Page 89 of Caged

I tried to move, but couldn’t. Fear and frustration consumed me as I sat there helpless to help them help her.

Jack cut the ties binding Cate while AJ continued applying pressure.

“I need a chest seal,” AJ said.

Jack leaned her forward and checked her back. “We need two.”

Please don’t die. I didn’t realize I was crying until the salt from my tears made the cuts on my face sting.Please don’t die.

As soon as they had her on the floor, AJ pushed her torn shirt to the side and applied the first seal. They carefully rolled her over so he could applythe second.

The sound of more people entering the room wasn’t enough to pull my attention from Cate’s body. She was unconscious but her chest was rising just enough for me to know she was still breathing. Still alive.

I tried to move again. “Cate?” I cried out. It sounded more like a long hard ‘A’ than a word.

“Jaden?” My father’s voice caught my attention. Shifting my focus made me dizzy so I waited for him to step in front of me.

He kneeled down in front of me, held my face in his hands, and stared into my eyes.

Seeing my father caused relief to flood my system as I struggled to breath through my fear. Under normal circumstances, I’d use combat breathing to control my heart rate and calm my racing thoughts, but I didn’t have that much control over my muscles.

I opened my mouth but all that came out was a garbled mess.

“It’s okay, Jay. We’ll get you out of here.”

I shifted my focus to Cate and watched helplessly as Jack and AJ helped her.

“She’ll be okay. The ambulance is on the way.” As if summoned by his words, sirens sounded in the distance.

I tried to lean forward, but the rope still held me to the chair.

“Help me cut him free,” Dad said a few seconds before the ties holding me up fell away, causing me to collapse forward in his arms.

“I’ve got you,” he said as he helped me to the ground. Someone must have asked because he wasn’t talking to me when he said, “He’s banged up, and they’ve drugged him, but he should be okay.”

The sound of sirens grew louder while I sat on the floor, held up by my father, as Doug conducted a head to toe check for injuries. I gave up trying to speak.

All I could do was watch and wait.

I’ve never felt so helpless in my life.

“Hold on, Max, help is coming,” Jack said as he assessed her for other wounds.

We made it this far. Don’t you dare die on me now. With what little control I had, I leaned towards Cate. “Help me,” I grunted, the words nothing more than noise.

But my father understood; he and Doug shifted me closer to Cate.

It took every last ounce of energy I had to reach out and touch her hand.

Her lashes fluttered. The vacant look when her eyes opened briefly scared the hell out of me. The drug in my system might have rendered most of my muscles useless, but not my heart. It was beating a mile a minute as precious seconds ticked by.

Please, God, let her come back to me. Don’t let her die.I begged. I pleaded. I prayed.

I don’t know how long it was before my father pulled me away, saying, “The paramedics are here. Let them help her.” My focus never left Cate as my dad and Jack sat me back in the chair.

I watched and listened as they checked her wounds. They were about to start an IV when Doug interrupted, handing the small female paramedic a syringe. “Got it, thanks,” she said.

Before long, more people arrived. I assumed paramedics and police officers, though I didn’t take my eyes off Cate to verify.

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