Page 59 of Secret Revenge

Kurt and his cronies parked across the road from the crash, all eyes forward. I suppressed a laugh. They’d heard it too. The sirens still sounded distant, but they were growing louder by the second.

I rode a wave of dizziness and bit my tongue to stay lucid. Kurt was looking toward us, and our eyes met. He gave me a level look that I could not read, and then banged on the side of his SUV twice.

The truck did a U-turn and sped off in the opposite direction, just as blue and red flashing lights painted the horizon. I willed my body to relax and prayed. Prayed that they had an ambulance. Prayed that it wasn’t too late.

She can’t die. She can’t.

Adrenaline fueling my movements, I kicked open the passenger door and stumbled out. Circling to the driver's side, I wrenched at the mangled door to reach Emily.I wasn’t sure if it was safe to pull her out of the wreck, or if I should wait for the paramedics to do so.

Wait, some emergency preparedness course I’d taken years ago warned me.Don’t move her without a medic’s approval.

But I had to dosomething.

Before I could make a decision, a fleet of white and blue patrol cars filled the crash site. I suppressed a soft cry when Isaw an ambulance amongst the several vehicles. “Help her,” I said to the officers in a croaky voice. “Help her, please.”

I stumbled backward as two paramedics rushed past me towards Emily. Another paramedic held onto my arm gently and spoke softly. “Sir, are you hurt? You’re bleeding from the side of your head.”

I raised my hand and it came away sticky. The paramedic held me firm as I stumbled through another wave of dizziness.

“Travis!”

I came alert at the sound of my name and looked up. I saw my brothers running toward me and I narrowed my eyes in confusion. How did they get here so fast?

“Give me a moment, please,” I said to the paramedic. He gave me a look that said he thought I was crazy, but he let me go.

“What the hell happened to you?” Jackson asked, steadying me with his own arms on mine.

“Emily…” I managed to get out.. “She...she was trying to save me. We were shot at, crashed into a tree.”My head felt foggy, and talking was like trying to find my way through a thick mist. My words sounded jumbled in my head. I fought frustration, wanting to be clear and alert.

“We need to get you both to the hospital. But you’re safe now.”

A sudden realization dawned on me amidst the chaos of thoughts. ‘Wait, how did you even know where to find us?

A sheriff’s deputy approached us then. “Sir, can you tell us what happened to you and the lady?”

“It was Blackwell,” I spat. “Bryce Blackwell. Follow this road for about half a mile and take the dirt road to your left. You’d find a compound with a warehouse in it. That was where we were held. They’re armed, officer. Be careful.”

The deputy nodded grimly, and then raced back to his patrol vehicle. In seconds, half a dozen cars zoomed off from the accident scene, racing towards the warehouse.

Jackson watched the cars drive off with wide eyes and still looked visibly stunned when he turned back to face me.

In a sharper tone than intended, I demanded, "How did you find us?" Jackson's focus snapped back.

"Emily's hacker friend showed up at our office. He had hacked our system again, this time to alert us he was at the gates with your location.”

He shook out of his daze. “Oh. A friend of Emily’s showed up at the office. It must have been her hacker friend from earlier, because he hacked into the system again. This time, to tell us he was outside the gate.”

I blinked.

“We all rushed outside, hoping to catch him. But he told us that you and Emily were in trouble, and that he needed our help to save you guys. Apparently, she’d found a way to reach him, and hid a GPS tracker on her person. We phoned the police and shared your location, then followed them with our own security.

I nodded quietly as I listened, amazed. Two paramedics wheeled Emily past on a stretcher, and I held one of them back. “Is she… is she going to be okay?”

The man smiled and nodded. “She’s lost a lot of blood, but she’ll live. The bullet missed all her vital organs.”

I nodded and let go of his arm, stepping aside to let them pass. I suddenly felt bone weary and my knees began to buckle. I staggered slightly and the paramedic from earlier appeared magically behind me, holding me up.

“This way, sir,” he said, with a look of exaggerated patience on his face, as if he was addressing a petulant child. This time I was more than happy to follow him. Emily was going to live, that was all that mattered to me.