Page 169 of Fury
“What’s her name?” asked a first responder.
“Elsa,” Slash replied.
“Elsa, you’re doing great,” said the paramedic. “We’re going to transport you to the hospital.”
“I had to perform CPR,” Carrera said.
One of the fire crew made her way over. “Can someone tell me what happened?”
“I’m going with Elsa,” Slash said.
“I’m right behind you,” Carrera said.
Elsa was loaded into the ambulance. Slash hopped in, started coughing.
“Did you enter the house?” asked the medic.
“I did,” Slash said, and continued coughing.
The medic attached an oxygen mask around her face. “We’ll have you checked out too.”
Slash clasped Elsa’s hand. Elsa squeezed her fingers. Elsa looked small and frail on that large gurney. The fear Slash had ignored rushed to the surface, the emotion welling in her eyes.
Elsa smiled. Even with the oxygen mask, Slash saw the relief in her eyes. Slash’s heartbeat slowed as she inhaled a cleansing breath.
She’d gotten Elsa out, hopefully, in time.
In the emergency room, they placed both women in a triage room, but the dividing curtain made it impossible for Slash to see Elsa, so she removed her oxygen mask, opened the curtain, and sat on the edge of the bed facing Elsa.
Elsa opened her eyes and shook her head, then pointed to the bed.
A nurse entered. “We’re going to take you both for chest X-rays to check your lungs. Who wants to go first?”
Elsa removed her mask. “We go together. Please don’t separate me from my grandbaby.”
Even though they didn’t know the extent of the damage to Elsa’s lungs, she was alert, talking, and dictating orders.
Like a Santini.
Slash’s soaring pulse started to calm.
Wearing their oxygen masks, they were wheeled into X-ray. By the time they returned, Carrera was sitting in their triage room, along with Luciano, and Teddy.
After kissing his grandmother’s forehead, Carrera said, “Close call, huh?”
Elsa started to remove her oxygen mask, but Carrera pulled her hand away from the elastic. “We’ll talk later. Rest now.”
Then, Carrera stepped over to Slash. Love and gratitude poured from his eyes. He leaned down, kissed her forehead, then sat in the chair by her bed, and held her hand.
Both Luciano and Teddy kissed Elsa.
“I hear we’ve got a hero in the group,” Luciano said as he kissed Slash’s forehead.
She wanted to speak, but she didn’t want to remove the oxygen mask, so she pointed to Elsa.
Though Teddy was Carrera’s cousin, he’d been part of the clan who’d blamed Slash. She wasn’t surprised that he hadn’t said anything to her. More importantly, she didn’t care.
All that mattered was Elsa. She was safe, and she needed to make a full recovery.
