“… a fever … ”
“When she’s safely on the helicopter, we’ll deal with the wolf.”
“Watch for traps!”
Was that Eric Hawke? Austin? Had the Team come for her?
“Someone bring that trap. Get it the hell off the mountain.”
Winona fought to open her eyes. “Jason?”
“He’s right here, little sister. So am I.” That was Chaska.
Someone took her hand.
“We’re moving you to the gurney now, okay, Win?” Chaska again.
“One, two, three.”
Gentle hands lifted her, pain making her moan.
“What has she had for pain?”
She tried to speak, but Jason answered. “I’ve given her three injections of ketamine—seventy-five mgs each time. She’s due for another.”
“Let’s give her seventy-five more and one mg of midazolam.”
A prick.
And she was floating.
Jason helped Chaska, Eric Hawke, Austin Taylor, Jesse Moretti, and Conrad Harrison carry an unconscious Winona to where the helicopter sat, rotors running, the words Life Flight painted in white against red. The two paramedics, who were with Life Flight and not the Team, walked alongside them with their gear.
Jason and the other men ducked down and lifted the gurney with its precious cargo into the bird. Then Chaska climbed in and sat beside her, while the others turned back to deal with the tranquilized wolf under Henriksen’s direction. They weren’t flying down in the chopper.
Jason stood there for a moment, uncertain where he belonged. He wasn’t family. No one knew about his relationship with Winona. On paper, he was nothing but an acquaintance.
Fuck that.
He made a split-second decision and followed his heart, jumping into the helicopter, buckling in, and grabbing a set of headphones.
“Are you family?” one paramedic asked.
Chaska answered for him, his gaze locked with Jason’s. “Yes.”
The helicopter lifted off, nosed into the wind, rotor wash blowing snow.
The paramedics worked on Winona, removing the makeshift splint, checking her vitals, giving her blood and oxygen, and injecting other medications into her IV.
He glanced down, saw the Cimarron, and realized they were flying her away from the mountains. “You’re not taking her to Scarlet Springs?”
Chaska shook his head. “We’re going to a level-one trauma center in Denver.”
“Jason?” Winona’s eyes fluttered open, her voice muffled by the oxygen mask.
But Jason was buckled in. “I’m here, Win.”
He wasn’t sure she could hear him.
The flight lasted twenty minutes, giving them a precious ten minutes until they reached the two-hour mark. The helicopter landed on the roof of the facility, medical staff waiting to take Winona inside. They offloaded the gurney with military efficiency, and Jason followed Chaska as they rushed inside.
A nurse met them with a clipboard and a flurry of questions, some of which Chaska answered. The others were left to Jason—mostly details about what had happened, what time he’d applied the tourniquet, how much pain medicine he’d given her, and other measures he’d taken. Then he found himself sitting in a surgery waiting area with Chaska.
Chaska rested a hand on his shoulder. “You’ve got Win’s blood on your hands.”
Jason glanced down. Winona’s blood was on his jeans, too, and his parka. “I should wash up.”
When Jason returned, Chaska was holding two cups of coffee.
“I thought you might need this. Thanks for saving Winona’s life.”
Jason took the cup, regret assailing him. If he’d seen the trap just a moment sooner… “I didn’t do anything.”
“If you’d done nothing, she’d be dead. You put on that tourniquet, splinted her leg, gave her pain meds, started an IV, kept her warm, held her hand.”
“I saw the trap just before she stepped on it. I tried to warn her, but it was too late. She was just out of reach.” He squeezed his eyes shut against the image of those steel jaws clamping shut—and the memory of her screams.
“You can’t blame yourself for that. That’s on the bastard who put it there.”
“Yeah.”
They sat side by side, Jason looking every few minutes at the board, watching Winona’s patient number, following her progress. She was in surgery now.
He closed his eyes, sent up a silent prayer.
Creator, save her life and her leg. She did nothing but try to help one of your creatures. Please be with her through the surgery. Save her leg. Amen.
It was more fearful gibbering than a prayer.
Then Chaska came out with it. “What does my sister mean to you?”
How could Jason answer that? “I care about her—more than I’ve ever cared about any woman.”
Jason’s answer made Chaska frown. “I heard you’re about to get married.”
Shit.
After everything that had happened today, Jason couldn’t help but laugh, understanding now why Chaska had seemed so angry at the apartment. “I broke up with my fiancée when the DEA busted her for drug trafficking six months ago. She’s in prison and out of my life.”
“Oh. Shit.” Chaska let out a breath. “I’m sorry—but I’m relieved to hear that.”
All things considered, Jason was impressed with the man’s restraint. He’d thought Jason was attached—and shagging his sister.
Chaska took a sip of coffee and seemed to consider his next words. “If you care about her so much, what’s your plan?”
“I’ll stay here and help her however I can until I have to go back to Sells.” He could see Chaska wasn’t going to be satisfied with anything less than the whole truth. “I’m on unpaid administrative leave. I have a disciplinary hearing next month.”
He gave Chaska the short version of the story, telling him more than he probably should about the shooting.
“I’d have shot the son of a bitch, too. Does Winona know?”
“She does. She also knows that I won’t leave the reservation—and why.”
For a moment, a heavy silence stretched between them.
Then Chaska’s gaze locked with Jason’s. “My sister is a true human being. She has a pure heart. She’s generous to everyone—two-legged, four-legged, winged. She doesn’t know how to do anything but love. I cherish her more than my own life. I’m asking you as her brother, as someone who loves her—please don’t hurt her.”
One hour went by. Then two.
Winona’s status on the board still hadn’t changed.
In surgery.
Then Deputy Marcs walked up to them, distress on her face. “Chaska. Jason. I am so sorry about this. Winona is the last person… Damn.”
She blinked tears from her eyes.
Chaska acknowledged her concern with a nod. “Thanks.”
“I hate to bother you, Jason, but I need a statement. I’ve already spoken to Ranger Henriksen. We can go to the cafeteria so that we don’t trouble Chaska or—”
“No.” Chaska shook his head. “I want to hear it.”
Jason recounted the entire story for Deputy Marcs from their decision to pursue the wolf to the moment the helicopter arrived. The terrible irony of what had happened wasn’t lost on him. “Winona wanted to find the wolf before it was caught in a leg trap. She was afraid it might be injured. And because of that…”