Dead Heat (2 page)

“Thanks.” Paige stood and brushed some loose gravel from her knees and the palms of her hands. They’d need a couple band-aids, but nothing too serious. “You know if anyone was hit?”

“Don’t know. As soon as I heard the shots I tried to get outside. But people were scared and trying to get back inside. I ended up going out the front door and that’s when I heard you. Come on, let’s tell Red what we saw and run this plate.”

She easily kept up with Dinky’s stride as they cut through the cafe’s empty kitchen and went through the equally empty dining room. It was the first time Paige had seen the cafe empty and it left her with an eerie foreboding feeling.

They pushed open the glass door to the cafe and stepped out on the sidewalk across the street from the courthouse. People lined the street and were crowding the parking lot. Whispering and speculation ran rampant as people tried to guess what had happened. Dinky and Paige crossed the street and walked through the crown milling about. They found a tight group of people in a circle formation about halfway across the parking lot and close to the side door. Dinky pushed his way through and Paige stuck to him like glue. Some people were crying, some were looking around, but mostly the large group was quiet. That couldn’t be good. The foreboding feeling danced around her, almost laughing. Dinky stopped suddenly and Paige ran into his back.

“What is it Dinky?”

Dinky didn’t answer, just moved out of the way so Paige could see.

“Oh my God.”

Chapter One

Paige looked over Dinky’s shoulder and into a living nightmare. Two unresponsive bodies lay on the pavement. Red, the Sheriff of Keeneston, was kneeling on the ground, focused on giving CPR to Danielle as blood pooled under her. Martha was pressing her blood covered hands against McKenna’s shoulder trying to control the bleeding running down her arm.

Paige looked up as she saw the crowd near the courthouse shift. Henry shoved his way through and dropped to the ground beside Red. Neither looked to each other, neither talked, but they worked as a fluid pair. Henry, the defense attorney who shared office space with Kenna, straddled Dani and started doing chest compressions as Red took over breathing for Danielle. The action kicked Paige out of her trance. She rushed forward, her heart having stopped beating ten minutes ago and she was pretty sure it wouldn’t start again for quite a long time.

She knelt down on the hot pavement beside Dani and pressed her hand against the wound on her chest. If she could stop the bleeding like Martha was doing, maybe Dani would have a chance. There was just so much blood. Blood seeped between her fingers and flowed down her arm. It wasn’t working. She looked around for something to press against the gunshot wound. She untied the red silk scarf she was using as a belt and pressed it into the wound. She pressed with all her strength and willed the blood to stop flowing.

“Someone call an ambulance!” she yelled into the faceless crowd.

“The ambulances are on their way from Lexington. They’ll be here in another fifteen minutes.” Noodle yelled back as he rushed from the courthouse with an emergency first aid kit.

“To hell with the ambulances! Tell them to send the helicopter. I don’t know how much longer she’ll hold on,” Red shouted before breathing into Danielle’s mouth again. Henry was counting 1-2-3-4-5 as he compressed her chest over and over again, sweat running down his white face.

“Already did. Heli’s three minutes out.” Noodle shouted over the noise of the crowd as he handed the first aid kit to Judge Cooper who was still in his black robe. “Come on people, get back! Get back! We gotta land a helicopter here.” Noodle started shoving people out of the parking lot. “Come on Dinky, get those people out of here!”

“Paige. Paige! Take this and try to stop the bleeding.” Judge Cooper shoved a packet of powdered coagulant into her shoulder until she grabbed it. Oh God, what was she doing? What was happening? She shook her head. She didn’t have the time to break down. Not when her friends’ lives depended on people keeping calm. She ripped the package open and poured it into Dani’s wound. Judge Cooper shoved some gauze into her hand. She replaced her scarf with the gauze and immediately wished she hadn’t. Her red scarf didn’t show how much Dani was bleeding. The white gauze turned red at an alarming rate. She pushed harder and hoped the powder would work. She wanted to ask for another gauze, but Judge Cooper and already turned to help Martha with Kenna’s head wound as she worked on the bleeding coming from the shoulder wound.

“Move! Get out of our way!” Paige looked up in time to see a broom come down over the head of a man blocking the way of the three Rose sisters. “We got blankets and clean cloths,” Miss Lily yelled as she cleared a path through the crowd with her broom, her two sisters following closely behind.

“Dani’s unconscious and isn’t breathing!” Paige yelled to them as they made their way forward.

“Kenna is unconscious, a bullet when through her shoulder and a bump on her head.” Judge Cooper shouted over his shoulder as he dug around the first aid kit looking for more gauze. “We need more strips to slow the bleeding over here!”

“Here you go.” The Rose sisters branched out and took command as if they were generals on the battlefield.

Miss Lily, armed with stack of cloths went to help Judge Cooper and Martha. Miss Violet laid a blanket over Dani’s bare legs and Miss Daisy placed her hands over Paige’s. Paige looked up at the quiet confidence that hung on every move the sisters made. They worked silently and quickly. More strips of cloths were set next to her, blankets appeared, and encouraging touches were given. They somehow seemed to know what she needed even before she did.

Paige took a quick look around. Henry was still straddling Dani, administering chest compressions. Blood, dirt, and sweat covered his face. The cuffs of his white dress shirt were stained red with blood. Red was flushed, sweat running down his cheeks and disappearing under the collar of his brown uniform as he breathed for Dani. Paige looked down at her own hands covered in her friend’s blood and pressed hard against Dani’s chest. Miss Daisy’s wrinkled, but steady hands appeared with a new cloth to replace the bloody one.

Paige lifted her hands allowing Miss Daisy to remove the gauze and lay on the new cloth. There was blood, so much blood. Her two friends lay unconscious. This couldn’t be happening, what was happening? She felt numb. She felt as if she wanted to scream and cry at the same time. She wanted to force herself to wake from this living, breathing nightmare.

“Paige. It’s okay, dearie. I got this if you need a break.” She looked down at her shaking hands when she felt the squeeze. Miss Daisy had sat down next to her on the rough, blood soaked pavement and was looking her in the eyes. It took a second, but her mind finally realized Miss Daisy was letting her know she could take over if Paige wanted. But she couldn’t. She couldn’t give up on her best friends. They would never give up on her.

“Thanks, Miss Daisy, I’m okay now.”

“Just focus on what’s right in front of you and leave everything else until later. You know, think like a guy.” Miss Daisy gave her a wink and a quick reassuring squeeze.

“Here, cover them the best you can so the wound stays clean when the helicopter lands.” Miss Violet passed out the blankets to cover Danielle and Kenna as the helicopter started to circle and land where Noodle stood directing it on Main Street.

The side door opened and two paramedics jumped out, pulling a board with them. Relief washed over Paige along with a sense of such urgency she thought her heart would burst.

“Here! Over here, she’s the worse off,” Paige waved them over.

“What do we got?”

“Danielle De Luca. She’s twenty-seven. Gunshot to the chest. She went down and her breathing has been shallow to non-existent. We’ve been administering CPR for four minutes. Got the bleeding slowed with coagulant powder. She’s critical.” Red shouted over the noise of the helicopter.

“This is McKenna Mason, gunshot to the shoulder. Through and through. Age twenty-nine. Took a bump to her head when she fell. Unconscious, but stable,” Judge Cooper informed the paramedic.

“Okay. We’ll take this one,” he pointed to Dani. “Ambulance will be here shortly to take the other to UK.” Paige felt strong hands on her shoulder as she was pulled away from Danielle.

She looked back and saw Miss Violet. Paige stood and collapsed into her strength.

“You did real well, Paige. Real well.” Miss Violet stroked her hair and hugged her tight as Dani was loaded into the helicopter. She squinted through the wind from the blades and looked through the window on the side of the helicopter. She saw the men resume CPR as the helicopter lifted into the air and prayed it was enough to keep Dani alive.

Paige looked back at Miss Lily and Martha working together to keep Kenna comfortable. Patting down her pockets, she felt her cell phone in her back pocket and dug it out. She stared at her small black phone in her bloody hands. Shaking her head to clear it she dialed the number she knew by heart.

“Kenna and Dani have been shot. Kenna is unconscious, but stable. They will be taking her to the University of Kentucky shortly. Dani’s been medivaced out.”

“It has to be done. He should hear it from a friend, not some emergency personnel. Wipe your face and hands. Take a deep breath and just do it.”

“I know. How do I tell someone that I don’t know if the love of their life is going to be alive or not by the time he reaches the hospital?”

“This is Paige Davies. I have an emergency that I need to speak to the Sheik about.”“I am sorry, he’s in a meeting. Can I take a message?”

“Mo.” Her voice cracked and she took a deep breath to regain control of the tears threatening to spill over. Focus on what’s in front of you she told herself. “Dani has been shot in the chest. Her breathing was shallow and sometimes we couldn’t detect it. Henry and Red administered CPR. I tried to slow the bleeding the best I could. She was just evacuated on the helicopter. She should be at the UK trauma center in minutes.”

She paused, but heard nothing. “Mo? Mo?” She waited again, but didn’t hear anything but the sound of shouts in the background and running feet.

Paige hit the end button and scrolled for one more number. She heard the wail of the sirens off in the distance and she pushed the call button.

“Cole, Kenna and Dani have been shot. Dani was evacuated by helicopter and the ambulance is just now pulling up for Kenna.” It felt surreal. She watched the ambulance pull into the parking lot and the doors open. It couldn’t be real. This had to be a nightmare.

The EMTs loaded Kenna onto a stretcher and rolled her quickly to the ambulance. Paige followed behind them and climbed into the back. She looked back one more time at the crowd gathered. Red was issuing orders, Henry’s shiny suit was covered in blood and dirt. His blood- stained hands hung at his sides as he stared absent-mindedly at the ambulance. Martha’s white blouse was covered in Kenna’s blood. Her normally tight bun had fallen loose around her pale face. The Rose sisters, united as ever, stood side-by-side as they watched the ambulance doors close.

Chapter Two

Paige sat back and watched the two EMTs work on Kenna. She was still heavily dazed, but had started to mumble and try to move. The EMTs stabilized her arm and wrapped gauze around her head to stop the bleeding from the wound on the back of her head.

The fifteen minute drive seemed to take an eternity. A fog seemed to settle into Paige’s head as she relived the whole event. The sound of the gunfire, the stare down with the assassin, the blood, and chaos... it was all too much to grasp.

She closed her eyes and listened to the EMTs calling into the ER with their estimated time of arrival. They gave updates on Kenna’s condition and took her vitals. Paige let the sounds wash over her as she prayed for her friends.

The ambulance wove its way through the Lexington traffic. Luckily, campus was pretty empty with it being summer and they managed to avoid any holdups. They pulled under the red emergency sign designating the entrance and came to a stop. The back doors were opened and a score of emergency personnel all dressed in various colored scrubs met them. Kenna was lifted down and wheeled into the ER.