“I’m just going to flush this out with some saline and tape it in place.” Jenny worked quickly. “How are you doing, Kenzie?”
“I’m pissed.” Had this been her fault?
“I bet.”
“I need to lock the place up, and Gizmo and Gabby—”
“Where are your keys?” Harrison asked.
“In my handbag.” She glanced at the floor. “I’ll clean this up later.”
“Don’t worry about that now.” Harrison set the handbag on the gurney beside her and pulled out her keys.
When they wheeled her outside, a small crowd of locals was standing on the sidewalk—Frank from the gas station, Rose, Kendra and Bob Jewell, Bear, and Hank, a local barfly who was best known for blowing up his own home.
Kenzie couldn’t see all the faces.
“What happened?” That was Hank. “Was it them robbers who got her?”
Kenzie didn’t want Bear to be frightened. “Just a bad dog bite. I’m okay.”
“What did she say?” Rose asked.
“A bad dog bite,” Bob answered. “Turn up your hearing aids.”
“I don’t wear hearing aids.” Rose sounded angry.
“Maybe you should get some,” Bob said.
Hawke and Jenny lifted the gurney into the back of the ambulance.
Harrison locked the kennel’s front entrance, climbed in beside her, and took her right hand in his. “I’m going with her.”
Eric held steady pressure on her wrist, his gaze meeting Harrison’s, a hint of a smile on his face. “I see that.”
Then Kenzie remembered. “Please don’t use the sirens. They scare Bear.”
“You got it.”
* * *
Conrad satin the surgery waiting room. They’d taken Kenzie back to the OR to stitch up her artery and repair a tendon that the dog’s canine had damaged. They’d said it would take a half hour at most—and that had been an hour ago.
Ellie, a registered nurse and Moretti’s better half, walked up to him. “She’s out of surgery and doing great. They did a nerve block with sedation, so she won’t have to recover from anesthesia. They’ll make sure she’s comfortable, and then we can discharge her. Can I get you something to drink?”
“No, thanks.” He just wanted to know that Kenzie was okay. “Is her hand …?”
“Dr. Warren is in with her now, but he should be out in a few minutes.”
“Thanks.” Conrad’s phone buzzed for the hundredth time.
This time it was Megs.
The place is cleaned up and locked tight. That was a lot of blood. Sasha has dogs and will bring them by when you call. I will drop off keys tomorrow. Tell Kenzie to take it easy.
Conrad had known that Kenzie would worry about the dogs and the mess in her classroom and had called Megs, who had paged Team members to help. They weren’t grossed out by blood, after all, and every member of the Team cared about Kenzie and her dogs. It was one of the things about the Team that meant a lot to Conrad.
They always had one another’s back.
