No Mercy Part 44

"Unconscious. The sooner we get her to Regional Hospital, the better. She isn't in immediate danger so they aren't sending the helicopter, especially in this weather."

"What'll happen once she gets there?"

"They'll probably determine whether the break on her wrist requires surgery and reset her nose. We'll have to wait and see on the prognosis for the baby."

I'd forgotten about that. "So can we go right now?"

"Whoa. You aren't going anywhere." When he placed his hand on my biceps, my arm stung like he'd smacked me with a crowbar and it was difficult not to shriek with pain. "I'll have to call for another ambulance for you."

"What? Why can't I ride with her?"

"Can't have two injuries in the same cab. Against county policy."

Another reminder of why I hated bureaucracy. "I am not going to sit here and wait for a f.u.c.king joyride while Hope is in surgery, Rome."

"Calm down."

"I am calm."

"If there was any way around this-"

"There is. Fix me first."

His startled gaze met mine. "Are you serious?"

A large figure was slogging across the field. Dawson. Through gritted teeth I said, "Yes. You've done this before, right?"

"Yes."

"Then do it."

"Dammit, Mercy, it doesn't work like that. We need an ortho to reset it-"

"No. You do it. Now." I shuffled closer. "I am going to the hospital with Hope in that ambulance. I don't care if I have to ride into Rapid City on the d.a.m.n roof one-handed."

"You're in shock."

"Quit being a chickens.h.i.+t. You aren't going to make it worse."

"Mercy, I don't think-"

"Don't f.u.c.king think," I hissed. "Just do it."

Resigned, Rome sighed and pointed to Jake's hand. "Give her your glove so she's got something to bite down on."

Jake whisked off a thick glove and rolled it up lengthwise. "Open," he said, and I unclenched my jaw. He worked it in my mouth across my tongue, stretching it until my teeth were covered in leather. "You sure about this, Mercy?"

I nodded.

"What do you need me to do?" Jake asked Rome.

"Brace yourself and hold on to her. No matter how tough she thinks she is, this is gonna hurt like a son of a b.i.t.c.h."

No lie. I bore down, focusing on the rough texture of the glove against my tongue. The tangy taste of the sweat-stained leather and dirt burst in my mouth.

"Easy." Rome placed his hand on my collarbone and I almost launched into orbit from the agony of that simple contact.

Jake became an immovable wall on my right side; my shoulder was jammed into the center of his chest. His left hand gripped my left hip. He wrapped my fingers around his right wrist and whispered, "Squeeze."

I should've fallen back on my yoga training and deep uji breathing. Instead, I held my breath and my body rigid. Despite my claims, Rome couldn't just pop it into place; he'd have to maneuver the bones back into proper position.

When Rome jiggled my arm back and forth, I squinched my eyes shut and swallowed the nausea. My breath stuttered in a m.u.f.fled scream. s.h.i.+t. That hurt.

"Easy. Almost got it."

Liquid streamed down my face, couldn't tell if it was tears or rain. I increased my grip on Jake's wrist.

After a harsh jerk, something popped. It grated, bone grinding on bone, making my knees buckle from sheer blinding pain. The glove in my mouth couldn't stifle my agonized howl. Saliva dribbled out the corners of my lips. Jake hauled me upright and held me steady while Rome finished the torture.

Rome twisted until everything snapped into place. I grunted, and the soggy glove dropped from my mouth. The burning sensation morphed into a constant throb. Rome gently lowered my arm as I buried my face into Jake's neck, sagging against him.

I couldn't catch my breath. I shook like a wet dog. I should've been mortified that I looked weak, but I hurt too bad to care.

Dawson said, "She okay? What happened?"

Rome said, "Dislocated her shoulder."

"s.h.i.+t." Then, "Why isn't she getting treatment down by the ambulance?"

"Because I just reset it for her."

"Christ! Are you kidding me?"

Jake was stroking my hair and murmuring softly in Lakota.

"You aren't supposed to-"

"I know," Rome snapped. "She insisted."

"What in the h.e.l.l were you thinking, Mercy?" Dawson said.

I stepped back and gazed at Jake, mouthing thank you. "I'm thinking it's time to get Hope to the hospital." I didn't look at Dawson until he blocked me in.

"Not so fast. You have to answer some questions first."

"Later."

"Now."

I blinked the moisture from my eyes. "Then you'll have to cuff me, Sheriff, nothing besides metal bracelets will keep me here. Nothing." I lowered my voice. "But we both know I can take you in a ground fight, so don't even try to stop me."

"Don't push me, Gunderson."

"Don't think I won't shoot through you, just like I shot through Theo, to get to my sister, Dawson."

Hard cop stare. "You admitting you shot him?"

My hard stare right back didn't waver. "Yep."

Rome and Jake crowded in around me. "Mercy isn't going anywhere besides the hospital," Rome said.

"Back off," Dawson warned. "That's a county ambulance you're driving. Last I knew, you worked for me."

"Last I knew, it was an elected position," Rome retorted. "And if you want to keep the job as sheriff come election time, you'll let her go right now."

"You threatening me?"

"Just stating the facts. After what she's been through in the last month, not to mention what she went through today, she doesn't need this right now."

Dawson's gaze moved between the three of us. I gave him credit; his eyes didn't linger on me. No one would suspect he'd rolled out of my bed yesterday morning.

"Fine. Answer this, Miz Gunderson: am I gonna run across any other bodies up here?"

"No."

He pressed his nose to mine. "The second you're cleared from the hospital, the second, I expect you in my office."

"Rome," the short guy shouted from beside Hope's stretcher. "She's ready. Let's go."

Jake wrapped his jacket around me and said, "I'll stick around, see if Dawson needs anything else. Once this is done, I'll call Sophie and we'll head to the hospital."

I nodded.

Jake and Rome kept me sequestered from Dawson as I climbed into the back of the ambulance and endured the h.e.l.lish back-roads ride into Rapid City.

Rome must've done a good job setting my shoulder. The emergency room doc injected a muscle relaxant, slid my arm into a sling, and told me to have the VA follow up.

Hope's wrist didn't require surgery. The on-call ortho gave her a local anesthetic, reset it and her finger. The ear, nose, and throat doc was called in, and she reset Hope's nose. Near as anyone could tell the pregnancy hadn't been compromised.

Hope hadn't regained consciousness. The staff a.s.sured me she was fine, just under a self-imposed hypnotic sleep. I remembered the catatonic state Hope had lingered in for days after she'd shot Jenny Newsome, and I wasn't surprised that's how her body and mind dealt with trauma.

How did I deal with trauma? I paced.

Jake and Sophie showed up. Sophie clucked around me like a grandmother peahen. I let her. She volunteered to stay with Hope while Jake drove me to the sheriff's office. The sooner I got it over with, the sooner I could get back to the hospital. And tell my sister I'd killed her lover. Yeah. I could hardly wait for that conversation.

On the ride back home I didn't want to talk. Jake didn't seem to care. "Did Theo tell you he killed Levi?"

I directed my attention out the window. Not that I could see anything beyond the wall of grayish-blue clouds and ribbons of silver drizzle trickling down the gla.s.s.

"Mercy?"

"He said he didn't kill him."

"And you believe him?"

"I don't know. He admitted that he killed Sue Anne and that he'd set the fires, so I think he would've bragged if he'd killed Levi." Theo's words: I wanted to make it look like the same person killed Sue Anne and Levi taunted me. Theo hadn't known how Levi had died. Hope had kept her promise.

"If he didn't do it, then who did?"

"I don't know. It doesn't make sense." I told him everything Hiram and Theo had told me.

Jake's jaw was so tight I expected it'd crack. "Do you think Kit might've done it?"

"Again, I don't know."

"What a piece of s.h.i.+t," he said.

I didn't know if he was talking about Theo or Kit since the description fit both of them. "Did you know about Hope and Theo?"

"No." He sighed, rubbing the side of his mouth with the back of his hand. "Well, that ain't true. I knew she was seeing somebody, but I wasn't sure who."

"Dad didn't know?"

Jake shook his head. "As far as Wyatt knew..."

"What?"

"It ain't my place to say."

"Then whose is it?" I faced him. "Spit it out, Jake."

He switched lanes to pa.s.s a rusted-out VW love wagon with Oregon plates. "First, I wanna know if you've hidden a gun in that sling."

"The sheriff has my gun, remember?"

Jake shot me a sardonic look. "We both know you have more than one gun."

"I'm unarmed for a change. Come on. Tell me."

"A few weeks before Theo came into the picture, Hope and I had... gotten together again."

I braced myself for my burst of anger. None came. Huh. Maybe the pain meds had mellowed me. Then his real meaning hit me. "The baby is yours?"

"Maybe. Hope had been feeling awful poorly, just like before with Levi. But I chalked it up to her being heartsick because of Wyatt dying. Then when unci told me Hope was pregnant..."

I hated that he never seemed to finish a sentence. "And?"

"And before I could talk to her about whether it was mine, Levi was killed. She had plenty of other things on her mind." He paused to gather his thoughts. "Wyatt knew I stuck around all these years because of Levi. He never understood why Hope wanted to keep it a secret, 'specially after Mario Arpel died, but he accepted her decision. Now I feel like it's happening all over again."