“I’d pay you back. I’m a pretty good cook.”

“Sure…I guess so.” Bri looked back and tried to smile. The fingers on her arm were warm. “I mean, I don’t know that I can teach you anything that you won’t get from the instructors. But, I guess that would be okay.”

“Great.” Allie gave her a winning smile. She didn’t move her hand.

CHAPTER ELEVEN

It was well after midnight when Reese pulled into the driveway beside her home. The house was dark, but Tory’s Jeep was gone.

Damn it. Where is she?

Reese pulled over, extracted her cell phone from the glove compartment, and punched in the number to the Sheriff’s department. One of her officers answered. “Lyons, it’s Conlon.”

“Yo, Reese. What’s up?”

“Is there any kind of medical emergency in town that you’re aware of?” Her heart was thudding erratically, but nothing showed in her voice. Maybe she’s sick. Maybe something happened, and she couldn’t reach me. Jesus, maybe …

“There’s a big two-car crash on Route 6 coming west from Pilgrim Heights. They called for the EMTs about forty minutes ago.”

“Thanks, Jeff.“Reese put the truck into gear and sped toward the main highway that ran the length of Cape Cod. Five minutes later, she parked on the narrow shoulder behind a Sheriff’s cruiser, a fire truck, two EMS vans, and Tory’s Jeep Cherokee.

Hurriedly, Reese grabbed her Maglite from the emergency kit in the rear of the Blazer and clipped her badge to her belt. Then she made her way around the road cones, stepped over the flares which crisscrossed the highway, and walked between the haphazardly parked cars and trucks toward the center of activity. There she got a clear view of a minivan resting against the guardrail, its front end a crumpled mass of metal and shattered glass.

“Is Dr. King here?” Reese asked of the first EMT she identified.

Without looking up, the technician said sharply, “She’s down with the second car, I think.”

Reese looked around and didn’t see another vehicle. Down? Down where?

Following the skid marks on the highway, Reese reconstructed the accident in her mind. One vehicle traveling east…doing sixty from the looks of it…crosses the median and slams the minivan head on. Poor bastards in that never had a chance. Guard rail stops the minivan, and the other vehicle veers off…fuck. Into the salt marsh.

Stomach churning, she found the section of guardrail that had been breached and shone her light down to the steep embankment. A trail of crushed reeds, pond grass, and scrub outlined the errant car’s path. The vehicle itself lay upside down in the salt pond that ran alongside the highway. The front end was underwater up to the windshield and steam billowed from the cracked engine. Emergency lights had been erected, and a clot of people milled around, maneuvering stretchers and assorted emergency equipment. One of the firemen appeared to be a attaching a towline to the back of the vehicle. No sign of Tory. Maybe the EMT was wrong, and she wasn’t down there after all.

Sliding, nearly falling, she made her way down the damp, muddy bank. How in the hell did Tory get down here? I can’t even stand up.

“Smith!” Reese called when she finally saw someone she recognized. She approached her officer as quickly as the treacherous footing would allow. “Where’s Tory?”

“Hey, Reese! You don’t need to be here, boss. We’ve got it pretty much under control.”

Reese clamped down on her anger, because she knew he had no idea the terror she was feeling. Very succinctly, she repeated, “Where is Dr. King?”

“Oh,” he said hurriedly. “She’s in the car.”

“How long?” she snapped, her nerves raw.

“Huh? Oh…I dunno. Twenty minutes maybe?”

“Son of a bitch,” she shot out to no one in particular as she pushed her way past him and through the firemen and EMTs crowding around the capsized vehicle.

That water has got to be freezing. Jesus, god, she needs to get out of there.

Ignoring the biting cold as she slogged through icy water up to her mid-calves, she bent down to peer through the shattered driver’s side window. “Dr. King? Problem?”

“Reese?” Tory could barely move in the compressed space of what had once been the big luxury car’s passenger area. She didn’t know how long she’d been there, but it felt like forever. A body lay at her feet.

“What’s his condition?”

“Unconscious and critical. I’m bagging him by hand, but there’s a lot of resistance. He must have at least one lung down.” Her teeth were chattering, and it was difficult to talk. “I can’t tell what his oxygenation status is. Too damn dark in here to read a pulse oximeter, even if I had one.”

“Can one of the EMTs take your place?” Reese couldn’t see her lover’s face clearly, but she could hear the strain in her voice. Just seeing her in there made Reese’s guts churn. “Tory?”

“He’s too unstable. I can’t trust this tube not to come out, either,” Tory replied distractedly. “Tell them they can winch whenever they’re ready.”

“Not with you in there,” Reese said sharply. “That’s a twenty percent incline up to the road. This car’s going to twist all over the place when they start pulling it up.”

“No choice.”

Reese turned and shouted, “Get the fire captain down here.”

A minute later, a tall, thin man tramped through the marsh towards Reese. “Sheriff Conlon. I didn’t see you before.”

“Peterson. Just got here,” Reese said brusquely. “What about the structural integrity of the car? Dr. King says she needs to stay inside while you haul this thing out of here.”

“It’ll be one helluva bumpy ride, but they made those old Caddies to stand up to almost anything.” He shrugged. “She’ll get knocked around some. Probably get a few bruises, but the frame will hold.”

“Give me a minute. Do not move this vehicle until I give the word.”

He hesitated for a moment, but there must have been something in the tone of her voice that convinced him, because he replied, “Okay, but make it fast. We need to get this scene cleared up.”

Reese bent over to look inside again. “Tory,” she said in a voice too low for anyone else to hear. “You can’t stay in there during the extrication. It’s going to be rough. Too rough… especially for you now.”

“I’ll brace myself. I’ll be okay.” Tory took a long shuddering breath, and then admitted what she hadn’t wanted Reese to know. “There’s a lot of water in here, and I’m getting really cold. So is he. Get us out of here, Sheriff.”

“Two minutes,” Reese yelled back over her shoulder as she grabbed the top edge of the vehicle, which was actually part of the undercarriage in its now upside down position, and levered her legs through the broken-out window.

CHAPTER TWELVE

“Reese, what in God’s name are you doing?” Tory cried.

“I’m going to give you a cushion, Doctor,” Reese muttered as she twisted her larger frame back and forth until she had one leg on either side of Tory’s body.

Now that she was inside, Reese could make out the driver’s legs underneath the steering column and his head wedged under the dashboard on the passenger side. Tory was holding the tracheostomy tube in place with one hand and squeezing a portable oxygen bag with the other.

“There isn’t enough room,” Tory protested.

“That’s the point,” Reese grunted as she wedged herself into the corner formed by the floor of the car above them and the side wall. Tory was now effectively insulated from the frame by Reese’s body.

“Be careful, Reese, there are metal shards sticking out everywhere.”

A powerful engine roared somewhere behind them, and the car shuddered.

“Brace your legs on something and push back into me,” Reese instructed as she wrapped her arms tightly around Tory’s waist. The car tilted, and they were thrown precipitously forward. Reese shot her right arm out straight to stop their fall, ignoring a sharp stab of pain as something jagged tore through her jacket just below her elbow. With her left arm, she encircled Tory’s waist and held her firmly against her own chest as the car rocked violently from side to side. “Hold on to me!”

“I can’t,” Tory shouted. “I have to secure this trach tube.”

The car continued to bounce up and down as it was winched up the side of the embankment. Reese absorbed most of the shock on her shoulders and back as she curled protectively around Tory’s body. What seemed an interminable time later, but what was in reality only a minute or two, the car leveled out and the earsplitting rattles and bone jolting vibrations stopped.

“Are you all right?” Reese asked anxiously.

“Yes.” Tory’s voice was muffled due to their awkward jackknifed position.

Reese rested her cheek against the back of Tory’s head and closed her eyes for a second. “Are you sure?”

“I’m all right, honey,” Tory said. “Just help me move him.”

By that time, firemen and EMTs were working to separate enough of the frame to ease out the victim. Reese shifted again until she could reach down as far as the driver’s body.

“I can hold that, Tor. You need to get out of here and get warm. You’re shaking all over. I can feel it.”

“I’ll be fi…”

“Tory, go!”

“Be sure and advise me if there’s any change in his condition, Sheriff,” Tory said quietly as she eased her cramped, stiff body toward the broken-out window.

“Understood, Doctor,” Reese said without looking at her. Then she shouted, “Smith!”

“Right here, Reese,” he called from just outside the vehicle.

“Take Dr. King to the EMS truck and have someone look at her. Get her warmed up. Now.”

“Roger that, boss.”

Ten minutes later, Reese found Tory in the back of an EMS van, sitting on the edge of the open rear compartment. She was wrapped in a thermal heating unit and held a steaming cup of tea in her hands.