A cool breeze hit him as he scanned the closest pastures where half a dozen horses grazed, followed by the stables, and what he could see of the stockyards. He saw nothing amiss. The green pastures and distant rolling hills looked as serene as always.So where did the sound come from?
He jogged to the paved lane beside the house, his gaze darting to the highway. Every muscle in his body tensed as he took in the black car wrapped around the steel beam encased in brick and concrete that supported the Double Diamond name and brand.
Jake fished the cell phone from his pocket as he sprinted toward the accident. He punched in 911 as he skidded to a stop at the wreckage. Wrenching open the front passenger door of the crumpled black sedan, he sucked in a sharp nitrogen-tainted breath. He scanned the interior of the car—the blown airbag, the shattered driver’s side window, and the unconscious, bleeding driver.
“911. What is the address of your emergency?”
Recognizing the operator’s voice, Jake turned away and swallowed hard, fighting the nausea threatening to overwhelm him. “Janice, this is Jake Winters. Send an ambulance to the Double Diamond Ranch. A car crashed into my front gate.”
“I’m dispatching one now. Stay on the phone with me, Jake. I need you to tell me how many people are injured and how severely.”
He glanced at the empty back seat. “Only one.” He turned back to the unconscious driver sandwiched between the door and the center console. Blood flowed from a gaping wound on his head.
Jake pressed his fingers to the warm, sticky blood on the man’s neck. A faint, slow pulse pushed back. A low gurgling sound confirmed the man still breathed.He’s alive.Barely.
“He’s in bad shape. Tell them to hurry, Janice!”
A low moan from the back seat drew Jake’s attention. He inspected the area he’d previously thought empty. His stomach dropped at the sight of a woman crumpled on the floor.
Another low moan rose as he opened the back door.
A slender figure with a mass of auburn hair lay in a heap. Blood oozed from a gash above her left temple. She groaned and shifted.
“Easy... Don’t move.” He put his hand on her shoulder to calm her.
She turned her head, and the greenest eyes he’d ever seen stared at him.
“Help me. Don’t let them kill me.”
Jake’s brow creased.Kill her?Them?Had she hit her head so hard she’d become delusional? “You’re going to be okay. Help is on the way.”
“Please, don’t leave me.” Her pleading eyes closed, and her face scrunched in pain as she rolled forward.
His gaze ran down the length of her arm, tucked behind her back at an awkward angle, to her bound wrists.
“What the...” Jake’s lungs seized. He tightened his grip on the cell phone. “Janice, send another ambulance and get the sheriff out here! Quick!”
* * *
Jake pacedthe hospital waiting room, the smell of antiseptic and stale coffee causing his knotted stomach to churn. He’d been here over an hour.
The woman had awakened as the EMTs prepared to load her into the ambulance and again pleaded with Jake to stay with her. Feeling compelled to stay by her side, he’d ridden here in the ambulance. Until the nurses told him he needed to wait in the waiting room, that is.
During the ride, the EMTs had grilled him with questions he didn’t have answers to. And he wanted answers. He couldn’t get the image of her wrists, duct-taped so tightly together her fingers had turned blue, out of his head. The fear of further injuring her kept him from ripping the tape off.
While waiting for the ambulance to arrive, he’d scanned the surrounding area, wondering if there had been another passenger who had escaped the car. He’d spotted no one in the open landscape.
His mind reeled when he’d realized the center seat leading to the trunk was pushed forward. Had she been in the trunk prior to the accident? How had she managed to work her way into the back seat with her arms bound behind her back?
Thankfully, the ambulance made good time covering the fifteen miles from town in half the time it usually took to reach the ranch.
“Jake.” The County Sheriff—and coincidentally Jake’s older brother, Robert—burst through the door. “Tell me about the woman.”
Though Robert was eighteen months older than him, they stood eye-to-eye.
Jake shrugged. “They haven’t told me anything yet. How’s the driver? Did he make it?” He’d left with the woman before they managed to extricate the man.
Robert shook his head, a sober expression on his usually cheerful face.
