“Don’t worry about that, Brynne. You’re doing the best you can,” I assure her. “I’ll come with you to check everyone out.”
I notice she’s shivering, so I pull her into my arms. Her clothes are still damp from earlier. Mine are too, for that matter. I kiss the top of her head as I hold her close to me.
“This whole thing is crazy, isn’t it?” Her voice is soft and wistful in the dark stillness of the lingering night.
“I can’t even believe it’s happening,” I agree with a laugh. “Hopefully we’ll have cell service in another hour or two. The wind has died down a lot. There’s not much we can do until it’s light.”
She nods in agreement. “As soon as we can see, we’re going to go get some of those canoes and paddle to shore, that’s what.”
“Yep, we’re all going to be just fine. You know that, right? It’s going to be light in a few hours, and we’re going to get out of here.” I squeeze her body against mine for extra reassurance.
“Of course I know that.” I can’t see her face, but I know she’s smiling. “We got this.”
I’m still embracing her, my flashlight beam projecting into space behind her neck. Even in the dark, it doesn’t take me long to find my lips on hers. It’s hard for me to imagine what will happen past this moment. I don’t know how we will make it off this island. I don’t know how we’ll get the other fifty people to safety. I don’t know how things will be between Brynne and me once we’re back on dry land. But somehow I know it’s all going to come together. It’s all going to work out. So I don’t worry about any of that right now…instead, I just revel in the feel of her soft lips against mine.
Exhaustion does funny things to people. I seem to be oscillating between hyperawareness and some sort of fuzzy, dreamy state where Trooper Asshat and I are running off into the sunset, chasing our happily ever after. I’m pretty sure the latter is total fantasy, and not even a fantasy I should want. Maybe it’s just a much-needed distraction. After all, my stomach is still wrenched in knots about my niece and wondering if she’s okay. Not to mention my concern for my other patients here at camp.
The first thing I do when I reach the cabin is check my phone that I left in Ben’s office. It only charged to 54% before the power went off. It’s three AM, and there’s still no service. Damn it.
Chris waits by the door as I tiptoe to Mrs. Wilson’s bedside. I lift her thin, delicate wrist to check her pulse, and it seems normal. I hate not having a stethoscope, but I crouch beside the bed, leaning toward her to check her respirations for any signs of labored breathing or fluid in her lungs. Then I gently lift the blankets to check for swelling in her leg and hip area. Everything seems normal, and she doesn’t even budge during my exam. Maybe there is a God after all!
Sonnet’s parents are still on the sofa, still asleep, and they don’t even stir when we shut the cabin door behind us. We venture back to the porch and meet up with the guys, who are returning from checking out the other side of the island.
“Well?”
Jack is shaking his head. Meric looks at his feet. This does not bode well.
“Water is halfway up the doors to the building,” Drew finally announces.
“What?!” I shake my head in disbelief. I don’t even realize that Chris has reached down to grab my hand until he’s squeezing it so hard, I think my fingers might go numb.
We can’t get to the canoes if the barn is underwater. There’s no freaking way.
No one wants to ask the inevitable question: what happens if the water keeps rising? What if it reaches the cabin? The restrooms? The main building? We’ve been warm and dry up till now, but the water is closing in, even with the tide going back out to sea. What happens if we don’t get out of here before it comes back in again?
It’s four AM, and Chris, Drew, Sonnet, Jack, Claire, and I are all sitting on the porch together. I believe Meric and Lindy already crashed, and Sam, Karen, and Luke too. I don’t blame them. We should have been sleeping in shifts anyway. Conserving our strength.
“You guys should go to sleep,” I encourage the group. “I can stay up. I have a feeling Mrs. Wilson is going to wake up in raging pain here any minute.”
“We can’t let you stay up alone,” Claire objects. “That wouldn’t be fair!”
“I’m an ER doctor. This is my life,” I remind them with a sigh. My eyes dart across the woods to the east, wondering if the sun will creep up to the horizon in the next couple of hours, or if we’ll be wrapped in thick bands of gray clouds again today.
“She’s right. We should be sleeping in shifts. When dawn breaks, everyone is going to wake up, and it’s going to be mass chaos around here,” Chris theorizes. “It’ll be like herding kittens, just wait and see. We all need to bring our A Game.”
“Are you sure?” Jack yawns, obviously fighting sheer exhaustion.
“How are we on batteries? I think this flashlight is fading,” Drew interjects, shaking it to try to steady the light.
“I think Brynne and Chris are right. I’m going to go close my eyes for a few minutes,” Sonnet decides, standing up. Her voice sounds defeated, but she grabs Drew’s hand and tugs him until he joins her upright. “Come on, honey, hopefully you’ll be driving us to the airport in a few hours. You need some sleep too.”
I watch the four of them file inside the building, leaving Chris, me, and the flickering flashlight alone on the porch. “You can go too,” I tell him. “I got a couple hours earlier, so I should be fine.”
“I’m not leaving you out here alone,” he reassures me, squeezing my hand in his.
I still can’t quite believe this is happening. My mind is spinning so fast, it’s making my stomach swirl too. I imagine jumping on the back of my Harley and driving away from all this madness. Just heading down the highway into oblivion. But that’s not what I signed up for, is it? My whole job is to be there when someone else’s world is falling apart—no matter what’s going on in mine. I’m supposed to be the one who sticks around and puts all the pieces back together.
“I hope my cats are okay in all this rain.” Chris lets out a heavy sigh, then props his elbows up on his knees and looks off toward where the bridge used to be.
“Aw, you have cats?” I wanted a pet so bad growing up, but my parents would never let us have one. And with my job, there’s no way I could really give a pet the time and attention it deserved.
“Well, I had two cats, but one is missing. I guess I should just give up searching for him because it’s been over a month now. He’s not coming back.”
His voice sounds so sad, I want to reach out and hold him and make it better. I guess I just can’t shake that instinct to heal people. It runs deep.
“I’m sorry to hear that. I bet the other one misses his buddy,” I conjecture. “I bet he’ll come back when you least expect it!”
He nods. “Yeah, they were littermates. The one I still have is gray and named Crockett…and the one who ran off is black and named Tubbs.”
“Miami Vice!” I squeal. “I guess I’m not the only one with a penchant for things from the Eighties!”
“I may have only been a baby during that decade, but it’s clear it was the best,” he agrees with me. “I still miss Tubbs, though. Maybe I will get a kitten.”
It’s quiet for a moment as my brain searches for some topic of conversation that isn’t survival-related. I’m not mama to a fur baby, but I did recently become an aunt. “I told you about my niece, right?”
“You told me she’d been sick, and you were worried.” He slides his arm behind me, pulling me closer to his body. I thought by now I’d be used to him touching me, but I’m still feeling the sparks fire between us, even with how tired I am.
“I meant about her being adopted and how much your book meant to my brother and sister-in-law,” I explain. “It really helped Harmony understand what was going on, to adjust to her new family.”
He squeezes my hand again. “Good. I’m really glad to hear that.”
&
nbsp; If I’m not mistaken, there’s a bit of a frog in his throat. He sounds a little choked up. “What’s wrong?”
“That book means a lot to me…personally,” he notes, swallowing down some emotion. “All my books do, of course, but that one especially.”
“Oh…” My voice trails off into the night. “Were you…adopted?”
He lets out a little grunt of a laugh. “I was. When I was nine.”
“Nine? Wow…” I knew Drew, Chris and Sonnet had gone to school together forever…but I would have never guessed that Chris was adopted. “Can I ask what happened?”
“My parents were killed in a car accident when I was six. Drunk driver,” he says matter-of-factly. “I was in foster care for a while…and the third family I was placed with adopted me.”
“I had no idea, Chris, that’s—”
“Why do you think I wanted to be a cop?” he asks. “I make the most DUI arrests of anyone at Troop 7. If I can keep one kid from going through what I went through—”
“And that’s why you write the books, too…”
He nods. “And that’s probably the real reason I don’t want people to know C.J. Evans is me. Because when I talk about how much the books mean to me, and how humbled I am to make a difference in kids’ lives, I get a little—well, you see.” He laughs it off, but I can tell he’s wiping away a tear.
I had traumatic things happen when I was growing up too, things that made me want to become a doctor. So I get it. But not the part about wanting his books to be a secret. I mean, I respect his wishes, but I don’t understand it, exactly.
“It may all be for naught, though, because I got some really exciting news a couple weeks ago that could be a real game-changer for me,” he shares.
I sit up and turn toward him, wishing I could see his face, but the flashlight batteries have finally died. There’s a soft glow of additional lights coming from inside the main building, but it’s to our back, casting him in silhouette. “What do you mean?”
“My books are getting made into an animated series,” he tells me. “Production starts this summer.”
“What?!” I shriek so loudly, I’m afraid they hear me inside. “Are you kidding me? That’s incredible!”
I can’t see his face, but I know he’s glowing with excitement.
“I can’t even believe it, to tell you the truth,” he admits. “Right now my agent has handled everything, and I haven’t actually met with the executives yet, but I will be soon. And I have a feeling my real identity is going to come out with all this. I don’t know how much longer I can hide stuff. And, you know, I’ve been thinking about telling my parents anyway, especially since without them, none of this would even be possible.”
“Don’t tell me you’re still worried about reconciling your writing career with the law enforcement thing?” I question.
He chuckles, a laugh that starts deep in his chest and bubbles up until it cascades out his mouth. “Have you ever been against doing something for so long that you eventually forget why you opposed it in the first place?”
Now I’m laughing too, because he’s just voiced what I’ve been thinking about the last few hours. “Uh, yeah. I think I know exactly what you mean.”
Twenty
I’ve just noticed some silver peeking through the trees toward the beach when Sonnet dashes up the porch, her face as gray as the sky. “It’s my grandmother! Hurry!” is all she manages to blurt out. Brynne and I were curled up on the wooden bench on the far side of the porch, not really dozing, but not fully awake either.
I feel Brynne’s body jerk to attention in my arms, her eyes snapping open as a look of panic to match Sonnet’s twists her beautiful features. She doesn’t say a word, just bounds up into action like she’s spring-loaded. She takes off running after Sonnet toward the cabin, and I have no choice but to follow.
“She needed to go to the restroom,” Sonnet explains, “and I was trying to help her, but then she got really dizzy and blacked out for a moment.”
“She shouldn’t be moved,” Brynne says. “She should have used a bedpan.”
“A bedpan?” Sonnet shakes her head. “How was I supposed to know?”
“Your parents were supposed to be watching her. I gave them instructions.” Brynne lets out a heavy sigh before throwing open the cabin door. “Where are your parents?”
“I don’t know!” Sonnet shouts. “I have no idea!”
“Check your phone, Chris,” she throws over her shoulder at me. “See if we have reception.”
Mrs. Wilson is lying askew in the bed. All the splints are off, and her eyes are closed. Brynne takes her pulse, and her face darkens as she examines the rest of her body. “I think she’s going into shock. She needs an ambulance. Fast.”
“What are we going to do?” Sonnet groans, her eyes welling up with tears.
“No signal,” I confirm, then stuff my phone back in my pocket. “Let’s go see if we can get to the canoes. It’s almost light.”
Brynne doesn’t answer verbally; she whips her head from Sonnet to me and solemnly nods, then we take off. It’s amazing how fast she moves. I can barely keep up with her. My joints are so stiff from sitting on that bench, but clearly I have no excuses if she’s outrunning me. We don’t even have to go ten yards before we see the doors are still covered with water.
“They slide,” she huffs. “We may be able to open them.”
“Do you still have the keys?” We had locked it up again after looking for the generator.
“They’re back in Ben’s office,” she says, smacking her palm against her forehead. “Shit, I didn’t mark them. They’re in that huge pile.”
I begin to run back toward the office, but she stops, her feet submerged in at least six inches of water.
“What?” My chest is heaving at least as fast as hers, if not faster. Overhead, I see a lighter gray mist moving against the brightening sky. In the east, there is a thin sliver of orange heating up the horizon. There may actually be sun today.
“I’m going to swim it,” she says, gritting her teeth. She begins to jog through the water, splashing it up behind her and all over me, naturally.
“What?” I repeat. But she doesn’t answer; she’s already past the cabin. I take off after her.
We pass the main building where the water is slowly creeping into the parking lot. There are a few inches on the gravel. She gets to the point where the water is to her shins and then turns to face me. “You stay here.”
“What? No—I’m coming with you!” I protest.
Drew races around the side of the building. “What are we gonna do?” he shouts on his way toward us.
“I’m swimming to Fenwick,” Brynne tells him resolutely.
“Are you crazy?” he shouts, his eyes bulging with shock.
“No, I’m a swimmer,” she insists. “I got this.”
I squint at her, looking for signs she is bluffing. Who is this chick? She’s freakin’ tough as nails. I imagine for a minute that I’m with my shiftmate Morgan. I have a feeling she’d say, “That old lady’s a bitch. Ain’t no way I’m swimming for her.” But Brynne takes her duty seriously. She is actually willing to put her own life on the line for this crazy old woman.
I swallow down my reservations and turn to Drew. “I’m going with her.” I unbutton my dress shirt and strip it off my body, throwing it to Drew. I don’t even remember what happened to my tie. Then I unbuckle my belt.
“What are you doing?” she questions, gaping at me with wide, nervous eyes.
“I’m not swimming in all these clothes. You need to take yours off too. Those jeans are going to be impossible to swim in.”
Drew is standing there with his mouth open as I throw my pants to him. I quickly strip down to just my tight black boxer briefs, but I’m not ashamed for Brynne to see me like this. I may not be as ripped as some of my colleagues, but you know, I’m not half-bad.
We’re both staring at her expectantly as her skin turns a bright shade of rose. �
��I—I can swim in this just fine.”
“Brynne, I’m not going to look, okay?” Drew assures her. “I’m turning around. See? Come on, Everson.”
“You’ve got a bra and panties on, right?” I don’t understand the hold-up. I thought this was a matter of life and death.
“Just turn around, Everson!” Drew bellows.
“I can do this myself,” she tells us. “Just stay here and take care of everyone. I’ll be back soon. I’ve got this.”
There’s no way I can let her do this alone. I would never forgive myself if something happened to her. I would be completely broken. “I’m going with you. It’s not safe for you to go alone.”
“It’s not safe to go at all, but I don’t really have a choice,” she argues. “Hurricane Victoria is going to die if we don’t get her treatment. And there are at least two diabetics in the main building who need their insulin STAT.”
“Just turn the fuck around, Everson, and let the woman strip!” Drew shouts.
What is my problem? I am supposed to be the one saving lives. I’m supposed to be brave. So why am I finding myself paralyzed with fear as Drew and Chris stand facing away from me? I know they think it’s because I don’t want them to see my boobs or my butt, or whatever, but the truth is: it’s my scar.
And it’s not just that. There’s a very good reason I swim all my laps in the pool. There’s an excellent explanation for why when Sonnet asked me to join her in the triathlon, I had to say no. It’s not because I can’t do the run or bike—well, I’m sure I could after training my ass off like she’s been doing. It’s because I don’t swim in the open water. I don’t swim in any body of water but a pool.
But this is a matter of life and death. I need to suck it up and get the hell over myself. I hear my favorite Five Finger Death Punch song “Back for More” loud and clear in my head as my trembling fingers grip the hem of my Metallica shirt. I strip it over my head in an act of sheer determination, tossing it at Drew. When it hits his shoulder, he instinctively grabs it without turning around. The chilly morning air swirls around me, prickling my skin into a sea of goosebumps, but the number of fucks I give remains zero. I swallow my fear, deftly unfasten my jeans and pull the zipper down with radiating resolve.
Badge Bunny Page 19
