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Ryder stepped up to the back of the ambulance with Jase just as the paramedic was about to shut the rear doors. Ember was lying down again, a blanket draped over her. She turned her head and met Ryder’s gaze, looking exhausted.
“My cousin Molly—his wife,” he added, pointing a thumb at Jase, “is working in the ER tonight. We called her to say you were coming in. She’ll be there to meet you as soon as you get there.”
“She’ll take good care of you,” Jase added.
Ember nodded, grief etching her face. “Thanks.”
As the ambulance drove off, he and Jase strode over to Noah, who was on his phone next to his vehicle. Noah ended the call as they reached him. “Where did Ember appear on the road?”
“Down this way,” Ryder said, taking the lead. He walked to the area where he’d seen Ember step out onto the road, using the light on his phone to look at the ground. He found her footprints in the soil at the edge of the shoulder. “Here.”
“We’re stretched thin tonight. I’m calling in everyone I can, but it’ll take them a while to get here. I need your help finding the other victims.” Noah took over, leaving his deputy behind to meet the others, and led the way using his flashlight. “Stay clear of her tracks.”
Ryder followed, with Jase behind him. It was fairly easy to spot the route Ember had taken up the hillside. The ground was waterlogged from recent rain, holding the shape of her footprints. Partway down the brush covering the hill got thicker, and they lost the trail.
“We’ll pick it up again at the bottom,” Noah said, and kept descending.
The bushes gave way to a thick band of forest as they neared the bottom of the hill. A steady breeze blew between the trunks and picked up when they made it to the edge of the dunes. Noah stopped and pointed his flashlight, searching around for footprints in the sand. “I’ll go right, you guys go left. Just make sure you don’t disturb any evidence.”
Ryder and Jase started south, both of them using the light on their phones to check the ground. They found some small animal tracks. Then, up ahead, Ryder spotted an area where the sand had been churned up.
“Over here,” he said to Jase.
As they neared it, more evidence became visible. Various sets of footprints in the sand, all leading in different directions. He and Jase stopped, not wanting to damage any of the prints, and Ryder’s light caught on a slight mound in the sand in the midst of the tracks.
A human arm stuck up through the sand.
“Holy shit,” he breathed, shining his light on it.
Standing next to him, Jase stuck his fingers in his mouth and let out a shrill whistle to alert Noah. “God damn, they just dumped them right out here in the open.”
Noah ran up a minute later. Silent and grim, he took in the scene with them, the high-powered flashlight illuminating a scene straight from hell.
Someone’s hiking boot was visible beneath a thin layer of sand. A patch of bright blue jacket. And the clawed-out area where Ember must have dragged herself out.
Noah quickly went to work locating all the victims and checking for pulses. Ryder wasn’t surprised when he straightened and shook his head a few minutes later.
Imagining what had happened here made Ryder sick and filled him with helpless rage. He’d seen shit like this in Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria, but never here at home.
He could hear Noah in the background on the phone, talking to a Special Agent Dunham, telling him about the crime scene. Within an hour, this whole area would be crawling with Feds.
Noah finished the call. “Feds are on the way. You guys better head back up top. But hey,” he said, grabbing Ryder’s arm as he turned away. “Do me a favor and check on Danae. I don’t want her and Finn to be alone right now.”
The words sent a chill down his spine. “Why, what’s the matter?”
“I came straight here from the vet clinic. Some guy busted in with a wounded man and held her at gunpoint, made her stitch his buddy up. Probably would have killed her if he hadn’t been scared off at the last minute.”
“What?” He bristled, all his muscles pulling tight. Some asshole had threatened Danae and pointed a weapon at her? What the fuck?
“Jesus,” Jase breathed. “Is she okay?”
“Yes. But Ember told me she thought one of the attackers was shot in the confusion. They must have gone looking for medical supplies and saw the vet clinic, wanting to avoid a hospital visit.”
“I’ll stay with her.” Ryder spun away and took off through the woods with Jase right behind him.
Protectiveness and rage twisted inside him as he pulled out his phone to call her. No answer.
He ran back through the woods and up the slope with Jase right behind him. He needed to get to her as fast as he could. Make sure she was okay, and make sure he was there to protect her until those murderous bastards were caught.
****
“That was the scariest thing I’ve ever been through in my life,” Danae said, now seated on her couch in the living room with Poppy and Finn.
She’d only just arrived home a few minutes ago after giving her statement to one of Noah’s deputies. Poppy and Finn had been waiting for her at the door, both worried sick.
“I’ll bet,” Poppy said, handing her a mug of hot decaf tea. Savannah was fast asleep in her stroller over by the kitchen doorway, dreaming sweet, innocent dreams and oblivious of the evil in the world that Danae had glimpsed firsthand tonight.
“Thanks.” She snuggled deeper into the corner of the couch and leaned into Finn a bit.
She swallowed, struggling to push back her emotions. Every time she thought about that gun pointed at her the last time, the moment when she’d thought her life was about to be snuffed out, and that Finn would be all alone in the world, it made her tear up.
Finn pulled a tissue from the box on the coffee table and handed it to her.
She flashed him a quick smile through her tears and dabbed at her eyes. “I’ll be okay,” she whispered, thankful he was sticking next to her.
Headlights cut across the front window, and she recognized the vehicle. “It’s Sierra,” she murmured, and Poppy jumped up to let her in.
Sierra rushed through the door, her eyes fixing on Danae. “Are you okay?” she demanded, coming over to crouch down and take her hands, forehead knitted in an anxious frown.
“Yes.” Physically, anyway. But that was a damn miracle, because she’d seen the intent in the man’s eyes. He had been about to kill her. If that car hadn’t pulled up exactly when it had... She shivered.
“You only told me the main parts on the phone earlier. What else happened?”
She explained everything as quickly as she could because it was Sierra’s clinic and she deserved to know. “And then they left,” she finished, not wanting to go over it again. She was tired, the adrenaline crash and emotional toll hitting her hard. While she appreciated her friends’ concern and show of support, she wasn’t up to visiting right now.
Sierra rubbed Danae’s hands to warm them, her blue eyes full of worry. “Beckett’s at the clinic right now. He’s going to put cameras in every room—except the washrooms.”
“Hopefully the exterior ones out back caught enough for the police to ID the guys. Or at least the wounded one, since he didn’t have a mask on.”
“I’m just so sorry it happened at all,” Sierra said, hugging her, then sat on the loveseat across from them and began talking to Finn.
Danae started to drift into a sort of fog. Sierra and Poppy both fussed over her, bringing her food, more tea, covering her with a blanket. Finn stayed next to her, not saying a word, and a twinge of guilt hit her. She’d moved them here for a fresh start, and now this nightmare had happened.
She raised her head from the couch cushion when another vehicle pulled into the driveway. “That’s Jase,” Poppy said, and went to open the door.
But it wasn’t Jase who strode in, it was Ryder. His gaze locked on her from the doorway, his face so full of concern it made her throat tighten. Finn moved aside and Ryder was there in four strides, sinking down beside her and drawing her into his arms right in front of everyone.
She burrowed in close, squeezing her eyes shut against the rise of tears as he held her tight to his chest. She didn’t care that the others were watching, or that Finn no doubt realized there was something going on between them. Didn’t care what anyone thought or what conclusions they came to. With Ryder holding her she finally felt safe, and she didn’t want him to let go.
“Are you all right?” he asked in a low voice. Jase was here too, gathering Savannah from the stroller. “I called as soon as I heard, but you didn’t pick up.”
She nodded, afraid that if she tried to speak she would just choke up. Instead, she soaked up the comfort of his embrace, his strength and protection, not lifting her head from his neck until she had herself back under control again.
He leaned back a bit and set a hand on the side of her face, studying her in concern. “Noah told us what happened.”
“You saw him?”
He glanced at Jase, then focused back on her. “Something else happened tonight. Something big, and it’s probably connected to the guys who broke into the clinic.”
“What is it?” Poppy demanded before she could.
“Mass shooting south of Crimson Point,” Jase answered. “He said to tell you he probably won’t be home tonight, but he’ll call when he can.”
Danae’s fingers curled into the front of Ryder’s jacket, fear curdling her insides as he told her more details. Human trafficking. Innocent bystanders being chased down and executed. Burying them in the sand as they lay dying. The lone survivor crawling out of the shallow pit they’d been dumped into.
She swallowed, her mouth suddenly dry, pulse pounding in her ears. It was horrific. Unthinkable. And—
Shit, oh shit...
“I saw the wounded guy’s face,” she managed, her voice shaking a little. “I think that’s why the other one was going to kill me.” Was it possible he would come after her again, to keep her from helping the police identify them?
Ryder’s face was somber. “You’re going to have to take extra precautions from now until they’re caught. It’s likely anyone involved in what happened tonight has fled the area and won’t be coming back, but you need to be careful anyway.”
A phone rang, breaking the taut silence. “It’s Beckett,” Sierra said, looking at her phone, and answered.
She spoke to him for a minute, then ended the call. “He says the security cameras only caught brief glimpses of both suspects, and no clear image of the one without a mask. The sheriff’s department is going to have you work with a sketch artist in the morning to help ID him.”
“Okay.” She released her hold on Ryder’s jacket and sat up straight. “Anything else?” she asked with a tired sigh. She wasn’t sure she could take anything else.
“Yeah, either I’m staying here tonight, or you’re coming back to my place. Both of you,” Ryder added, looking at Finn.
“We should go,” Jase said to the others, tipping his head toward the door before speaking to Danae. “But if you guys need anything, just holler.” He carried Savannah to the door, her stroller in his other arm, and Poppy and Sierra behind him.
“I’ll be home if you need me,” Poppy said, then ducked out.
“And I’ll have my phone on me all night,” Sierra added. “I’ll call to check in on you tomorrow after you’ve had some sleep.”
When they were gone, Danae groaned and slumped against the couch cushion. “God, what a night.”
Ryder reached out and pushed a lock of hair back from the side of her face, his dark, intense gaze on her. “Do you want to stay here tonight, or go to my place?”
The Christmas tree glowed cheerfully in the corner, the contrast to her current mood jarring. It didn’t seem like Christmas at all anymore, and between the shooting on Christmas Eve and tonight’s horrific events, she was starting to feel like she and Finn would never find a new normal ever again.
“I want to stay here.” This was her home. Finn’s home. She wanted to be in her own space, have her things around her.
Ryder nodded once. “What else do you need?”
To get warm. She was still chilled in spite of the hot tea and blanket. Cold to the marrow of her bones, and every time she thought about that gun pointed at her that last time, it shook her. “A hot bath.”
Hopefully followed by lying wrapped in his arms for the rest of the night.
