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Hays ripped him away from her and body slammed him to the ground.
“Police,” a bullhorn announced from one of the helicopters.
Elizabeth let out a whimper. Officers and Aiden’s men streamed from the house.
It was over. They were saved.
Hays turned to her. His face was white. He sank to his knees before she could reach him.
Elizabeth dropped to her knees beside him as he jammed a hand over the wound on his stomach.
“Hays.” She grabbed him and pushed him over onto his side. “Lie down. Don’t move. Somebody will help.”
He glanced up at her, his dark eyes cloudy and full of pain. “Knock knock,” he said.
Elizabeth could not believe him. “Who’s there?”
“Not me,” he said, then his eyes closed.
“Hays!” she screamed. “Hays! Help! Please help him.”
No! Her father had escaped. She’d fought and Hays had rescued her. He couldn’t die now.
Please help him, she prayed. Please!
Quaid and Aiden both dropped to their knees beside them.
“Medic!” Aiden commanded.
“He’s got a pulse,” Quaid said, shoving his fingers against Hays’s neck and leaning down. “He’s not breathing.”
A woman darted in above Hays’s head. “Starting rescue breathing,” she called out, then covered Hays’s face with her own.
Quaid wrapped an arm around Elizabeth and tugged her back away from the medics. Aiden stayed right in the middle of everybody. “Trauma dressing,” Aiden commanded. “Let’s prepare to move him.”
“Quaid!” She clung to her brother. “Will he die?”
“They’ll help him,” he said. “Aiden had medics on standby.”
But he didn’t promise they’d save him.
The medics quickly lifted Hays onto a litter. Instead of putting it onto the nearby stretcher and wheeling him through the house, they hefted the litter and carried him straight past Quaid and Elizabeth. His face was drained of color and he looked lifeless already.
“No,” Elizabeth whimpered.
A basket lowered, and they placed Hays on it. He was quickly strapped down and lifted into the helicopter.
“Okay.” Quaid seemed surprised. “That’ll be quicker. We’ll meet him at the hospital. Aiden! Get us to wherever they’re taking Hays.”
“On it.”
Quaid ushered Elizabeth through the carnage. People were dead and injured, paramedics everywhere. Guests screaming, moaning, crying.
Jarom hurried up to them and kept pace. “Are you all right?”
“Thank you,” she managed. “You dove on me to protect me.”
“The least I could do for my fiancée,” he said gallantly, but she could tell he was shaken. “I’m sorry I couldn’t stop them.”
