The buzzer sounded, alerting us that someone was opening the door. I hoped it was to set us free. Ranger walked in, a grave look on his face. “Ladies, we need to get to the hospital quickly. Before you ask, I don’t know any details, but we need to get moving.”
The four of us filed out of the panic room at a quick pace. Thankfully, James’s diaper bag was fully stocked and ready to go. I just needed to put him in his infant carrier and grab the car seat base.
We rode to the hospital in silence. I hadn’t heard from Duke or Carbon, which was tearing up my nerves. Carbon would always text me to let me know he was okay, even when he had no communication orders. After we lost our family, it was imperative for us to know the other was okay. Not hearing from him was not a good sign.
I was so lost in my thoughts, it didn’t even dawn on me that we were pulling up to a hospital in Devil Springs. Had we really been in the car that long?
Byte met us at the emergency room doors. Byte, not Duke or Carbon. “Follow me. We’ve got a private waiting room. I’ll fill you in when we get there.”
Ember wordlessly walked over and took James from my arms. I looked at her curiously. Did she know something? Was I about to get bad news? She softly said, “My man is right there and has spoken to my dad. Go find out about your man and your brother. I’ve got James.”
I looked around the room. I saw Byte, Edge, and one of Boar’s men. “Where the hell is everyone? Start talking, Byte,” I snapped.
“Okay, okay. Here’s the quick and dirty. We were ambushed with machine gun fire. Phoenix and Carbon were hit, but nothing serious. They are being tended to now. Boar and Coal were hit in the torso, not sure exactly where, but they were both in a bad way when we got here and are now in surgery.”
Shannon fell to her knees, sobbing loudly and gasping for breath. Harper crouched down beside her to try to comfort her. She looked up at me with pleading eyes. “Where is Duke?” I demanded.
“He’s not hurt. He’s either talking with the police or seeing if he can give blood.”
“What? Why is he doing that?” I asked.
“Because Coal lost a lot of blood and has a rare blood type. They have some they can use, but the nurse said they prefer to have a match or something like that. Anyway, we all agreed to get tested,” Byte explained.
Ember had a funny look on her face. “Where is my dad?”
“He’s trying to donate. He’s a match, but he was also shot, just a graze, but still, they don’t want to let him donate because of it,” Byte answered.
“Where do I need to go?” she asked frantically, looking wildly around the room.
“Hey, calm down. I’ll show you where you need to go,” Byte said.
She handed James back to me. “I’ll be back soon.”
“Are you okay?” I asked. She didn’t look good. She was pale and I think she was trembling.
“I’m fine. I just...I have the same blood type as my dad. If he’s a match, so am I. I need to go so I can help Coal,” she rambled. She followed Byte out of the room.
Harper was still holding Shannon on the floor, though she didn’t miss any of that conversation. “What was that about?” she asked.
“I have no idea. Um, Shannon, I’m going to see if I can find someone to give us an update on Boar, okay?”
She raised her tear-streaked face to look at me, “Please.”
I nodded and walked out into the hallway, looking around for the nurse’s station. My eyes landed on Duke. I wobbled as fast as I could to him. “Duke!” I shouted.
He opened his arms as soon as he saw me coming. Scooping me up in his arms, he held me close and placed a kiss on the top of my head. “Sugar,” he breathed against the side of my face. He gently placed me back on my feet, but still held me against him.
“Are you okay?” I asked, trying to pull back from him so I could see his face. It was then that I noticed the blood staining his hands and clothes. Gasping, I pointed at the blood and asked, “Is that yours?”
His face dropped. “No, it’s Coal’s. Shaker and I did the best we could to help him, but I don’t know if…” his voice cracked. “He was hurt bad, sugar. He’s just a kid, you know? We had him as a driver, to keep him out of harm’s way, but him and Edge came running when the shots started. Coal was in front of Edge, took one or two right to the gut. Would have been worse, but when he fell back, Edge took him to the ground and rolled them behind a rock.”
“What about the shooter?” I asked softly.
Duke stiffened and pulled me back to him. He cleared his throat, “He’s here.”
“What?” I shrieked. “Where? Where the fuck is he?” I asked, getting progressively louder.
Duke placed his hand over my mouth. “Shhh! I don’t know where he is. He’s under arrest and will have a guard with him at all times until he can be discharged from the hospital. It’ll be a while, though. He was shot twice, fell from a tree, and landed in a bear trap. Don’t know if it was the fall or the trap, or both, but he’s paralyzed from the waist down.”
