Page 30 of Mountain Captive

Rand looked back at one of the older women against the wall. “I need some ammonia.”

“Ammonia?” She looked puzzled.

“The cleaning fluid. You must have some somewhere.”

“I’ll see what I can find.”

Lana’s brother moved a little closer, though he didn’t kneel beside the pallet. “What’s your name?” Danny asked.

“Robert.”

“Why did you wait so long to go for help?” Rand asked as he busied himself with cleaning his hands and drying them on one of the towels.

Robert shoved his fingers through his lank hair. “We don’t believe in doctors,” he said. “We’re supposed to trust in the Exalted.”

“Are you going to be in trouble for bringing us here?” Danny asked.

Robert shrugged. “Maybe. Probably. Can you help her?”

“We’re going to try,” Rand said. “But it may be too late.”

“Here.” The woman returned and thrust a plastic bottle filled with yellow liquid at Rand.

He twisted off the cap and sniffed, his eyes watering. It was ammonia, all right. He poured some on a cloth and held it under Lana’s nose. She moaned and turned her head away. “Lana, wake up,” he said. “Open your eyes and look at me, please.”

Her eyes flickered open, and she stared up at him. Her eyes were dark brown, fringed with long dark lashes. She was probably beautiful when she was feeling better. “My name is Rand,” he said. “I’m a doctor, and I’m going to try to help you. I need to try to turn the baby. When I tell you, you need to push.”

She nodded. Rand looked at Serena. “Talk to her. Encourage her.”

Serena leaned close and whispered to Lana. Rand couldn’t hear what she said, and he didn’t care. Her job was to try to calm and distract Lana, if that was even possible, given her condition. He nodded to Danny, and the two of them moved down to tackle the dilemma of somehow delivering this baby. Rand was searching for some way to lubricate his hands when the door to the trailer opened, a woman’s strident protests breaking the tense silence. “You can’t go in there—”

Rand turned to see what the commotion was about just as two Rayford County sheriff’s deputies stepped in. “Rand?” one of the deputies asked.

As the officers moved closer, Rand recognized Jake Gwynn. “We need a medical helicopter,” he said. “Right away.”

“I’ll make the call,” the other deputy said, and stepped out of the trailer.

Jake took in the woman on the pallet and the people gathered around her. “Are you and Danny okay?” he asked.

“We’re fine, but this woman needs emergency surgery.”

“No surgery.” The older woman who had fetched the ammonia stepped between Rand and Lana. “No hospital. The Exalted forbids it.”

“Then if she dies, I’ll be happy to testify in the Exalted’s murder trial.” Rand stood.

Robert stood also. There was no sign of the gun now, and he moved toward the door. Jake moved to intercept him. “You need to stay here,” he said.

The other deputy returned. “This is Ryker Vernon,” Jake said. “What happened?”

“Two men grabbed us outside search and rescue headquarters,” Danny said. “They forced us to come here to help this woman.”

The four men looked down at Lana, who lay still, her breathing slow and labored. “They should have called for help hours ago,” Rand said.

“They forced you to come here?” Ryker asked.

“They had a gun,” Danny said.

“The Exalted had nothing to do with that,” the older woman said. “He forbids the use of violence.”

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