Page 101 of Hold Your Breath

As he pulled his head back and started to close the door, Lou called, “Ian?”

“Yeah?”

“Can you grab my clothes from the dive van?”

“Of course.” He shut the door quietly behind him.

As Amy wrapped the blood pressure cuff around Lou’s upper arm, she rattled off the standard questions. Lou hoped she was giving the right answers, the ones that wouldn’t get her stuck overnight in a hospital—a different hospital than where Callum was headed. Amy seemed satisfied, though, so Lou must’ve passed. She was rushing to dress when a knock sounded on the ambulance’s rear door.

“Busy place,” Lou muttered, zipping her coat as Rob opened the door, apparently not waiting for an invitation.

“Hi,” he said with that rare smile that always made her smile back. “How’re you doing?”

“Depends. Have you heard anything about Callum?”

“Yep.” His grin widened a few notches. “By the time they landed at Presbyterian St. Luke’s, he was conscious and alert. Nice save, Lou.”

“Seriously?” She blinked as the information settled, and then launched herself at him, wrapping him in a hard hug. “That’s awesome! Thanks, Rob.” She shifted to slide past him.

“Wait.” He grabbed her arm. “Where are you headed?”

“Denver,” she answered, although a “duh” was implied in her tone. “To Callum.”

“Now? Is that a good idea, for you to be driving?” He looked around, as if searching for someone to support his attempt to keep her from leaving.

“Very. Amy cleared me medically.”

“I need to get your statement.”

Now that she knew Callum’s status, everything else that happened crashed through her brain. “You’re right, but I need to go. Can I call you and give you my statement over the phone while I drive?”

Shaking his head, he said, “I don’t want you driving at all, much less while talking on your cell.”

She resisted the urge to stamp her foot in frustration. “I can—”

Ian opened the other rear door of the ambulance, interrupting her. “I’ll drive her.”

“To Denver?” When he nodded, she grinned. “Thank you!”

“Okay.” Rob released her arm. “Call me with your statement, then, as soon as you’re in an area with enough cell reception not to be dropping the call every few seconds. This isn’t the usual way we do things, but you’ve earned an exception tonight.”

“I will,” she promised. “Thank you.” When she grabbed Ian by the sleeve of his coat, the stiff material reminded her that he was still in his bunker gear. “Did you want to change first?”

“Sure. I’ll just take a minute. Meet you at the dive van? Thought we could run by Station One to drop it off and pick up Callum’s truck.”

She nodded, circling around the ambulance on her way to the dive van. Firemen and deputies still milled around the scene. As she wound her way through the rescue workers, each one gave her a shoulder squeeze or a quiet “good job.” She accepted each accolade with a smile of thanks, even though she wasn’t sure her inept fumbling under the ice merited the praise.

“Callum is alive,” she muttered under her breath. “And that’s worth something. That’s worth a lot.”

Firefighter Steve caught her by the arm as she passed. “You did a good thing. I would’ve missed the surly bastard.”

She grinned at him, knowing her relief and thankfulness were shining from her. “Me too.”

* * *

Ian didn’t say much on the almost three-hour drive to Denver, but Lou was grateful for his strong and steady presence—as well as his excellent driving skills. If they’d had better road conditions, the trip would’ve taken closer to two hours, but the ground blizzard had glazed the highways with ice where the wind had blown snow across the road.

As soon as they reached a flat stretch of high plains where she knew she’d get cell reception for a good twenty minutes or so, she called Rob to give him her statement. He put her on speaker so Chris could listen to her as well.