire truck rounded the corner, blaring onto Cascade Avenue.
“Oh, geez,” Ellie muttered, trying to sit up again. This time, she batted at my hands. “I’m fine. I think I got the gash when we rolled. Just let me get up.”
I took her hand and gently helped her sit. “How’s your vision? Any blurriness or seeing double?”
“No, just an epic headache.” Ellie frowned. “But you have some blood on your temple. Did you hit your head?”
“Probably,” I muttered.
Two EMTs jumped out of the ambulance, a few firefighters following. The younger woman, Susie, instantly went to Ellie, while the older man, Shawn, made his way to me.
“Trace, I expected better of you than some stunt like this,” Shawn muttered as he set down a gear bag.
“You know me, always making trouble. ”
Susie snorted. “Never broke a rule a day in his life.” She turned to Ellie. “I see this nice gash on your brow, but anything else hurt?”
Ellie’s lips thinned. “It kind of hurts everywhere, but nothing feels broken.”
Both Shawn and Susie began their quick assessments, but it wasn’t long before Shawn said, “I think we need to take you both to the ER, just to be safe.”
I instantly shook my head. “No. No hospital for me. Let’s get Ellie in the rig and?—”
“Oh, no you don’t, Chief,” Ellie argued. “You’re not sending me off. Both of us or neither of us.”
“Jesus, you two,” Gabriel muttered.
“I’ll call Dr. Avery. See if he might make a house call. Or maybe we can go to his clinic,” I said, trying to placate my friend.
“ I’ll call him,” Gabriel shot back. “You call, and you’ll classify this as a papercut and a bump on the head.”
Ellie snickered. “He knows you so well.”
I sent a scowl in her direction, but it died as I took in the gash again. “Are you sure you’re okay? I hit you hard, and?—”
“Trace,” she said, cutting me off. “You saved my life. A few bumps and bruises are a hell of a lot better than getting flattened by a car.”
I reached out and cupped her face with my hand. “Don’t remind me. Scared the hell out of me, Blaze.”
“I’m okay. I promise.”
But she wouldn’t be if we didn’t find whoever the hell was behind the wheel of that car.
“Don’t either of you move,” Nora instructed in a tone that brooked no argument. She set down a tray stacked high with three different beverages, some soup, fresh biscuits, and pain meds on Ellie’s coffee table.
Ellie and I had spent the past couple of hours at Dr. Avery’s, where he gave us both very thorough examinations. Ellie’s gash had required liquid stitches, and mine the old-fashioned kind since it was on my scalp. We both had our share of scrapes, but overall, we’d been remarkably lucky.
I met Nora’s stare. “You know I’m not taking the pills.”
She huffed out a breath and pulled two small bottles from her apron pocket. “Fine. Tylenol and ibuprofen for you.”
That was all I ever allowed myself to take. Even when I had my appendix removed in my early twenties, I didn’t dip into the narcotics my doctor had prescribed. Given my genetic makeup, it wasn’t a risk I was willing to take.
Ellie sent me a sidelong look. “Are you sure? Your back looked pretty rough.”
That had taken the hit the hardest, and moving quickly anytime soon would be rough, but I’d be okay. I reached over and squeezed her hand. “I’m all right.”
A hard knock sounded on the front door.
“I’ve got it,” Nora said, moving quickly in that direction.
A cacophony of voices filled the air, but Linc’s rose above it all. “Where is she? Where’s my sister?”
“Breathe, Cowboy,” Arden ordered. “Having you threatening to burn the world down won’t help.”
Linc was already moving down the hall toward the living room.
“I’m fine, ConCon. Just a little liquid bandage, and I’m good to go,” Ellie assured him before he even reached the room.
Linc stormed over to her, looking back and forth between us. “A car tried to run you over?”
Ellie grimaced. “We don’t know?—”
“Yes,” I said, cutting her off. There was no use in lying to Linc. It would just make things worse in the long run.
“Maybe we need to get you out of here, El?—”
“No,” Ellie clipped, a finality in her tone. “This asshole doesn’t get to make me run.”
I reached over and wove my fingers through hers, squeezing as most of my siblings and their partners filed into the room.
Shep looked like he’d come straight from a jobsite, while Thea was still in her Mix Up tee.
Cope was clad in workout gear, but Sutton and Luca weren’t in tow.
Given the paint splatters on her clothes and in her hair, Arden had definitely come from her studio.
Kye was in sparring attire, and Rhodes had on a Bloom & Berry tee.
The only sib missing was Fallon, but she was probably still at work.
I lifted Ellie’s hand to my mouth, lips ghosting over her knuckles. “You don’t have to go anywhere you don’t want to, but we need someone sticking close, given this latest…incident.” I glanced at Rhodes. “Where’s Anson?”
His take on the situation would be invaluable. This latest stunt was a big step up from terrifying, threatening notes, and I couldn’t help but feel it was different somehow. Rasher. Crossing the line to actual harm. Then again, maybe this was the perp escalating.
Rhodes looked from me to Ellie and back again. “He’s with Gabriel. He wanted to help.”
I knew that help came with a cost. Anson had walked away from the FBI for a reason. There were too many ghosts for him there, demons. But he was putting his profiler hat back on for Ellie. For me.
Before I could say anything else, my phone rang. Releasing Ellie’s hand, I grabbed the device from the coffee table and read the name on the screen. Gabriel.
I stood, ignoring my back’s angry protest, and strode toward the kitchen for a little bit of privacy. “What did you find?”
Gabriel didn’t answer right away. That told me whatever it was, it wasn’t good. He cleared his throat. “We found the vehicle. Abandoned off County Road 18. Perp wiped it clean but forgot the latch for the trunk. We got a clean print.”
“Whose?” It was only one word, but there was so much tension radiating through it that I almost didn’t recognize my own voice.
“It belongs to Jasper Killington. I’m sorry, Trace. It was your dad.”