He peered through the window, then glanced at the men who’d helped them out. “Can one of you climb inside and check if this is locked?”
“I’ll do it,” the smaller of the two said.
A few seconds after he’d disappeared into the Bentley, the lock clicked. Stone pulled the door open and crouched next to Fred, who was starting to show signs of revival.
The delivery guy who was still inside unbuckled Fred’s seat belt, and Stone disentangled it from Fred’s arms.
Fred’s eyelids suddenly shot open, and he jerked back, then immediately grimaced from a wave of pain.
“Take it easy,” Stone said.
Fred looked at him. “Are you…all right, sir?”
“I’m fine.”
“And Miss Thompson?”
“Also, fine. No need to worry about us.”
Stone heard sirens heading in their direction.
“I’m sorry,” Fred said. “I-I was trying to…avoid crashing. I guess…I guess I didn’t do a good enough job.”
“If not for your quick actions, the crash would have been far worse.”
“Still, the car…”
“Cars can be replaced. People cannot. Now, tell me where are you hurt?”
Fred was silent for a moment before saying, “My right foot.” He touched his torso. “And I think I may have…broken some ribs.”
“What about your head?”
“It’s felt better.”
“I’m sure it has. But does it hurt like you hit it against something?”
“No. Just rattled, I think.”
“That’s good.”
One of the incoming sirens grew to a crescendo, then went silent.
After telling Fred to sit tight, Stone stood and looked toward the ambulance that had just arrived. “Over here!” he shouted.
He waited until the EMTs reached the Bentley before rejoining Tamlyn, who was standing out of the way with the delivery drivers.
“How is he?” Tamlyn asked.
“Banged up, but he’ll recover.” Stone glanced at the two men. “Thank you for helping us get out.”
“No problem at all,” the taller of the two said.
“Yeah, that was the most excitement we’ve had all week,” the other said.
Stone checked out their delivery van. The front end was partially caved in, and the windshield was in thousands of pieces on the asphalt.
“Either of you hurt?” Stone asked.
