Page 47 of Stilettos & Whiskey
His teeth bared from the pain, the fake Apache warrior ran.
Dad fell from the sky and knocked the warrior flat on his face.
“Hooyah!” Logan hit the ground and rolled to his feet. He quicky picked up the warrior’s rifle and watched Dad subdue the suspect.
As Devon gathered up the chutes, he intoned, “You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you. Do you understand your rights?”
“Go to hell.”
Devon smiled. “I’ll take that as a yes.”
Two camouflaged chutes flared as Jacob and Lucas landed gracefully next to the overhang.
“Mom! Julie!” Lucas called.
I stood. “Here. In the cave.”
They rushed over wearing their scary cop faces.
“It’s a through and through wound.” I advised and watched the tension leave their bodies. “But she’s in a lot of pain.”
Mom gave me the stink eye. “I can talk for myself. I need some morphine, Lucas.”
“Yes, ma’am.” Taking off his backpack, Lucas pulled out a paramedic kit and filled a syringe with morphine. He quickly gave Mom the injection and checked her wound. “Your clavicle is intact and there seems to be limited tissue damage.”
A sigh of relief escaped Mom. “Good,”
Lucas rebandaged her still bleeding shoulder. “Hopefully, you won’t need surgery.”
My eyebrows rose. The jerk knew damn well Mom would need surgery. But one look at the warning in his eyes, and I kept my mouth shut. Mom hated hospitals too.
Jacob wrapped a blood pressure cuff around Mom’s left arm. “There’s an Air Evac chopper coming for you.”
“Someone needs to check on Brent. I think he was hit, and the missing hiker is down under some trees. The suspect probably shot her too,” Mom said.
Jacob pumped the blood pressure cuff up. “Devon and Logan are checking on them.”
“We need a water drop before that fire gets any bigger,” I warned.
“Dad had an air tanker diverted from the wildfire at Roosevelt Lake.” Lucas touched my throbbing lower lip. “You broke your stitches.”
I leaned away from him. “I know and don’t even think about it. I want Doc Halliday to redo the stitches.”
“That means another trip to the hospital,” Lucas said.
Damn, he was right. “Okay, fine. You can redo the stitches.”
Lucas touched his earpiece and listened. “Logan found Brent. He’s alive. He was shot in the stomach, and he’s pretty banged up from the fall.”
“What about the hiker?” Mom wanted to know.
Lucas keyed his mic, “What’s the hiker’s status?” He frowned. “A what?” Anger filled his eyes. “Copy.”
“Sonovabitch,” Jacob spat. “You were set up from the get-go.”
My stomach knotted. “What do you mean?”
“You were lured out here. Logan found a dummy wearing the hiker’s clothes under the tree.”
