“I am. Are you?”
“Yeah. Maddie?”
Shay tried not to look at Stank’s very dead body, and instead focus on…
Maddie had pulled the duct tape off her mouth, and as she turned Dingo over, her voice shook. “Dad, help me! Please! Dingo’s still alive!”
“Shay!” Peter held out one of the guns, gesturing for her to take it. “If they move—at all—shoot them. Kill shots. Double-pops.”
That was not even close to her skill set, but it was important that the men she was guarding not know it. So she answered in “Harriet” Parker’s cool voice. “With pleasure,” she said, then told Maddie as those distant sirens got louder, “An ambulance is on its way.”
It was then, as Pete knelt beside Dingo and administered first aid, that Shay’s phone rang. She pulled it out of her pocket with her left hand—gun held in her right—to see that it was Izzy.
“We found a shorter route, and we’re out front,” he said. “I see Grunge’s truck, parked kinda willy-nilly, but other than that, the place looks quiet. What do you need us to do?”
“Izzy’s here,” Shay called to Peter.
“Tell him to come in,” he called back.
“Please come in. The door to the right is unlocked. We’ve secured this part of the garage,” she reported, “but we’ve got a man—Dingo—down, and two prisoners I could use some help guarding. Oh, and I think Nelson—the bad-guy boss—is going to show up in a few minutes.”
Izzy had already come inside. “I was gonna say,What’d we miss, but this story tells itself.”
“Z, help me carry Dingo outside,” Pete ordered. “Hans, take over for Shayla. Heads up, we have not yet searched those men for additional weapons. If they move, kill them.”
“Aye, aye, sir.” With a nod at Shay, the SEAL candidate named Hans took over for her.
She moved toward Maddie, who’d stepped back to let Izzy lift Dingo.
“Timebomb, make sure no one’s hiding in any of the back rooms.” Peter continued issuing commands as he and Izzy carried Dingo toward the front of the garage—it was clear this was not the first time they’d moved a badly wounded man together. “Seagull, stay close to Maddie and Shay.”
But despite the fact that her nose was still bleeding, Maddie strode to the bay door and pushed the button that opened it, so that Izzy and Peter could carry Dingo out more easily.
“Ambulance is here!” Izzy announced.
“Back rooms are clear. The garage is secure!” Timebomb called.
It didn’t take the paramedics long to get Dingo onto a stretcher and into the ambulance.
Maddie wanted to ride with him, but there wasn’t room. The paramedics were going to need all of the space possible to try to stabilize him—and the girl instinctively knew that wasn’t good news.
“We’ll follow in the truck, right behind them,” Peter promised her.
Shay handed him his keys. “I can stay here, wait for the police.”
But Peter shook his head. “Not a chance,” he said. “You’re coming with Maddie and me. Get into the truck. Z, tell the police we’ll talk to them at the hospital.”
Shayla didn’t argue or even ask for aplease. She climbed in next to Maddie, who looked at her and said, “You risked your life for me.”
Hi, I’m Shaylaseemed an inappropriate response, so Shay said, “It seemed like a no-brainer.”
Peter glanced at her.
“I had to do what I did,” she told him. “When you went to Plan B, I had to improvise.” She looked at Maddie. “I love your dad. And since he lovesyou…” She shrugged. “Dingo loves you, too. And he’s strong.”
Peter cleared his throat. “Shay’s right. I’ve seen men survive far worse injuries. Yeah, he’s lost a lot of blood, but…Dingo’s going to be okay.”
“You don’t really know that,” Maddie whispered.
