Hot Zone. Elle James
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the smoke scratching at her throat with every breath she took, Liv realized she didn’t have much time.
She braced her foot on the side panel of the truck and pulled hard on the door handle. Metal scraped on metal and the door budged, but hung, having been damaged when the truck wrapped around the tree.
Hands curled around her shoulders, lifted her off her feet and set her to the side.
Then a hulk of a man with broad shoulders, big hands and a strong back ripped the door open, grabbed Abe beneath the arms, hauled him out of the smoldering cab and carried him all of the way up the hill to the paved road.
Her tears falling in earnest now, Liv followed, stumbling over the uneven ground, dropping to her knees every other step. When she reached the top, she sagged to the ground beside Abe on the shoulder of the road. “Abe? Please tell me you’re okay. Please.”
With his eyes still closed, he moaned. Then he lifted his eyelids and opened his mouth. “I’m okay,” he muttered. “But I think my leg’s broken.”
“Oh, jeez, Abe.” She laughed, albeit shakily. “A leg we can get fixed. I’m just glad you’re alive.”
“Take a lot more than a tree to do me in.” Abe grabbed her arm. “I’m sorry, Liv. If it’s messed up, I won’t be able to take care of the place until it’s healed.”
“Oh, for Pete’s sake, Abe. Working for me is the last thing you should be worrying about. I’ll manage fine on my own.” She rested her hand on her foreman’s shoulder, amazed that the man could worry about her when his face was gray with pain. “What’s more important is getting you to a hospital.” She glanced around, looking for the man who’d pulled Abe from the wreckage.
He stood on the pavement, waving at a passing truck.
The truck slowed to a stop, and her rescuer rounded to the driver’s door and spoke with the man behind the wheel. The driver pulled to the side of the road, got out and hurried down to where Liv waited with Abe.
“Jonah? That you?” Abe glanced up, shading his eyes from the sun.
“Yup.” Jonah dropped to his haunches beside Abe. “How’d you end up in a ditch?”
Abe shook his head and winced. “A man on a four-wheeler darted out in front of me. I swerved to miss him.” He nodded toward Liv. “You remember Olivia Dawson?”
Jonah squinted, staring across Abe to Liv. “I remember a much smaller version of the Dawson girl.” He held out his hand. “Sorry to hear about your father’s accident.”
Liv took the man’s hand, stunned that they were making introductions when Abe was in pain. “Thank you. Seems accidents are going around.” Liv stared from Abe to Jonah’s vehicle above. “Think between the three of us we could get Abe up to your truck? He won’t admit it, but I’ll bet he’s hurting pretty badly.”
“It’s just a little sore,” Abe countered and then grimaced.
Liv snorted. “Liar.”
“We can get him up there,” the stranger said.
“Yes, we can,” Jonah agreed. “But should we? I could drive back to town and notify the fire department. They could have an ambulance out here in no time.”
“I don’t need an ambulance to get me to town.” Abe tried to get up. The movement made him cry out and his face turn white. He sagged back against the ground.
“If you don’t want an ambulance, then you’ll have to put up with us jostling you around getting you up the hill,” the stranger said.
“Better than being paraded through Grizzly Pass in the back of an ambulance.” Abe gritted his teeth. “Everyone knows ambulances are for sick folk.”
“Or injured people,” Liv said. “And you have a major injury.”
“Probably just a bruise. Give me a minute and I’ll be up and running circles around all of you.” Abe caught Liv’s stare and sighed. “Okay, okay. I could use a hand getting up the hill.”
The stranger shot a glance at Jonah. “Let’s do this.”
Jonah looped one of Abe’s arms around his neck, bent and slid an arm beneath one of Abe’s legs.
The stranger stepped between Liv and Abe, draped one of Abe’s arms over his shoulder and glanced across at Jonah. “On three.” He slipped his hand beneath Abe.
Jonah nodded. “One. Two. Three.”
They straightened as one.
Abe squeezed his eyes shut and groaned, all of the color draining from his face.
Liv wanted to help, but knew she’d only get in the way. The best thing she could do at that point was to open the truck door before they got there with Abe. She raced up the steep hill, her feet sliding in the gravel. When she reached the top, she flung open the door to the backseat of the truck cab and turned back to watch Abe’s progression.
The two men struggled up the hill, being as careful as they could while slipping on loose pebbles.
Liv’s glance took in her father’s old farm truck, the front wrapped around the tree. Smoke filled the cab and flames shot up from the engine compartment. She was surprised either one of them had lived. If Abe hadn’t slammed on his brakes as quickly as he had, the outcome would have been much worse.
Her gaze caught a glimpse of another vehicle on the other side of the truck. A four-wheeler was parked a few feet away.
Anger surged inside Liv. She almost said something to the stranger about how he’d nearly killed two people because of his carelessness. One look at Abe’s face made Liv bite down hard on her tongue to keep from yelling at the man who’d nearly caused a fatal accident. Once Abe was taken care of, she’d have words with the man.
Jonah and the stranger made it to the top of the ravine.
The four-wheeler driver nodded to the other man. “I’ll take it from here.”
“Are you sure?” Jonah asked, frowning. “He’s pretty much a deadweight.”
Jonah was right. With all the jostling, Abe had completely passed out. Liv studied the stranger. As muscular as he was, he couldn’t possibly lift Abe by himself.
“I’ve got him.” The stranger lifted Abe into his arms and slid him onto the backseat of the truck.
Despite her anger at the man’s driving skills, Liv recognized sheer, brute strength in the man’s arms and broad shoulders. That he could lift a full-size man by himself said a lot about his physical abilities.
But it didn’t excuse him from making them crash. She quelled her admiration and focused on getting Abe to a medical facility. If the stranger stuck around after they got Abe situated, Liv would tell him exactly what she thought of him.
Hawkeye couldn’t follow through on his pursuit of the other guy on the ATV. Not after the fleeing man caused the farm-truck driver to crash his vehicle into a tree. He’d had to stop to render assistance and pull the older man out of the cab before the engine caught fire, or he and the woman might have died.
“I’ll follow on my four-wheeler,” Hawkeye offered.
“No need,” the woman said. “We can take it from here.”
Hawkeye frowned. Though young and pretty, the auburn-haired Miss Dawson’s jaw was set. Her brows drew together over deep-green eyes as she climbed into the back of the cab next to the injured truck driver.
Hawkeye wanted to argue, but he didn’t. She was mad at him for something. Then he realized she’d probably only seen one ATV fly out into the road. Hawkeye had been far enough behind the other guy,