A burst of static from his radio cut him off. “Lupine Command, this is fourteen-oh-eight.”
Fourteen-oh-eight was Deputy Marcs.
He picked up the radio and answered. “Lupine Command, go ahead.”
“I’m nearing your position. Can you give me some indication how far off the trail you are?”
Chaska guided her through it, telling her to leave the trail and head east fifty or so yards until she came to the ravine. “Just follow it north.”
“Fourteen-oh-eight, copy.”
A few minutes later, Deputy Marcs came into view, another deputy a few steps behind her, both of them heavily armed.
“I told you they’d be here, soon.” He glanced down to find that Naomi had lapsed into unconsciousness again.
Painand the sound of voices crashed in on Naomi again. Someone was saying her name. Someone was talking to her.
“Naomi, can you hear me?”
“Chaska?” She opened her eyes.
It wasn’t Chaska who knelt beside her now, but a man in some kind of uniform. “I’m Austin. I’m a park ranger, and I’m also a paramedic. I’m going to give you an injection for pain, okay?”
Thank God.
“Okay.”
She tried to turn her head to glance around at what was happening, but they’d put something around her neck to keep her still. “What…?”
“We’ve got you in a cervical collar to immobilize your spine until we can rule out a head or spinal injury. Does your head hurt?”
“Yes. My arm, too, and my ankle.” Not to mention a half dozen other places where she was bruised and scratched up.
“Belcourt said you faced down a couple of serious bad guys.”
“I didn’t do a very good job of it, did I?”
“I don’t know about that. You got away from them, and you’re alive. Seems to me you handled it just right.”
He was just being nice to her.
“Do you have any drug allergies, Naomi?”
Did she? “No.”
“Morphine is going to decrease your pain, but it will also make you sleepy. It can depress your blood pressure, too, so I’m going start an IV and then put you on oxygen when we get you to the ambulance. You’re going to feel a sharp prick in your thigh.”
“Okay.”
It was more like a jab, but a moment later she was floating, her pain melting.
“I’m going to start that IV now.”
A strange sense of euphoria made her smile.
“You’re feeling better, aren’t you?” Austin asked.
Hell, yes, she was.