Page 170 of Gunner

The team worked quickly and efficiently, gently lifting Alice onto the stretcher with the utmost care. I tried to read Jamie’s expression for a hint of what to expect, but his face was unreadable. He wouldn’t look at me, and I didn’t dare distract him with questions.

Every movement was calculated to avoid causing her any further harm. She looked so fragile and vulnerable, a stark contrast to the strong, vibrant woman I knew her to be.

Oh, why had I let her join the investigation?She’d had to sign a waiver that if anything happened to her, the police department couldn’t be sued. I should have talked her out of it. None of this would have happened if it hadn’t been for me. I’d prioritized closing a case over her safety.

My thoughts haunted me during the trek back to the cabin. Gunner held my hand, his presence a silent pillar of strength. The bikers and cops formed a protective circle around the stretcher, their earlier animosity forgotten in the face of a common goal: to get my sister the help she desperately needed.

As we emerged from the woods, the cabin’s lights felt like a beacon of hope in the dark night. The EMTs wasted no time in loading the stretcher into the back of the waiting ambulance. I hovered, torn between the need to be with my sister and the chaos surrounding Mayor Getty’s exposure.

“I’m her husband,” Jasper said, making the decision for me. “I should ride with her.”

I stepped back and allowed him to enter the ambulance, convincing myself it was enough that Jamie was going with them, although he still hadn’t spoken to me. Still gave me no reassurances she would pull through this.

“Let’s go to the hospital,” Gunner said. “Chris will take Zeus back to the clubhouse for us. I checked him out, and he’s fine.”

We tailed the ambulance to the hospital but had to park in a different location. By the time we entered through theemergency department, a nurse told us they’d already taken her to the OR.

Jasper sat on a chair, rocking and weeping, his grief profound.

My stomach knotted. I paced the floor, too jittery to sit.

“Ben, sit,” Gunner said.

“I can’t.”

“Please. I’ll find out what I can, but you need to sit first.”

“She’s got to be okay, Gunner.” He embraced me, and I clung to him, pressing my face to his neck. “She has to make it.”

Gunner made me sit and detangled my arms from around him. I ducked my head between my knees to breathe through the nausea filling my gut. He walked over to Jasper. A few minutes later, he returned, sat beside me, and took my hand.

“Ben.”

“What? What is it?”

“I can’t get anything out of him. The nurses all say the doctor will speak to us soon.”

“Oh god. She’s dead, Gun, isn’t she?”

“Don’t say that. We have to hope for the best. Your sister is a fighter.”

Time was unkind to us all as we had no choice but to wait. Finally, a nurse entered the waiting room. “Family of Alice Boone.”

Jasper jumped to his feet, but I moved more slowly. “Is my sister okay?” I asked, clinging to Gunner’s hand.

“The doctor would like to speak with you both. Please follow me.”

That couldn’t be good, could it? Why couldn’t she just say if my sister was alive or not? And the baby? Why were they keeping the truth from us?

The nurse led us to a room where Jamie was waiting for us, his gaze full of sorrow.

“No.” The word slipped from my numb lips.

“I’m sorry, Uncle Ben.” He shook his head and turned to Jasper. “We did everything we could, but we couldn’t revive her. The stress of the whole ordeal, coupled with injuries she sustained, was too much for her.”

Jasper was weeping, but I was too numb to cry. How could someone so vibrant be…just gone?

“I’ve brought you here to say your good-byes before we take her away.”

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