Page 43 of Valor

“Granger is—dirty!” he gasped.

Doug had pushed Emily behind him but now stared grimly over Owen’s shoulder. “Get down!” Then louder, he added, “Stop! Or I’ll shoot!”

Owen dropped to his knees as Doug aimed and fired.

The sound was so loud Owen’s ears rang. He covered his head with his hands, as Doug ran around him, shouting commands to the man behind him. He couldn’t hear all the words but understood that Doug was commanding the guy behind him to keep his hands where he could see them.

Not Owen’s hands, he realized. But Granger’s.

It was finally over. Owen tried to push himself into a standing position but was hit by a wave of vertigo. Then he realized the pain along his right side had spread across his abdomen.

For the second time this year, he’d been struck by a bullet. What were the chances? Well, higher than normal if your choices included hanging out with criminals.

“Owen! Are you okay?” Emily’s sweet voice washed over him. And he thought he felt Bear licking his cheek but couldn’t be sure. “What happened? Are you hit?” Her soft hands gently eased him down to the ground.

He wanted to smile and reassure her he was fine. But the gray shadows at the corner of his eyes began to obscure his vision.

Until he was encompassed by darkness.

* * *

“Owen!”Emily had set Bear on the ground to kneel beside Owen’s collapsed body. Her heart squeezed in her chest as she saw the blood staining his shirt along the right side of his body. Frantic, she pressed her hands over the bleeding wound. “Owen, stay with me. You’re going to be okay. Stay with me!”

But Owen didn’t respond. Not even when Bear licked his cheek and nuzzled his neck.

“What happened?” Ranger Campbell came rushing toward her.

“Call 911,” she said. “He’s been shot. We need an ambulance here ASAP! And if you have a first aid kit, bring that out too!”

Campbell’s eyes bulged, and he whirled to head back inside. Despite her warning the ranger that she and Owen were in danger, she suspected the guy had never expected the situation to spiral out of control like this.

“Owen? Can you hear me?” When he didn’t answer, she fought to remain calm. This was her job. As an emergency department nurse, she’d handled much worse. “Doug? I need your help over here!”

“Coming!” Her brother sounded harried.

Emily drew in a deep breath, lowered her head, and closed her eyes.Please, Lord Jesus, spare Owen’s life. Don’t take him from me yet. Give him a chance to recover. To learn about You, Lord, and to do the right thing from this point forward. In Jesus’s name. Amen.

A sense of calm washed over her. She still couldn’t believe he’d come back. While she’d argued with Doug, she’d imagined Owen speeding along Interstate 90 heading to a place no one would ever find him.

Instead, he’d come rushing back to alert them of the danger.

Only to be shot while trying to protect her.

Tears pricked her eyes, but she willed them away. She didn’t have time to cry. She needed to stabilize Owen until the ambulance could get there.

Was there a hospital in Sheridan? She vaguely remembered seeing a blue hospital sign and prayed she hadn’t imagined it.

“The ambulance is on the way.” Campbell sounded breathless as he set the first aid kit on the ground beside her. Bear pounced on it, and she gently nudged the puppy out of the way so she could open it.

“Thank you. Do you have a hospital in this town? Or at least an emergency department?” As she spoke, she found and opened several packs of gauze.

“Yes, we do. Sheridan Memorial Hospital isn’t far.”

“Good.” Lifting Owen’s shirt out of the way, she used the gauze to absorb the blood to examine the wound more closely.

The front of his abdomen sported a jagged-looking wound that was larger than she’d expected. The exit wound? She pushed Owen’s body so that he was partially on his side to get a look at the back.

And found the entry wound.

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