“They’re almost here, Jaime.” Anya dipped her head to look Jaime in the eyes. Jaime’s were glazed over, and her skin was ashen. Anya was afraid that if she checked Jaime’s pulse, it would be weak. “Hey. Fight for me. Fight, baby. I’m so sorry.”
“N-not your f-fault,” Jaime managed weakly.
Anya scoffed. “We both know that’s not true.” She touched her lips to Jaime’s when Jaime tried to argue. “None of that matters. What matters is that you fight. We just found each other. Give us a little more time. Please?”
“Try.”
Flashing red and blue lights illuminated the area, and Anya’s once-quiet sanctuary was now filled with police and emergency personnel.
“We got her, Miss.”
“Doctor,” Anya corrected automatically. She didn’t understand why she had done that, but it felt important to her in this moment. “Detective Baros has two gunshot wounds. One to the upper shoulder and one to the left side. I couldn’t stop the bleeding. She’s conscious and alert but fading fast, most likely from blood loss and shock.”
The paramedics thanked Anya, and one worked to control the hemorrhaging with hemostatic dressings while the other got the stretcher ready.
“Ready to roll! We’ll get an IV in her in the rig.” They transferred Jaime onto the stretcher and radioed dispatch that they were en route with a ‘major trauma GSW.’ “You comin’?”
“Um.” Anya looked around. She was a witness and technically shouldn’t leave the scene. But she wanted to go with Jaime.
“Go ahead,” Max said. Anya had no idea where the hell he had come from, but he looked disheveled, pissed, and sad. “I’ll take care of things here and meet you at the hospital.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yeah. Go ahead.”
Anya tossed him her keys. “Make sure everything is locked, please?” Without waiting for a response, she turned and ran to catch up with Jaime and the paramedics.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Anya stared at Jaime,whose chest rose and fell steadily with the attached machines. Even with the beeping and humming from the medical equipment surrounding Jaime, it was a far better situation than when she was in the ambulance. She had coded twice. Once they’d finally made it to the hospital, Jaime was rushed into surgery that lasted four hours. Despite Anya’s quick actions at the scene, Jaime had lost too much blood. She had experienced hypovolemic shock during surgery, which then led to a cardiac arrest. The doctors had managed to bring her back, but now, here Jaime lay in a coma.
“Dr. Grant?”
Anya blinked for the first time in what felt like hours, her eyes burning with sheer tiredness. It took a moment for the nurse’s face to come into focus. “Yes?”
“Can I get you anything else?”
Anya smiled kindly. The young nurse had been a blessing. Once the chaos of doctors, police, and paramedics had quietened around her, Anya had been left alone with Jaime’s blood on her clothes and hands. She didn’t know how long she had been standing frozen in the spot where she’d last seen Jaime. It was only when a nurse gently pulled her out of her haze of shockthat she started to regain her senses. The nurse had helped Anya clean up and change into a pair of scrubs. And since then, Nurse Zoe has been just as attentive to Anya’s needs as she was to Jaime’s.
“No, thank you, Zoe.”
“Okay. Well, my shift is ending, but I left a note at the nurses’ desk to check in on you.” Zoe checked Jaime’s vitals, monitors, and IV as she spoke. “If you need anything, just let them know.”
“You’ve been through this yourself,” Anya guessed.
Zoe’s attention and care for both Jaime and Anya spoke of a shared experience.
“My husband is a patrol cop. He’s crossed paths with Detective Baros a few times, and she’s always treated him with respect. When he was shot on the job, Detective Baros was the one who caught his shooter.” Zoe pulled up a chair next to Anya, sat down, and took her hand. “We look out for our own.”
That definitely explained the special treatment. Zoe thought Anya was Jaime’s. Anya’s gaze shifted to Jaime’s pale face. The way her heart ached right now at seeing Jaime this way? She thought of herself as Jaime’s, too.
“Thank you, Zoe.”Speaking of the cops…Anya shifted in her seat. “Do you know why no one has come to take my statement yet? Or where Jaime’s partner is?”
Zoe’s demeanor noticeably changed at Anya’s questions, but she quickly smiled. “They know where you are. I’m sure they’re just giving you time to process. And Detective Fraser is probably out there doing what Detective Baros would be doing if the tables were turned.”
The explanation sounded more like a mother placating her child, but Anya merely nodded. She knew from her years in law enforcement that cops didn’t wait for witnesses to ‘process’ information. They wanted that information to be fresh. Something was going on. But that wasn’t Anya’s problemanymore. Her priority was lying in the hospital bed in front of her.
“Right, of course.” Anya focused her attention back on Jaime, concentrating on the rise and fall of her chest.
