“What kind of injury is it, Doc?” the EMT questioned.
Since Sarah didn’t go into the hospital, she wasn’t familiar with most of the hospital staff. “Head injury. Blunt trauma from a fall. He has a hematoma forming, and a laceration. I’m worried about his mentation.” She held the gauze in place and stroked his cheek. He’d risked his life for her, obviously without permission from the local police. Had Joe been planning a rescue attempt at that moment, it would have been the local police who entered the building, and there would have been a lot of them.
“We need to do spinal precautions, Doc,” the EMT reminded Sarah.
“Yes,” she agreed with a nod of her head.
Moving back, she made room for the EMTs to get Dante on a backboard and apply a neck brace, strapping him to the board to prevent him from moving until he was X-rayed. She knew she was in no frame of mind to take care of him medically right now, and she let the EMTs handle it.
“Dante?” she called from her place near his head. This time he didn’t respond. Dante was out cold.
“Sarah?” a male voice called gently from behind her.
She turned to see Jared behind her, and he put an arm around her waist and pulled her to her feet.
“Are you hurt? What happened to Dante?” Jared asked, his expression troubled.
“He saved my life. He jumped between John and me, and they both went down. He hit his head pretty hard. He’s unconscious.” She was babbling and she knew it, but she was trying to relay information to Jared as quickly as possible.
“He must have killed the bastard first. I promised him the first thing I’d do was rescue you, but he obviously took care of that himself before he passed out. You okay? The bastard didn’t . . .” Jared’s voice trailed off, and he actually looked disconcerted.
“He didn’t rape me. And I’m okay, Jared. I’m just worried about Dante,” Sarah said tearfully, her body trembling with reaction now that her adrenaline level was down.
“His vitals are stable,” the EMT informed Sarah. “We’re going to load him up now. Do you want to ride with him to the hospital?”
“Yes,” Sarah said anxiously, looking at Dante’s face. She saw his lids flicker open and then closed again. “He’s starting to wake up.”
Jared put an arm around Sarah’s shoulders and told her supportively, “He’ll be okay. He’s got a hard head.” He hugged her tightly and used the hem of his shirt to dry the tears from her eyes. “You sure you’re okay? You’re covered in blood.”
“It’s Dante’s,” she told him as she hugged him back, knowing Jared was worried. She could see it on his face. “Head wounds bleed a lot.”
The EMTs put Dante on a gurney. “We’re ready to go, Doc.”
“It’s Sarah,” she told the EMT with a weak smile. “Let’s go.” She was anxious to get Dante to the hospital as soon as possible.
“We’ll follow you,” Jared told her huskily.
Sarah walked with the gurney to the main door, watching Dante’s face. He opened his eyes occasionally, so she knew he was semiconscious.
“Sarah, we have questions,” Joe Landon told her as he caught her arm by the main door.
“Catch me at the hospital. I’m going with Dante,” she told him firmly. Questions could wait. John was dead, and the investigation could be conducted after she made sure Dante was going to be okay. That was her only concern right now.
“He wasn’t authorized to enter the building,” Joe told her as he shook his head, his voice more awed than reproving. “He killed the Windy City Carver. I should be pissed off that he acted on his own, but the man has some balls. We didn’t even think to check the outside of the building because neither room is supposed to have any windows. We figured the killer was already here by the time you entered. He’s one hell of a cop, even if we were supposed to be waiting for backup from SWAT.”
“Yes, he is. And if he hadn’t acted exactly when he did, I’d be dead,” Sarah answered, wanting to tell Chief Landon that Dante was one hell of a man in general, but she hurried after the rolling gurney, not wanting Dante out of her sight.
She clambered into the back of the ambulance, and sat at Dante’s head. His eyes were open again. “Dante? Can you hear me?” Sarah left the exam to the EMTs, knowing she was too emotionally involved to be taking care of Dante medically. Right now she wasn’t a doctor. She was a woman who was tormenting herself about whether or not the man she loved was going to be okay.
“I hear you. Are you okay?” Dante pulled at the restraints on his body that kept him from moving around. His voice was suddenly frantic. “Did the bastard hurt you?”
Sarah put a hand on his shoulder. “Stop fighting. I’m fine. He wasn’t able to do anything other than touch me. You can’t move around right now until you get some X-rays.”