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She shook her head. Shivers racked her body.
“You’re freezing.” He took off his turnout coat and put it around her. Command
entered his voice. “Lie down and let me help you.”
She coughed out her next words. “Don’t need … to lie down.”
He managed a crooked smile. “She speaks.”
“Therefore … she lives.” She coughed around her next words. “I’m … okay …
now.”
For all of two seconds he looked like he might do something desperate, though she
couldn’t say for certain what. Anxiety flooded his expression, mixed with equal parts
anger. “Stay right here. Don’t move.”
He ran off and returned seconds later with a medical kit from one of the ambulances.
“Are you in pain anywhere? Be honest with me.” Jack quickly opened the kit and set
up oxygen.
“No, I’m—” Another cough. “Is Elliott—”
Jack slipped the oxygen mask over her face. “Shh. Breathe deep.”
He sounded gruff, as if he didn’t give a flip about Elliott. High-flow oxygen poured
into her lungs, and the convulsive response to cough eased. Nausea bolted through her
again.
As if he could read her mind, he said, “If you feel like you’re going to be sick, let me
know.”
Her head throbbed like a son-of-a-bitch and her insides lurched. Oh, yeah. Getting
sick was a good possibility.
“Ginger—” She gasped through the mask. Coughing racked her.
Jack frowned. “What about Ginger?”
She took the mask off. “Ginger is still in there. Oh, God, Jack, we’ve got to save
her.”
He gently slid the mask back on her face. “Come on, take it easy. She’s probably all
right. Concentrate on breathing. Slow. Easy.”
She nodded and did as told.
“I’d put you in an ambulance and get you out of this cold, but the last one left with
victims. More should be on the way. Hold on.” He slipped a pulse-ox index on her finger
to check oxygen levels. “Where’s all the blood coming from?” When she shook her head
in response, he looked even more concerned. “Damn it, Autumn.” Jack tilted her face up
and peered into her eyes. “Did you hit your head?” Jack probed her skull, his fingers
gentle as he tested for injury. “Tell me if it hurts.”
The realization she’d made it out of the building alive came over her in a wild sweep.
She fought back the reaction, struggling with wild elation and despair that she hadn’t
saved the woman from death. Ginger and Elliott might also be dead. She gulped on a sob.
“Easy,” Jack said as he checked her pupils. “Equal and responsive, thank God. Now
tell me, did you hit your head?”
She slipped the mask to the side. “The first blast knocked me down. I might have hit
it then. I don’t know.”
“Here it is. You’ve got a cut on your scalp.” A curse slipped from his lips. “Did you
lose consciousness?”
“Maybe for a few seconds. It wasn’t long.”
He placed a stethoscope to her chest, then removed the jacket around her shoulders
for a moment so he could press the stethoscope to her back. “Breathe deep for me. Okay,
that’s good. Sounds clear.”
His soothing voice made her feel better; the oxygen seemed to do the trick as some
nausea slipped away.
He cupped her face again, his eyes melting with a tenderness that stole her breath as
easily as the smoke. “Sure you don’t want to lie down? You’ll feel better.”
She put her hand over his and smiled. She took the mask off. “No. I’m fine.” More
tears filled her eyes and ran down her cheeks. “Jack, you saved my life.”
“My pleasure,” he said softly, a smile lighting his eyes. “You scared the hell out of
me. Now put the mask back on and leave it there before I get angry.”
Hank ran up to them. “Hey, Jack. She all right?”
“I think she will be.” Jack’s words came out clipped. “Hank, did you know Ginger
was in there?”
Hank’s face fell, his face vulnerable and revealing. He looked terrified. “Oh, God.
No, I didn’t know.” Hank turned to Autumn. “Where did you see her last?”
Autumn took a heaving breath first. “Near the bar, dancing.”
Hank’s eyes blazed. “Oh, God. I’ve got to find her.” He turned and ran away.
Autumn trembled, concern for Ginger and Elliott overriding her other discomfort.
Jack seemed to sense this, and he smiled slightly. “He’ll find her. She’s all right.”
She could only hope he was right.
“Autumn!” Elliott appeared from the crowd nearby. He looked smudged, his face
marked by soot, with one shirt sleeve torn. He knelt beside her, his face filled with
concern. “Are you all right?”
Jack answered for her. “She needs to take it easy while we get her checked out.”
“What the hell happened?” Elliott ran his hands through his hair until it stood on end.
“I went outside for a cigarette and all of a sudden people were running like jackrabbits
out of the doors. I tried to get back in, but there were so many people, I couldn’t get
through.”
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