Page 92 of Desperate Creed

She hit pause and started again. She zoomed in, zoomed out and started again. After the third time she knew she was right. She had to find Frankie and fast.

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Frankie remembered the firefighter strapping her to the stretcher. He had gorgeous blue eyes and a calm, deep voice that made everything he said sound fascinating. She remembered the cool night air and how wonderful it felt even if it gave her goose bumps. But somewhere after her being loaded into the back of an ambulance, she lost her focus. She knew Maggie had crawled in beside her. She heard her responding to the paramedic’s questions.

“How many hours? How much weight are we talking about?” the man wanted to know.

A blanket appeared, billowing up and draping over her body. An IV bag swung overhead. She hardly felt the needle, and she hated needles. A warm sensation seemed to flow through her veins almost immediately, but that’s when her eyelids refused to stay open.

Now, as she tried to focus on her new surroundings she couldn’t make her brain work. Machines hummed. IV lines trailed from her arm and disappeared somewhere above and behind her. She didn’t have the energy to turn her head. She nodded off and jerked awake. How many times, she wasn’t sure. Once or twice she thought she’d seen someone sitting in the chair over in the corner. But maybe that was a dream.

Nurses and doctors and techs came and went. Some of them had questions. Others worked around her silently. Every time the door opened she could hear—and sometimes glimpse—the chaos in the hallway. Then she drifted back to sleep.

All concept of time had gotten lost underground. Did the tornado happen a day ago? A week?

She woke bleary-eyed and feeling no pain. It took her a few seconds to notice the man standing over her. She saw the white coat and waited for his questions. He looked familiar when her eyes finally focused. His head cocked to one side while he examined her. It was the same way he’d looked at her the first time they’d met. Like he couldn’t decide whether or not to be bothered with her.

“Hi Gus,” she said.

Her voice was so quiet and weak she wasn’t sure if he heard her, because he didn’t say anything. Instead, he turned to someone behind him.

“Let’s make this quick,” he told a huge man with a blockhead and wide shoulders.

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Creed didn’t realize how bad he looked until he walked into the ER and a nurse said they’d take a look at him as soon as possible.

“No, I’m fine. But a couple of my friends came in by ambulance.” He glanced at his wrist to check the time and remembered the tornado had taken his watch. “Maybe an hour ago. One was brought on a stretcher. The other had a broken arm.”

“Sorry sir. You have any idea how many people fit that description tonight?”

He glanced around, frustrated and noticed the television in the ER waiting area. On the screen was a replay of the rescue efforts from earlier. He gestured toward the TV.

“They were part of the group trapped in the restaurant debris.”

“Okay, hold on. I do remember. We transferred the rhabdomyolysis to ICU.”

“The what?”

“ICU’s on the second floor.” And she was gone, hurrying down the hallway.

He weaved between the gurneys and wheelchairs filled with storm victims—broken, bloodied and impaled. Before he reached the elevator he realized how lucky he’d been to have only pine needles driven into his back.

“Ryder?”

In the fluorescent light, Maggie looked pale. Her hair still had chunks of drywall and pieces of glass. Her arm was in a sling. Her eyes were darting everywhere, like she was looking for someone.

“I need to find Frankie. We got separated.”

“I think she’s up on the second floor in ICU.”

Maggie punched the elevator button even though it was already lit from Creed pressing it just a second ago. He’d seen her like this before. Though exhausted, she was in high alert. Something was wrong.

“What is it?” he asked when the door finally opened and she rushed inside.

“The men who are trying to kill her,” she said in a low voice as she waited impatiently for the elevator door to close. “I know who one of them is.”

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