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“The bullet went in and out.”
“That’s good?”
“Yes. We don’t want it to ricochet inside of you. This is much cleaner. And based on the amount of blood, it missed your femoral artery.”
“Nora!”
They heard Ellis yell from a couple paths over.
Sloan looked around. In front of her were vineyards as far as she could see. Behind her, a couple hundred yards away, were the guest cottage and the main house. On the nightstand in the guest cottage was her phone.
“Can you walk?” Sloan asked Nora.
Nora attempted to push herself up off the ground but as soon as she put weight on her leg she collapsed. She shook her head.
“Okay,” Sloan said as she thought.
She stood up and pitched onto her tiptoes, attempting to locate Ellis. She saw his head bobbing a couple of paths over, heading deeper into the vines. She grabbed the bottom of her blouse and ripped the fabric, tearing off a strip from the bottom. When she broke it free, she had a thin length of silk two feet long. She crouched down and secured the fabric around Nora’s leg, cinching it close to her groin.
“Ouch,” Nora said when Sloan set the knot, which dug into Nora’s skin.
“It’s a tourniquet. Well, the best I can do at the moment. It needs to be tight for it to work.”
Sloan stood up again and tried to find Ellis.
“He is heading into the vines. My phone is back at the guest house.”
“Don’t leave me here.”
Sloan smiled. “Not a chance.”
She leaned over Nora as if Nora were a kettle bell.
“This is going to hurt,” Sloan said. “Grunt and groan, but don’t scream, okay?”
Nora nodded.
Sloan grabbed Nora under the armpits and lifted her like she was performing a kettlebell clean. She got Nora to her feet. Nora hopped on her left leg. Sloan bent down and placed her shoulder to Nora’s hip, then lifted her over her shoulder. Compared to the weights Sloan was used to lifting, Nora was light. She took off in a controlled jog, heading back to the main house.
“Hang in there,” Sloan said as she ran.
CHAPTER 71
Bend, Oregon Friday, August 2, 2024
SLOAN WAS BREATHING HEAVILY AS SHE CAME TO THE EDGE OF THE vineyards, her quads burning worse than during any CrossFit routine. But she ignored the pain. She had a singular goal to get to the house and call for help. At the edge of the vineyard, she paused. The cover the vines provided gave her a sense of protection, and she was hesitant to exit from them. She looked left and right while Nora continued to groan as she lay over Sloan’s shoulder. Between the edge of the vineyards and the back of the guest cottage were a hundred yards of field.
Sloan took off in a jog, Nora bouncing on her shoulder as she ran. Halfway through the field another gun blast sounded and brought Sloan to her knees. Nora tumbled from her shoulder and cried out in pain as she rolled onto the ground. Sloan took inventory, feeling her body for a wound or blood. She found neither, and felt no pain. Another gunshot rang out. Sloan crawled over to Nora, the cattails of the field enough to give them partial cover.
Lying on her shoulder, Sloan looked over the cattails to see Ellis charging across the field to where they were lying.
“He’s coming,” Sloan said. “We have to go!”
“I can’t,” Nora said. “You go. Get to the house and call for help.”
“I’m not leaving you.”
Nora shook her head. “He won’t kill me. I’m his wife.”
