crashed through it, then her car flipped upside down.
She screamed as she skidded toward the side of the mountain.
* * *
LIAM’S HEART HAMMERED as Peyton’s car slammed into the rocky mountain wall. The car behind her managed to swing around her and avoid crashing, then drove on while the vehicle that had hit her in the side raced away.
He swerved to the side of the road, and prayed Peyton was all right as his tires screeched and he careened to a stop. As he jumped out and ran toward Peyton’s overturned car, he punched Jacob’s number. “A car just crashed into Peyton. Dark SUV. Couldn’t get the license plate. Send an ambulance.” He gave him the address.
“Is Peyton hurt?” Jacob asked.
“I don’t know yet. I’m just getting to the car.” He ended the call, shoved his phone in his pocket and climbed over the crushed guardrail. His boots skidded on the graveled embankment as he hurried down the hill. When he reached the car, his stomach lurched.
Glass had shattered and sprayed the ground and the front of the car was crunched. Panic shot through him. Peyton could be trapped.
He hurried to the driver’s side, stooped down and looked through the broken window. The airbag had deployed, and Peyton was slumped in the seat unconscious.
“Peyton.” He called her name over and over as he struggled to open the car door. It was jammed, but finally he managed to yank it open. Then he pulled his pocketknife and slashed at the airbag, ripping it away so he could check her for injuries.
He pressed two fingers to her neck to feel for a pulse. Seconds ticked by. “Peyton, wake up.”
Finally, he felt a pulse, then she groaned and opened her eyes.
“What happened?” she asked on a ragged breath.
“You had an accident. Don’t move. Medics are on the way.” He stroked her hair from her forehead and noticed blood at her temple. “Are you hurt?”
“I...don’t know,” she mumbled.
“Can you move your arms?”
She slowly lifted one hand, then the other, then coughed. “My chest hurts.”
“The airbag,” Liam said. “You probably bruised or cracked a rib or two. How about your legs?”
Her face pinched into a frown as she struggled to move. “My legs are trapped.” Panic tinged her tone.
Dammit. He brushed her cheek with his thumb. “Just stay still. Medics are on the way,” he repeated.
Terror filled her eyes. “Mama...”
“Jacob sent a deputy to the hospital,” Liam assured her.
She closed her eyes with a groan, and fear clawed at him. The SUV that had hit her came out of nowhere. It hadn’t slowed or even attempted to stop after the crash.
His gut clenched. Had the crash been intentional? An attack on Peyton?
A siren wailed, and lights twirled in the sky as a fire engine and Jacob’s squad car roared up. They careened to a stop behind his vehicle, then Jacob and the firefighters jumped out and raced down the embankment.
“She’s alive, but her legs are trapped!” he shouted. One of the firefighters raced back to the truck for equipment, and Jacob and the medic approached.
“I didn’t attempt to move her,” Liam said, knowing he could have caused worse damage if he had. She needed to be boarded and her neck secure before pulling her from the car. “She has a pulse and regained consciousness long enough to move her arms. Don’t know how badly her legs are injured. She complained of a sore chest.”
The firefighter hurried toward them, and Liam stood back and watched as they used the Jaws of Life to cut Peyton out of the car. She groaned and stirred again, and Liam squeezed her hand.
“The medics are taking you to the hospital,” he said. “You’re going to be okay, Peyton.”
Yet a helpless feeling overcame him as he watched the medics secure her neck and ease her onto the board.
“Liam?” she called.
“I’m here,” he assured her. “I’ll follow the ambulance.”
She sighed, then closed her eyes again, then the medics loaded her onto the ambulance and closed the door.
Liam turned to Jacob. “Get a forensics team to process her car. Tell them to look for paint samples from the SUV that hit her.”
“You think it was an accident?”
Liam shook his head. “No. I think the person threatening Peyton just tried to kill her.”
* * *
PEYTON DRIFTED IN and out of consciousness as the ambulance rocked back and forth. The shrill sound of the siren was giving her a headache.
But she thanked God that her legs hadn’t been broken or worse...that she could move them.