Page 74 of Red on the River

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“Yes, just go. You called ahead for ambulances?”

There was no place to stabilize the wounded. Vienna could see splashes of bright red. One was Burt’s kayak, the other Elsa’s. She pulled her kayak close to Elsa’s. The older woman was slumped over, unconscious. Verma cried piteously and called out to her.

“Keep paddling, Zahra,” Vienna instructed. She reached for the first aid kit. It would be difficult to try to assess and treat Elsa on the water in a moving kayak, but she didn’t want her to bleed out if that was a possibility. “Stay at the exact pace with Elsa’s kayak.” That wouldn’t be easy either, not with the wind and current.

She waited until Zahra had lined up their kayak, bringing Vienna opposite Elsa. Vienna leaned carefully over until she could gently move Elsa back to examine her. One bullet had skimmed her forehead. That had taken a chunk of skin. The bleeding was severe, but head wounds often were. The one that looked gruesome was the one up high in her shoulder, close to her neck. That had to have shattered her shoulder. Hopefully, it hadn’t severed an artery. If that had happened, there was nothing Vienna could do.

She searched for the entry and exit wound. Once she found both she was fairly certain the artery had been missed by a hairsbreadth. Her kayak bumped the other one and bounced off, jerking her and throwing the unconscious older woman sideways in her seat.

“I’m sorry, Vienna, I’m trying,” Zahra said.

“You’re doing great. Clay’s towing Elsa’s kayak and he’s having trouble as well,” Vienna soothed her. “Verma, honey, please stop crying so loud.” She didn’t want to say the woman was getting on her nerves, but she was. If it was bothering her, she couldn’t imagine what the noise was doing to Zahra, who wasn’t used to kayaking and had to be afraid. “I need you to try to help steady the kayak. Clay’s strong, but he’s fighting the wind, paddling for his kayak and yours. Zahra has never really done this before. You’re far more experienced than she is. Can you help out so I can take care of Elsa?”

Verma hiccuped and nodded her head wildly. She dipped her paddle in the water and steadied the kayak, her gaze fixed on Clay, suddenly matching the way he pushed the paddle through the water. Zahra lined up Vienna with Elsa and guided their kayak alongside.

Vienna had used the time to make up several sterilized gauze pads so she could pack the wound front and back to try to stem the bleeding. Thankful Elsa was unconscious, she did her best to stabilize the shoulder so if she did wake while they were still on the water, the bones might not grind together so horribly.

“That’s the best I can do for her, Verma. I’m going to try to go to the other kayak and see how bad those boys were wounded. You want her to remain unconscious. This wound is serious and would hurt like hell if she woke. Paddle and help Clay as much as possible. We’re not that far out now and they’ll have ambulances waiting.”

Vienna signaled to Zahra and they pulled away from Elsa’s kayak and stalled to wait for Harlow and Stella, who were towing Burt and Blane.

“How bad is she?” Zahra asked.

“I don’t know,” Vienna answered honestly. “Who would shoot at a bunch of innocent kayakers?” She tried to push away the nagging thought that she’d switched hats with Elsa and it was entirely possible that someone had shot the older woman thinking she was Vienna. That didn’t explain the two brothers being shot, but she still couldn’t push the thought away entirely.

Both brothers had been wounded. Neither could paddle, leaving Harlow and Stella to do the work of towing them against the wind. Fortunately, they were closing in on the marina. It looked to Vienna as if the two boys had been clipped and little damage had been done. She frowned as she assessed the damage. How had they escaped with minor injuries from what was obviously a high-powered rifle? Probably a sniper rifle of some sort. Yet Elsa had nearly been killed. Most likely she would have been killed, but the kayak was on rough water and had fortunately lurched, saving her life—at least Vienna guessed that was what happened.

Had the brothers been wounded just so it appeared as if Elsa was a random target, not the central one? And why hadn’t anyone heard the shots? They were on open water. The shots from a rifle should have been loud. Even suppressors were somewhat loud. The back of her neck tingled.

“Zahra, you don’t have that feeling, do you? The one that told you I was in trouble?”

Zahra gave her a look over her shoulder as they swept into the Willow Beach Marina and what looked like a military operation. There were men with guns on the beach. There was a helicopter in the distance. Ambulances. Clay looked haggard as he dragged Elsa’s kayak onto the shore with Verma’s help.

Vienna and Zahra raced to help him, but instantly they were surrounded by grim-faced men with guns.

“Vienna Mortenson?” one man said. “Zahra Metcalf? You both need to come with me now.”

“I need to see to my patient.” Vienna indicated Elsa.

Two EMTs had raced down to the kayak. Shabina and Raine pulled their kayak onto the shore and immediately they were surrounded by the armed men as well, almost before they could take a step. The moment Harlow and Stella had gotten the two brothers in close, the men with guns waded into the water to help pull the kayak onto the beach.

Stella protested the order to go with the men. “I have to take the shuttle to my 4Runner.”

“No, ma’am. You have to come with us now.”

Vienna continued to protest as well until a hard hand gripped her arm. She looked up to see Zale. He’d never looked so dangerous or grim-faced in his life. He appeared—terrifying.

“Get in the helicopter now, Vienna. All of you.”

It was a clear order. Stella looked from him to the others and she marched to the helicopter, leading the way.


Tags: Christine Feehan Romance