“HANG ON.” Chase scooped Lily into his arms. She was amazingly lightweight. He reveled in her warmth as he carried her across the road toward the ditch where he’d left the Toyota.
They were midway to the car when a gunshot rent the air. Chase stopped, his heart dropping into his stomach.
“Put her down, Vickers!”
Chase spun to see Aidan Shea standing a few yards away, his pistol leveled on Chase. Blood oozed from his chest, shiny and red, staining his clothes in an expanding circle. Still, Chase set Lily on her feet.
“This ends here and now,” Shea said as he shifted the pistol and took aim at Lily.
“No!” Chase threw himself in front of her, but he wasn’t fast enough. The blast fractured the air and Lily fell to the ground. “No!” he screamed. “No!”
Out of the corner of his eye he saw Aidan Shea’s body jerk. He spun around and fired three times in quick succession before crumpling to the ground. At first, Chase thought he’d succumbed to the bullet wound he’d sustained earlier. Then he spotted the other figure just beyond. Before Chase could identify him, the man staggered, then fell to the ground. What the hell? Another gunman? Chase considered trying to get off a shot with his left hand. But he needed to tend to Lily first.
Dropping to his knees beside her, he ran his uninjured hand over her, searching for a bullet wound, for blood. Her eyes were open, watching him. She was crying. Obviously in pain. Oh, dear God, please let her survive this.
“Honey,” he choked. “Where are you hit?”
“I’m not.” She took his hand. “I think it’s the baby.”
“Vickers!” a familiar voice called out.
Chase fumbled for his pistol with his left hand, surged to his feet and spun
Realization dawned in a rush. Ben Parker had arrived just in time. He’d shot Aidan Shea and saved their lives. Now he was down with a gunshot wound.
“Stay put,” Chase said to Lily, then he started toward the fallen man.
“About time you showed up,” Chase said when he came upon Ben.
“Timing was off just a little.”
Chase knelt beside the FBI agent, noticed the shiny slick of blood on the asphalt. “How bad are you hit?”
“Not looking too good. Bastard got me in the chest.”
Chase grabbed Ben’s cell phone and quickly dialed nine-one-one, asking for the police and two ambulances.
When he was finished, he looked down at Ben, then took his hand. “How did you find us?”
“There’s only one major highway that runs from Boston to Shane’s place. Didn’t take a rocket scientist to figure it out.”
“That’s possibly how Shea found us, too.” Chase squeezed his friend’s hand. How had he ever doubted Ben’s loyalty? “You got here just in time.”
“Looks that way.” Ben’s eyes went to Lily. “She okay?”
“I think she’s in labor.”
Even through the grimace of pain, Ben smiled. “You better get over there.”
Chase squeezed his hand again. “You saved our lives, bro.”
“Just doing my job.”
“Ambulance will be here any moment.”
“Go,” Ben said.
Chase didn’t want to leave him—Ben Parker was in a bad way. But Lily needed him, too.
Taking off his shirt, Chase covered Ben with it to help keep him from going into shock. “I’ll be right over there,” he said.
“By the way…” Ben closed his eyes. “Congratulations.”
Chase gave the man’s hand a final squeeze, then strode quickly to where Lily lay on the ground and knelt beside her. “An ambulance is on the way.”
“I don’t think your daughter is going to wait.”
“What?” He’d heard—he just couldn’t believe it. “The baby is coming.”
“You mean right now? Here?”
A faint smile touched her lips. “She’s impatient, just like her dad.”
Alarm and a good measure of fear rattled through Chase at the thought of helping to deliver his own baby. An EMT, he knew the basic mechanics of labor and delivery, but there were so many things that could go wrong. “I’ve never done this before,” he blurted.
“I did it once in the emergency room,” she said. “The baby was very determined and came before the doc could get there. I’ll coach—” She bit off the words. Her face screwed up and sweat beaded on her forehead. “It’s…going to happen right now.”
“Tell me what to do.” His voice came out strong, but panic bubbled inside him.
Lily was already in the throes of another contraction. Chase forced his mind back to his EMT training. He knew that when the contractions came at close intervals, delivery time was near.
When the contraction passed, Lily blew out a breath, then began to breathe the way expectant mothers were taught to breathe in Lamaze classes. “I’m taking you to the car,” he said, kneeling to scoop her into his arms.