"The name's Justin," he introduced himself cheerfully, and then pointed to their driver and added, "I'm with Decker-Maybe-Argeneau-Maybe-Pimms."
Dani let her breath out slowly, but didn't relax. Worry for her sister was now crowding her brain.
"How are you feeling?"
The question made Dani glare at the man with disbelief. How was she feeling? She'd been kidnapped, knocked about by a bunch of brutes, caught in the middle of a Shootout, and-worst of all-her sister was missing, still in the clutches of one of those brutes. How did he think she felt? Shaking her head with disgust, she muttered, "This is the best CSIS could come up with? This is the Few and the Proud?"
"The Few and the Proud are the U.S. Marines," Justin informed her, seeming rather amused. "We CSIS men-" For some reason, he paused to cast a taunting glance toward Decker, and then continued, "We CSIS guys are the Cute, Strong, Intelligent, and Sexy."
"I'm sure," Dani said dryly, and then ignored him as she tried to sort out how she'd ended up in the van again. The last thing she recalled was hurrying toward the road, determined to find a house with a phone and a car so that she could call her family and do what she could to help find her sister. Dani had no idea at all how she might have ended up back in the van and sleeping.
"It's nothing to concern yourself with," Justin said, as if she'd spoken the worries aloud. "Everything's fine. We're on the road and, hopefully, soon we'll be able to get a cell signal to call in backup."
Dani found herself caught by the intensity of his eyes and, oddly enough, how she had gotten where she was suddenly didn't seem that important anymore. As the worry slipped away, she pulled herself to her knees between the seats and peered curiously out the window to see that they were just coming to the end of the grassy trail and bumping onto the gravel lane. She hadn't slept long then, Dani thought, and turned to peer at Decker. For some reason they were driving with the interior lights on. She had no idea why, but it allowed her to get a better look at the man who had so annoyed her earlier. He appeared to be extremely good-looking, with dark hair, fine features, and eyes that appeared an arresting silver-blue in this light. As she recalled, he'd been tall and well built too. In the looks department the man fit the James Bond image of a spy, she thought. It was just a shame that he was missing the "intelligent" from the Cute, Strong, Intelligent, and Sexy quota.
"Don't be too hard on Decker," Justin said suddenly, obviously reading her expression and guessing where her thoughts had led her. "After all, the man was in shock."
"Shut up, Justin," Decker snapped.
Dani ignored the driver and glanced to the other man in question. "Why would he have been in shock?"
Justin hesitated, and when he spoke she suspected it wasn't what he'd intended to say. "He was shot when he ran out into the line of fire to pull you back onto the cliff."
"Ah hell," Decker muttered as Dani's head swiveled sharply back to him. She noted absently that he sounded annoyed and embarrassed, but ignored that as she leaned farther forward to peer at his chest. Her eyes widened when she saw that there was, indeed, a bullet hole in the shoulder of his shirt.
"You are shot," she said with dismay. "Why are you driving? You should-Have you bound the wound or anything?"
It didn't look to her as if he had. His short-sleeved buttoned shirt was black so she couldn't tell if there was blood on it, but the cloth lay flat on his upper chest without any bulk to suggest a bandage beneath. Dani reached out to pull the shirt away from his skin to check. What she found was a hole in his shoulder with dried blood crusted around it... and a whole lot of naked male chest. Forcing herself to ignore the naked male bit, Dani concentrated on the wound. It looked like the bullet had gone through the muscle below his shoulder blade, missing any bones. That was good news at least. There should have been more blood from the wound, though, and Dani could only think that he'd done at least something to stop the bleeding. But it really needed to be cleaned, the bullet removed, and bandaging applied.
"Stop that," Decker muttered, knocking her hand away so that the shirt fell back into place. "I'm driving here."
"Yes, well, you shouldn't be," she said firmly. "Stop the vehicle so I can have a look at it. Your friend here can drive."
"Justin," the friend said, reminding her of his name.
Dani ignored him and tugged on Decker's shirt. "Pull over."
"No. I'm fine. The bullet just grazed me."
Dani snorted. "It didn't just graze you, it went through your subscapularis."
"His sub what?" Justin asked with amazement.
"His subscapularis," Dani repeated, and when he looked blank, explained, "It's a muscle that starts under the shoulder blade and runs to the front of the upper arm. It rotates the arm inward."
Justin's eyebrows had risen up his forehead in amazement, and he now asked, "What are you, a doctor or something?"
"Yes." She turned back to Decker. "Pull over so I can tend your shoulder."
He merely shook his head. "We need to get to where we can get cell reception. We need backup and we need to track the SUV. Remember your sister?"
Dani bit her lip, torn between insisting he stop and keeping her mouth shut. On one side of the argument, he was injured. Gunshot wounds were nothing to mess with, and untreated could result in infection and even septic shock, which had a fifty percent chance of killing the victim. On the other side of the argument was her sister, who was still in the clutches of one of the men who had kidnapped them and who might even now be suffering hellish abuse.
"I've got a signal," Justin said suddenly, saving her from having to make a decision.
"Good," Dani said with relief as Justin held the phone up, his gaze concentrated on the screen. She turned to Decker and pointed out, "Now you can stop and let me look at your shoulder while he makes the call to track your vehicle and tell us where it is."
"How strong is the signal?" Decker asked, ignoring her.