The engine roared, drawing my attention back as the hooded figure zoomed across the water in the speedboat.
Blood rushing in my ears, I searched the harbor until I spotted Jack, the harbor master. His face stretched with worry as he walked toward the noise. “Jack, call the police!”
His face leached of color. “What’s going on?”
“That boat!” I pointed at its quickly disappearing silhouette. “That’s our perpetrator! Call the police, now!” There was no time to wait. My boat wouldn’t catch the fucker.
And she was the priority.
I ran down Main Street. “Move!” I bellowed and the crowd around her parted.
Silver’s wide, shocked gaze met mine as she lay there panting hard, her hands covering her blood-soaked stomach. Rage and another feeling I couldn’t acknowledge filled me. Memories of another woman staring up at me, eyes begging for help tried to intrude. Tried to fuck me up. I held the memory back. Forced myself to calm. For her sake. Akiva licked at Silver’s face, whimpering.
“Akiva, back off,” I commanded, and she did. But she sat on her rump like a guard dog at Silver’s side as I lowered to my knees. “Ambulance?” I asked the crowd.
“On its way, Ramsay,” a shaking, female voice said behind me. “They’re going to get her to the helipad to airlift her to Inverness.”
“Ramsay,” Silver gasped out.
I pulled off my shirt and bundled it into a wad. “I’m going to put pressure on the wound, Silver. Okay?”
Her panting grew faster.
She was hyperventilating.
“Breathe with me, Silver.” I took a deep breath in and out as I gently moved her bloody hands so I could quickly cover the wound.
Her breathing increased as I pressed down on it.
“Breathe.” I breathed in and out. “Like me. Look at me, angel.”
The pleading in her eyes almost undid me.
“Angel, breathe,” I begged.
She took in a slow breath and released it.
“That’s it. That’s it. Good girl.”
“They’re here, Ramsay.”
I glanced over my shoulder to see the island’s only ambulance stop at the scene. Inside were our two paramedics—Forde, who was driving, and Laurie, the second medic. Forde managed the ambulance and volunteered to drive it when he could.
His face slackened when he saw me and Silver. Then he covered his shock and dismay as Laurie pushed forward. “What do we have?”
“Possible knife wound. I’ve kept pressure on it.”
Laurie nodded grimly. “Keep the pressure on while we get Tierney onto the stretcher.”
It was quick, efficient, though I nearly lost my shit when Silver cried out in pain as she was rocked a little too hard going up into the ambulance. Akiva barked from outside it and I frantically scanned the crowd.
Cammie was there.
I hadn’t seen her arrive.
Her face was chalk white.
“Cam, can you watch Akiva?”
