Page 11 of Heartbreak Hill

The officer shook his head. “I’m sorry, but you can’t go in there. All the runners have been sent back toward the starting line.”

Nadia looked at her phone again. “But he’s there.”

Instead of repeating himself, he directed her toward the sidewalk, where a horde of people had gathered. She pushed her way through the crowd until she could get to the sidewalk. If Rafe would just answer his damn phone, she could stop worrying about him.

“Rafe.” She said his name loudly. “Rafe Karlsson.” This time her voice was a little louder. She continued to call his name until she saw the car, which wasn’t supposed to be there. The front end was pushed against the street, its front caved in. The windows had been shattered and the driver’s side door left open.

Medics and fire personnel gathered around it; some chatted, while others picked up pieces of the mangled car. “Oh God,” she said aloud.

“I know. It’s so sad. I don’t think he’ll survive,” a lady next to Nadia said.

Nadia looked at the woman and asked, “The driver?”

She shook her head. “No, the runner. He saved that woman’s life.” She pointed to another runner, who sat on the road, visibly shaken. She cried while talking to the police and pointing.

The ambulance doors slammed, and the siren roared to life, causing Nadia to shudder. The piercing sound grated her nerves and sent chills down her spine. Tapping the screen on her phone, she tracked Rafe’s location. He was on the move. She looked in the direction he was heading and didn’t see him but could tell he was moving with some speed. Was he running toward her?

No, there was no way. Not when he turned down the side street nearest her. Rafe moved in the wrong direction to get to her. She rose on her tiptoes, but all she could see was the ambulance. No one was there.

“The runner, the one the ambulance just took away, you said it was a man?”

The woman nodded and tried to leave, but Nadia placed her hands on her shoulders and held her there.

“What was he wearing?”

“Oh, I don’t know. There was so much blood it was hard to tell. If I had to guess, something dark.”

“Like navy blue?”

The woman shrugged and stepped out of Nadia’s grasp. Nadia looked back at her phone, and her heart sank as she watched Rafe’s photo move farther and farther away from her.

Nadia spun around, looking in every direction she could for help. She stepped off the curb and made her way toward the woman, the one who sat on the road speaking to the officer.

“Excuse me, but is this the man who helped you?” she asked as she showed a photo of Rafe to her.

“Ma’am, please step back.” Two hands forcibly kept Nadia in place while she held her phone out.

“Look at this, please,” she said to the woman as she fought back the anger and tears threatening to take over. “Please, is this the man?”

“Ma’am, please.” The officer stepped in front of her. “You need to step back.”

She held her phone up. “I’m looking for him, and according to his location, he’s moving faster than he runs. Does he look familiar?”The officer glanced at her phone and frowned. He then motioned for another officer to come over. The two spoke in private.

“Come with me,” the other officer said. “What’s your name?”

“Nadia Karlsson.”

“I’m Officer Luca DeMarco. You can call me Luca.”

“Where are you taking me, Luca?”

“We transported a dozen or so runners to the hospital for treatment,” he said as he opened the passenger side of his cruiser for her. Before he shut it, he said, “I’m taking you to Mass Gen.”

Nadia had never been in a police car. She’d never sped through the streets of Boston with sirens blaring and had never seen cars move so slowly to get out of the way until now. Her phone rang, and without looking, she answered.

“Rafe?”

“No, it’s Otto. Isn’t he with you?”

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