Chapter 13

13

Gene just kept walking. She was awake most of the time, but so damned listless, he was terrified. He knew they hadn’t left the area around the ranch. That left him several possibilities. They were near the northern part of the county. If he just kept going north, they’d hit one of the main roads—and help.

If someone drove by soon enough, anyway.

He was just glad she was a smaller woman. She barely weighed one hundred and twenty pounds. But his arms ached anyway. He was bruised and hurting and tired and so damned scared for her, he didn’t know what to do.

So he just kept going. She stirred, almost bucked out of his hold. He stopped walking, just long enough to steady her.

“Put your arms back around my neck, Chantal. Do it, baby.” She obeyed, but she was so sluggish it terrified him. He tightened his hold on her. “I’ve got you, honey. I promise, I’ll never let you go. I promise. Close your eyes, rest if you need to. I’ll get you home. I promise.”

“Gene? I can’t seem to open my eyes right now... I’m just so tired. I’ve never been this tired before...”

Terror threatened to choke him at the whispered words. “You just keep them closed, baby. I’ll get us back to Genesis?—”

“She’s not Genesis. She’s Genny . She doesn’t like Genesis. Not since Mandy... bullied her so badly... when we were kids. She calls herself Genny, but you guys just won’t listen...”

“I’ll do better. As soon as we get back to her. I’ll get you back to Genny . I promise.”

She didn’t answer.

Gene just kept walking.

He kept going until he saw the highway in the distance.

Chantal never said another word.

When he saw the red half-ton truck coming right toward them, Gene almost cried.

When a man and woman he recognized jumped out and ran toward them, Gene fell to his knees.

He kept his hold on the woman in his arms, though. He’d promised her he wasn’t going to ever let her go. He’d keep that promise if it was the last thing he ever did.

“Hiller, hand her over. We’ll get you to the hospital. Come on, hand her over. I have your back, man. We’ll get her help right now. Let Lacy have a look at her.”

Gene didn’t want to let her go. But Travis Deane’s wife was right there.

A doctor.

She was a doctor at the biggest hospital in Finley Creek.

A doctor. Thank God.

“She’s diabetic. Those bastards took her insulin pump, Deane. I didn’t even know she was diabetic. It had to be at least four hours ago. She hasn’t had any insulin in hours. We just kept walking.”

“I know what to do now. We’re going to get her to the hospital, okay,” Lacy said, as her husband lifted Chantal into the rear of his truck, next to his baby girl’s car seat. The little girl, who looked so much like her mama, was sound asleep.

“In the front, man. We’ll just let Lacy sit in the back with your girl. We’ll get you there. I’m going to call the hospital. Have that pain-in-the-ass Alvaro ready. Okay?”

Gene just nodded, as the other man helped him into the truck. His arms felt weaker than they ever had in his life. “Two guys. Had a beef with her brother. Charlie. I heard her scream. I heard her scream. I saw them take her, and I followed. I got her back. I got her back.”

“Yes, you got her back. Let’s take care of her now.”

He had never been as terrified in his life as he was right now—except when he’d had his baby sister unconscious in front of him so many years ago.

He’d felt just as helpless then.

Chantal never opened her eyes.