Page 82 of Countdown
Raina planted hands on her hips. “He is.”
The two paramedics sighed.
“You really think you’re going to convince me?” He asked the question in a low voice.
“I—”
“Think about it while you pull that thing out and stitch me up.”
Now both paramedics sputtered protests, but Raina knew when to concede. “Fine. I can stitch it. Do you have a kit?” David blinked at her and she shot him a tight smile. “I’m an AEMT. I can suture.” Advanced EMTs had more training than the average EMT, and with those few words, Raina finally got her wish to take over. “I can’t believe I’m letting you win.”
“It’s not a win/lose situation, Raina. It’s an I’m-your-friend-and-I-care-about-you-so-what-kind-of-person-would-I-be-if-I-just-waved-you-off-on-this-little-adventure kind of situation.”
“I get it.” She heard the emphasis on the wordfriendand ignored it. For now. “Are you going to pass out?”
“Not if I don’t look and you don’t tell me what you’re doing.”
He sounded a little weak, so Raina got busy.
Once the piece of shrapnel—at least that’s what it looked like—was removed from the wound, she numbed the area, cleaned it, then started stitching, wishing she could sew up the gaping hole in her heart just as easily.
“And besides, you asked Penny for help,” he said.
“I asked Penny for a ride.” She looked up for a brief second, but he had his head turned and eyes closed. His pale face said he was probably on the verge of passing out. She glanced at the other paramedic. “Cold cloths on his face and smelling salts.”
Vince huffed a weak laugh. “Smelling salts? What year are we in? The 1800s?”
“Zip it, Covelli.” But she knew what he was doing. Distracting himself from whatshewas doing. She could help with that. “And to circle back to the whole ‘asking Penny for help’ thing, I asked her for transportation. That’s it. She’s not going to be dodging bullets, forced to swim in a freezing lake, and barely missing out on being roasted alive or smoked to death.”
He groaned. “Just keep sewing.”
“So stubborn,” she muttered. When he gave a weak groan, she barely refrained from rolling her eyes, but within a few minutes, she had the wound closed and bandaged. The sight turned her stomach. Not because of the wound itself, but because it was on Vince’s flesh. “I have no idea what that metal was that caused that gash, but glad it was your leg and not your head,” she said. Just the thought nearly did her in.
“God was looking out for me.” He turned his head and winked at her.
“Yes,” she said, his words penetrating her heart. “I guess he was. Looking out for both of us.”
“Glad you’re starting to see things my way—which of course is the right way.”
“Ha-ha.”
He sat up and swallowed. “Whoa.”
“Feel sick?”
“Yeah, just like last time. It’ll pass.”
David raised a brow. “Want some nausea meds? I’m qualified to give those out.” His partner snickered. Vince held out his hand for the little white pill.
Raina ignored them. She knew they didn’t mean anything by the teasing but wasn’t in the mood.
Vince stood and she grabbed his arm. “Can you walk?”
“I think so.”
He made it out of the ambulance without falling and shelooked up at him. “You do realize I can outrun you at this point.”
“And I’m the one with the badge that you might find beneficial. Just think. If you happen to run into Kevin, I can make the arrest—and you will have the satisfaction of watching me do it. Just sayin’.”