Sully walked back to him. “I got ahold of Kennedy. She’ll relay the message to Moose. In the meantime, we need to get going.”
“She can’t walk,” Dawson said, his tone low. He glanced at Keely. She’d dug her fingers into Caspian’s fur. “And I ... I’m still moving pretty slow.”
Sully nodded. “I heard about the shooting. And the total knee replacement.”
He looked away. Last thing he needed was sympathy, thanks. It just made him feel ... broken.
He was not broken.
Dawson turned to Keely. “Listen. There’s a blizzard coming. We need to get to safety. There’s a community not far from here.”
She swallowed, and something like fire came into her eyes. Better.
He held out his hand, and she hesitated a moment, then tookit. Let him help her up. He gave her his elbow, and she tried to put weight on her ankle. A whimper eked out of her, but she drew in a breath, tightened her jaw.
Yeah, this would take a couple thousand years.
“Get on my back,” he said.
“Are you kidding?” Sully rounded. “Dude—”
Dawson gave him a tight-lipped glare.
“Listen,” Sully said, putting his hand on Dawson’s shoulder, “we need to move. I’ve got her.” He swung off his pack and handed Dawson his gun. “Besides, if someone is out there, you’re a better shot.”
“Hardly,” he said. Sully was former military, and there were rumors of special ops, but he never talked about it.
Dawson shouldered the pack and swung the gun strap over his neck.
“You think this guy is still out here?” he asked Keely as Sully pulled her up to his back. She locked her arms around Sully’s neck.
Nodded.
Caspian set out ahead of them, and Dawson wanted to shout at the dog to stay with them, but weirdly, the animal stayed pretty close.
Nowhe chose to obey.
Moose’s words rounded back to him about letting Jericho train him for SAR work. But then he’d need his handler present, right?
Who had to be able torun, right?
Dawson blew out a breath, his steps in Sully’s as he fought to keep up. They walked down the frozen riverbed.
“What are you doing out here, anyway, Sul?”
“We’re on Bowie land,” he said over his shoulder, as if that answered the question.
“How’s Kennedy?”
Silence from his friend.
“Sul?”
“She’s fine.”
Notfine, by the tone.
Behind them the wind started to howl, sending icy flakes into the air, skittering down his jacket collar. He glanced back.
