“Rebecca. Baby.” She thought she heard Griffen in her head, but as she went to answer him telepathically, she realized the voice had been out loud.
She spun around and found him jogging toward her. He was out of breath. He stopped and pulled her into his arms tightly. “So fucking scared.”
“How did you find me?”
“Couldn’t get into your head. Went back to the hospital. They said you were here.” He stepped back. “What do you need me to do?”
“Stop blood, help people get to the hospital.” She lifted her face to his. “Where’s Miles?”
He hesitated.
“Dammit, Griffen.” She shook his arms. “Where’s Miles?”
“Not sure.” His voice was low, tender. “He got called to the reservation soon after you went to work. Some emergency. I can’t…”
“You can’t reach him,” she finished. She closed her eyes and reached out. “Miles?” Nothing.
“Maybe he’s busy. We can’t know what damage happened on that end of the lake.” Griffen gave her a squeeze. “Let’s get to work, baby.” He released her and tugged her hand.
They worked side by side for hours. The sun rose high in the sky and then dipped toward the other side. The heavens had no idea such destruction had occurred in this little slice of earth.
At some point, Griffen shoved a protein bar in Rebecca’s hand. “Eat.”
She took a bite and kept working.
“Eat,” he commanded again.
She rolled her eyes at him and took another bite.
By the afternoon, a full triage tent was running in the middle of the street. Every once in a while everyone froze while a building collapsed under the pressure or the rubble settled.
People who weren’t involved in the race were trapped inside many of the structures.
Rebecca had never seen anything like this in her life, not even on television. Such total destruction in her own town. A town she’d grown fond of. Now just piles of rubble.
When the sun fell, she was dead on her feet. She’d worked for over twelve hours without taking a break.
Griffen’s arms went around her and pulled her in tight. “Let’s go, baby.”
“We can’t. There’s still so much to do.”
“Baby, you’re exhausted. Every able-bodied medical personnel has arrived by now, even some from out of town. Look.” He lifted her face toward the tent.
It was indeed filled with doctors and nurses caring for the wounded.
“You’re no good to anyone until you’ve slept. They need you well rested.”
She nodded. He was right.
He took her hand and led her away from the havoc.
“Miles…” she reminded him. Neither of them had communicated with him all day. She choked on a sob as she considered the possibilities.
He didn’t say a word, but led her the few blocks to his condo. The streets were dark. There was no electricity. The entire triage area had been lit with generators, but now that they’d walked away…
Griffen opened the door and held her back. “Let me make sure it’s safe.” He went inside while she stood in the entrance, chewing on her lip. Worry she’d stuffed to the back of her mind for the past twelve hours now gnawed at her.
She had to take deep breaths to keep from breaking down in tears. It wouldn’t help anyone.
Griffen materialized in front of her again. “It’s safe. At least for now. Grab some things.”
“Where are we going?”
“To the reservation.”
She exhaled slowly. Thank fuck.
She hustled into the condo and stuffed a bag as if she were going away for several days. She couldn’t be sure what they would find when they reached the rez. She wanted to be prepared.
And then they ran to the truck.
Repeated attempts to contact Miles failed. It was so unusual that Rebecca fought the rising panic inside her. She tried to convince herself he was busy. Wherever he was, if the damage was anything close to what Cambridge looked like, he would have spent the entire day in a bustle of activity similar to what Rebecca and Griffen had experienced.
But it had been hours now, more than twelve, since she’d made contact with him.
“Stop thinking so hard, baby.” Griffen set his hand on her thigh and squeezed. “We’ll find him.”
She bit her lip. Alive?
He squeezed her leg again. His own concern was as palpable in the truck cab as hers. This was not good, and they both knew it.
She watched out the truck window as Griffen pulled up to Miles’ house. Miles’ beat-up older truck wasn’t there. The place was dark. No sign of life. It also didn’t appear to have suffered much damage.
“Wait here,” Griffen commanded as he jumped down from the cab and jogged to the house. He’d left the truck running. Less than a minute later, he was back, swinging up into the truck. “He’s not here.”