Kai looks down at his instruments. “Ten minutes,” he tells me.
I hold up my hand and show them ten fingers.
“Fuck, I don’t think we have ten minutes. Come here,” Thomas orders as he reaches into the first-aid kit and pulls out a field transfusion kit. “Hold out your arm, Oli. You’re the only one of us with O-neg blood. Jaxon needs some, or he’s not going to make it to the hospital. He’s losing more blood than he can afford.”
Thomas wipes a bit of sanitized gauze over Jaxon’s arm and slips the cannula into his vein before tying a tourniquet around my bicep and doing the same to me. There’s a pinch as he slides the other end of the field kit into my vein. Once done, he releases the tourniquet, and my blood slowly works its way through the tube and into my wounded brother.
Holden monitors his pulse while Declan continues with the breathing bag as we all silently wait to reach the hospital and much needed help.
A medical team meets us in the parking lot with a gurney as Kai sets the chopper down. It’s been cleared, and there are police cars keeping people away, which has to be thanks to Tom and Jake’s connections. I climb out first as Holden and Thomas help the doctors get Jaxon onto the bed.
A doctor takes over for Dec, assuring he will take care of him, and my big brother sags to the ground, adrenaline draining away now that we’ve reached help.
“Okay, let’s go. Can you keep up?” one of the doctors asks, and I nod.
“Once we get him into the OR, we’ll replace you with a proper blood bag, but I don't want to disconnect you until we do.”
“I’m okay. I’ll be fine.” I run along with everyone else as doors slam open, the group of us rushing through the corridors of the hospital. That distinctive smell of disinfectant and sadness hits me like a sledgehammer, and I almost stagger, but I manage to hold myself upright. I willnotfail Jaxon now.
We make it into a surgery room, and they finally come to a halt. On three, they move him from the gurney to the table. I don’t know if it’s the adrenaline, the blood donation, or both, but I’m starting to feel a little dizzy. A hand on the arm without the needle has me looking at someone other than my brother. A nurse with kind eyes helps me into a wheelchair, and I think she says something to me, but I can’t comprehend anything. There’s only the rush of blood in my ears, then the slow beeping of the cardiac machine when they hook my brother up. Bags of blood and saline are hung, his arms both hooked up to the life-saving fluids he desperately needs.
The doctors are shouting orders, but they finally remove my transfusion needle from him and wheel me away. I want to fight to stay, but I know that right now, I’m a hindrance. I need to let them do their job. I’m wheeled into my own room where I’m helped into a gown and put into a bed. It’s not long before I have my own saline drip, a glass of juice, and orders to rest. My brothers descend on my foggy silence, looking absolutely wrecked. Thomas is still covered in Jax’s blood, and the other three don’t look any better.
“Jax?” I ask, trying to sit up, but Holden puts a gentle hand on my chest and pushes me back.
“We haven't heard anything. We thought we’d wait in here with you. They know where we are when they need to find us,” Declan tells me.
“I’m probably going to get into trouble for leaving the helicopter in the parking lot,” Kai says as he stares out the window.
“Is it blocking the ambulances?” Declan asks, rubbing a hand across his face, his exhaustion matching the rest of us.
When Kai shrugs, Dec replies, “Oh well. We’ll donate some money to them. They’ll get over it.”
“Has anyone told Dad what happened?” I ask him, and they exchange a look.
“Jake messaged back—said they were radio silent and not to message Dad. I’m pretty sure he turned his phone off,” Thomas growls, but I know he’s not angry at me. This situation has all of us tied up in knots. Not knowing if Jax is going to survive or what’s going on at home is awful.
All we can do is pray that the doctors here and Jake and his agents there will be able to save our family.
ChapterTwenty-Three
Harlow
Dad’s office is dark, so I fumble with my tied hands to find the light switch on the wall near the door until the room lights up. No one is here, and my stomach drops. Where is everyone? Did they really fall for the plane thing? Jaxon was sure they wouldn't.
Patricia pushes me away, heading straight for the bookcase, and starts pulling out book after book. Peter heads for the desk and starts rummaging through the drawers. There goes my opportunity to look for a gun.
“Where is it? It’s got to be here!” Patricia mutters as she continues to fling books onto the ground. I lean against the wall as Peter gives up on the desk, stomps over to me, and rips the tape off my mouth.
“Tell me where it is!” he shouts at me.
“How the fuck should I know? I didn’t even know he had it.” I try to sneer at him despite my lips and skin stinging where he’d ripped the tape away. He backhands me, and I smack my head against the wall. I slump against the wall with a groan as he spins and goes over to help Patricia at the bookcase. It’s a full wall of books, so it could take a while.
“Is it going to matter now? You killed Jaxon, so you have no blood to operate the biometrics,” I mutter, feeling devastated. A glint of metal catches my eye, a sharp letter opener on Dad’s desk that they’ve both missed. I slowly move over to it, not wanting to move too fast and catch their attention. Picking it up, I slip it between my hands to hide it. If I get five minutes of peace, maybe I can cut through the cable ties.
Peter steps away from the bookcase. “Good point. We need the sister now. You keep going. Harlow and I are going to see if we can find her.”
“Don’t be silly. None of them are home. If they were, they would have already come to investigate. The two of you aren't exactly quiet,” I argue with him, kicking myself for bringing it up. I have no clue if they are or aren't, but I don’t want to risk that they’re holed up somewhere.
