Page 97 of One Last Chance

“What?”

“Crash.”

“Oh, I didn’t crash. That was Moose. I was . . . not in the chopper.”

She narrowed her eyes at him. “That’s at least two lives you’ve used up there, Phoenix. You’re down to three.”

Wow, she had a way of bringing him back from the edge. He might indeed be a phoenix with her around.

And then, from the house, a scream lifted, high pitched and agonized. He froze. “What?—”

“That’s Echo. She’s in labor.”

“Here? Now?”

“Her mom is in there. We were going to go to the hospital in Copper Mountain, but her mom is an OB-Gyn, so . . . she wanted to wait for Dodge.”

“Oh, right.” Axel slipped his hand into hers. Held it, maybe tighter than he meant to. But he didn’t care what Moose said. Happiness was having someone that cared waiting to throw herself into his arms, and that was enough.

They walked into the house, into the main room, and the sight stopped him cold.

Echo sat on the recliner, her knees up, breathing hard, her body draped in a sheet.

She was having the baby right here, in the living room.

He knew Dr. Effie Yazzie by reputation—she’d been gone most of Echo’s life but had returned a couple years ago. Dark hair pulled back, dressed in jeans and a T-shirt. Now she pulled off gloves and dropped them into a bag. Looked at Dodge, who knelt beside Echo. “We need to go. Now.”

A moment of silence and then, “Go where?” This from Dodge, but it could have been anyone.

“The baby is breech. And I can’t turn it. And unless we get to a hospital, they’re both going to die.”

What?

Axel glanced at Dodge, who had gotten up.

“Okay, okay—I have fuel in my chopper?—”

“No. We need to take your Otter, Dodge,” Moose said from where he stood at the counter. “It’s faster. And you’re in no condition to fly. London, you come with me.” He turned to Axel. “Help me get the seats out of the plane.”

Right.

He followed Moose out onto the tarmac. Moose grabbed the preflight checklist and started a quick walkabout while Axel and London and Flynn removed the seats.

Dodge appeared with Echo in his arms, wrapped in a blanket, her mother behind him, carrying a medical kit. They got in.

London grabbed the med kit from the chopper and shoved that in also, then climbed into the copilot’s seat, starting the interior preflight routine.

Huh.He didn’t know she could fly a plane too.

“You need me, Moose?” he asked as Moose came around and closed the door.

“No. But you could pray.”

He could pray.

He looked at Flynn and she nodded.Right. Okay.

“I’ll call you from Anchorage,” Moose said, then went around and got in.

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