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.C.’s right hand jerked as he got off two more shots and then a third.But before Jay could wonder how many rounds the pistol’s magazine held, Dana’s scream penetrated his awareness, a high, clipped cry that followed the last shot.Chapter Thirty-threeAnd that the whole land thereof is brimstone, and salt, and burning, that it is not sown, nor beareth, nor any grass groweth therein, like the overthrow of Sodom, and Gomorrah…—Deuteronomy 29:23The Holy Bible (King James Version)As Dana dropped to her knees, the dog sprang forward, snarling at the man who struggled with his master.A haze of acrid gunsmoke hung before the headlights in striated layers.Beside her Wallace flailed on his back, his choked screams rising from behind a dark, wet mask.It was a mask of blood, she realized as she spotted a small hole in the left side of his upper jaw.His head jerked, and her heart spasmed as she saw the right cheek, blown out by an exit wound.A man could die from so much bleeding—die the way her sister had.Dana ripped off the remains of her shirt and wadded up the cotton.Dressed only in her bra and shorts, she shouted at the fallen deputy, “Lie still, and hold this to your cheek.You’ve got to apply pressure.”His cries stopped, too abruptly, and his limbs jerked uncontrollably.She was losing him, she realized—losing her last link to Nikki.But she had to help Jay, too, had to do something to save him—“Dana!”Her head jerked toward his voice, and she saw him holding his uncle at gunpoint.Thank God.“We have to get your deputy help.” She leaned over Wallace to press the cloth against the open wound.“He…he’s choking.”Heaven only knew what devastation the bullet had wrought before its exit.She had performed enough surgery on animals injured by gunshots to know the throat or upper palate could have been hit.Enough to realize that an emergency tracheotomy might be Wallace’s best chance, in spite of the terrible conditions.Unless…“Help me hold him,” she told Jay.“I have to keep him still so I can—”Grasping the distraction, R.C.swung around with one fist—but too slowly to avoid Jay’s clout to the head with his own pistol.Knees collapsing, the older Eversole tumbled to the ground, twitched twice, and went still.“Can’t say I’m sorry I had to do that.” Jay squatted with a pained grunt and grasped Wallace by the shoulders.Dana tried to pull his head back, but the deputy thrashed wildly.“Quit fighting,” Jay ordered.“We’re trying to help you.”Wallace did, and all too suddenly, as he lost consciousness.Dana tilted back his head and opened the jaw, then swept her fingers across the back of his tongue to check the airway.She had to work quickly.If Wallace needed a tracheotomy she had only minutes to perform it before his brain was damaged and his system failed.She moved so quickly that she nearly missed it—the small, hard object in the back of his throat.Repositioning herself for a better angle, she dug deeper—and swept free a clot of tissue that included several of his teeth.Almost instantly she felt a puff as he expelled the stale air from his lungs before sucking in another breath.With a silent prayer of thanks, she said, “He’s breathing.”She felt around for the remnants of her shirt and held the less-than-ideal bandage to the wreckage of Wallace’s cheek.Only then did she notice Jay staring at her, moisture gleaming in his eyes.“That son of a bitch lied to me.He told me that he’d killed you—shot you in the head.I was sure I’d never see you again.”Shaking her head, she said, “Wallace’s headlights scared him off, I think.I’ll be all right, Jay.Help me get him on his side, please.We don’t want more blood choking him.”Once they moved Wallace into a better position, Dana added, “We’re going to need help.Is there a radio in the truck, or do you or Wallace have a phone?”“I don’t have mine, but let me check him,” Jay said.A moment later he added, “No phone here, but I’ll need these.”He took a set of cuffs from Wallace’s belt and then went to R.C., who had started groaning.Jay snapped a manacle on one of his uncle’s wrists.“Look, I’ll split the money with you,” R.C.mumbled.As he glanced back over one shoulder, his gaze was wide and empty as a dead man’s.“We can still make this right.And I can still get out of Devil’s Claw—”“One more word and you’ll die here—right now,” Jay told him before he finished applying the restraints.He picked up the gun Wallace had dropped and laid it beside the spot where Dana squatted.Nodding toward his uncle, he told her, “Shoot him if he moves.I’ll be right back.”Dana looked after him as he went to Wallace’s truck.He was limping heavily, and she already knew that he’d been knocked unconscious earlier.But in spite of his wounds, she sensed a core of strength she could rely on…at least for the moment.Though he had nearly killed her earlier, she knew that without hesitation he would give his life for hers.Just as she’d been willing to risk everything for him tonight…and she could not regret it.That was the final thought that flitted through her mind before she heard a new voice by the truck.“How the hell…?” Jay started.But at the sight of the rifle he lost his curiosity about how she’d found him.With his own weapon holstered as he reached across the seat for wallace’s cell phone, Jay knew Suzanne Riggins could shoot him before he had the chance to draw.But would the wife of his uncle’s best friend? With her white hair frizzed around her, she looked both pale and sickly.But her gray eyes were inscrutable.“Wallace called the house earlier,” she said in her deep, West Texas accent.“Left a message that you might need someone to watch your back tonight.Dennis…Dennis drank himself to sleep again.He’s been doing that for days now.Busted up about losing all our money on Haz-Vestment.”“So he told you?”She shook her head.“I knew.I knew it from the first—why he thought he needed to risk everything.Damned foolish man I married.If he’d asked me, I’d have told him not to take the chance.”“So you came.To help me.”“By the time I got to your place, all I could see were taillights leaving.I was way behind, so I just caught up
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