Brynna couldn’t help it; she cried out. She moved her foot. She could do this! She could. She would! She put her foot on the ground and gave a push. The cart shifted two feet or so.
She could, she would do this. “We’ll do this, Gab. Make Mel proud.”
Gabby dragged her to where the door used to be. It wasn’t all that far away from where she had been standing when the world caught fire, was it? Brynna helped when she could. She helped even when she thought her heart was going to just stop, when she couldn’t breathe, when the pain got so overwhelming she lost what little breakfast she had eaten that morning.
Gabby kept pulling so Brynna kept helping.
The rescuers outside the lab had made them an opening.
Gabby turned that opening into a tunnel, one foot at a time.
Brynna couldn’t see anything but darkness. Debris scraped against her face and she turned her head.
Then the darkness was more than just the absence of light. Brynna fought to breathe as Gabby fought to get them both toward the tiny opening at the other end.
And then Brynna wasn’t breathing at all.
CHAPTER FORTY.
* * *
CHANCE arrived at the TSP too late. He was met by Det. Evers outside the secured area. “They took Gabby and Brynna Beck to Finley Creek General, Marshall.”
“They’re alive? They were in there, weren’t they?”
“They were alive when they left here.” The other man hesitated. “Beck didn’t look good, Chance. I’m not going to lie to you. There was a lot of blood.”
Chance’s heart stopped then. His lungs seized. He forced air in. “But she was alive.”
“Yes.”
“What the hell happened?”
“Bennett Russell. There’re rumors he rigged the place to go. We’re going to get people in there for sure. Haldyn Harris is working on getting us video from their department, but it looks like everything on the servers has been destroyed.”
“I don’t care. I’m going to the hospital.” He paused for a minute. “My brother? Who else was hurt?”
“The chief is fine. The rest of what we have are superficial. Russell waited until it was just the three of them in there.” Evers looked over at the crowd as a woman wailed. Chance followed his gaze.
“Shit. Russell’s family.” Evers said. “Someone’s going to have to tell them.”
“It won’t be me. I’m going.”
“Keep us informed here. Gabby and Brynna…well, they’re ours even though they stuck to themselves down there, you know? They didn’t deserve this.”
Chance looked at what remained. A third of the annex where Brynna and Gabby spent their time had collapsed in on itself. Smoke still billowed.
The hell Brynna had gone through hit him hard and he fought to stay on his feet.
He had to get to her. He had to.
When he got to the hospital there were people everywhere. He jogged over to that damned McKellen. “How is she? Where is she?”
McKellen looked at him for a moment. The other man ran his hand over his face. Chance saw the raw scratches on the man’s hands. Foster was beside him and had similar marks. It was Foster who answered. “She’s upstairs in surgery. Entire family is up there.”
“She’s alive?”
“Yes,” Foster said. “But…she was impaled, Marshall. We don’t know how bad the damage is.”
“How did we miss it?” Chance asked. “What in the hell happened?”
“Only Gabby has those answers. I’m headed up there now.”
* * *
THE sight of her sisters weeping terrified him, made him fear she was already gone. His brother was there, but there was no sign of Gabby. Where was she? He looked at his brother. “Where’s Gabby?”
“Still being examined. I came up here to get an update. We’re still waiting.”
Chance nodded. He stepped into the hallway while Foster spoke with Brynna’s sisters. His brother followed him.
“What happened, El?”
“At this point all I know is what Gabby told me. But it wasn’t much.”
“How badly is she hurt?”
“A lot less than Brynna, Chance.” Elliot put his hand on Chance’s shoulder. “She probably has a concussion and she was bleeding in a few places. I don’t know. I—“
“You need to get to her.” How his brother felt was right there. Chance hurt, too. For Brynna, for Gabby, for himself and his brother. “What about Bryn? Straight answer, El. I need to know the truth.”
“She wasn’t breathing when Gabby dragged her out of the debris, Chance. She had been impaled, but it wasn’t a large piece of metal. I saw it for myself. They got her breathing again. Then we were here. That’s all I can tell you. But…there was a lot of blood. I just don’t know anything else. I need to get to Gabby. She’s going to want to be up here, if possible.”
Chance looked up and there Gabby was, being pushed in a wheelchair by Lacy.
Elliot went straight to her.
And then Gabby was telling them exactly what hell they had gone through at the hands of Bennett Russell.
It almost didn’t register that Benny, a man who had been at his high school graduation, who had helped him clean his first fish, had been one of the men who had killed his family.
Why did it matter who anymore in that moment? All that mattered was Brynna.
* * *
NO one spoke to him while they waited. Only his brother. Chance looked over at Elliot. He was splitting himself in two, giving half his attention to running the damned fucking TSP and trying to take care of Gabby, who refused to return to her own room until they knew about Brynna.
How was his brother still sane?
Why had he taken off the way he had that morning? Why hadn’t he stayed close?
Why hadn’t they fucking considered that Bennett Russell was close enough to Brynna and Gabby to know everything they did? Why hadn’t they considered?
Jillian was crying next to him. Syd...the kid was in total shock and not saying a word. Mel was pacing, prowling the waiting room with awkward steps.
Kevin had called the oldest sister; she’d be there as soon as a friend could fly her there in a helicopter.
Mel paced some more.
No one tried to stop her. Someone should. She was going to hurt herself, didn’t she realize that? Wear herself out.
Chance stood up. Everyone looked at him. Why were they looking at him? “Mel, sit. I’m going outside for a while. El?”
“We’ll find you. You want me to go with you?”
“No. You have Gabby.” Gabby, who needed his brother beside her, strong and protective.
Elliot, who had been there to dig her and Brynna out. Elliot who would keep her safe.
Chance was going outside. He needed to clear his head. Now.
“She’ll be in surgery for a while, Chance,” Jillian said, wiping her eyes. “We’ll find you when we hear.”
He nodded. He didn’t know what else to say. Jillian surprised him when she wrapped her arms around Chance’s waist and hugged him.
It was too much. Family was too much for him right then. Her family.
Chance prowled around the hospital, ending up in the small chapel.
He had a lot of thinking he needed to do.
Kevin found him there fifteen minutes later.
Chance couldn’t look at him. He’d promised to keep the man’s daughter safe.
“The doctor will be out to give us an update soon. I know you want to be there.” The older man was silent for a long moment. “We should have considered Russell. I should have stayed this morning when I dropped her off. We should have convinced her and Gabby to quit the TSP. There’s a lot of should haves, aren’t there?”
Chance just nodded. What could he say to this man?
“There are a lot of should haves we have to think about. But even more what nows? Let’s get back up there, find out how my baby girl is doing. I know she’ll be looking for you when she w
akes up. She’ll need you to be there more than anyone.”
“Kevin, I…” Couldn’t do it. Couldn’t love someone ever again. This…he could not do this ever again.
How many hours had he spent in this very hospital waiting on word of Slade? He’d come to this chapel the hour before he and Elliot had made the decision to let their baby brother go. He had been the one to convince Elliot to let Slade go. To let it end. Would he ever forget that?
Or forget that he sat here waiting on word of his Brynna? What if Kevin and her sisters were faced with that same question? Could he sit back and just let them make the decision to let his Brynna go?
Chance just couldn’t let himself be hurt like this again.
But he had to know how she was. “Let’s go.”
The doctor met them in the waiting room a few minutes later. Chance listened to what the man had to say, trying to process it all somehow.
The doctor was the same one who had treated her before, wasn’t he? “Brynna is a remarkably strong young woman. I won’t lie—we did have to give her a hefty transfusion. And we almost lost her on the table once or twice. She’d lost a lot of blood, had been deprived of oxygen for a few minutes, her lungs were full of debris from the explosion, and with the infection last week, today was very tricky.” The doctor looked around the room, his gaze lingering on Jillian for a moment. “We did remove her appendix because it took the brunt of the injury. She’s still under sedation and will be at least until the morning. But barring any unforeseen complications, she should be just fine.”
Chance breathed a sigh of relief. Of gratitude to whomever was listening above.
But the doctor wasn’t finished. “However…she’s going to have to be watched closely for signs of infection and for pneumonia from the debris in her lungs and chemical burns. She did inhale a bit of insulation, as did anyone who was in there today.” The doctor leveled a look at Gabby. Chance looked at her; he hadn’t really looked at her since he’d made it to the hospital, had he? He did now, needing to see for himself. She would be hurting for a while, but…she’d recover. His brother hadn’t lost her, they hadn’t lost her. “In the meantime, we’re going to keep her quiet and let her body heal from all she’s been through in the last few weeks.”
Chance’s knees gave out and he sank back down into the chair as the conversation continued around him.
Brynna was going to live. She was going to live.
They hadn’t lost her after all.
CHAPTER FORTY-ONE.
* * *
BRYNNA knew where she was before she opened her eyes.
She called for him before she remembered. But Chance wouldn’t be there. Would he?
A hot hand wrapped around hers. “I’m right here. You are safe now. But you’re back in the hospital. Open your eyes. Look at me.”
He wasn’t taking no for an answer, was he? Brynna opened her eyes.
There he was. Safe. “Chance? What…what happened?” Brynna turned her head and looked around. She was back in the hospital, wasn’t she? And there was someone in the second bed.
Someone she recognized.
Gabby.
Memories came rushing back. Benny. The explosions. Fighting Benny. Gabby. The rubble.
“I…remember. Benny?”
“Killed instantly. He’ll never hurt you or Gabby again.” He pushed the hair out of her eyes and brushed a finger over the bandage on her left temple. “You hit your head pretty hard. How much do you remember?”
How much? “All of it. Every detail. I don’t think I’ll be able to forget.”
“You’ll have to give a statement eventually.”
“I will. Is Gabby ok?” She’d never forget how her best friend had pulled her through the rubble. If it wasn’t for Gabby, she’d be dead.
Brynna knew that.
“She’s going to be fine. Bumps, bruises. Pneumonia from the dust in the rubble. But…she’s going to be fine.”
“Was anyone else in the building hurt?”
“Marti, the receptionist. She was cut by some flying glass. The mayor cut his arm helping Elliot dig. Foster, McKellen, Erickson all have scratches and strained muscles from digging you and Gab out. Other than that, no one. Benny knew what he was doing, babe. He hurt who he meant to.”
She tried to nod. It didn’t go so well. “Benny’s family? Nora and the girls, his sons?”
Chance hesitated. “Brynn…whomever Benny was working with…they took his daughter Alyssia to force him to do what he did. They haven’t found her yet. They probably won’t. Not until it’s too late.”
Horror filled her. Brynna liked Alyssia. The other woman was studying to be a child psychologist. “Find her, Chance. Someone needs to find her. She’s not like our family. She won’t have people out there looking for her like we did. Just her dad, and he’s dead. She’ll be out there all alone. She doesn’t deserve…”
“Neither did you. Or Gabby. Or Sara. Or anyone else these people have hurt.”
“But we can make a difference for her. Just…you and Elliot need to find her. Please.”
Why did it matter so much to her? Alyssia’s father had killed Sara and her family. Had hurt Brynna. Gabby. So many others. Why should his daughter matter?
Because Alyssia wasn’t her father, no matter what the man had done. Alyssia didn’t deserve to pay for Benny’s sins. “Just promise me you’ll try.”
“I’ll do what I can. You just worry about getting better.” He leaned over and kissed her forehead once. “I have never been so scared in my life. Get better, Bryn. Fast.”
Why did it feel like he was telling her something without words?
Brynna didn’t understand.
She leaned back, too tired, too hurting, to try to figure it out.
There would be time to think later. Right now she just couldn’t deal. Brynna closed her eyes one more time. She would just rest for a while longer. Try to forget…
CHAPTER FORTY-TWO.
* * *
ALYSSIA Catherine Russell, middle daughter of Bennett Russell hadn’t deserved to be dragged into this mess any more than Brynna or Gabby or Sara had. The girl’s photo sickened Chance every time he looked at it. Big pale blue eyes, a slightly crooked smile. Freckles. She was six months older than Brynna, and the naiveté in her eyes was the same. The color reminded him of Gabby. The freckles and dark hair, his sister Sara.
Finding her was at least doing something, wasn’t it?
Brynna and Gabby were still securely guarded at the Finley Creek General Hospital. Erickson and Foster, as well as two men from McKellen’s unit, had volunteered their off-time to guard the two women.
The TSP—and not just the Finley Creek post—were circling the wagons and protecting their own. Chance got it; people were pissed that two of their own had nearly been killed by a damned traitor in their midst. That the two involved were young techs just pissed off the detectives and officers and everyone else around.
Technicians with the TSP were civilians, not trained by the TSP Academy in Wichita Falls. They were the innocents of the organization, barely one step up from the clerks and administrative staff necessary to run the place.
It wasn’t any wonder the TSP had been rumbling since the explosion happened.
He’d never forget the sight of what remained of the annex. Chance had gone back there with Elliot to be there when the crews had gotten inside the area where Brynna had almost died.
He’d had to go in. To see.
Elliot wouldn’t let him; his brother had let him watch the video from the lone security camera that had remained functioning after the blast. It had been enough.
He’d never be able to get the sight of Gabby and Brynna both being thrown through the air after the room around them exploded. He’d watched as they’d fought off Russell with everything they had. Then he’d watched as Russell knocked Brynna to the floor and she didn’t get up again.
And then he’d watched as sweet little Gabby had pumped every bullet in a .38 into R
ussell, keeping her body between his and Brynna’s.
She’d saved Brynna’s life, and her own, and no one who watched that video would ever forget what she had done.
Would forget what hell she and Brynna had gone through that morning.
Elliot had allowed Nora Russell to watch that video in part. Just long enough to see her husband plant and then detonate three bombs in the department he’d worked in for more than two decades. He’d cut it off before Russell’s death, as a mercy to her.
She didn’t need to watch someone she loved die like that. Not on video over and over again.
She’d fallen to her knees, and only Elliot’s hands had supported her.
She’d clutched a long letter in her hands. She thrust it into Chance’s, along with a photo. “I didn’t think this was real. I didn’t think it was real. My baby. My baby. Someone has my baby!”
Chance had read the letter quickly, the photo crumpled in his hand. And then he’d looked at the photo.
Saw the girl with long brown hair with her hands tied behind her back, her shirt torn and her eyes terrified.
He’d looked at her mother and made a promise he doubted he’d be able to keep. “I’ll find her. I’ll bring her back.”
He’d find her.
Even it if was just her body.
Her mother had lost enough.
CHAPTER FORTY-THREE.
* * *
CHANCE suspected the only way he was going to find the body of Alyssia Russell was by luck or circumstance. Her remains were probably out there, rotting already. He wasn’t so naive that he thought the girl was still alive.
She’d served her purpose as incentive; her father’s cohorts had no need of her anymore.
Why the hell hadn’t Russell named his accomplices in his Dear John confession to his wife?
Shelter from the Storm (Finley Creek Book 2) Page 13