They scrambled down the bank. She had to sit and scoot forward on her butt because her ankle wouldn’t hold her, and she didn’t want to risk falling all the way down. Brandon hadn’t said anything, hadn’t shown any sign of being upset with her. He’d only kept scanning the area around them as he waited for her to stand and be ready to continue.
He pointed to her left, along the dry creek bed, and she breathed a sigh of relief. This was easier footing, less for her to trip over. She could do this.
“Down!” Brandon’s urgent command struck her like a physical blow.
Her knees collapsed almost without thought, and she fell forward on her hands as he pressed her forward, against the incline of the steep embankment. He was shielding her with his body.
She didn’t try to get out from under him or run. She only curled up as small as she could and tried to listen to what was going on around them. She kept her eyes open wide, trying to see what was going on.
If a moment came to help or to move, if Brandon needed her to do something, she’d be ready.
“Friendly.” A voice came out of the darkness. “Forte, is that you? We’re friendlies.”
The tension eased in Brandon’s posture. “Sa.”
There were friends here. Relief flooded through her again, and she wondered how many times her muscles could go from tense to limp in the space of a few minutes.
“Affirmative.”
“I’ve got a dog down.” Brandon didn’t put away his gun. Instead, he let the other man approach. A black-and-tan shadow approached, the cold nose passing swiftly over her cheek.
“H-Haydn.” The tears were falling again, and she wiped them off her cheeks, angry with herself. Crying was useless, and she still needed to be able to see where she was going.
“We neutralized two threats just inside the tree line.” Raul Sa directed his words to Brandon. Which was just as well because Sophie wasn’t sure what she would’ve done with the information.
Brandon nodded and holstered his gun in a harness under his T-shirt. “That’s it, then. I took out two here in the woods. Both are still alive and unconscious. One has a minor bullet wound. It’ll take hours for him to bleed out. We need immediate transport.”
“On it.” Sa touched his hand to his throat and issued a few terse comments to no one in general.
Sophie stared hard at his throat. He had some sort of equipment at his throat. A communication device. Brandon didn’t look surprised.
Instead, he seemed to be softening, his posture relaxing. When he turned to her, the look in his eyes was thawing. “We’re safe now. We’re going to take you out of here.”
Safe.
She breathed slow and gathered up all of those trembling nerves. Swallowing hard, she shoved away the helplessness and fear. One step at a time. Every moment wasn’t a life-or-death decision anymore for her or for Brandon. She could face all that later and be grateful she’d managed to come through it all somehow.
Straightening, she looked from Brandon to Raul Sa and back to Brandon again. “Then we’re going to make sure Haydn gets help. Right now.”
Brandon smiled. It was a new smile, one she’d never seen before. Fierce and friendly at the same time. “Yes, ma’am.”
Chapter Twenty-Three
There was an animal hospital with full emergency surgery facilities within twenty minutes of the bed-and-breakfast where they’d been staying. It was a lucky thing for Haydn.
If there’d been one thing Forte hadn’t thought to check out when he’d decided to bring Sophie to this area for hiding, it’d been the proximity of a veterinarian.
The staff had reacted with admirable calm when they’d come rushing in. The nurse on duty had called in the veterinarian on call and they’d taken Haydn into a back room to prep him for immediate surgery. They’d taken one look at Forte and Sa and hustled them into a private area to keep them out of the way.
Sa, for his part, opted to head back outside to watch the perimeter with his team. His dog, formerly one of Forte’s own trainees, had accompanied him outside.
So here Forte sat, in a tiny office, waiting to hear about Haydn.
Sophie had curled up in the corner chair with her feet tucked under her. She’d leaned into the corner of the room, staring at the wall, until her eyelids had drooped. For the time being, rest was the best thing for her. He didn’t want to disturb her, even to get her injured ankle out from under her.
It was still in the medical boot so it had proper support. And Ky would be there in the next couple of hours to help work things out with the local law enforcement. Time enough to get her to elevate the leg and ice the ankle. When there was someone else around to nudge her. She’d hit her tolerance point of following directions from him for the night.
And she’d done wonderfully.
She was a strong, brave woman, whether she realized it or not. And she’d been pushed hard over the past week leading into tonight. Anyone else could’ve broken down into screaming hysterics. But not his Sophie. No. Once the imminent danger had passed, she’d pulled herself together and insisted on seeing to the well-being of his dog.