Page 87 of Keeping Amanda
The karate chop changed to a closed fist, and Buck punched the attacker in the face once they were on the ground. But the person wasn’t moving. They were now lying as still as Mandy.
The attack had taken seconds. But to Buck it felt like hours.
Ignoring the blood on his hand, he yelled for help even as he moved toward the woman he loved, sprawled on the asphalt. He could see blood already pooling around her head, and his heart literally stopped beating in his chest. He’d promised to keep her safe—and he’d failed.
She was attacked even while in his arms.
Buck would never forgive himself. Ever.
“Mandy!” he rasped, as he bent over her and put his hand on the wound on the side of her head, where it looked like most of the blood was coming from.
Thankfully someone else exited the bar and heard Buck’s cry for help. He came running over and called 9-1-1 while Buck pleaded with Mandy to wake up, to not leave him.
Within minutes, the ambulance and police arrived. Buck hadn’t taken his eyes off Mandy since disabling their attacker. The person was still lying motionless not too far away, right where he’d left them.
The paramedics insisted he back up, and letting go of Mandy was one of the hardest things he’d ever done in his life. She still lay motionless on the ground, that damn pool of blood around her head the most terrifying thing he’d ever seen.
His attention was drawn to a second set of EMTs working on their attacker. Buck was shocked to realize it was a woman. What looked like a homeless woman, at that.
But when he looked closer—he saw that it was Blair.
The woman Tex had so desperately been looking for, thewoman Buck had vowed to keep Mandy safe from…They hadn’t found her; she’d foundthem.
The crowbar she’d used to attack them was lying a foot from her hand.
Anger hit Buck hard. Mandy had taken a blow to the head from a fuckingcrowbar. He’d let down his guard, and Blair had taken advantage of his inattentiveness, and struck.
As he stood there in shock, watching the paramedics work on getting Mandy ready for transportation to the hospital, Blair regained consciousness. She immediately began to shout about taking what was hers, and injustice, and revenge. Just as they’d suspected, and Desmond had reported, she was completely out of her mind. The woman Mandy had once known was nowhere to be seen.
Buck watched dispassionately as the police put Blair in handcuffs and led her away after she was cleared by the EMTs. He needed to tell the cops that Blair was wanted for suspicion of child abuse and the murder of Bibi—as well as crimes in Guyana—but right now, all he could think about was Mandy.
He followed behind the gurney she’d been put on as the paramedics wheeled her toward the ambulance. They prevented him from getting in behind her.
“I’m sorry, sir, but no one is allowed in the ambulance.”
Buck panicked. He had to go with her! He couldn’t lose her!
A hand closed on his arm, and Buck fought to get free, to get to Mandy.
“Easy, Buck. I’ll take you to the hospital.”
Turning, Buck saw Obi-Wan standing there. He blinked, confused. When had he gotten there? How had he even known what happened? How long had the paramedics been working on Mandy in the parking lot? Buck felt as if he was in a fog. He couldn’t think straight.
“Come on, I’ve got you. Did you let them look at you? Are you hurt?”
Buck could only stare at his friend and copilot.
“Right, we’ll do that at the hospital then.” Obi-Wan steered Buck toward his Jeep Wrangler, which was parked on the street a little ways down from the bar.
Buck stared straight ahead as Obi-Wan drove like a bat out of hell toward the hospital.
“I got a call from one of the bartenders. No clue how he got my number, but I’m damn glad he did. Casper is already contacting the cops about Blair, he’ll tell them about Bibi, and get with the detectives in North Carolina. She’s not getting away, Buck. She’s done for. Mandy is safe.”
But she wasn’tsafe. She was beaten in the head with a fucking crowbar! Even if she did survive, she might not be the same person she was before.
Buck couldn’t stop thinking about how happy and carefree she was not even an hour earlier. How she’d made everyone around her smile. Her laughter still rang in his ears.
He made a keening sound deep in his throat at the thought of losing the most important person in his life.
