Corps Security, The Series (1)(92)

“Be there in five. I’ll get her.”

“Don’t let him take them from me,” I plead.

“Got it.” He takes a deep breath, and I know . . . I know how much he is holding back right there.

Greg loves Izzy, and for the first time, I realize just how powerful their bond is. He was her family and support when I couldn’t be. If anyone else can understand what my panic feels like at this moment, it is Greg.

I have to trust that he can make it in time. There is no way she can be taken from me twice.

I break every speed limit and every traffic law to make it to Dee’s in half the time it normally takes, pulling my truck right into the grass in front of her place and throwing it in park before jumping out and sprinting towards the door. I notice Greg’s truck off to the side parked at an odd angle. I check but don’t see him outside. The front door is wide open and there is no movement inside.

Silence.

Silence and sobbing.

Pulling the gun out of my ankle holster, I slowly walk through the threshold and down the long hallway. The sobbing is getting louder, and for the first time since arriving, I breathe. That is a female sob.

Hope flares to life and I rush around the corner but stop dead at the scene before me. The first thing I see is Brandon’s lifeless body in the opening to the kitchen. I don’t need to check to know he isn’t breathing. No way would he survive with that many holes in his chest. Dee is on the floor next to the tangled mess of Izzy’s and Greg’s bodies.

“NO!” I roar, running towards them, slipping on the blood that covers the floor around them. “Oh God, Izzy!”

“I c-c-called 91–1,” Dee stutters out next to me. “It isn’t hers,” she whispers.

“What?” I sob, running my hands down Izzy’s still body, looking for any sign of injury before moving her gently to the side. Her chest is rising and falling normally and her color is just slightly paler than normal. Besides a few cuts and bruises, she doesn’t appear to be harmed.

When I turn to Greg for the first time, her words register. “Fuck!” I roll him over and notice the wet hole on his side. “FUCK!” Ripping my shirt over my head, I press it against his belly and hope I can do enough to keep him stable before the ambulance arrives. “Check his pulse,” I say to Dee, but when I look over, she is weeping over Izzy’s body. My heart stills for a second when I look again at her still form. Why isn’t she moving?

Bringing my attention back to Greg, I bring one hand off his wound and check his pulse. Slow but there. I hold my shirt against him and wait.

We wait for what seems like an eternity before the paramedics start running through the house. Greg is quickly loaded up and taken away with Dee in the back with him. I drop down next to Izzy, where the paramedics are working on her.

“Sir? Sir? I need to ask you some questions,” the officer off to the side asks.

“Not now.” I run my hand over her hair and pray. She has to be all right. She has to survive. “Why isn’t she waking up?” I ask the paramedic next to me.

“I don’t know. Looks like her body’s way of protecting itself. All her vitals are fine, great actually, considering.” He gives me a look full of compassion. “She’s going to be fine.”

I let out the breath I didn’t realize I was holding, drop my head to her shoulder, and cry.

“She’s pregnant,” I whisper to the man beside me. “She’s pregnant with my baby.” My words sound odd to my ears, and I know I won’t be able to hold it together for long if I don’t see those beautiful pale eyes soon.

“Got it. We’re going to load her up now. You the husband?” he asks.

“Yes,” I answer and quickly follow them out to the ambulance.

“Sir. We need your statement,” the officer says, running behind us.

“Not. Now,” I repeat. “You want a statement? You get in your car and follow me to the hospital. I am NOT leaving her side. You hear me?”

The young officer stops short and seems shocked at the heat behind my words. Not what he was expecting. I can tell he is gearing up to protest, but I quickly interrupt him.

“Look”—I pause to check his nametag—“Officer Benson, I’m not trying to fucking run off. That woman is MY life and I won’t be letting her out of my sight after this shit. Can you just try to understand for a fucking second what I am going through and follow to the goddamn hospital, yeah?” I say but turn around and climb in without waiting for his response.

The ambulance pulls off, and I take her hand in my own and bend down to her ear. “I love you, Princess. Wake up now so I can see those eyes looking at me. Let me see that love, baby.”