Page 13 of Deputies Under Fire
“Eden,” he called out again.
He couldn’t see her. Couldn’t hear her. If she was saying anything or even moving, the sound was muffled by more of the roof falling. From the sound of it, every board and beam of it was coming down, and Eden and the two CSIs would be trapped.
Rory had to rein in the overwhelming urge to run to her. To try to cover Eden with his body and protect her. But he’d never make it to her. With all the wood and steel falling, he’d be crushed.
Or killed.
The roof surface and the support beams were slamming onto the ground, causing the sides of the barn to start shaking. Mercy. What was left of the walls could collapse on them as well.
He had to risk it. He had to get to Eden so he could try to get the CSIs and her to safety. Muttering a prayer, Rory took off, dodging the chunks and sheets of wood raining down around him.
When he was about ten feet away from the place where he’d last seen Eden, Rory finally spotted her. Eden and Molly were trying to get David through a large hole of the barn. They werestruggling since they, too, were having to avoid getting hit by the falling debris. Added to that, David was still unconscious, so it would have been like moving dead weight.
Rory continued to move, keeping his attention fixed on Eden, and he was close enough for their gazes to meet when another chunk of the roof came down. He could do nothing to stop it. Rory could only watch as it fell, slamming down right on Eden and the CSIs.
The emotions tore through him.Get to her now. Save her.And he got the motherlode of adrenaline to fuel him forward. Rory figured the roof would continue to fall. Hell, the whole place would, and he might get hit, but for now, his focus was on getting to Eden.
Feeding off that adrenaline, Rory tore his way through the wood, trying to avoid the rusty nails sticking out from some of the pieces. He just kept tossing aside what he could until he saw something.
The lower half of a body.
It took him a second to realize it wasn’t Eden. It was David, and while Eden and Molly had apparently managed to get him partially through the hole, they hadn’t gotten him fully through.
And his legs had been crushed by one of the support beams.
Rory had no idea if the man was still alive, and he couldn’t take the time to find out. Not when yet more of the roof slammed down directly behind him. Every second counted now, if he hoped to get out of this alive, so he flipped the beams over and pushed them aside. Normally, that would have been a much harder task, but it was obvious the wood was rotting.
The moment Rory had David free, he took hold of him and pushed him through the opening. He had some help because Eden and Molly were right there, and they grabbed on to David, sliding him the rest of the way out.
Rory followed him.
The moment he was outside, he lifted David into a fireman’s carry, tossing him over his shoulder. Rory prayed that wasn’t making the man’s injuries even worse, but he had no choice. He had to get them away from here.
“Move,” Rory told Eden and Molly.
They did. They turned and started running. Rory was right behind them, and not a second too soon.
The entire barn crashed to the ground.
Chapter Five
Eden winced as the nurse cleaned a small cut on her forehead. It was the fourth one, and there were still several more to go. Thankfully, none of them were serious. In fact, Eden could have tended them at home, but Rory had insisted she be examined after their ordeal at the barn.
Where they could have been killed.
Eden couldn’t push that thought aside. Couldn’t push away the memories of seeing the roof fall while Rory was still in the center of the barn. It was a miracle he hadn’t been crushed when the roof caved in.
Lou hadn’t been so lucky. He was dead, killed instantly by whatever explosive had been set off just outside the barn. Eden didn’t have an official report on it yet, but she suspected Lou had been right by, or even on, the device. The young man hadn’t stood a chance of surviving.
David hadn’t come out of the ordeal unscathed, either. He was in surgery for internal injuries he’d sustained from the falling support beam. She did have an official report on him that’d come from one of the doctors. David was critical but was expected to live.
Like Rory and her, Molly’s injuries were mostly superficial. Cuts, scrapes and bruises. Molly had been admitted to the hospital, though, for an overnight stay because of the hit she’d taken to the head. The doctors didn’t think it was serious, but they wanted to keep an eye on her.
And speaking of keeping an eye on someone, that’s exactly what Rory was doing to her.
He was sitting in the chair in the treatment room, talking on his phone and watching as her injuries were treated. He’d already gone through the process and was now sporting a butterfly bandage on his forehead and three Band-Aids on his left arm.
Eden knew this particular call Rory was making was to the nanny, to check on Tyler. But before that, there’d been one to Grace to update her. Then, several to the on-duty deputies. He hadn’t put any of the calls on speaker, probably because medical staff were coming and going from the treatment room, but he’d managed to give her updates on the investigation when they’d gotten a moment or two to themselves.
