them, too. The truck backed up, its rear wheels spinning to gain traction and then it reached the asphalt and barreled off down the road, heading back the way Pine and Lineberry had come.
She ran out into the road, leveled her pistol, and fired her last two rounds at the wobbly truck, the steam coming out of the engine compartment because of the shot-through radiator.
There was no way that truck could keep going long.
She ran back to the car and checked on Lineberry. He was still breathing, and his eyes even fluttered open.
“Help’s almost here, Jack. Hang on.”
“L-Lee.”
“I’m right here.”
His eyes remained open and fixed on her. He put a hand out and gently touched Pine’s face. “A-Aman-da.”
Amanda?
His eyes closed as she looked up to see a cop cruiser followed by an ambulance flying toward them.
Pine ran toward them, flagging them down.
The cop car swerved toward her and stopped. She didn’t even wait for them to get out. She ran to them, flashing her badge, and leaned in the open window to face the two startled deputies sitting inside.
“Shooter’s in an SUV and headed that way. I shot out the windshield and a tire and the radiator. He’s armed. Go get ’em and call in reinforcements to block their exit. I’ll deal with the EMTs.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
The squad car peeled away, and Pine pointed the ambulance toward the Aston Martin as she sprinted that way.
They got there at the same moment.
“GSW,” she cried out to the EMTs as they jumped from the truck. “Upper right torso. He’s bled out a lot. He’s unconscious. Hurry.”
They grabbed their gear from the truck and raced to the car.
They started working on him right there in the seat. Pine marveled at how the EMTs, both young and female, performed their tasks quickly and efficiently. They checked his vitals and then started fluids and plasma while also working away at the wound and subduing the exterior bleeding.
Pine looked up as Laredo pulled up in his rental, along with Blum.
They ran over and joined her next to the Aston Martin.
“Is he…?” began Blum.
One of the EMTs looked up. “He’s stable, critical but stable. We got the bleeding stopped and his vitals have leveled out. We need to get him to Americus, stat.”
One of them slid a gurney from the back of the ambulance and all of them helped lift Lineberry onto it. As they were about to close the rear doors, Pine said, “I’ll ride with him.”
As she climbed into the back Laredo said, “The shooter?”
“The cops are after them. I might have hit the driver, and I messed up the truck.”
“I’ll find out what I can,” promised Laredo. “We can follow you to the hospital.” He glanced at her arm. “Shit, Pine, you’ve been hit too.”
Pine glanced down at her bloodied and blackened bare arm.
“Bullet didn’t really hit me, just grazed. I’ll get a Band-Aid.”
“You’ll get more than a Band-Aid,” said Blum firmly. She looked at the EMT in the rear, who had overheard all this. She nodded at Blum. “Done, ma’am.”
The doors closed, and shortly they were moving with the siren blaring.
Pine sat next to Lineberry while the EMT monitored his vitals and kept a watchful eye on her patient. Then she cleaned and gauzed Pine’s wound.
“Do you think he’s going to make it?” asked Pine quietly.
“He’s got a decent chance. They’ll know more when they x-ray him. I’ve emailed what we know about his condition to the hospital in Americus so they’ll be prepared when we get there. They’ll have to operate right away. Depends on whether the bullet did any really bad internal damage and if he’s got a bleeder going on inside. But for now his BP is steady. That’s a good sign.”
Pine gripped Lineberry’s hand. “I need you to make it, Jack, for a lot of reasons.”
She pushed her hair out of her face, leaned down farther, and gave him a kiss on the forehead. As she rose back up, it surprised her. A tear was rolling down her cheek. She couldn’t remember the last time that had happened. She hadn’t had a real, certifiable cry since losing her sister. Back then she had wept for what seemed like months.
She didn’t brush the tear away. She let it continue its slide down her face until it reached her lips.
Pine let out a long breath, continued to squeeze Lineberry’s hand, and tried to hold it all together as they raced on.
Chapter 63
THE BEEPS OF THE MONITORS were drilling into Pine’s head like