Sam rose to his feet, his expression grim. “I’ve got a chopper coming for Dolphin and transport for us to the nearest hospital. Our first priority is getting him help. Then we have to regroup, consider our options and figure out our next move.”
“Our first priority is Grace,” Rio snarled.
Sam held up his hand. “I get it, man. But I have a man down. They aren’t going to kill Grace. At least not yet. They haven’t had time. Dolphin’s going to die if we don’t get him stabilized. He comes first.”
Rio closed his eyes because he knew this to be true. Team first. Never leave a man down. It was a motto they clung to as fiercely as they did anything else. But goddamn it, that had all changed for him the minute Grace had entered his life.
Nothing—no one—mattered as much as she did, and if something happened to her, he was done for.
“P.J., Cole,C;P.J., I need you guys to spread out. Do a recon of the area. Make sure it’s safe for the incoming chopper. ETA is fifteen minutes, so you have to make this fast. Rio, I need your guys to help,” Sam said.
Terrence, Diego and Decker grabbed their rifles, followed quickly by Alton, and then Garrett left Dolphin’s side and grabbed his gun. The six men followed P.J. and Cole out the back and into the dark.
Rio hurried over to where Dolphin lay. Blood soaked his entire chest. The bullet had entered at an angle, effectively going under the Kevlar vest. Hell. It was a mess, and he was bleeding like a stuck pig.
“Don’t look at me like that,” Dolphin snarled.
Rio couldn’t even believe he was still conscious.
“And tell your damn woman to get the f**k away from me. I can do this on my own. I won’t be responsible for her going down.”
Rio stared down at Dolphin, sure he hadn’t heard right. “What the f**k? What the hell are you talking about, Dolphin? Are you out of your head? Quit talking shit.”
“She’s here,” Dolphin gasped out. “I can feel her. She’s fixing shit. I’m a mess, man. Couldn’t breathe for shit. I tried to fight her and she told me to stop being a goddamn baby and take it like a man.”
Rio reached out, sharp and probing, like an arrow aimed at the very heart of their connection. Goddamn it, Grace, you stop it! Do you hear me! We’ve got this situation under control. You have to save your strength because you have no idea what they’re going to make you do.
Her answer was faint, barely discernible, almost as if she wasn’t fully conscious herself.
I couldn’t let him die because of me.
Rio swore viciously. He balled his fist, wanting to destroy something.
“Save it, man. She said to tell you to chill out. She’s only sticking a Band-Aid on me until they can get me to the hospital. She actually apologized for not being able to do more. Son of a bitch.”
Dolphin wasn’t any happier about Grace’s help than Rio was. But Rio also knew the moment Grace broke away from the other man. He lost color and slumped weakly back onto the concrete. His strength seemed to leach right out of him, but at least he wasn’t coughing up blood and his breaths were even and strong.
“I’ll be a son of a bitch,” Donovan murmured. “Damndest thing I ever saw.”
Donovan had been working diligently on a pressure bandage, trying to stop the bleeding. He was up to his elbows in bright red blood. It was all over his shirt. All over the ground. And yet now it had slowed to an ooze.
“I hear the chopper,” Steele bellowed from the runway.
The others scrambled, forming a tight line all the way to the landing pad so that Dolphin could be carried behind cover. As soon as the helo touched down, Donovan, Garrett and Sam hoisted Dolphin upward and rushed him toward the waiting stretcher.
Donovan climbed in with the other medic, and the chopper immediately took off, buzzing over the distant trees.
A few moments later, a line of SUVs roared down the runway.
“That’ll be the cavalry,” Sam said. “Fall in and let’s get the hell out of here!”
Rio didn’t question who came to get them or how Sam had arranged it so fast, but then Sam had a lot of damn connections, especially with the milita
ry. He was just grateful to get away so that they could regroup and figure out where to find Grace.
He reached out to her again, needing rea, needinssurance that she was okay.
Are you okay, honey? Do you know where they’re taking you?
There was only a faint whisper back. They drugged me, but I have to pretend it’s stronger than what it is because I don’t want them to know I can still function. I was out for a while because he hit me over the head. I don’t know anything yet. Don’t contact me. I don’t want to betray our link. I’ll reach out to you when it’s time.
I love you, he said fiercely. I’ll come for you, Grace. I’ll never leave you. Rest now and know that we’re going to get you out of this.
He felt her answering smile, so full of love and trust. Trust. It hit him like a hammer. She had absolute faith that he would indeed come for her, and like hell he was going to let her down.
CHAPTER 34
“RIO, you’re going to want to hear this,” Sam said in a grim voice.
Rio turned where he’d taken position in the hospital waiting room with the others. Dolphin had been taken to surgery a half hour before and they were likely in for a long wait.
Garrett stood next to his brother, and Steele was on Sam’s other side.
“Resnick was shot earlier today in his home.”