The Trouble With Love (21 page)

There was a tripod with the
gun
that June had given him, so he quickly set it up and mounted the gun.  Cole had one of these at home in his collection, and had fired
it a couple of times
, so he knew how to use it
thank goodness
.
 
Laying down
behind the tripod,
Cole
sighted then dropped a grenade into the launcher and fired at the oncoming trucks.
  He flinched then smiled when he got a direct hit on
truck
in the middle, and it exploded taking out the one on its right too. 

The other two trucks moved away from the wreckage and turned sideways to take defensive positions. 
Cole loaded another grenade, lined up the sights then fired again.  This one went over the remaining trucks and exploded too far from them to do any damage.  Bullets strafed around him and he
laid flat
and covered his head
.

"Almost there, Cole!" he heard Luke yell faintly over all the noise.  Picking his head back up, Cole loaded the launcher again and then fired toward the now stationary trucks.  This grenade landed in front of the trucks and he saw one catch on fire, but it didn't explode.

"Hurry the fuck up!" Cole yelled and repeated the process with the M-4.
  Thank
god
, June had thought to bring this setup, because
they'd be dead ducks without it.
  He
should have brought his own, but
just hadn't expected World War III when they rescued Sabrina.

Finally, Luke and Gabe reached them and he saw them duck under the blades and get into the helicopter.  He fired one more round into the trucks then grabbed a couple grenades and the M-4 and yelled at Elmer, "C'mon El--let's get the hell out of here," he said then got up
to run to the helicopter. 

When he was halfway there, he noticed
that Elmer wasn't following him, and stopped.  He looked over his shoulder and saw
his deputy wasn't moving, and fear
punched him in the gut
.
  Throwing the gun on the ground, Cole ran toward him zig-zagging hoping he wouldn't get shot.  There was no way he was leaving Elmer out here though.

When he got there, he looked around, but didn't see any blood on his deputy,
which didn't mean he wasn't shot, but Cole didn't have time to look any closer, when he glanced up and saw the trucks were moving toward them again.
He grabbed Elmer by the shoulders and tossed him over his shoulder,
then
ran toward the helicopter like the hounds of hell were at his heels...because they were.  Bullets
whizzed around his feet making
dust clouds, but he kept running. 

Right before he reached the door, he felt something slam into his left calf and then he felt fire burning up his leg. 
Cole
stumbled and almost dropped Elmer, but he held on and managed to
duck under the blades and
get
to the
door.  Luke and Gabe
opened it then
jumped down and took Elmer from him,
then
helped him inside.  Cole could feel his boot filling with blood
, as he yelled,
"Clear, June--
go, go, go
!"
when
they closed the door
.

CHAPTER ELEVEN

Once they were airborne,
June did a
lot of fancy flying to avoid the helicopter getting taken out by bullets
being fired at them.  The aircraft rose higher and settled, then
Cole reached in his pocket and pulled out his cell phone.  He called the FBI guy
he'd been working with
and told him they had rescued Sabrina
. 

The man told him they were already in route to the compound, along with all the other agencies that had been at his house last night, and their takedown would happen within the hour.  He also told him that similar raids were being conducted in
Phoenix
and across the border by Mexican authorities.

When he hung up
, Cole
gave
the
group a rundown on what was said and then huffed out a long sigh of relief.  The adrenaline that had been pumping through him like steam through a radiator pipe finally settled, and although that was good for his heart rate, it wasn't very good for his leg.  He moaned loudly
as pain sliced through him,
and
he
tried to pull up the
hem
of his jeans to take a look
at his leg
.  His pants leg was
too tight
though
with the swelling
, and was
also
soaked
with
his
blood.
 

Sabrina
was
sitting
in the co-pilot seat
and her eyes widened when she heard him moan.  She
ran back to him and knelt down
then yelled,
"Oh, my god, Cole!  You've been shot!"
and her fingers flew over his leg and then she tried to pull up his pants leg too with one hand.  Her other arm was bent to her chest.
  "Gabe, give me your knife!" she yelled to her brother. 

Gabe
came down beside her and pushed her out of the way, "Move,
S
is--your arm is hurt. Let me do this."  Sabrina moved to the side and Gabe took out his pocket knife and slit Cole's jeans up to the thig
h.  Peeling back the material, he moved Cole's leg around then said, "Looks like it went straight through your calf, there's an entry and exit wound.  It's bleeding like hell though...get me a towel or something, sis."

Cole heard Sabrina whimper,
then
she got up and ran to the back of the helicopter
.  Coming
back a minute later with two thin blankets
, she
handed them to Gabe.

"How's Elmer?"
Cole asked
Gabe
while he put
a blanket on
his leg
, and
stifled a groan when
Gabe
pressed
down firmly
and pain shot up his leg.

"I think he might have just passed out from the excitement," Gabe told h
im
with a chuckle, then said, "I couldn't find any bullet holes in him."

Cole groaned then laid his head back against the seat.  He'd taken a bullet to the leg, because Elmer couldn't handle the excitement?  That was just fucking wonderful.
  H
e hoped that his Chief Deputy never encountered that kind of excitement while on a call in
Bowie
.  That was a dangerous thing for sure...to all of them.
  As much as he liked Elmer, he was probably going to have to reassign him to something less stressful than being his second in
command.

June took them back to the airport
,
where they'd refueled earlier
,
to check out the aircraft and call an ambulance for Cole. 
He told them he'd be fine until they could get back to
Bowie
, but Sabrina
insisted he needed to go to the hospital now.
  Luke was going back to
Bowie
with June and was going to drive back to pick them up at the hospital.
  He shook June's hand and thanked him for helping today, then stood back with Sabrina and Gabe and watched him and Luke take off.

When the ambulance got to the airport, the medics put him on a gurney and
Sabrina and Gabe piled into the back of the ambulance with the medic who was treating him.  It was a tight fit, but they worked it out.
  His leg was on fire, and the medic put a pressure dressing on his wound, but didn't take his boot off...he sure wished he would. 

Sabrina sat on the bench beside the gurney looking at him like she thought he was going to die.  His leg hurt like hell right now, but he wasn't going to die.
  H
e knew her reaction was because of what happened to her dead husband. 

"I'm okay, baby..." he told her and reached for her hand.
  Hers was trembling when she laced her fingers through his.

"You have a gunshot wound in your calf, and you're bleeding profusely, you are
not
okay, Cole!" she said and her
blue
eyes filled up with tears.

He forced a laugh then told her, "Well, maybe not at this instant, but I'm
going
to be okay.  I promise, darlin'...I'm not going to die
,
"
he swallowed thickly hoping he could keep that promise, because it sure felt like he was dying
.  The
fire
shooting
up
his leg
,
was
making him feel like he wanted either throw up or pass out
.

He heard her whimper and looked over at her to see tears were streaming down her cheeks now, and she had a death grip on his hand.  "Lean over here and give me a kiss, sugar."

"
Good
G
od
..." Gabe snorted, "Y
ou
two
can't even ride in an ambulance without s
ucking face. 
Give it a rest
," then
folded his arms over his chest.
  His words were derisive, but a small smile kicked up the corner of his mouth.

Sabrina ignored
Gabe,
and leaned forward to grab
Cole's
face and plant a hot tender kiss on his lips.  He reached up and put his arm around her neck and deepened it then he heard the medic clear his throat and let her go.

"I need to give you a shot for pain...it's going in the IV, but will probably knock you out for a little while," he told Cole, but was looking over at Sabrina
.  He grinned at her then looked back a
t Cole, and put the needle in the tube.
 

That damned kid better not look at her like that again, Cole thought
, as he felt the drug move into his system, and the pain in his leg dull.  Then he forgot all about it as
the synthetic euphoria
seeped into his brain and made him feel goofy.  "Nite, darlin'" he slurred then welcomed the peaceful pain-free sleep that dragged him under.

Panic clutched at Sabrina's throat when Cole went to sleep.  If
he
was awake, she knew he was alive...and he could reassure her he wasn't going to die.  Although, it would take a lot more than that to convince her.  His face was pale as the sheet across his chest, and she saw the pain in his beautiful green eyes...felt
it herself.

Gabe put his hand on her shoulder, "He really is going to be okay, Bri...he's lost some blood, but he'll be okay once they give him a refill at the hospital."

"You thought Kenny was going to be okay too, Gabe..." she said and he jerked his hand back.  She knew she wasn't being fair to her brother, but she was so worried about Cole, it had just popped out.  Fair wasn't something she was feeling right now.

Gabe sat beside her brooding the rest of the way to the hospital, and was the first to jump out when the driver opened the back door.  He stalked into the hospital without giving her another glance.  She'd have to talk to him later, when she was in the right frame of mind, when she knew Cole was really going to survive.  That was her sole focus right now, as she stepped out of the ambulance, and let them unload him, before she took his hand in hers again and walked with them through the Emergency Room doors.

They wheeled Cole into one of the rooms down the long hall, parked the gurney, then lifted him and put him on a narrow bed.  Nurses ran in and started hooking him up with wires and pads and all kinds of stuff that made Sabrina want to wail.
  T
he more they hooked him up and poked and prodded him, the more worried she got.  And he was still
unconscious, and unable to reassure her.
 

This is about Cole, not you, Sabrina reminded herself.  Everything they were doing for or to him was to help.  But she couldn't stand her
e
and watch it any longer.  She turned and ran out of the room and back down the hall to the waiting room she'd seen on the
room where they put him.

Her breaths were coming in short, sharp gasps, and her heart rate must be at least a buck twenty, by the time she got there and sat down.  She leaned her head down between her knees trying to keep from passing out.  Someone tapped her on the shoulder, and Sabrina looked up. 

"Are you okay ma'am?" a kind-eyed nurse asked her and took her wrist in her hand, unfortunately it was her broken arm the woman grabbed.  Sabrina
moaned
and yanked it away, holding it across her chest.  She'd forgotten all about it.
  T
he pain had been masked by worry and a healthy dose of adrenaline...until now.

"Your arm hurt, sugar?"
  Sabrina swallowed down the pain
and
nodded
.  The
nurse
went to her other side and lifted up on her arm to get her to stand.  "Let's go have a look at it
...
and give you something to help you calm down.  The doctor's in with your friend now, I'll be sure to let you know how he's doing."
 
Sabrina huffed a relieved
breath then thanked her, following her down the hall to an examining room.

T
wo
hours later, she was sitting in a different waiting room
, this one
where family waited for word on patients in surgery
. 
They'd taken Cole in
to surgery
to repair his leg.  The nurse had told her that he was doing fine, and that they'd given him two pints of blood, and
that he'd been
awake before they'd taken him to surgery
. 

S
o far,
they hadn't come in here
to tell her anything
else,
since they'd taken him in
. 
She looked down the row of chairs and saw Gabe sitting down there, unsmiling with his arms folded over his chest.

Sabrina knew she'd
hurt him, and she felt damned guilty.
  She
hadn't meant to throw Kenny's death up in his face...again.  They'd just gotten past that, she thought, and now she'd reopened the wound.
 
Shoving
up from the seat with her good arm,
since
the other
one
was now in a cast
with a
sling,
she
walked down to sit beside him.  Gabe's jaw clenched, but he didn't even look at her.

She grabbed his hand and unclenched his fist then laced her fingers with his. He pulled against her hold, but she held tighter.  "I love you, Gabe...and I'm sorry for the comment I made in the ambulance.  I didn't mean it."

"Sure you did, Sis...there's no reason to be sorry for the truth.
..or your feelings," she heard the pain behind his words and flinched.

She said a little more forcefully, "It's not the truth, and I didn't mean it.  I don't blame you for Kenny's death anymore.  What happened to him, was his fault."