Page 78 of Mountain Shadow

“No!” Jens roared.

He pushed forward, already knowing he didn’t have enough momentum, as the knife flew down towards Sarah, embedding itself high in her chest. She let out a strangled sound that was more a gasp than a scream.

The man pulled the knife out and made as if to stab Sarah again, but this time, Jens was there. He gripped the man’s wrist with an iron grip, applying pressure until the arm bent at the elbow. And still Jens continued pushing, both his arms focused on the knife arm.

“Drop it or die,” he snarled. The man didn’t let go, even as the knife came closer and closer to his own chest.

“I’m going to kill her,” he whispered.

No, you won’t.

Grunting, Jens pushed the knife until the point embedded itself deeply into the man’s chest. Behind them, Sarah let out a whimper. Jens steeled himself and drove the knife deeper. Their gazes locked. The man’s fist crashed into Jens’s ear, but there was no longer any power behind it. He was dead, his body just hadn’t realized yet. The man fell, first to his knees, then forward until he was lying face-first on the ground. He didn’t move again.

Dead.

Good riddance.

“Sarah!” Jens shouted.

She was on her knees. Blood flowed freely down the front of the sweatshirt he’d bundled her into just minutes before. She looked down at her hands, which were also covered in blood, with something like surprise.

Oh, God.

“Are you … okay?” she asked hoarsely. Those three words seemed to take up all her energy.

Nausea roiled in his stomach.

“I’m fine. Stay with me, Sarah,” he said, pushing her back gently.

25

Jens

Jens placed his bundled up jacket under Sarah’s head, elevating it lightly.

Blood had never bothered him before. He wasn’t just a doctor—he’d trained in emergency medicine. He’d seen combat first-hand, and provided assistance in an untold number of medical emergencies in remote locations. He prided himself on his ability to make the right decisions in high-pressure situations.

But something about Sarah’s blood … He needed to get himself under control if he was going to help her. Jens forced a deep breath, then another. The pain in his ribs helped center him.

“You’re going to be okay.”

She had to be okay.

He unzipped his sweatshirt, using the ends of it to wipe away the blood. He needed to get a clearer look at the wound. He already knew it was bad, but he needed to see exactly how bad it was.

Worse than bad.

Fuck.

The knife had gone in on the left side of her chest, just below her collarbone. That had likely saved her life, but the way the wound was bleeding meant the knife had at least nicked her subclavian artery.

Jens went on autopilot then. A penetrating injury to the subclavian artery, with pulsatile bleeding, could only be controlled with direct external compression.

In a fucking operating theater.

Fear lodged in his lower belly, but he pushed it aside. She didn’t need a scared lover. She needed a doctor.

Jens raced to the entrance of the house. He looked longingly at the sedan outside. The keys were probably in the dead man’s pocket. But there was no way Sarah would survive a trip down the mountain in her state. Ignoring it, he picked up his backpack, threw a reflective blanket out onto the ground, and ran back to kneel beside Sarah.