Kaylee scooted far enough over she could see out the window on the far side. She peered out at the sky as the helicopter dipped low.
Dean ducked in the driver’s seat. “Whoa, guys.”
Whether he thought the helicopter pilot could hear him, or not, Kaylee still agreed with him. “They’re flying way too low.”
Sure enough, the bottom of the helicopter rails looked close enough to nearly clip the roof of a house.
The noise was deafening. The steady whomp of rotors continued as it slowed and rotated.
“We should get out of here.” Stuart shut the door on his side. He’d gotten in the back with her instead of in the front passenger seat. “We don’t know what they’re going to do.”
“No.” Dean shook his head. “We’re going to stick around. Make sure no one is hurt, and see what they’re going to do.”
Stuart made a noncommittal noise in response but didn’t argue. Kaylee just stared out the window as the chopper, black and sleek and flashy looking, turned in a circle. She spotted a pilot, another guy in the front, and more than one person in the back. Most of them were dressed in black with helmets and wicked-looking, huge guns. Except for one guy in a dark blue jacket and jeans, his back to them.
Kaylee said, “Where’s the flash drive?”
“Zander took it.”
“Okay. That’s good.” It should by all accounts be far from both her and Stuart. That way, if something happened and they were taken, these guys wouldn’t get their hands on the evidence as well. “Who are they? They don’t exactly look friendly.”
“They’re not.” Stuart sounded like he had to bite the words out. “I recognize the chopper. They work for the same company, which means it’s my employers trying to find us and the evidence Brad discovered.”
Kaylee squinted. “Brad.”
“What?”
The man in blue started to fall. Kaylee’s breath caught in her throat. The wind roared through her ears as she watched.
He tumbled end over end, out of the helicopter, and onto the grass. His body hit the ground. He bounced once and tumbled over in a heap.
“Kaylee!”
She was out of the car.
Her feet tripped over each other. She fell to her knees, catching herself by her hands on the asphalt of the street. Her breath came in gasps. Finally, she managed to take a whole breath and screamed, “Brad!”
She raced toward her brother.
“Kaylee, get down!”
She ignored Stuart and pumped her arms and legs as fast as she could. Finally, blessedly, she reached his side.
Gunshots smacked the grass around her, kicking up dirt. She screamed and threw her body over her brother’s, covering his torso and head. Was he even alive?
Had they thrown his dead body from that chopper?
Answering gunshots echoed over the sound of the aircraft. One pinged off metal. She heard more.
None hit her. Or her brother, or the grass around them.
Alarms sounded. She could hear them faintly over the rotors. And then she looked up. The helicopter retreated, angling away from them as it flew off toward the mountains.
“Call Zander. Tell him I want to know where that went!” Stuart landed beside her. “Kaylee, what were you thinking? You could’ve been shot!”
“Go! Go!” A man she didn’t know raced down the street toward her. Kaylee flinched, moving away. But he didn’t come toward her. He ran right past, followed by two men. All of them had guns.
She tumbled from her crouch onto her backside, and recognized them. They were Zander’s team. The three men jumped into a Jeep. One in the back, the other two in the front. The engine roared, and the tires screeched as they took off in pursuit of the helicopter.
She moved to her knees only enough to roll her brother to his back. She cried out at the sight of his face, bloody and beaten. “Brad.”
“Kaylee.”
She shook her head. She couldn’t handle Stuart’s concern, or his attempts to comfort her when he was just as distraught as she was. She could hear it in his voice.
Kaylee laid a gentle hand on her brother’s shoulder. It was hard to know where to touch, there was so much blood and so many bruises. He’d been beaten. Maybe even tortured. A whimper worked its way up her throat, and she didn’t bother to hold it back.
Dean landed beside her. “Give me a little space.”
Stuart came around to gather her up in his arms again. “Should I call the ambulance to come back?”
Dean shook his head. “We need to get him in the car.”
“Is he going to live?”
Dean said, “Come on. We have to hurry.”
Stuart and Dean gathered Brad up. His head lolled. He was out cold, and it was probably for the best considering how much pain he would likely be in when he woke up. God, don’t let him die. Her brother had gone through so much. He’d been a captive. Hurt.
New compassion for Stuart and all he’d gone through moved in her. She wanted to talk to him, but that would have to wait. She climbed into the back of the car, and they helped her brother inside. She tried to pull him onto her lap but didn’t want to tug too much. Dean folded Brad’s legs inside, and she held him while they got in the front.
The doors shut. Stuart turned on the engine, hit the gas and peeled out.
Kaylee swayed with the motion. Dean turned in the front, his knees to the passenger seat. He studied Brad and spoke on the phone. She didn’t understand half the words he said but none of them sounded good. It sounded as bad as the dark look on his face.
“He’s going to die.”
Stuart glanced over his shoulder. “Don’t talk like that. We’re almost to the hospital.”
“I can’t lose him.” She grasped two handfuls of her brother’s shirt. “He’s the only family I have left.”
“Almost there,” Dean spoke low, probably trying to sound reassuring.
Kaylee felt the tracks of tears roll down her face but didn’t bother wiping them away. There was no point. God. The cry of her heart was a reflex. Falling back on the sovereignty of God. The Father might not have kept her parents alive, but she could ask Him for this. Maybe He would not deny her the answer to her prayers a second time.
Stuart pulled into the emergency bay, right behind the now-empty ambulance that had contained Lewis and his mom. They must already be inside.
Stuart jumped out of the car and raced to the doors. She heard him yell, and while he got help, Dean continued to check out her brother. Kaylee just stared at his face.
One eye swollen and blue. His lip was cut, and the rest of his skin was sticky with sweat, dirt, and dried blood.
The back door opened. Stuart reached across the seat and hauled Brad from her lap, while two nurses helped him get her brother on a stretcher.
“I’ll park the car.”
She didn’t move.
“Kaylee.”
They wheeled her brother to the door. Dean got out, trotted around the car, and got in the driver’s side. Stuart reached in and held out his hand to her. “Come on.”
When she didn’t move, he tugged on her hands. Kaylee got her feet under her, and he pretty much lifted her from the car, slamming the door behind her.
Dean drove away.
Stuart tucked her hand in his arm and walked her around to the front door. “Everything is going to be okay.” His words were slower but steady. As though he repeated a mantra. Trying to convince himself, make him believe, while his heart probably screamed like hers.
“They had him this whole time.”
“But he’s not dead. They think they broke us, and him, by doing this.” He paused at the front door and studied her face. “Did they?”
She’d been broken so many times. Her parents’ deaths. The night she realized her brother had killed their murderer. Kaylee didn’t even know if she’d ever actually managed to put herself back together.
Maybe she was still broken and always would be.
“Kaylee?”
“They’re not the ones who broke me,” she said, honestly.
He frowned, understanding what she was saying. Or what she wasn’t, maybe. She was too frazzled for a deep conversation.
Stuart led her inside, and they explained who they were, then he had her sit beside him in the waiting area. “Your brother is alive.” He sounded relieved. When she glanced at him, Stuart said, “I thought I’d killed him. That I was responsible for his death, and that I’d left him there.”
“But they captured him after he tried to escape.”
“And they let me escape.” Stuart said, “Which means he sacrificed, and I went free.” He shook his head. “Why do that? It makes no sense.”
She’d seen him at church but didn’t know where he was at with things of faith. “Does it have to make sense? I mean, if you can reason it out, doesn’t that mean it loses some of what makes it so amazing.”
“I’d just be mad at your brother for doing that, not grateful. Like with God.” He shifted, holding her hand in his lap, as though he needed it there. “There is no way Jesus should have done what He did for me.”
“Even if you were the only one.”
“That actually makes it worse.” He smiled, more self-deprecating than humorous. “Because I would never accept that someone perfect did that for me.”
“It was the only way.” Now she sounded as though she were repeating a mantra. A meditation. Reminding herself of all God had done. “We have some of those capabilities in us. Something of the divine, that lifts us above other earthly beings. The ability to be selfless is one of them. Though we use it in corrupt ways most of the time, and it’s only a shadow of what He put in us, it’s still there.”
“Not in me.” Stuart shook his head. “No one should ever give up anything for me. It doesn’t matter if I live the rest of my life doing good things and try to pretend I’m selfless. Caring for orphans, or helping victims. It doesn’t matter.” The repetition sounded so defeated. “I’ll never be worthy of it. Not even what Brad did for me. Knowingly, or unknowingly.”
“Isn’t that why it’s a gift no one deserves?” It was the essence of grace, after all. The gift no one deserved. While some people seemed to have been good all their lives, others fell to their knees, weeping, they were so grateful for salvation.
“That doesn’t make me feel better.” He slung his arm around her shoulders and tugged her to him, planting a kiss on the top of her head. “But thank you for trying.”
A doctor wearing a white coat strode out, spoke with the reception lady, and looked at them when she indicated their spot. The doctor was a new hire. She’d apparently never worked in a small town before. They’d had to bring someone in fast after the last doctor turned out to be a town founder—and a murdering psycho.
The doctor came close, her focus on Kaylee. “You’re Kaylee?”
She stood, trying not to be nervous just because of who this woman’s predecessor had been. “Yes, Brad is my brother. He’ll be okay?”
“Right now he’s in a medically-induced coma until the swelling in his brain goes down. He has more than several broken bones, and one of his legs will need multiple surgeries.” The doctor reached up and squeezed the back of her neck. “It’ll take time, but when he’s ready, we’ll wake him up. After that, it’s a case of assessing his condition moving forward and making a plan.”
Kaylee blew out a long breath. “Thank you, so much.”
“It’s good you brought him when you did. Wherever he was, he wouldn’t have lasted much longer.”