“Hello.”
“Are you Skinny?” a terse female voice asks.
“I am.”
“Oh, thank Christ, yours was the only number that wasn’t covered in blood.”
My chair shoots back as I leap to my feet at her words.
“Who’s hurt?” I demand, already walking out of my office and up the stairs, leaving the door open for Cinder and Cleo.
“Jill, I’m bringing her in. She demanded that I bring her here instead of to her family. She keeps asking for someone called Blaze.”
“He’s a brother,” I tell her as I run past Josie and towards the town where I know Blaze is working in the shop. “Where do we need to meet you?”
“Oh, I’m coming to you. I’m coming in hot because the plane got hit, so it’s going to be a rough landing. I’m travelling with several children and Jill, who is severely injured. She’ll need some medical care.”
“Fuck,” I growl, turning towards what I know are Josie’s footsteps. Despite being eight months pregnant, she’s hurrying towards me, a big first-aid kit in hand, though not as quickly as before. Chase comes running out behind her, catching her up and taking the first-aid kit from her before grasping her elbow and supporting her. Knowing that she’s being looked after, I hurry to find Blaze, asking the pilot, “Do you have the coordinates?”
“I do. Just get here quickly.” With that, she signs off, obviously needing her attention focused on getting the plane landed.
Running into Blaze’s store, I rush into his office, making him look up in surprise. “Jill,” I pant, “she’s hurt. Come on.”
I turn and run back out of the shop to where Josie and Chase are waiting with Bond and Cairo. “We need to get to the airfield. Jill and another woman, piloting a damaged plane, are coming in. They’re coming in hot and may have to crash land. Several children are on board with Jill, who is injured. Someone needs to get hold of Bull and Rogue.”
Bond turns away and does that. Ignoring Blaze, who is standing and shifting his feet impatiently, I turn to Josie and say, “Can you get a room ready at the clinic for her? I don’t know what shape she’s in, but apparently, it’s bad. I’ll take Chase with me to stabilise her, and can you let Jett know?”
“Got it,” Josie agrees. Rising to her tiptoes, she kisses my cheek and waddles back to the clinic.
“What do you know?” Blaze asks tightly.
“Nothing, brother,” I reply, jogging towards my truck, with Chase and Blaze following. Jumping in, I take off, wheels spinning and kicking up dust as I hurry towards the landing strip. Behind me, I can see Bull, Rogue, Cairo, and Bond following on their bikes.
Slamming on my brakes, the vehicle I’m driving slides a little on the loose gravel before it comes to a rocking stop. We hear the plane before we see it, and it’s not looking good. There’s a plume of smoke billowing out and trailing behind it. It comes closer and closer before the pilot finds the airstrip and slows down to land.
Blaze vibrates beside me as we watch the plane bounce a few times on the runway before coming to a stop. Chase and Blaze are up the stairs as soon as they lower. It’s not a huge plane, likely a six-seater at the most, with no registration numbers on the hull. Inside the plane, we can hear children crying and awoman speaking soothingly. Blaze appears in the doorway with a pale and bloodied Jill in his arms and a white-faced Chase following behind him. Blaze’s face is hard with tension as he hurries towards us. He says nothing. I toss Bond my keys to drive them as I’m the only one who has spoken to the woman who piloted the plane. It’s best I stay.
I fill Bull, Rogue, and Cairo in with as much information as I can. When the crying in the plane subsides, I call out, “You can come out. Blaze has taken Jill to the clinic, and we’ve called her family.”
A little head appears, followed by another as they walk down the steps. We can tell they are boys, but they can’t be more than three years old. A woman walks down the stairs behind them, followed by a dark-haired teenage girl.
Cairo’s entire body goes rigid with tension as he breathes out, “Alice.”
We’re all perplexed; he obviously knows her, but how? We’d never heard of her, and I’ve known him since just after we finished basic training.
“Who the fuck is Alice?” Rogue asks in confusion.
“My wife,” Cairo replies darkly.
EPILOGUE
JOSIE
I’m sitting on the side of the pool, swishing my swollen feet in the cool water, watching Skinny, Cairo, Blaze, Bond, Rogue, and Bull play with the kids. It has been a scorching hot day, and we all needed a break. I closed down the clinic early, and we closed the shops, deciding to spend the rest of the afternoon at the pool, trying to get some relief from the relentless October heat. It didn’t help that I was the size of a whale.
Our boys are three years old and could swim like fish. They’re pretending to drown their dad, and he’s hamming it up for them. I put a hand to my belly as one of the babies decides to do some acrobatics. You’d think with it being so hot they’d sleep, but no, I seem to grow hyperactive children, and I seem to like for them to come along two at a time. Both Skinny and I’d nearly fainted when we’d again seen two heartbeats on the screen, not believing our eyes. Although this time he did manage to stay on his feet.
A wet nose pushes at my arm, and I turn to look at the puppy that Skinny had found a few weeks ago. Cinder had finally passed away in her sleep a month after our boys were born, and he’d mourned her for a long time. I didn’t think he’d ever get another dog, but then he’d been to town and found this little one crying behind a shop. Her sibling had been dead, and the mother was nowhere to be found. He’d scooped her up and brought herhome. She’d been his shadow ever since. So much so that was what we ended up calling her.
