Page 109 of The Pilot

It hit Knox then who she was. She worked in the same building as he did. Was one of the admins in his department. He was employed as a contractor for the government in maritime inspection and port/dock security and inspection. Knox wasn’t in the office much, but he still had contact with the admins for things like getting his assignments, scheduling, paperwork, and accounting. She was a fairly recent hire, within the last six months, if he remembered correctly.

Aware of the awkward silence, Knox said, “Of course. What’s up?”

“Um . . . are you busy?”

“No.” The lie came out without him even thinking about it. He was curious as to why this woman was calling him when he couldn’t remember having any kind of meaningful interaction with her in the past. “What’s up?”

“I need help. I’ve called everyone I know, which admittedly isn’t a ton of people, but I can’t get a hold of anyone. I didn’t know who else to try, and I have your number because I put all the contractors’ numbers in my phone so if any of you needed anything, your names would come up on my caller ID, and I’d be sure to answer because I’d know it wasn’t a spam call or anything. I wouldn’t have called but—”

“Breathe, Jordan. It’s fine. What’s wrong?” Knox interrupted.

“I hit a deer.”

“What?”

“With my car. I hit a deer!”

Knox could hear her crying, and he hated the sound. He might not know this woman, but the distress in her voice was clear as day. He was on the move before he even knew where she was or if she was injured. Motioning to Linc that he was headed out, Knox headed for the door.

His brother lifted a brow, asking if everything was all right. Knox loved how he and his brothers could communicate nonverbally.

He nodded and gestured to the phone still up to his ear. Linc nodded, and, satisfied his brother would let everyone know he’d left, Knox turned his concentration back to the woman on the other end of the phone.

“Are you okay?” he asked, as he walked through the parking lot toward his truck.

“Yeah. But the deer isn’t!”

“What?”

“The deer! It’s hurt bad.”

“It didn’t run off?”

“No. It’s lying just off the road and . . .” Her voice hitched. “It’s bleeding. It’s awful, and I don’t know what to do!”

“Tell me where you are. I’m on my way.”

“Really?”

She sounded surprised, which was weird, considering she’d called him for help. Did she actually think he was going to say he wouldn’t help her?

“How long will it take for you to get here? I don’t know what to do. It’s breathing funny.”

“Get back in your car, Jordan. It could hurt you, especially since it’s probably in pain,” Knox ordered.

“I feel awful! I tried to stop but it ran right in front of me. I think it might have babies too.” She was full-on sobbing now.

Everything she said made Knox a little more alarmed. “Seriously, get back in your car now. A mama deer with babies nearby, and hurt, is unpredictable.”

“But I want to do something to help it!”

The woman was exasperating. But Knox couldn’t deny her tender heart was a welcome change from dealing with the assholes he usually came into contact with while doing his job. People who lied their asses off trying to get away with whatever illegal cargo they were hauling, or who came up with excuse after excuse for why their boats weren’t legal in one way or another.

“What you can do is, get. In. Your. Car.”

“Are you going to shoot it?” she whispered.

Knox sighed. “I don’t know. Maybe. I’m gonna hang up and make some calls while I’m on my way to you. We need to contact a game warden, or at least the local sheriff’s department. Can you tell me where you are?”