Page 97 of Still Afraid

Please help us find her, Lord. And apparently by “we” I mean Buck, Gabe, and the other cops who are busy looking for her despite the storm. Protect them all.

Chloe didn’t want to get within Richard’s reach, afraid he’d take her down before she could get a shot off. But she would have to get closer when Aaron found something to tie him up with. No telling when someone would find them. If only they had a way of communicating. Once they got Richard tied up, maybe they could find a cellphone on him.

Aaron fought to stand and brought over a full roll of packing tape on a dispenser gun. Even in the dim light, her brother looked pale, but he approached Richard. “Put your hands behind your back.”

Richard obeyed and Aaron used an excessive amount of tape to bind Richard’s hands.

Too much blood soaked Aaron’s thigh, yet he moved undeterred. Lifting Richard from the ground, Aaron shoved him up to a steel stud the storm had exposed.

Chloe followed and poked the barrel of the gun into Richard’s back.

Aaron made Richard face the stud, then wrapped the tape all the way around the man until the dispenser was empty. Richard wasn’t going anywhere.

Aaron stumbled away and collapsed to the ground.

With Richard secure, Chloe tucked the gun into the waistband of her shorts, and ran to her brother. She dropped down beside him. “Let me see it.”

He shifted so she could look at his leg and groaned. “I don’t think it’s too deep.”

“It needs to be cleaned.” She pulled his jeans away from the cut. As she peeled the cloth back from the wound, he winced. “Sorry.”

“It’s fine, sis. Do what it needs. I trust you.”

She ripped the cloth further, exposing his leg. The wound was around six inches long and much worse than she expected. It continued to bleed—not quite gushing, so no tourniquet needed at this point, but it was flowing heavier than she felt good about.

His face was ashen. He was losing too much blood.

She looked around. She needed something to hold against the wound. Nothing stood out, but there had been some clothing. Surely there was something.

“Aaron, hold your hand against this. I’m going to see if I can find something better to create a makeshift bandage.”

With Aaron’s hand firmly on the wound, she jumped up and ran across the debris. She climbed over what had once been a wall, and spotted some fabric beneath an upside-down car where the storefront had been.

Careful to avoid the glass, she grabbed the fabric and pulled it out from under the edge of the car. The bright blue material was soft and felt like it would be absorbent. She shook the shirt free of any loose particles and ran back to her brother. It wasn’t enough, but it would do.

Blood oozed between his fingers. They needed a doctor, a hospital … help—they needed help.

She ripped the shirt to create several strips and folded the rest to the right size. “You can remove your hand. I’ve got this.” Once his hand was out of the way, she laid the cloth on the wound, used the strips to tie it around his leg, and applied pressure with her palm. She wondered if she should tourniquet his leg, but a greater risk was involved in that too.

“How bad is it, doc?”

“I’m no doctor.”

“You’re about to be married to one.”

“I can only do so much. We need help.”

Aaron closed his eyes and grimaced.

“Hurts, huh?”

He leaned his head back against the rubble behind him. “I’m not feeling so good.”

“You stay with me. We’re going to get you out of here. I need my baby brother at my wedding next week.”

“Chloe, they’re going to lock me up if I get out of here alive.”

“When you get out of here.”