“Don’t stop,” Cassie pleaded in a strained voice.“We might give her a chance if the ambulance gets here fast.”
He kept going, each compression helping to circulate her blood and hopefully get some oxygen to Penny’s brain.But they needed a defibrillator in the next couple minutes or there was zero chance of getting her heart beating again.And given the amount of blood she’d already lost, he doubted even that would save her.
Cassie stared at his hands anxiously, face tense.
He wanted to hold her so badly it was a physical ache in his chest.What the fuck had happened?They had boxed her in, and three shooters had opened fire on her with rifles out here.It had obviously been carefully orchestrated.Why?
“Cass, are you hurt?”Ryder asked in a low, calm voice.
She shook her head, gaze pinned to Tristan’s hands as they moved up and down on Penny’s sternum.“I’m fine.”
She wasn’t even close to fine, but at least she didn’t appear to be physically hurt.
The distant wail of a siren carried on the air.Cassie twisted around as a sheriff’s department cruiser appeared on the crest of the hill a quarter mile behind them.She started to get to her feet.Ryder grabbed her arm to steady her and helped her up.
The cruiser pulled over to the shoulder, and a deputy got out.
“Got a defibrillator?”Ryder called out.
“Yeah.”
“Hurry.”
The deputy rushed around to the trunk and ran the device over.
Ryder pulled Cassie back as the cop knelt and got it ready.“Tell me when,” Tristan said, his arms and back starting to burn from the relentless pace.
The deputy nodded and reached for the hem of Penny’s shirt, paddles in one hand.“Now.”
Tristan stopped the compressions.The deputy yanked her shirt up.They quickly got the pads in place on her skin and the cop charged the device.“Clear.”
Tristan pulled his hands away and eased back on his haunches.The cop pushed the button.Penny’s chest lifted an inch with the charge.
The cop checked her pulse.His mouth thinned.He charged the device again.“Clear.”
Nobody had moved.
He hit the button a second time.Another charge coursed through Penny’s chest.But there was still no pulse.And there wasn’t a damned thing more they could do for her.
The cop looked up at him.“I’m sorry, man.She’s gone.”
Yeah.She’d been gone for a few minutes at least, but they’d had to try.
Tristan got to his feet and wiped his sticky hands on his thighs, his attention on Cassie.
“What happened?”the cop asked as the two bystanders stood by their vehicles in the background.
Tristan didn’t answer, his focus on Cassie.Ryder was speaking to her quietly at the shoulder.She nodded at something he said, pale and quiet, then darted a look at Penny.
The urge to walk over there and wrap her up in his arms was overpowering.
Putting his protective instincts in a chokehold for now, he pulled out his CPS ID to show the cop.“One of our security agents was driving her to meet with us a few miles south.”
“Who.Her?”He looked toward Cassie.
“Yes.Three vehicles boxed her in here, and three shooters opened fire with rifles.”
The cop’s eyebrows shot upward.“Rifles?”
