“I’m on your side here, Ian. I’m just worried.”
“And I told you there’s nothing to worry about,” Ian responded through gritted teeth. “Look, I think we should just focus on getting him there in one piece, okay?”
Marissa’s grip on the steering wheel tightened further, but she said nothing.
During the entire ride, Ian kept his gaze fixed on the world outside, blurring past in a confection of shapes and colors. Two hours later, Ian was tightly wound and regretting the breakfast burrito he’d indulged in when Marissa screeched to a halt outside the police station. A few protestors were lined up on either side of the front steps behind police barriers. Ian scrambled to get out of his seat belt.
He came to a stand behind Jake, placing a hand on his shoulder. “Keep your head down, and don’t say a thing.”
“Eric isn’t going to be happy about this,” Jake murmured before bowing his head. “He’s going to come after me.”
“We’re not going to let him get to you.” Ian kept Jake upright. Marissa and a few other officers formed a circle around them as they hurried up the stairs. “Just try not to piss anyone off while you’re in there, okay?”
“This isn’t a joke. You’re all in danger; so am I.”
Ian’s nails dug into Jake’s shoulder. “You know something I don’t?”
Jake twisted to face Ian, and the sound of a gunshot rang out. Ian shoved Jake onto the ground and covered Jake’s body with his. Another gunshot sliced through the air, and a loudcacophony of voices rose, making Ian’s ears ring. He heard muffled screams and the sound of footsteps hurrying away. Then Marissa was in his field of vision, and her mouth was moving, but he couldn’t make out a thing.
Adrenaline was still bursting through his veins when Marissa pulled him up by the armpits. One of the other officers escorted Jake inside, and Ian blinked, spots dancing in his field of vision. He rubbed his eyes, and when Marissa gripped his shoulders, a sharp jab of pain sliced through him.
“I need an ambulance,” Marissa yelled, her voice thick and full of panic. “An officer’s been shot.”
Ian licked his dry lips. “Who’s been shot?”
Marissa led him back down the stairs, keeping one hand on his arm and the other on her gun. In a daze, he allowed himself to be led into the ambulance.
Before the doors slammed shut, he lurched forward and gripped Marissa in a viselike grip. “You have to stay with Jake. We need him as a witness.”
Marissa’s face was pale and ashen. “Go get yourself checked out. Don’t worry about Jake.”
With a little more force than necessary, she pried his fingers away. Ian staggered back, the doors shut, and the ambulance was driving off. Loud sirens sliced through the air, and Ian ignored the paramedic who was trying to examine him. He kept pressing his face to the glass, hoping to catch a glimpse of what was happening, but everything was chaos.
By the time they pulled up outside the hospital, the shock had worn off, and Ian was impatient. “I have to go back. We were escorting an important witness.”
And maybe the only lead they were ever going to get in his mom’s case.
He didn’t have time to get checked out in the hospital.
Ian needed to be back with Jake, sweeping the perimeter and finding the shooter. Instead, he was forced out of the ambulance and led down a gray-colored hallway with linoleum floors, the smell of disinfectant lingering in the air. In the emergency room, he was escorted onto a blue bed, and a curtain was drawn shut, separating him from the rest of the patients.
He touched two fingers to his arm, which felt like it was being held over a low fire.
Little pinpricks of pain raced up and down his arm as a doctor with wisps of dark hair and kind brown eyes emerged and began to examine him. “Going to need you to lie down, Officer Railings. Did you hit your head when you fell?”
Ian winced and released a deep, shaky breath. “I don’t know.”
Dr. Sheridan shined a light in his eyes. “I’m going to get a neurologist down here as soon as I can. Other than your arm, does anything else hurt?”
Ian pressed his lips together and shook his head. “No, I’m fine. I have to go back out.”
Dr. Sheridan ignored him and continued the exam.
When he left, Lucy, Kelli, and Dean came in, all of them red-faced and frantic. They were all fussing over him when Sophia’s voice sliced through the air. She hung up the phone as soon as she stepped through the curtain and threw her arms around her brother. Lucy was then wedged in between her and Darren while the kids stood on the other side of the bed. Dana came in a short while later, tears streaming down her face. She broke into a sob when she reached them and buried her face in Ian’s lap.
“I’m fine,” Ian said with a quick glance around the room. “You didn’t all have to come. I’m sure you had better things to do.”
Lucy took his hand in hers and squeezed. “Don’t be ridiculous. When we got the call, we knew we had to come. Everyone else is on the way too.”
