“My ankle,” she stated, gasping when she wiggled her right foot.“Shit.”
Deftly pulling at the laces, I carefully removed her boot and sock to find an angry swollen and bruised ankle underneath.
“Shit, Kayla, it looks pretty bad,” I stated.“Let me see if I can find you a cold pack for the swelling.”
Rummaging through the cabinets, I finally found the first-aid kit, a still frozen ice pack from the mini freezer, and a small bottle of water.To my relief, Kayla had managed to pull herself up into a sitting position, leaning back against the wall as she looked over her ankle.
“Do you think it’s broken?”she asked me between heavy breaths as I set everything down next to her.Grabbing a pillow, I helped her gently ease her ankle on it for elevation, a sharp hiss leaving her mouth as I placed the ice pack over the swelling.
“Hard to tell right now.It could just be a bad sprain.”She groaned as she closed her eyes again, making me worry even more.“You probably have a pretty good concussion right now, so I need you to try to stay awake for me, Kayla.Can you do that?”Her eyes stayed closed for a second longer, but she hummed her acknowledgment before hissing again at the sting from the cleaning cloth I used against her temple.“Kayla, how did you get here?Did you come alone?”
More groaning, more breathing, her fight to regain control a visible struggle I wished I could help her through.“Boat,” she finally uttered, the word easy enough to understand.
“You came on one of the boats?”
She winced as she nodded, her eyes opening just a crack to look at me.“Romero.Find Romero,” she answered with a groan.
“Okay, who is he?”I asked as I twisted the bottle of water open and pressed it to her lips.Hopefully, he was at least somewhere close by, whoever he was.
“Team leader,” she stated right before she took a small sip of the water.
Confusion and hope struck a nerve.“Matt told me the team was dead.”
She shook her head, the corner of her lips curling into a small smile.“Nope.He failed.They’re on their way.”
A deep sigh of relief left my lungs like a gust of wind.There was still hope after all.
Thank fuck.
“What about Jason?”
Kayla was silent for a moment before I gave her another sip of the water.“I don’t know,” she finally replied, the doubt in her tone a discouraging note to my optimism.“But I’m sure he’s fine.He’s tough.”
Matt’s warning suddenly echoed in the back of my mind, the fear that he might actually be right about everything weighing heavy in the pit of my stomach.But I couldn’t afford the time to linger on it right now.I still had shit I needed to do.Jason would be okay.He had to be.
“Yeah,” I agreed with a nod.“Okay, so, what does this Romero look like?”
Another smirk curved Kayla’s lips.“Black hair.Tall.And hot as fuck,” she murmured between slow heavy breaths.
I snorted quietly to myself.At least her sense of humor was still intact.That was a good sign.
“Right.Hot as fuck.I’m sure I’ll find him,” I added as I finished cleaning off the blood from her face.The wound at her temple didn’t look as bad now that the bleeding had stopped, but it was going to leave a nasty scar behind.
Kayla suddenly took my hand and squeezed it.“Go.I’ll be okay,” she said, her voice sounding slightly stronger.“Go.Find him.I’m fine.”
I winced, hating the idea of leaving her alone, but we couldn’t both be sitting ducks here, just waiting to be found.Sighing loudly, I nodded in agreement when she finally looked back at me.
“Okay, fine, I’ll go find him.But you stay right here, do not go anywhere, and do not fall asleep, understand?”
She responded with the tiniest chuckle.“Yes, mom, now go.”
Groaning, I stood, checked the last Sig in my other side pocket, noting I still had a full mag loaded, and then peeked around the door before securing Kayla inside the panic room.
Cautiously making my way back through the kitchen to see if I could also find Matt’s body, sharp disappointment struck me when I realized it was nowhere to be found.The fucker was probably still alive somewhere, but much as I wanted to find him, I knew finding Romero was more important right now.
Turning to head for the gaping cavity of the kitchen wall, I stopped in my tracks as a sound I hadn’t heard in weeks suddenly caught my ear despite all the noise still going on around me.And it made my heart race into overdrive as another bark resounded through the air.
“Camaro?”