“Creed. We have an unconscious patient and another who is unresponsive. Auralia and I looked at the maps. Getting off this bank means taking them approximately twenty-five feet across the river. It’s a high-risk scenario.”
“Striker. Prep your plan. Contact Logistics before execution. All hands are dealing with a life-or-death situation. I can’t spare anyone. Concerning your victims, it will be your call until the last minute. By that time, Auralia Rochambeau will be safe and sound on the other side of the river, and you and Rou will be with her. Heroics, yes, but only up to a point. You, Auralia, and Rougarou are the priority. You will survive. That’s an order.”
Chapter Twenty-Six
Creed
From the time Creed was a tiny boy, he had learned that hide and seek with Gator was a waste of time. Gator could snatch a thought straight from the air and read it like a map.
The one person who could do it better than anyone was Mamma Rochambeau, who knew if you were breaking the rules before you knew you were doing it yourself. She had her whole passel of kids and all their friends dialed in on her antennae. The house phone would ring, and whoever was closest would answer it. There would be Mamma Rochambeau, wondering what you were getting yourself up to, and maybe you had better stop in your tracks and think about the consequences. Then she’d always say what time she’d be back. “I’ll be home before supper, and I had better find that you all were listening to your better angels the entire time I was gone.” No threat. No violence. Just a timely opportunity to reflect and change course.
When he was about to make a poor choice, his subconscious would ring a warning bell. And sometimes, it straight up told him what was coming, if only he could read the tea leaves or interpret the signs.
“I dreamed of bonfires last night,” Auralia whispered. “Bonfires and clanging pans.”
Creed tipped her head to search her eyes, then leaned forward to plant a kiss on her forehead. He rested there for a long time. Long enough that Auralia asked, “What’s this about?”
“I have the same memory from my dream.”
“How did yours turn out?” Auralia’s voice was barely audible. It had the pinched sound of adrenaline bracing the ribs, making an inhale nearly impossible.
Creed shook his head.
“Yeah, I don’t remember what happened in mine either.”
They held still, as Creed gripped Auralia’s hands. The screams from up the hill were wild to listen to.
No one from this side of the river would be able to reach water unless they did what Creed had contemplated when he saw Auralia coming out of the water. For a flash, he thought to get to her in any way possible, and jumping off the bridge seemed the closest route. Luckily, the thought came and went. And he was able to obtain the necessary equipment to escape.
Creed released Auralia and moved to the bag he’d nabbed from the back of the firetruck. Back up on the road, he’d looked in, seen lengths of rope and climbing equipment, thought “good enough” and took off before someone told him to leave it alone.
Now he was pulling out the pieces one by one, using his phone to take a video of the information.
His phone buzzed, and Creed answered on speaker. “Go for Creed.”
“It’s Mandy. I have two pieces of information. First, please be advised that several members of Panther Force are en route from the north with first aid supplies and tactical equipment. Honey Honig with a stretcher has been assigned to your situation. Their ETA is approximately fifty-two minutes. Gator has been assigned to your situation after he gets his patient to the transportation hub. No ETA available.”
Too late. Night would be upon them.
“Honey Honig, copy. ETA approximately one hour. Gator ETA unknown. Over.”
“We have a drone overhead,” Mandy continued. “I have an extraction engineer assessing your situation. I’m passing you to Javier. Mandy, out.”
“Javier here. It looks like we need to get you across the water within the next thirty minutes. I have videos that you forwarded.”
“Copy. Javier, I’m forwarding a video of my equipment.”
“That’ll be helpful.” There was a pause then, “Received. Give me a minute to reassess. Already, this looks much more promising.”
Creed was glad that Mandy was labeling people’s roles since he wasn’t with Iniquus long enough to have met Javier. He knew that an extraction specialist was on call because when Truffles made her finds in collapsed buildings, they had a structural engineer review the tapes recorded by the camera on Truffles' collar, and they would make recommendations on how to get the victim out or whether they should leave well enough alone until heavy equipment could be brought in.
While they waited, Creed asked, “What do we do here, Auralia?”
She plopped down on one of her storage tubs and went very still. “I mean, if this were a movie, we could save the daughter, okay.”
“Why a movie?” Creed asked.
“Seriously?” She pulled in a breath. “Okay. You pull off your shirt and flex your muscles, then you swim out to the car all Rambo-like. You get some tools, get the lug nuts off the tire, and get the tire to shore.”
