Page 73 of Refuge for Cherilyn

It was just a hundred feet or so, but it seemed like three miles. Shaw ran. It was the fastest he’d ever run in his life. Nothing and no one could’ve stopped him, but when he reached the EMT, he slid to a halt. “Is she okay?”

“Looks like she has a traumatic pneumothorax. We think the airbag probably broke a rib and punctured her lung. We’re taking her now, but she’s stable, and by the time you get to the hospital, we should know something. So take a deep breath, OfficerHarrison. I’m pretty sure she’s gonna be okay.”

“Can I just?”

“No. We need to get rolling. See you at the hospital.” The EMT hustled away, and Shaw was left standing there in a void within the ring of officers, trying to make sense of everything.

A hand on his shoulder brought him back, and in a couple of seconds, there were four officers, people who’d proven to him that they were the best of the best, standing there with him. “She’ll be okay, Shaw. They’ll take good care of her,” Carly whispered to him and rubbed his arm.

“Yeah. They’re the best. She’ll be fine,” Aaron said and slapped him on the back.

“We got him, Shaw. He’s going away and he’ll never be back here.” Dax wrapped an arm around his shoulders and gave him a sideways hug. “She’s going to be fine. I have to believe it, and you do too.”

Cruz clapped him on the other shoulder. “That’s one very brave, very selfless little girl you have there. She probably saved Cherilyn’s life, and maybe even hers, Maya’s, and Lara’s. It was foolish and reckless, and it worked.”

Shaw stood there, speechless. He couldn’t believe Candace had done that. She’d come there a month earlier, hating all of them and the place where they lived, and she’d likely just saved the life of the woman he loved. What in the world had changed? Then he remembered something. “The officer at the end of my drive?”

“RogerMarkham. Been on the force for thirteen years. He has a wife and three kids. We’ll all be there for them. He died doing what he wanted to do, Shaw, keeping people safe and serving his community. And Talbot will pay for that too, and pay dearly,” Carly promised him.

A man was dead. A very, very bad man had been apprehended. His little girl was on her way to the hospital. And the rest of his family was safe and well at his parents’ house.

A split second later, he felt himself sag. “You okay?” Aaron asked.

“Yeah.”

“No. You’re not. I think we need to have you checked out,” Carly insisted.

A deep Texas drawl said, “Nah. Just an adrenaline drop. Get up.” Cruz grabbed his upper arm and spun him toward the cars. “Let’s go. We need to get to the hospital, and I’m driving.”

* * *

It seemedlike they’d been there for two hours, but he looked at his watch and realized it had only been about fifteen minutes. What was happening? And why wasn’t anyone telling him anything? Another five minutes passed, and then the door opened. “Harrison?”

“That’s me!” Shaw rocketed up from his seat, Aaron right behind him. “Is she okay?”

“Come on back. You can see her now. Hey, Aaron,” the young doctor said.

“Hi, Chet! Good to see you.”

“You too. Playing on the softball team this summer?”

“Wouldn’t miss it!”

The three men stopped outside the cubicle, and the doctor swept an arm toward it. “Go on in. She should be awake.”

Shaw was terrified. He stepped up to the side of the bed and looked down. Candace lay there, still and quiet, with a huge bruise on her right cheekbone and a trickle of blood coming from her nose. “Baby? It’s Daddy. Honey, you okay?”

“Daddy?”

Shaw Harrison never cried, but the tears came so fast that he couldn’t stop them. “Oh, god, honey, I was so scared.”

“I’m okay. Hard to breathe.”

“Yeah. The airbag broke one of your ribs and it punctured a lung, but it’s gonna be fine. Why did?”

“Is Cherilyn okay? Maya and Lara? Are they okay? Please tell me he didn’t get them, Daddy. Please? I was so scared.”

That was all he could take, and Shaw dropped into the chair beside the bed, sobbing. She could’ve easily died, and yet she was asking about Cherilyn and the girls. A hand clamped onto his shoulder and a patient voice said, “Your dad’s okay. He’s just been under a lot of stress with worrying about you tonight, but he’s fine. Right, Shaw?” Aaron asked quietly.

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