“Where is he?” she asked. “Why isn't he out of the car?” She thumbed the communication button again. “Dell! Answer me, goddamn you!”
“Caro, calm down. Give the boy some time.”
“Time?” She stood and yanked her headset off, throwing it across the war wagon. It hit the other side of the desk and recoiled as it came to the end of its tether. “He's had plenty of time,” she said. “How freakin' long does it take to get out of a car?”
Too long, her analytical brain told her. It was taking too long. Something was wrong. He couldn't get out. She had to help him. “I'm going down there.”
“Caro, wait,” Russell called after her, but she was down the ladder, heading for the break in the wall.
“You can't go out there, ma'am.” The burly guard wearing a yellow windbreaker with the word, “Security,” emblazoned on it, stopped her before she got her leg over the wall.
“That's my driver out there,” she said by way of explanation.
“I don't care who it is, you aren't going past this point. Let the emergency folks do their job.”
Caro scanned the wreckage. The undercarriage of one car stuck up, one tire spinning, the other three nothing more than ragged strips of torn rubber. A man wearing the telltale, red fire suit of a track medic lay on the ground on the driver's side, his body half in, half out of the driver's window. Caro swallowed the bile rising in her throat.
Dell. Dell was inside that car. She pointed a shaky finger in the direction of the crumpled wreckage. “That's my car. I own it. Dell drives for me.”
The security guy looked in the direction she pointed. “I understand, ma'am, but I still can't let you onto the track.”
“Please,” she begged.
He sighed and she swung her leg over the barrier again only to sail back over it in the next instant. Wrapped in strong, yellow-clad arms, she wasn't going anywhere.
“Look, lady, if you promise not to make a run for it again, I'll take you over to where the ambulance will come through. You can wait there. I'll try to find out what I can for you. Okay?”
Caro looked over her shoulder and nodded. “Okay. Let's go.” She wiggled and he released her. Then, grabbing her bicep in a vise-like grip, he force-marched her to a gap in the wall.
“Wait here,” he said, looking her in the eye until he gained her agreement. She watched helplessly as he headed toward the wreckage.
She'd never prayed so hard in her life as she did during the minutes she waited for the guard to return with news. If Dell were dead…
No. He couldn't be, because she was going to kill him. She held onto her anger, refusing to believe she wouldn't have the chance to unleash it on Dell. He had to be alive. She wouldn't accept anything else.
Minutes ticked by and her world narrowed to what she could see of the car. The medic on the scene obscured her view. He was still half inside the car. That was good, wasn't it? If Dell were dead, there wouldn't be any reason to still be there. He'd move on to someone he could help. No use wasting time on a dead man.
Please. Please. Please. The mantra repeated in her head. I love you, Dell. Don't you dare die on me now. She didn't question the strength of her feelings. She'd known for some time now she was in love with Dell. There was nothing comforting about the knowledge, so she'd ignored it, except for yesterday when she'd let her stupid emotions get the best of her.
Dell wasn't the kind of man a woman could count on. He lived only for himself with little or no care for others. And for whatever reason, he courted death every time he got inside a race car. No, he wasn't the kind of man she should give her heart to, but damn it, her heart wouldn't listen to reason.
Caro chewed her lower lip as the security guard spoke with the medics. He turned, pointing in her direction. Several sets of eyes looked her way, then the knot of men put their heads together.
Please. Please. Please.
An eternity later, the guard returned. Her whole body shook with dread. Caro folded her arms around her mid-section and locked her knees so she wouldn't fall. “Well?” she asked as he got within hearing range.
“He's alive. That's about all they know. They said there wasn't much blood.”
“That's good, right?”
“Could be. Could be internal injuries. They said he blacked out right after they showed up. Hasn't come to yet.”
“Oh God, oh God, oh God.”
“Look, lady, he's probably going to be alright. They said he most likely passed out from hanging upside down – that's all. They're doing everything by the book. They'll get him out, but they have to be careful not to make things worse.”
Caro nodded in understanding, not trusting her voice beyond single syllables. The guard put both his big hands on her shoulders and turned her toward the wreckage. “See? They've got him out already.”