Page 100 of Stay With Me

Sirens blare through the phone and it registers somewhere in my brain that Ben is calling for help. “I need all available units to Route 47 between mile markers two and three and have dispatch send an ambulance as well. Assailant is a male driving a black SUV pursuing two females in a gray Toyota sed?—”

Everything fades away except a loud crunching noise as the SUV slams into the rear driver’s side of Trina’s car, causing us to fishtail. The rear passenger side of our vehicle careens into the rock wall.

“Trina? Emily?” Ben yells.

But neither of us answer because just as Trina tries to correct our course, I watch helplessly as the SUV slams into the driver’s side of our car, eliciting a scream of pain from Trina and she clutches her left side. By some small miracle, something in me thinks to lean over and force the gear shift into park and activate the emergency brake.

Sirens scream in the distance, and it strikes me they’re near, not just coming through the phone. I unbuckle my seatbelt and reach over to check how serious Trina’s injuries are but, before I can climb across the console to her, I’m hurled like a rag doll, the right side of my body colliding with the passenger door. My head strikes the window with a sickening thud.

And everything fades to black.

CHAPTER38

CHARLIE

Alarms blare throughout the station garage as Garcia and Jones pull out with the engine first and head off toward Route 47. I’m just about to climb into the passenger side of the squad one when Reynolds runs up to me.

“Fitz, Captain says you’re with him in squad two. I’m riding with Finn.”

Jack’s the captain and he’s in charge, so even though it’s unusual, I don’t hesitate and jog over to squad two as Finn and Reynolds pull out. As soon I’m in my seat, Jack races out onto the road.

As I’m looking down and buckling my seatbelt, I mutter, “Damn Route 47. Everyone always takes those curves too fast.” The seatbelt clicks into place, and I look up at Jack’s profile, only to see a tic in his clenched jaw.

Something’s wrong. Besides that we’re en route to the scene of a terrible accident.

“What is it?” The strain in my voice is unmistakable.

Jack spares me a quick glance and there’s uneasiness in his eyes. “It’s Trina and Emily—the accident.” His voice is deathly quiet. “Fitz, are you gonna be able to do this? Because it would be perfectly understandable if it’s too much.”

“I got it.” I push down the panic that claws at me, making it hard to breathe.

He simply nods in response and we’re silent the rest of the way to the scene.

When we get there, we grab our stretcher and trauma equipment and run to the mangled car on the side of the road. I take in the controlled chaos around me. Trina’s car is the only non-emergency vehicle here, so I don’t understand how her car has so much damage. My stomach clenches when I see Garcia and Jones using the hydraulic extrication equipment to attempt to open the driver’s side of the vehicle, it’s loud, thumping sound is almost deafening. Reynolds is handing Finn cervical collars and a jump bag through the shattered rear window of Trina’s sedan.

As I survey the scene, my heart pounds when I realize our only access is through the rear window until they get the driver’s door open. The passenger side is wedged up against the rock wall.

I don’t let myself look through the windows—not yet—and instead focus on helping get two stretchers with backboards in position for when the driver’s door removal is complete. Once that’s done, Jack and I go to the back of the vehicle and wait for Finn to give us status updates.

“Both victims are breathing. Emily is confused and drowsy, coming in and out, but she has a strong pulse. Captain Trina’s pulse is thready, she’s breathing fast and shallow. She’s unconscious and pretty pale. I’ve got her cervical collar on. Pass me some oxygen and an IV start kit with a liter of normal saline. She’s so unstable, I think I need to get a line in her before I collar Emily.”

None of us question Finn’s judgment. There’s only room for one of us in the vehicle right now and we have to trust each other in these situations.

“Captain Donley, she’s pretty clammy. I’m worried about blood loss and think we need to alert the hospital to have trauma surgeons on standby.”

Jack gets on his radio to make the call.

Finn has Trina on an oxygen mask now and he’s placing an IV. When he’s got it in, I hand him the bag of fluid through the window so he can connect her.

I can’t see Emily’s face, only the back of her head. I try to remain as calm as possible. Panic won’t help Emily and Trina right now. But it takes everything in me to not lose it.

I swear we all breathe a collective sigh of relief when the sound of metal pulling apart fills the air since it means they’ve gotten the driver’s door removed. Several of the police officers on scene help move the heavy metal off to the side so the rest of us can focus on getting Trina out. Finn stays in the back seat and maintains control of her neck while Reynolds gets the rest of the equipment in place that we’ll need to move her.

“Guys, her oxygen’s dropping,” Finn calls out as he listens to her lungs. “Shit, I don’t hear lung sounds on the left. I think she has a tension pneumothorax. Someone hand me an IV catheter so I can decompress it. I don’t think it can wait until she’s out.”

I race around to the back and hand him another IV catheter which he expertly darts into the correct location on Trina’s chest to relieve the dangerous pressure. A whoosh of air tells us all he hit his mark.

Five minutes later, we have an unconscious Trina out of the vehicle and on a backboard, lying on a stretcher. Finn and Reynolds race with her to one of the ambulances, Garcia in tow to drive for them so they can have two medics in the back since she’s so unstable.

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