Graham, Jan - Finding Angel [Wylde Shore] (Siren Publishing Ménage and More) (67 page)

The gunfire had ceased, and Angel glanced back to see two men emerge through the window. A group of men were running across the road toward them with weapons drawn as Angel collapsed in the driveway with Kathy. She could feel the heat from the fire and noticed the shrubs at the side of the house withering. Angel felt herself begin to fade in and out of whatever reality she was now in. She heard someone say “hold fire, they’re ours.” She knew that voice. It was Christian. He sounded so far away. Angel slumped next to Kathy and tried to shake the unconscious woman awake. She thought she heard a siren, and then everything went black.

Chapter Thirty-One

Christian and his team had only just reached the house and were working on moving into position as the house erupted in flames and shots began to ring out through the evening sky. They had heard the whole drama unfolding as they sped from the inner city out to the western suburbs. They’d made the ninety-minute trip in just forty, but still it was barely fast enough.

As the gunfire started, Christian thought his worse nightmare was about to become reality. Then he saw the two female figures struggling through the shattered window. His team was already moving across the road and down toward the house. His lead detective was calling for fire and ambulance services to get to the scene ASAP. Not long after the women had emerged, Angel half carrying Kathy across the lawn toward the driveway, two males came through the front window. Christian recognised Steve immediately, and he called out “they’re ours” to alert his men not to fire. It took a moment to register that the man with Steve was Adrian Hastings.

As Christian picked up Angel, other officers collected Kathy and assisted the two women to get a safe distance away from the house before attending to any injuries. The front of Angel’s dress had been torn, and the side of it was no longer the white floral design. It was bright red with blood. Christian had to get her back on the ground and stop the bleeding. She hadn’t said a word since he had scooped her into his arms, and he watched as she became paler by the minute. Christian laid Angel on a grass embankment a safe distance from the fire. She had a deep cut on her side. Christian had seen Angel fall against the window frame but assumed when she picked up Kathy and kept moving that she must have been okay. He checked to see if the wound had any glass in it before removing his T-shirt, making a ball out of it, and pressing it firmly over the wound. He prayed to whatever God might be listening to keep Angel alive.

Christian heard Steve bitching about the officers looking after Kathy. He glanced over to see two officers, one each applying pressure to bullet wounds. It appeared the wound in her shoulder was a straight-through shot. The one in her back was more worrying.

“Steve, shut the fuck up and let them help,” Christian snapped at his slightly dazed and bloodied friend. Steve’s arm was bleeding, and he had a few blisters on his face from the impact of the fireball that had engulfed the house, but apart from that he was alive and well.

Steve looked at the carnage and then back at Christian. The sound of the rescue helicopter thumped overhead before landing in the middle of the road. Adrian Hastings made his way to sit near Christian and Angel. He was holding his shirt against his stomach, blood covering it.

“What kind of call to action is
let’s dance
?” Christian asked.

“As good as any I could think of at short notice.” Adrian laughed despite the sadness evident in his eyes as he looked down at Angel.

Christian was glad when Angel moaned in pain indicating she was starting to regain consciousness.

“Ouch,” Angel said weakly as Christian readjusted his hand over her wound.

“Ouch indeed, my love.” Christian smiled down at her. “Rest easy, you’re safe now.”

Angel closed her eyes again and began to mumble more words.

“You know, when she is recovered, I expect that you will never let her come into harm’s way again,” Adrian said firmly.

“You have my word on that, Mr. Hastings. I assume that I have your word that neither you nor your men will be causing trouble for her again,” Christian stated in return.

He saw Adrian look at the bullet wound in his guts. From the amount of blood oozing through Adrian’s fingers Christian wondered whether he would be around to cause anyone trouble in the future.

“You have my word,” he stated definitively.

“Thank you for helping rescue her here today. I would say I owe you, but that’s probably not a good thing to say to the head of an organisation like yours.”

Christian watched as Adrian laughed. The man sat in front of him, bleeding like a stuck pig, and it seemed to have no impact on him. He wasn’t even flinching in pain. Christian wondered if the man was made of steel. The medics surrounded them, and Christian heard Adrian demand he be left alone until the girls were taken care of, stating he was only suffering from a flesh wound. The medics bundled Angel and Kathy into the helicopter and lifted off within minutes of having landed. Steve and Adrian were bundled into an ambulance and sent by road, both Christian and Steve demanding they be taken to the same hospital the women were being flown to. As Christian looked around at the carnage his lead detective approached him.

“I’m releasing Malcolm to drive you back to the hospital. I’ve got this covered, and you need to be with your woman.” Christian didn’t need to be told twice as he headed toward one of the squad cars with Malcolm.

Christian called and spoke to Daniel as he headed toward the hospital. He was glad to hear that his brother was about to prep for surgery and would oversee Kathy’s operation. Daniel informed him that it appeared one bullet had lodged near her heart, but they had stabilised her en route to the hospital. The news his brother relayed about Angel was a different matter. According to Daniel, the reports from the medics in the air stated she needed blood urgently, and quantities of her type across the state were dangerously low. The hospital had put out an urgent call across the medical field for people to make immediate donations of B negative, but it was one of the rarer blood types, so the response wasn’t going well. Daniel reminded Christian that first they needed to find and stop the internal bleeding or no amount of blood would help.

Christian spoke to his father next. He realised his father would want to know about Angel’s condition, but Christian also wanted to keep himself occupied as Malcolm drove like a maniac through the traffic, sirens blaring into the evening sky. His father insisted on coming to the hospital, which Christian chose not to argue with. In fact, he found it a comfort. Angel wasn’t out of the woods yet, and Christian knew his father’s support would be needed, particularly if things went badly. As they came up behind Steve’s ambulance, Christian radioed the driver to pull in behind their car and stay close. He just hoped the driver could keep up.

Steve heard the police siren and smiled as he felt the ambulance increase its pace. Adrian had either passed out or had been given a sedative because he now lay motionless on the trolley next to Steve. Steve wondered if the gunshot wound to his abdomen had been more serious than everyone first realised. The medic in the ambulance assured Steve that his “friend” was fine and stable, but Steve wasn’t convinced. He heard the ambulance driver ask what blood type the other medic was. When Steve quizzed him, he explained they were looking for B negative blood for an accident victim. Steve was B negative. He knew it was rare, but he never donated blood. He wasn’t that keen on needles. Much to Steve’s surprise, when he arrived at the hospital he was ushered into a small room, asked a barrage of questions, and was donating blood before he even had a chance to say “I’d love to.” Not that he minded, all he’d be doing otherwise would be pacing the corridor waiting on news about Kathy and Angel, who were both now in surgery.

Both surgeries seemed to take forever. Angel came out of hers first but had problems in recovery. She finally made it to the intensive care ward not long before Kathy did. Daniel explained to Steve that Kathy was going to be fine from today’s injury. Unfortunately, during the surgery they had spotted a lesion on her lung. It had shown up on one of the scans taken to assist with the surgery. Daniel said they suspected it was a
small-cell lung carcinoma
. They had biopsied it while Kathy was knocked out and sent it away for testing.

“So today may have its benefits after all. If this is a cancer, it’s been found early.” Steve tried to remain positive.

“Exactly.” Daniel smiled.

Steve sat holding Kathy’s hand. Daniel had explained she probably wouldn’t truly wake for a day or so due to the trauma and the body’s natural mechanism to sleep to overcome injury. Still, he was determined to make sure he was sitting with her just in case she stirred, even a little. Angel was in the bed next to Kathy, and Steve looked at her pale skin and tiny frame. How had she managed to drag Kathy to safety with the injuries she herself had sustained? He always knew she was a tough little thing, and he would be forever grateful to her for getting Kathy away from the house.

Steve listened intently as Angel’s doctor explained the surgery to Daniel and Christian. The bleeding had been contained, the gallbladder removed, the liver repaired along with various blood vessels. The prognosis looked good. She would need bed rest for a few weeks, and recovery to full health may take up to four months because of the extent of the damage to the liver. Daniel asked about the transfusion. The doctor relayed the information he had been given about a man showing up in emergency that just happened to be a perfect match. The doctor took Daniel aside and spoke to him briefly; Daniel looked at Angel’s chart and nodded before handing the clipboard back and returning to her bedside.

“Something wrong?” Christian asked when Daniel returned.

“No, just an anomaly in the donor blood results they’re rechecking. It’s probably just an error due to rushing through the checks for compatibility.”

“I will have you know I don’t have abnormal blood. You heard the doctor, it was a perfect match.” Steve smiled. “You can all thank me later.”

“You, you’re B negative? You donated blood when you arrived at the hospital?” Daniel looked slightly confused.

“Yeah, I didn’t realize it was for Angel though, or I would have given more.”

Angel began to stir and opened her eyes to see the faces of four men staring down at her. She smiled as she looked at Daniel, Christian, Andrew Shore, and Steve.

“Are we all okay?” she asked.

“We’re all fine.” Christian smiled.

Daniel told Angel what was happening, that she had been operated on and was being given blood that Steve had donated. He told her that she needed to sleep some more and they would be here when she woke up again. Angel glanced at the bag of blood slowly infusing into her body and then glanced toward Steve.

“Is dragon blood good for me?” Angel asked dreamily.

“It’s the best,” Steve whispered to her as she drifted back to sleep.

Andrew Shore insisted that the three men go and get some food now that everyone was out of danger. He agreed to wait with Angel and Kathy until they returned. With a bit of persuasion, they agreed they would go to the staff cafeteria and eat something. It was going to be a long night because none of them had any intention of leaving the hospital. The staff cafeteria ran twenty-four hours, seven days a week, and according to Daniel, the meals were much nicer than the other options at the hospital. Eating Steak Diane and vegetables at two in the morning wasn’t the usual thing to do, but as the three men sat downstairs, it seemed almost natural under the current circumstances.

“Steve, remember when you found out your dad wasn’t your biological father?” Daniel asked.

“Yep, I couldn’t donate a kidney because we didn’t match,” Steve replied.

“Did you ever ask your mum who your real dad was before she passed away?” Daniel asked cautiously.

“Well, as a matter of fact, Dan, I did.” Steve took a break from eating “Apparently she had been at a party and hooked up with some guy called Hazza W. She couldn’t give me any more information on him, but I heard his name again today.”