Page 67 of Edge of Steele
Boom!
The ground shook, and the office erupted in front of them.
Finn didn’t think. He grabbed Ryleigh and took her to the ground, covering her with his body.
A concussive force hit him hard and thundered over his back. Building shards shot through the air, skimming over his shirt. Sharp, needle-like pain stung the back of his neck. The building rumbled. Groaned. Metal twisted with wails of pain.
He hazarded a look down the hill. The building’s upper floor wobbled and collapsed. A billow of debris-laden dust swirled up the driveway.
He turned his head to let the cloud pass over them.
“You okay?” he whispered.
“Other than being crushed by you, yeah.” Her terrified tone cut him to the core.
“Sorry.” He lifted on his elbows but remained in place to stop any additional flying shrapnel from harming her.
“No worries,” she said. “You got me to the ground faster than I would have done on my own.”
His gut hadn’t failed him. He let out a long breath of relief and looked up the hill. “The deputy’s down.”
“You okay, Deputy?” he called out.
No response or movement.
Concern rising, Finn lifted higher. “I’ve got a first aid kit in my truck.”:
“I’ll call 911 and Russ while you get it.”
Finn rolled free and came to his feet, breathing as shallowly as possible to keep from sucking in dust particles.
He charged up the hill and grabbed his kit from the back of his truck. He saw Ryleigh on the phone, then they both ran toward the deputy. Finn was trained in combat emergency treatment, and he’d had to administer his share of emergency aid to fellow SEALs, so he was confident in his skills, but the deputy wasn’t moving and that was never a good sign.
Ryleigh beat him to the injured man, tossed her phone to the ground, and felt his neck for a pulse. The deputy stirred and rolled to his side.
“Don’t move.” Ryleigh placed a hand on his shoulder. “You have a large piece of shrapnel in your back, and you’ve lost a lot of blood.”
“What happened?”
Finn glanced down the driveway to see if the building had caught fire, but he didn’t see any flames. “A bomb took out the office.”
“How’s that even possible?” He brushed off Ryleigh’s hand and tried to sit up but failed and fell back to his side. “We’ve had eyes on this place twenty-four/seven.”
“We’ll figure that out,” Ryleigh said. “But for now, rest and don’t move or you might make your injury worse.”
“This is my watch. I can’t just lay here. You both okay?”
“We’re fine,” Ryleigh said.
“I doubt anyone could be in the building, but if someone got in to set a bomb without us seeing it, a person could’ve gotten in the same way.”
“Let us worry about that,” Finn said. “I’ll help stop your blood loss, then assess the damage.”
“Plus, I’ve already called 911 and Sheriff Maddox,” Ryleigh said. “And I know he would want you to listen to us.”
The deputy sagged against the gravel. “Fine, but hurry up and get down there.”
“Will do,” Finn said, but the bleeding had to be stopped or Finn wasn’t going anywhere. He had special blood clotting gauze in his kit, and he applied it to the wound, his fingers immediately coated in sticky blood.
