It was a race now.
Cullen forced his fingers to curl around hers.
“Don’t you die,” she whispered, tears flowing down her face. “You big galoot.”
As the heat became unbearable and the metal bed of the truck began to feel like a griddle, they catapulted onto a different road, free from trees. A scattershot of gravel raked the chassis, but above that cacophony came a glorious sound. The whapping of helicopter blades.
The truck jerked to a stop, and suddenly there were people, uniformed and one in a yellow vest.
“Them,” he said to the first one who climbed into the truck bed. “Get them aboard.”
“No,” Kit said. “Archie and Tot are being loaded in. I’m waiting with you.”
“Yes,” Cullen grunted as forcefully as he could, giving her the full impact of a law enforcement command. “You will get in that chopper right now or Gideon will drag you.”
Gideon stood at the edge of the truck bed, hands on his hips. Kit looked from Cullen to Gideon, probably trying to work out how much of the stubborn, bossy traits was genetically shared. She huffed out a breath and climbed out of the truck. The medic applied a clotting agent to his wound, and he and Gideon rolled Cullen onto a stretcher and carried him to the helicopter where they strapped him down.
Archie was belted into a seat next to Kit, Tot clutched to his chest.
They lifted off, rotors whirling up a storm of debris. The helicopter danced and dipped, angling so far to oneside that he caught a view through the window of the catastrophe unfolding below them, the mountainside falling away, rivers of red devouring whatever and whoever had been left behind.
Annette.
Kit turned toward him and stretched out her hand to take his. He knew she was thinking what he was. Annette had risked everything to ensure her baby wasn’t a prisoner like she had been.You done good,Annette.
He closed his eyes, feeling the weight of every arduous mile they’d traveled, and prayed for the woman who’d offered up her life for her baby’s.
His senses grew fuzzy, and he fought to stay conscious while the rescue worker monitored his vitals for the flight to an airstrip a safe distance from the spewing mountain. In a haze, he was aware of the helicopter landing, of being moved into a vehicle—an ambulance, he supposed—to be transported to the hospital.
And the beautiful sound of a baby crying.
• • • • • • • • • • • •
He woke up in a hospital room.Kit ...He jackknifed to a sitting position, head swimming.
“Slow down or you’ll rip out all the tubes.” Gideon sat with his heels on the edge of the hospital bed. He looked freshly showered and shaved, his muscular frame relaxed.
“How long?”
“Have you been out? Two days.”
“Kit ...?”
“Was treated for dehydration and a concussion and various minor injuries. She’s been here practically the wholetime, but Tot’s grandmother arrived an hour ago, and she went with Tot to meet her at the airport.”
“So Tot’s...”
“In perfect condition, the best of all of you.”
He let out a huge breath and silently thanked the Lord. He felt a pang at what was about to happen for Tot and her grandmother. It wouldn’t be easy for Kit to navigate that emotional firestorm alone. He wished he could have been there with her.
“When am I getting out of here?”
“If you’re a good boy, this afternoon. Maybe they’ll give you a sticker if you don’t try to hurry them along.” He got up. “Going for coffee, and no I’m not getting you any because you called me names and you didn’t do the smart thing and bail before the volcano blew, like a normal person with adequate brain capacity.”
If he had, Kit and Tot would be dead.
And he wouldn’t have a whole new way for his heart to beat.
