Page 75 of Acting on Instinct
Ty
Rory sat on the curb like a good boy, but Ty could see from the way he shifted around on his haunches that his body ached.
Yes, it was always a great day when he got to bite the bad guy and make them holler, but Rory had two days of biting, and it was a full-body sport. His pain relievers weren’t up to the task, and Rory couldn’t have any more for a few more hours yet.
Ty would crank the heat once he got in the cab.
The back door had beeped its warning and then opened automatically.
“Rory, load, find a seat.” Rory lifted slowly from the sidewalk and moved to Ty’s side, where he gave the interior a sniff before he jumped in and made his way forward.
Ty focused tightly on the task at hand. Innocent people going on about their business didn’t look around to see if anyone had spotted them. Rookie mistake. What if Ty did lock eyes with someone? What could he do about it? In this circumstance, nada. Better to keep his head down.
Stepping forward, Ty squatted as his free hand came up onto Phossy Jaw’s back, and he sat the guy’s ass on the floor. Reaching around to grab the padding, Ty lowered Phossy’s torso gently so his head didn’t slam into the metal surface. Phossy’s face was already messed the hell up, no need to bash in the back to match the front. With a push and a repositioning of his hands and another shove, Ty climbed in and shut the back doors behind him.
Protected by the windowless cargo area, Ty flipped on the interior lights and worked in the confined space to unroll Phossy. T-Rex should fold his guy into the rug with a single flap over the guy’s body. There wasn’t going to be enough space to do this with more than one tango.
He pressed his comms with his left hand while his right knuckles scraped up and down Phossy’s sternum to create enough pain to make good and damned sure that he was out. In his ear, Ty got static and remembered he’d set up the jammer.
No response on the radio.
No response from Phossy to the pain stimulus.
Ty laid his hand on the man’s chest to feel for the expansion of the guy’s lungs.
Phossy was out all right.
Out.
Like the Grim Reaper had visited out.
Ty couldn’t find the guy’s pulse.
“Shit,” Ty spat as he dragged his backpack off and dug out the medical equipment he’d brought. He looked over the air bag and the face mask; Phossy didn’t have the bone structure to allow the mask to seal properly.
Ty cast it aside. This was going to be a hands-on endeavor.
At least he’d zipped the guy’s hands together so his back was on a flat surface.
With a sigh and a shake of the head, Ty worked through the issues, knowing that he had no idea how long the guy had been without oxygen. He weighed that with the story White had told about Nomad punching the guy in the jaw and the bone splintering into pieces of gravel. If this man’s bones were compromised and Ty started CPR, Phossy’s ribs could turn to dust. He’d die. Just like that, dead.
If Ty did nothing, same.
Ty decided to try a one-and-done that he’d seen work in a space that didn’t allow for compressions.
“This is the definition of do-or-die,” Ty said as he raised the flat of his hand as high as he could in the confines of the van, then brought it down, distributing the shock of his strike along the man’s sternum hard enough that Phossy’s body convulsed.
Ty licked his fingers and painted the wetness over his cheek, and then held his head over Phossy’s nose.
A chill painted Ty’s flesh as Phossy exhaled.
Ty put his fingers to the man’s carotid, and this time he found a steady beat.
“Don’t die on me, Phossy,” Ty said, moving to the front seat and cutting the jammer. He pressed his sternal mic and called in his situation report to White. “I’m going to be honest here: I can’t babysit Phossy’s airway and drive at the same time. Please advise.”
“Copy Echo Two. Head right to Echo One’s location. I’ll have him waiting on the sidewalk. Phossy’s going to have to breathe on autopilot for five minutes, over.”
“Wilco.” Ty started the van and pulled out into the night street. At the stop sign, he looked left, then right, then reached out and scritched Rory’s ears. “Best partner in the whole world. You did everything on point. I’m going to tell Kira what a good boy you were, and I’ll bet she’s going to make you some of those peanut butter treats you like.”
