Page 66 of Fatal Thrill
Jon and Miles examined the wound. “My bag is in the trunk of the car,” Jon told Miles. “Go grab it. There’s QuickClot inthere.”
Miles took off for the front doors of the castle, nearly running over Neenan and his siblings. Percy, hot on his heels, yelled, “I’ll bring my car up to the door. We’ll get him to thehospital.”
Colton squinted as he came closer. “Is thatSean?”
“Don’t you die on me, daddy,” Jaya said, voicequivering.
“He’s not going to die.” At least if Jon had any say in it. “I won’t lethim.”
“Shit,” Colton swore. Shelby sidled up next to him and he pulled her close. “Do we know whathappened?”
Shelby shook her head. “Just that he’s been shot in theabdomen.”
Damn SOB owed them an explanation for all of this and Jon wasn’t about to let the man die right in front of hisdaughter.
Shrugging off his coat, he let it drop, then peeled off his shirt. Wadding up the cotton, he held it firmly on the wound. Colton took up residence next to Sean’s head, checking his pulse again. “A bitthready.”
Jaya wound her fingers in Sean’s, whispering prayers and pleas. Jon wasn’t religious, but he did believe in the afterlife. He offered up a silent prayer as well to all the gods and creators, asking them to spare this oneman.
Miles rushed back in, soaking wet once more. Charlotte moved out of the way, letting him through with the bag. He dumped out the contents and Jon found what he was lookingfor.
The QuickClot was a hemostatic with an added ingredient that helped the body’s clotting abilities. It would slow the bleeding until they could get Sean to the hospital for surgery. Jon hoped against hope there was no internal damage, but the location of the wound suggested organs might beinvolved.
Miles ripped open the aseptic foil of a trauma pad and Jon placed it over the clotting agent. They worked together to wrap gauze around Sean’sabdomen.
Colton grabbed the stethoscope and checked Sean’s heart. “Heart rate’s dropping. Blood pressure must betoo.”
Percy ran in with several folded blankets in his arms. The sirens outside had died and two officers came in behind him. “Car’s ready,” he said, unfolding a blanket. “It’ll be faster to drive him to the hospital than to wait on ambulanceservices.”
Shelby helped Percy stack the blankets, folded lengthwise, to form a stretcher. Jon kept pressure on Sean’s wound as Miles, Colton, and Percy shifted the man to them and lifted him from theground.
As they headed slowly for the door, Percy fired off instructions to the crime scene techs and another detective who’d arrived to exhume the body buried in the graveyard. Now they had the dead body, a possible murder scene, and the assault on Sean. “Get Landon and McCoy here,” Percy said. “I’ll take O’Sullivan’s statement as soon as he comesto.”
Jaya didn’t let go of her dad’s hand until they had to maneuver him through the castle’s front doors. With four big guys surrounding him and Jon trying not to let up on the pressure, Jaya had to relinquish her spot for a moment. As soon as they made it out, she was back, grabbing his handagain.
The tears on her cheeks made Jon’s skin itch. How many times had he carried a body on a stretcher with his team over rocky terrain and up hills for miles during SEAL training? Too many to count. In the field, he’d had to carry injured soldiers and more than one civilian this way as well. Before today, he’d always been able to stay detached, to focus and compartmentalize what had to bedone.
Right now, that focus was in short supply. The man on the stretcher evoked emotions of anger as well as relief. It was as if he were carrying his own father to the back of Percy’s SUV, rather thanJaya’s.
Percy had laid the rear seats down and Jaya hopped inside, guiding her father’s body in as Percy and Miles shifted him slightly sideways to get him to fit kitty-corner.
“We’ll follow you in the car,” Charlotte called as she and Shelby headed to therental.
“Go with them,” Jon told Colton. “Miles, you stay withus.”
Percy hopped in to drive. Miles and Jon stabilized Sean’s body as best as theycould.
Which wasn’t easy as they bumped over rocky terrain to get to the main road once more, siren loud and lights flashing. Even on the road, potholes filled with rain water, the evening gloom, and a random sheep or two made the trip challenging. At one point, Percy had to swerve quickly to avoid a downed tree limb he didn’t see due to a sharp bend along the cliffs. Jaya gasped and lost her balance, slamming into the vehicle’s side and bumping herhead.
Jon reached for her. “Hangon.”
The SUV skidded for half a second, the inertia taking Jon forward over Sean’s body. His one hand already on Jaya, she ended up with some of his weight. Her hand gripped his bicep and for a moment Jon wasn’t sure who was holding upwho.
The vehicle straightened, Percy swearing and Miles grabbing the seatbelt to lock itin.
“Everyone okay back there?” Percycalled.
Jon didn’t loosen his hold on Jaya and her hand squeezed his bicep. “We’re good,” shesaid.
