Page 128 of Lau Ahi
My words barely came out as a scream but I knew I couldn’t do shit until I was sure the car wasn’t about to topple over a cliff. We fell, which was one of the most frightening things I’d ever experienced in my life. The uncontrollable way the car was moving was because Ori was out cold and now it was my turn to hold on to the arm he’d used to protect me.
We hit a tree, which caused us both to jerk forward from the force. Everything around us was somehow dark and light at once. The lights of the interstate reflected off the woods but also ruined my depth perception with the way they reflected in the darkness. Having driven this road with Ori before, I knew we were close to a large drop off so we’d either gotten extremely lucky or we were inches away from death. I removed my seatbelt and reached into the glove compartment and retrieved the gun I knew he stored there. Grasping the gun in my hand I glanced down to determine if there was a bullet in the chamber. As if on reflex, the sound caused Ori to stir but the last thing I wanted him to do was to make himself known. Whoever was after us would do what they could to take him out first since he was the most obvious threat. I didn’t give him a chance to respond and instead draped my body over his.
Why I was being so demonstrative was beyond me. I couldn’t lie and say it was shock because every move I made was methodical. I could call it something else but I refused to allow that truth to seep into my reality and throw me off my game. I could face that shit some other time. Right now I had to ensure we survived.
“The other driver ran off,” a voice spoke from outside the car. My eyes darted around the dark attempting to discern their position without giving mine away. It wasn’t like they had too many options of where I could be, despite how large the SUV was. “I tried to get a plate,” the male voice continued, “but I couldn't since they drove off too fast.”
There was clearly more than one person outside and I gripped the handle of the gun even tighter. Whoever this was should’ve thanked their god I had been distracted. Had I heard them they’d have a bullet wound as gratitude for being a Good Samaritan. I was thankful there wasn’t a tremor in my arm as I held it braced against Ori’s shoulder, waiting for someone to come into view.
“Are you guys okay in there? I’ve already called the police. They should be here any second.” Whoever was calling down from the embankment we’d slid down and I tried to see up there from our position but I couldn’t. I was grateful now that we’d come down the hill since it was serving as a natural protection against anyone who wanted to harm us. I could hear sirens in the distance and despite my natural hatred for law enforcement I was thankful someone with sense was coming on the scene.
My eyes darted to Ori and he still seemed to be out cold. I don’t think I would ever forget the way he used his arm to brace my body in the seat, putting him at a shitty angle for when the airbags deployed. No one in my life had done something so heroic for me, besides my dad, and I wouldn’t be able to forgive myself if he wasn’t okay because he’d been so selfless.
“Ori, can you open your eyes for me? Please.” I glanced away from him to check our surroundings as the sound of the sirens grew even louder. His groan of consciousness pulled my eyes back to him and I was getting more worried the longer he kept his eyes closed. His skin was still as rich, his body warm and I couldn’t see any visible trauma, which increased my concern. Itmeant that he’d probably gotten a concussion, which could be tricky.
“Hey, I witnessed what happened. How can we help get them up? Is there someone I can talk to?” The same man’s voice that had been calling down to us was now speaking with someone who had apparently arrived on the scene. I wasn’t sure what made this person want to be such a do-gooder but I was pissed about it. Not because I didn’t want the person to get caught. I knew if the police were actively researching this then it would complicate how Ori and the rest of our resources had to operate. Having to catch whoever did this would be one thing, but having to maneuver around eager investigators trying to get on the good side of the FBI would be another. This city worked on favors and I was sure they felt as though Ori would be beholden to them if they solved this case for him.
No way in hell would he give a shit about their help and I was determined to put the bullet in whoever’s head did this before the police could even come up with a name.
The sirens were now consistently loud and the area around the car was lit so brightly I knew they’d parked as close to the edge of the road as they could. That meant I only had a few seconds to wake him up before they tried to take over the scene. Despite how badly off he might be, I knew if he didn’t see with his own eyes that I was okay, he would be on a rampage. I normally didn’t care for others but I didn’t want an innocent person to get hurt because of him.
“Ori.”
I leaned close so there was only a fraction of an inch between me and his ear. Trying to draw him back to me wasn’t working but I was also too afraid to shout at him and further damage whatever injuries he had. With my free hand, I put it against the side of his neck to check for a pulse. It was strong beneath the pads of my fingers despite how clammy his skin was. Ireached around to the back of his neck trying to check for any misalignments of his spine before the paramedics got down to us. I could hear them shouting up above that they were going to use some type of equipment to lower themselves. I reached between us attempting to release him from the seatbelt that had saved his life but couldn’t get the mechanism to work. I looked around the battered vehicle for something to cut him out of the belt so that when the time came the paramedics wouldn’t have as hard a time. He was almost two meters tall and weighed almost 20 stone of solid muscle. They were going to have hell trying to get him back up the embankment as it was. I looked through the items in the center console trying to keep my hands going as the noise outside got louder. I couldn’t panic. Well, I was panicking but I couldn’t give into it. Couldn’t allow my brain to succumb to the fear that was tinging the edges of my reality, threatening to take over. I couldn’t fail him. I refused to be another person he’d let into his circle only to let him down.
My hands hit on something vaguely familiar and in the dim of the interior that was becoming more illuminated because of the rescue efforts, I saw it was a seatbelt cutter.
“Bloody Boy Scout, indeed.” I had to smile as I started to hack at his seatbelt. My coordination was off because I cut my fingers, despite the way the blade was protected. I refused to let it stop me and I got the material sliced and protected his face as it retracted away from the buckle.
Ori’s body was still slumped over; the only part of him moving with certainty was the rise and fall of his chest. That was more than enough for me and I reached over, trying to get his door open. A pair of legs slid down the muddy embankment and I saw another follow behind it as two men in uniform quickly came into view.
“Ma'am are you okay?” The man who was closest had some type of light on his body that was shining directly into the car. Itwas blinding me from seeing his features and I held my hand up to protect my eyes.
"I'm fine, but he's not. Do you have something to open this door? I’ve tried but it seems to be stuck.”
Another paramedic slid down the embankment with some type of metal tool in their hands.
“Miss, I need you to brace his neck while we try to work on getting you out okay? The fuel system seems to be intact so you don’t have that to worry about. If anything changes we will let you know but don’t worry about getting out. We’re not going to let anything happen to either of you.”
I hated that the patronizing tone he was using was comforting to me. It had to be the shock setting in that forced me to keep a civil tongue in my head and not threaten this man to within an inch of his life if anything happened to Ori.
I gave him a nod before bracing my hands on either side of Ori’s face. Instead of trying to manipulate his head in any way, I kept it in the same position that it had come to rest in so that I didn’t fuck him up any further. Up on the embankment there seemed to be far more chaos than what I’d originally thought. Men in suits had shown up and were arguing with officers who’d arrived on the scene. We were less than a mile away from the government complex so I knew the accident was blocking up a major thoroughfare. Besides being nosy, I knew many of these people were wondering if one of their comrades was involved in the accident. If anyone looked down they would see the government-issued vehicle that was at the bottom of the small hill and I was sure they were attempting to take jurisdiction over what was going on. Yelling could be heard and I hoped that whoever the witness was had got away no longer wanting to be bothered with this mess. I’d worry about the implications of that once I knew Ori was alright.
“Ka’iulani?”
My eyes turned to Ori’s face as he uttered that name I still hadn’t looked up. Part of me didn’t want to know what it meant. I was sure he wasn’t calling me a donkey’s head or an iguana’s ass and maybe that’s what the problem was. I could almost hear the reverence in his voice when he spoke those words. They felt ancestral. The kind of emotion that was immediately conjured up when you heard songs from different parts of the Motherland. Without knowing the language, your soul recognized home. That was how Ori sounded when he said the wordKa’iulani. There was a level of respect, divination and ethereal, spiritual connection directed toward me that I couldn’t miss.
So yeah, not looking that shit up anytime soon.
His eyes opened slowly and he looked surprised to see how close I was to him. Another blink and I could tell he was regaining the memory of what happened because I could feel his muscles tense like he was ready to coil up and spring into action.
“Don’t you dare move. We have no idea what the hell is going on with you right now. Are you okay? How are you feeling?” I hated to throw so many questions at him at once but I had to get out everything that I’d kept bottled up. He was blinking again as though he was trying to clear the haze from his brain but it wasn’t working. Ori’s muscles tensed again as if he was about to sit up and I moved one hand from his face to his chest to stop him. "You were out for too long. You can’t move without them checking you out. You know how protocol goes in something like this.” Having been in the military I wasn’t sure why he was acting as though he could circumvent protocols but then I had to remind myself who I was dealing with.
The door to the car was finally wrenched open and the man who’d told me to keep Ori’s face braced was there standing in the driver's door. Before I could speak, Ori’s hand was extended with his gun pointed in the man’s face.
“For Christ’s sake Ori, he’s a bloody medic trying to save us. Put the gotdamn gun down!” I hadn’t realized that he even knew that I’d sat his gun back on his lap but he clearly was far sharper than I’d given him credit for. I glanced over at the man who seemed hesitant to render aid and I couldn’t blame him since he’d just had a gun pointed in his face. "Get me a collar, please.”
I wasn’t about to coddle his fear especially since I wasn’t sure how bad Ori’s injuries were. He was acting lucid and his reflexes seemed normal but that was nothing to a man like him. If anything, his appearing normal instead of superhuman was a key indicator that something was very wrong. After a brief hesitation, the paramedic reached into the car with the collar I’d requested.
