Page 31 of Her Honorable Hero

“Maybe you should rest a little longer,” Griff suggested.

“Bullshit. We’re burning daylight. Let’s get going.”

Griff figured it had been fifteen minutes since the crash happened. They were maybe three miles outside of Del Mar. Rescue workers should be on-site at any moment. As if his mind had conjured it, he heard the faint sound of sirens, hopefully they had figured out a way to get close to the train over the embankments. Except for maybe the Serrano Valley, he didn’t know of any place worse that the crash could have happened.

The four males moved slowly and carefully forward, they didn’t want to miss anyone as they made their way to Miranda and hopefully Scarlett.

“Please, my husband needs help,” a woman called from the left. Josiah flashed his light over an older couple huddled near the side of the train. She was holding her coat against a wound on the man’s belly.

“Billy, open some luggage and find something to staunch the bleeding,” Griff ordered.

Griff looked at Josiah, who was hesitating. “I’ve got this, you go on ahead.”

“Thanks,” the big man said as he continued forward to look for his missing wife.

“Will this work?” Billy was holding up a flannel shirt that he was already beginning to tear into strips. He also had a sweatshirt in his hands. Griff was really liking the kid, he seriously had his shit together.

As they knelt down beside the injured man, Billy leaned in to whisper to Griff, “Should we pull out the metal?” he asked.

Griff examined it. “No, it will just cause more bleeding. Put the compresses around it.”

The train gave a slow lurch and steel screeched.

The woman bit back a sob, but then looked at Griff clear-eyed. “What do I need to do? I know you need to help others.”

His heart ached for her, even as he appreciated her bravery.

“There’s a helicopter above us,” Billy said. “I saw them. There’s going to be EMT’s real soon,” Billy assured the woman.

Griff put his fingers to the man’s neck again. His pulse was stronger.

Pounding on the outside wall of the train made the lady jump and the wounded man’s eyelids flicker. Cries echoed inside as people jolted in fear. Griff yelled out. “Ladies and Gentlemen, please calm down. That’s the sound of the rescue workers outside. They’re just getting things in place to help us out.”

Lord, he hoped he wasn’t lying.

He gripped Billy’s shoulder. “Call your brother. Find out his ETA.”

Griff pulled out his phone at the same time. It was about damn time he checked in with his team. As soon as he did, he grinned. He had a text. It was from his team’s crazy ass techie. Black Dawn had been together for less than a year, and they were just getting to know one another, but Griff really liked Dex Evans. The man seemed to know what everybody needed before they needed it.

Apparently, Griff had missed five calls in the last seventeen minutes. Dex had sent a long diatribe of a text, that told him the exact ETA of the Black Dawn team.

“Mason, where are you?” The kid put his phone on speaker.

“We’re four-wheeling past Jaden’s van toward the train tracks. We’ve spotted the helicopter. Fuck, Billy, we can see smoke. You’re not near the train, are you?”

Billy didn’t answer, and Griff took the phone from him.

“Mason? This is Griffin Porter. I’m with Black Dawn. Your brother is in the train even though our Captain Hale forbade him to enter it. Right now, your brother is providing aid to the injured and doing a damn fine job. The car we’re on is on its side and near the cliff. I won’t lie, it’s not good. We need equipment to make sure it doesn’t slip over the cliff.”

“You need to evacuate,” Mason said, his voice terse.

“Agreed, but it’s a mess. We’ve barely found a quarter of the passengers on the top floor, and we haven’t even made it to the bottom floor. It was the morning commute.” Somebody was talking near Mason, but Griff couldn’t make out what they were saying. “So how close are you?” Griff asked.

“I’ve surfed the beach where Billy was, we should be there in five more minutes. There’s another truck behind us. They’ve been tailing us since we left Coronado. Now that you said you’re Black Dawn and the Captain is with you, chances are it’s your teammates or some guys that Commander McAllister has pulled in.”

Griff felt a burst of hope for the first time since the crash had occurred. He knew of Mason’s Midnight Delta team because one of his teammates was now working with Mason’s guys. Between Mason’s team and Black Dawn, he was finally beginning to feel some hope.