Page 53 of One Last Chance

What—

And then he simply bent and swept her up into his arms.

He smelled good. Like the woods, and maybe soap, and something tough and durable and determined.

“Sparrow!” He jostled her hard.

Her eyes opened. He’d reached the bike.

“Okay, I’m hoping this works—I need you to sit behind me, and then I’m going to put the pack around both of us.”

Huh?

He settled her on the bike, put a helmet on her, then pulled off the pack and loosened the straps. “Put this on.”

“Sure.”

But he helped because her arm still hurt, and frankly, the world wasn’t quite right either.

He got on in front of her, reached down, gripped her thighs, and pulled her up against him. Then he reached back and put his arms through the straps, pulling her tight against him. She put her arms around his waist, tucked in tight, the helmet thumping against his shoulder blades.

Yeah. She wasn’t going anywhere.

He reached down and put her right foot on a peg that he flipped out.

Then he took hold of her leg with the damaged knee and carefully lifted it, holding her knee against his thigh. “I know this isn’t ideal. But we need to get you to help, and soon, and this will be faster than bringing in the Air One team. I promise to go easy.”

She probably made a sound of agreement, because he started off. Easy, navigating with one hand while working the throttle.

Her arms tightened around him, and despite her helmet, and against her will, her cries of pain leaked out, even over the sound of the engine. They motored down the shoreline, then through a river, and she closed her eyes again as they hit the other side and he drove a little faster.

Breathe. She gritted her teeth, stealing herself, but the pain cascaded through her, took hold. She bent her head, closed her eyes.

He reached the dirt road and opened up the bike a little, kicking up dust.

And then, suddenly, they were sliding, the bike almost spilling out beneath him.

She gasped, gripped his waist.

He braked and righted it. “You okay?” She breathed out. Not even a little. But as she lifted her head, put her hands to his back, she discovered he was sweating. “Axel?”

“Yeah. Just . . . give me a second.”

She lifted the visor and spotted a rabbit on the side of the road. “Did we almost hit a rabbit?”

“The rabbit almost hit us, but—yeah. I think . . . this might have been a bad idea. Once we get on the highway, I’m going to need both hands. Unless . . .” He breathed out. “Okay, I got this.”

He reached into his jacket and pulled out his cell. “Good. We finally have service.”

She closed her eyes, but in a moment she heard?—

“Hey, Moose, I found her.”

His voice, his words just . . . well, she was definitely concussed, because they simply settled inside her, bathing her insides with a sort of warm goo.“I found her.”

“Okay. Meet me at the highway.”

He hung up. Looked over his shoulder. “Put the visor down. It’s going to get dusty.”

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