Darkfall (12 page)

From the next intersection a semi swung into view. “Damn it!”

Penny’s insides felt like gelatin.
Has the whole world gone mad?

“Punch it!” Ian’s harsh accent grew deeper. “Bloody hell!”

“Has everyone in Bangor gone nuts?” Gillian wailed the question, and Penny wished she could comfort the older woman.

Penny anticipated another impact. The semi kept coming into the intersection.

“Noooo!” Gillian’s voice pierced the air. “Watch out!”

“Son-of-a-bitch!” Phil gritted out his warning. “Hold on!”

Phil blasted into the vacant left oncoming lane and through the intersection. The semi had stopped in the intersection. She didn’t have time to feel relief that they’d made it through the intersection without crashing.

Seconds later she dared look around. “The sedan’s still behind us!”

Penny saw the passenger lean part way out of the window, his arm coming out as he held an object.

Right that second Ian alerted Phil. “Swerve! The assholes have a weapon!” Ian shoved Penny down in the seat. “Get down!”

Another crash from behind sent the big truck careening, the tires shrieking. Gunfire erupted from behind. Gillian screamed. Penny cried out in alarm, her fingers digging into Ian’s thigh as he shot back at their pursuers. The sounds cracked with ear-splitting intensity. Terror pierced Penny with deep claws. The SUV stayed on the road. Curses slipped from Penny’s throat. Another loud crash echoed, this one sounding farther away. Phil kept his foot on the gas. They sped on, the roar of the engine proving that Phil had no intention of slowing down.

“Gillian? Gillian?” Phil’s voice rose in alarm.

The back of Penny’s neck prickled. “What is it? What’s wrong?”

“God
damn
it! She’s been shot.” Phil’s voice was ragged with worry. “Gillian!”

“They’re dropping back.” Ian kept Penny pressed to his thigh.

The SUV slowed, and Penny immediately asked, “Why are we slowing down?”

“Roadblock,” came Phil’s answer. “Looks like National Guard and maybe sheriff’s department.”

“Go around,” Ian said. “We need space between us and these assholes.”

Phil made a strangled sound. “I’m stopping. Gillian needs help.”

Ian didn’t argue, but when Penny tried to sit up, Ian kept her flat. “Stay down. The wankers aren’t retreating.”

Penny heard tires squealing and from somewhere maybe even the shout of a voice over a bullhorn.
Oh, shit.
How would they make it out of this situation?

Phil made a sudden movement with the steering wheel as the rat-tat-tat of gunfire penetrated the air, along with Ian and Phil’s virulent curses. A second later she heard a ping and someone in the vehicle cried out. Phil slumped over the steering wheel and the SUV went into a wild sway as he lost control. The SUV accelerated at an alarming speed and seconds later crashed into something immobile. Pain exploded in her head, and the world turned to midnight.

* * * *

The SUV crashing into the immobile military vehicle at the roadblock threw Ian to the side, but the seat belt held him. Penny’s seatbelt held but her body was limp against the seat, her eyes closed and head tilted to the side.

“Fuck!” Ian unbuckled his seatbelt and reached for her. “Son-of-a-bitch! Penny! Penny?”

Inside the car there wasn’t a sound but for Ian’s hard breathing, his cursing and a loud groan coming from Phil. Outside, shouts broke the air, demands Ian recognized as police or military commands. He didn’t care. In his military career he’d encountered dead and wounded, both friend and foe. He’d certainly encountered fear. Raw terror shot through him like a knife to the gut.

“Penny, come on baby, open your eyes.” He checked the pulse at her neck and it was strong. “
Thank you, thank you.”

He looked up and saw Phil lying over the wheel with a bloodstain spreading over his left shoulder. Gillian was slumped over and barely visible.

Commotion outside brought his attention to the windows. The SUV was surrounded by men dressed as National Guard and police. The police pointed their guns at him and shouted for him to put his hands up.

Reluctantly he did as asked. “I’ve got injured in here! At least two with gunshot wounds!”

Police opened the doors and two pointed straight at him. He didn’t give them a chance to order him out of the vehicle.

“This woman is hurt and the other two have been shot. I’ve got a weapon in this holster. There are other weapons in the car. We were being chased from the gated community down the road by two whack jobs,” Ian said rapid fire.

An older cop dressed in tactical gear including helmet lowered his weapon and the others followed suit. “Roadblocks were for the assholes chasing you. Sorry you got caught up in it. Okay, let’s get paramedics in here.”

The next few minutes twisted in Ian’s gut as, with the help of a SWAT team medic, he helped monitor Penny, Gillian, and Phil. They didn’t move them without backboards, and Ian’s stomach felt like someone had poured battery acid in it as he watched over Penny in particular. Gillian had been shot in the head, but it was a graze along the skull. Gillian’s color didn’t look good and neither did Phil’s. Penny hadn’t gone into shock, thank God, and Ian kept a tight hold on her left hand, reassured by the warmth. It seemed to take forever for two ambulances to arrive. Gillian and Phil were immediately transferred to one ambulance after they were stabilized. Penny was checked, and the paramedics declared she probably had a concussion along with the wound to her shoulder and they worried that she hadn’t regained her senses yet.

Unfortunately, the cops had confiscated his weapon until Ian insisted on getting it back. After seeing his identification as an employee of Sentry Security, they returned his gun. The paramedics didn’t argue when he insisted on riding with Penny in the other ambulance. Ian wanted to take her hand in his, but the paramedics naturally commandeered sitting on either side of her. She didn’t move or make a sound, and every moment longer she stayed that way made Ian’s heart sink. Stark fear had stripped him bare, and now it was twisting his stomach into knots and making his heart pound. All of his training, all of his tough shit attitude couldn’t remove the gut-shredding realization he could lose Penny.

As they rolled through the streets, escorted by a Hummer with firepower included, Ian felt chewed up and spit out. It pissed him off and scared the shit out of him in equal measures. He felt as if he was back in a war zone. When he’d hired on with Sentry he’d always expected a lower-key lifestyle. No more special ops. No more battle zones. Long Valley Super Volcano had changed all that. Mother Nature had kicked ass and there was no going back to the way it was before. People had retreated to their basic needs, their survival above all things the top priority. Understandable and yet sometimes brutal.

As the ambulance rolled into the emergency area at the hospital in Bangor, Ian gritted his teeth. He’d wanted out of this city and back to Buckleport, but darkness progressed and they were stuck. Once they’d brought Penny into the emergency room, Ian pushed forward unthinkingly. Staff and the sick and injured jammed the area, and as they wheeled Penny toward a bay, he started to walk that way.

A nurse grabbed his arm. Tall and thin, she looked ragged and used up. “Sir, you can’t be in here unless you have injuries.”

“I’m not hurt. She’s my…” He stumbled over the words. He didn’t care if he lied. “My wife.”

She narrowed her eyes. “I see. Well, we still need room to work.” She gave him an impersonal once over, skepticism clear. “What are you, a cop?”

He wasn’t getting into that, and he didn’t give a fuck what she thought. “No.”

She glanced around. “We have a mess in here. This will take a while. Sit in the waiting room, and as soon as we know anything we’ll come and get you.”

He considered arguing, but the bruiser hospital security guard across the room eyeballed him with suspicion. He wasn’t getting thrown out of the hospital.

He nodded. “Right.”

After entering the waiting room, he wanted to exit and locate a quieter place. People milled about, a television anchored high in a corner spit out a snowy picture of a local news channel. He ignored the squawking television as it gave a continuous stream of bad news. There was nowhere to sit, and he leaned against the wall. He crossed his arms and closed his eyes. Guilt burned a new hole inside him. He’d brought this situation upon her because he didn’t have the balls to extricate her from danger. Maybe her father had made a mistake by relying on him to keep her safe. So far he’d failed. Beyond that, he couldn’t stifle the pure fear rampaging through him at the thought of her…dying. His throat tightened. His next breath sent a shudder through his body.

Man up. You’ve made it through a fucking war zone, and yet you can’t keep the woman you love safe.

Oh. Oh, fuck.

Love.

The revelation stirred pain inside him, demanding that he recognize his emotions on a level he’d never attempted. He’d admired women, lusted after them. Had sex with them. Never had he experienced this almost paralyzing desire to protect, to shelter, and to cherish forever.

Penny Graham was more than beautiful in body, but also in mind and spirit. He connected with her on every level. With gut-wrenching knowledge, he decided he couldn’t and wouldn’t deny his feelings any longer. He wallowed in those passions, stewing as he leaned his head back against the wall and stared across the room at humanity.

Some of these people would survive the next few days and maybe the coming weeks. Could he say the same for himself? At one time he’d thrown himself into his security work. He’d delved into it full blast while the world around him imploded with war and then with volcanic apocalypse. Always in the back of his mind he’d worried about Penny until it chewed him alive, relentless in his belly. Dread threatened to tear away his defenses.

He stood there, waiting and worrying for at least three hours. He was about ready to force his way into the emergency room when the nurse who’d talked to him earlier came into the room. She saw him right away and smiled. Fear eased slightly inside him. The woman wouldn’t smile if she had bad news. He met her halfway across the room.

“Is she all right?” he asked. “I want to see her.”

“She’s going to be fine. A little bump on the head. MRI and CT showed no damage. She doesn’t have a concussion, so that’s good, but we want to keep her overnight for observation. We’ve taken her up to a room.”

“Thank you.” When she started to walk away, he said, “Wait. Do you know anything about the other two people…Gillian and Phil Kendricks?”

The nurse nodded and crossed her arms. “They’re both in surgery, so it’ll be quite some time before they’re up for visitors. Gillian has a wound to her left shoulder and so does her husband, only the shot that hit him broke his collarbone.”

Ian winced. “Shit.”

The nurse’s smile returned. “You’re all very fortunate, considering what could have happened.”

After she gave him instructions on where to find Penny, he headed upstairs to the ward. As he walked, he couldn’t muster a smile. Relief smoothed the edges of his turmoil. He’d apologize to Penny again for his failures to keep her safe and do everything from this point forward to give her a lifetime of protection if she’d take it. He’d be lucky if she didn’t tell him to go fuck himself.

The ward room featured a less sterile environment than he expected, with pleasant light blue walls, cheerful paintings, and no strong antiseptic smell. All ten beds were filled, and most of them had at least one visitor by their sides. Most of the patients looked fairly healthy, considering. None appeared severely injured. Penny lay in the bed closest to the door. She wore a blue hospital gown and a light blue blanket was tucked under her arms. Her skin was pale, and the worry he’d banished a short time ago returned. Once he stood at her bedside, she opened her eyes. A grin parted her lips. She reached up and brought him down into her arms. It felt like heaven on earth embraced him. He savored her touch, happy and content to soak in the incredible sensation of holding her. He pulled back slightly, cupped her face and kissed her soft lips. He drew back a little more and looked down into her crystal-clear gaze.

Tears leaked from her eyes, and he kissed her forehead and nose. “Damn. You scared the shit out of me.”

He didn’t know what else to say, for a moment so choked he couldn’t force another word past his throat.

“When I woke up, I was so scared,” she said. “I didn’t know where you were and I was afraid…” She gulped. “That you’d been killed. I almost panicked and then a nurse told me what happened. Gillian and Phil…?”

“They’ll be all right.” He drew back until he stood, only holding on to her right hand. He squeezed her palm between both of his hands. He explained what he’d learned from the nurse. “But we might have to leave them here.”

“We can’t.”

He steeled his heart. “I’m getting you back to Buckleport and your father if I have to die trying.”

She tightened her grip on his hand. “Please don’t…” She sniffed, tears still glistening in her eyes. “Please don’t say that.”

When more tears trickled from her eyes, he leaned forward and kissed her forehead again. “I’m sorry. Bad choice of words.” He felt mixed up, unable to say what he ached to express. But he wouldn’t wait another minute. “When I saw you lying there in the vehicle, unconscious, it scared me shitless. Waiting for you in that emergency room, it tore me up.”

A genuine, warm smile parted her lips. “What are you trying to say, Ian MacDaniel?”

“That I’m bloody sorry I didn’t do my job keeping you safe.”

Her face altered in an instant from warmth to coolness, and she released his hands. “We’ve already talked about that. If I’d been on my own, who knows what would have happened. You
have
kept me safe. I don’t want to hear another word about it.”

“You’re angry?”

“Of course I am. You keep belaboring this as if the entire situation is your fault. As if you failed to keep the volcano from blowing. You can’t control everything, Ian. Stop trying.”