Page 45 of Viktor

“Ma….ss…oon,” she wailed. Viktor’s fear ratcheted up.

“Mason? What’s wrong with Mason?”

She pointed to the door and cried harder.

Viktor stood with the kid and went running, holding her tight so she wouldn’t fall. “Where?”

“Outside. I couldn’t wake him up.”

Viktor threw open the door, and sure enough, Mason was sprawled out on the porch, pale and unmoving.

“Delia, did you see what happened?”

She shook her head, and he turned, preparing to set her down, but Sara was right there and took her daughter. Viktor knelt beside his brother and checked for a pulse. He let out a breath when he felt the strong, steady beat beneath his fingertips.

“Mase.” He shook him, but when that failed to wake him, he started searching for an injury. He turned his brother’s head and found the knot at the back of it. It was a good-sized goose egg, and his fingers came away bloody. The kid took a hit. He checked him for other injuries, but it was only his head.

“Did he fall?” Sara asked, coming to stand beside them.

“Maybe.” Viktor didn’t think so, though. There was nothing here for him to stumble over. Mason may not look it, but the kid played football in high school. He wasn’t clumsy, and he sure as hell knew how to fall to protect his head from injury. “Where is everyone?”

“Mom is over at my Aunt Betty’s. Gabe dropped her off a couple hours ago, and he’s in the barn with Dad working on the tractor.”

He fished his phone out of his back pocket and dialed Gabe, who answered on the third ring.

“What?”

“Mason took some kind of fall, and I need to get him to the ER. Can you get your ass over here and help me load him into the Jeep? Kid’s unconscious, and I don’t want to jostle him too much. He took a hit to the head.”

“Shit,” Gabe swore. “Foul play?”

“I think so.”

“Be right there.” Gabe disconnected the call, and Viktor spotted him running out of the barn and toward them.

“Sara, you and Delia go on in the house. Gabe will stay with you while I get Mason to the doctor.”

“I’m going with you.” Sara held up a hand when he tried to argue. “You can’t watch Mason and drive at the same time. Besides, do you even know where the hospital is?”

“No, but I have GPS. I want you here where you’ll be safe.”

“Viktor, I’ll be safe with you, but you can’t do everything. Let me you help you.”

As much as he wanted to argue, he couldn’t. He needed to get his brother to the doctor as fast as possible.

When Gabe got there, they picked Mason up and started for the Jeep. Sara was right behind them. “My keys are in the front pocket of my jeans. Can you get them?”

Sara’s fingers dug into his pocket and found the keys. She unlocked the doors and told him to get in the back with Mason. She’d drive.

“I want to come.” Delia’s tearstained face begged both of them. “Please.” There was no denying that face.

“Come on,malyshka.” He waited for her to crawl in and settle herself into the car seat. He’d put it in the Jeep yesterday when he took her to town with him.

Holding Mason made it awkward, but with Gabe’s help, they managed to get him in. The kid should be waking up. It was worrying him.

“I’m going to look around here and see if I can find anything.” Gabe shut the door. “Call me as soon as you know something.”

Viktor thanked him and told Sara to get a move on.

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