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“Hear sirens.”
“Good.” He wanted to be the one to help her, not Otter Creek’s finest. “When the police arrive, leave the call to me active. Tell the cop not to move you until the EMTs arrive.” If something more happened before he got there, Matt wanted to know so he and his team would be prepared.
Seconds later, a male voice identified himself as law enforcement and relayed to dispatch a request for a detective and an ambulance.
Matt heard Delilah’s voice as she answered the cop’s questions, but not her exact words. The phone was too far away from her mouth. Patience, he reminded himself. He’d get all the information once Delilah was checked by a doctor. He didn’t care if she protested. The woman was going to the hospital. She might have internal injuries.
As soon as the SUV stopped in front of Delilah’s house, Matt threw open the door and sprinted up the walkway. Inside the house, he called out, “Delilah.”
The cop stepped into the living room, hand on his weapon. He relaxed when he saw Matt. “In the kitchen. Ambulance is two minutes away.”
Matt recognized the rookie as one of his students in a first-aid for first-responders class Ethan Blackhawk, Otter Creek’s chief of police, was having his officers take. “How is she?” he asked Cooper.
“The intruder whaled on her, but I’ve seen worse.”
Matt pushed past him and entered the kitchen. Delilah was on the floor on her side, her breathing shallow. He dropped to his knees beside her.
“Matt.”
“Let me take a look at you.” He brushed her long, dark tresses away from her face. She had a large goose egg on her forehead. Looked like she might need stitches where her delicate skin split from the violent contact with the door.
Cade walked in with Matt’s mike bag. “What do you need?” he asked as he squatted next to him.
“To clean the blood from her face and get a better look at that injury.”
Bravo’s EOD man dug out the medical supplies Matt needed.
Matt frowned. Yeah, she needed a few stitches. He applied a pressure bandage to stop the bleeding.
“Delilah, I’m going to roll you to your back. Let me do the work.” Between them, Matt and Cade shifted Delilah to her back with minimal discomfort for her.
Despite hearing the ambulance sirens coming closer, he ran his hands over Delilah’s arms and jeans-clad legs. No obvious breaks. He turned his attention to her torso. “Where did this clown kick you?”
Cade scowled when he heard that.
Delilah indicated her right side.
With a gentle touch, Matt pressed lightly on her rib cage, focusing on one rib at a time. When she hissed with pain, he froze. “Here?”
She nodded.
He explored the rib carefully. “I don’t feel a break in the bone. The kicks might have cracked a rib.”
“Still painful.”
“Unfortunately.”
The EMTs hurried into the kitchen with Cooper on their heels. “What do we have, Matt?” asked Jay Rogers, an EMT who had taken classes from Matt and Rio, Durango’s medic.
“Head injury that needs stitches. Probable concussion, possible cracked ribs and internal injuries.”
“No hospital,” Delilah murmured.
“You don’t have a choice.” Matt pinned her with his gaze. “Either you go with Jay and Harry or I’ll take you myself.”
“Can’t you treat me?”
“I could, but I specialize in battlefield medicine.” He brushed the compression bandage with a light touch. “Gets the job done, but you need someone with better technique so the scar is minimized.”
