Page 68 of Edge of Steele
“Hold these in place,” he instructed Ryleigh.
She didn’t flinch but took over the job and didn’t back down even when the deputy moaned in pain.
“What’s your name?” Finn asked to distract the guy.
“Eddie.”
“Well, Eddie, this is going to hurt a bit but hang with me.” Finn grabbed rolls of gauze and secured the projectile to Eddie’s back so it didn’t continue to move, pushing Ryleigh’s hands out of the way when he no longer needed her to hold the quick-clotting gauze.
Finished, he sat back to assess. The gauze didn’t darken with blood.Good.At the very least Finn had slowed it down.
He stood. “That should hold until the medics get here. I’m going down there to see if others are trapped or injured. Call out if the bleeding starts again.”
Ryleigh peered up at him, her gaze unreadable. Did she want to go with him? Want him to stay here while she investigated? He shouldn’t just assume it was up to him to go to the building, but he had more experience with this kind of debris and destruction.
She swallowed. “Be careful.”
He nodded and took off, picking his way down the driveway cluttered with shards of concrete and wood from the building. At the bottom, he had a good view of the explosives’ depot. The little building stood strong amidst the debris. If it had exploded, none of them would’ve likely survived.
Thank You for that!
But Finn wasn’t foolish enough to approach the depot. Not when another device could be set. The good news was that the camera was still intact too, meaning they might have video stored in the cloud. And if they could safely get into the building, they might be able to recover footage that captured the bomber stealing explosives.
Finn took a good look at the main structure. The back wall still stood but the second story had collapsed as he’d watched. Twisted metal rebar stood as jagged spears along the perimeter. The concrete smothered the first floor and anyone who potentially had been in the building. Dust and pollutants still lingered in the air, but so far fire hadn’t broken out.
A small blessing. Maybe a big one if the surrounding area didn’t catch fire.
“Anyone in there?” Finn yelled. “Call out so we can help.”
He leaned closer and listened, bringing back all kinds of unpleasant memories from his deployments. He didn’t have PTSD as a lot of guys suffered from, but he still didn’t like to recall missions that ended in similar situations. Especially where innocent lives were lost. Most horrifically, children’s lives.
He waited. Waited some more. Bending forward. Craning his neck.
No response.
Please, if there’s someone inside, let me hear them.
He called out again and listened.
Nothing.
If someone was trapped in the rubble, they didn’t seem to be alive or at least they weren’t conscious.
A siren sounded at the road. Either Russ or an ambulance or both.
Finn turned to climb the hill, careful not to trip over debris. Swift movement in the distance caught his attention. He spun, drawing his sidearm, ready to charge after whoever was out there.
A large buck sprang away in the thicket surrounding the property. The majestic animal moved fast and disappeared from view. The poor fella was likely scared to death.
Finn let out his breath and climbed the incline, but adrenaline continued to course through him. Russ’s patrol car pulled to a stop behind Finn’s truck, and an ambulance screeched to a halt beside it.
Russ rushed over to his deputy, dropped to his knees, and placed a hand on his officer’s shoulder. “How you doing, Eddie?”
“Don’t worry about me.” Eddie offered a wavering smile. “Just a scratch, and I’ll be fine.”
Russ looked at his deputy’s back, his face pale. He seemed to battle a wave of emotions by gazing into the distance. The sheriff’s hand shook. So the strong lawman was a softie after all. At least when it came to one of his deputies getting injured.
“Ambulance is here,” Finn said, trying to bring hope to the situation.
