I become inpatient waiting for Stryker, Anthony and Pipe to rescue Mikey, knowing every minute wasted is another cut from his life. If they couldn’t get him out then I wasn’t leaving his side. For better or worse, in sickness and in health, until death do we part. Unable to stand on her bare mangled feet, I watch as Adrianna collapses on top of the rubble before dodging back through the smoke and making my way back to my husband. The smoke is thick, making it hard to see, but I hear Anthony’s voice at the other end of the bar.
“What are you doing?” Mike asks hoarsely.
Ignoring him, I continue to move broken shards of glass, steel, and wood. I know it’s not making much of a difference and that I can never lift the weight pinning Mikey to the ground but I can’t sit still. I have to do something.
“Nikki, we’ve got it! Go back to your sister,” Anthony shouts.
I clear enough space to step between the debris and the woman wearing the red shoes. Before, I couldn’t tell who it was because of the large piece of Sheetrock blocking my vision. I grunt, pushing it out of the way just as the three men jump over the scatter of flames contained by steel.
My eyes drift upward and I scream in horror as I stare at the lifeless woman. One of the glass shelves must have come flying at her and slit her throat.
“What is it?” Mike demands.
“Nikki,” Anthony hollers.
“She’s over there! Fucking leave me, get her. Go to her!’
I close my eyes, open them and she’s still there, dead, her head hangs onto her shoulders by a thread.
“No! No! No! Oksana,” Pipe screams, knocking me out of the way as he reaches for her. His hands hesitate as they close in on her body, unsure where to touch her.
Anthony pulls me up and spins me around, wrapping his arms around me and pushes my face into his chest, shielding my eyes from the brutal scene. I cry for the woman I never met and the man who collapses over her body and mourns.
My brother-in-law guides me away from the tragic couple and back to my husband.
“On three,” Stryker orders and Anthony releases me, pulling back to stare at me.
“You’re okay,” he assures. “Mike will be okay. It’ll all be over soon. I promise.”
I don’t respond as he lets go of me and moves to the other side of the beam trapping Mikey’s legs. The voices fade as the men count, grunt and struggle to free my husband and then I hear the muffled sounds of sirens.
“Help is here,” Adrianna calls out to us.
I close my eyes and thank God.
But for some it is already too late.
For some this is the end.
Chapter Forty-Two
I lean my elbows on my knees and stare at the glass doors as the sirens draw closer. After the call from Maria informing us of the explosion Lauren and I chartered my parents’ jet and hauled ass to the hospital. From take-off to landing we took two and a half hours to arrive. We’ve been waiting for a little over an hour now with still no word of anyone being brought in from the Dog Pound. Every time the doors open and they wheel in another stranger I lose my fucking shit. I’ve been here before. Sitting here helpless, waiting for word of those that matter and I swore I’d never do it again.
The only silver lining is Kitten is beside me and not on a gurney speeding through the emergency room.
“Look,” she says beside me, wrapping her arm around mine as she leans her head on my shoulder and points toward the dozen doctors running straight to the emergency room entrance.
“That’s gotta be them,” I reply.
Together we stand and make our way to the entrance, catching sight of the first ambulance that pulls in front.
“Thirty-year-old female. Thirty weeks pregnant, contractions are seven minutes apart but her water hasn’t broken,” the paramedic shouts as the team of doctors wheel Reina through the doors.
“Jack! Where’s Jack?”
“Ma’am, I already told you we’ve got him. He’s in the next ambulance,” the paramedic assures her.
“Reina!” I shout, trying to make my way over to her but I’m quickly pushed back as the doctors race away from the door. I spin around as another gurney is pushed through the doors.
“Second-degree burns to his back and he can’t hear out of both ears,” someone says as they wheel Jack into the hospital.
barely process my president lying helpless on a stretcher.
“We’ve got a massive coronary over here,” another paramedic hollers from the street, lifting Wolf from the back of the ambulance.
“Oh my God,” Lauren cries next to me, covering her face with her hands as the parade of injuries continues all at once.
“Kitten,” I murmur, peeling back her hands as Anthony appears. A nurse pushes him in a wheelchair as he holds an oxygen mask to his face. His other arm is fucked up, covered in blood and wrapped with a tie.