Chapter 20 Dean #2
"We need to move now," Carmen announced to her team, taking charge of the situation with professional efficiency. "Dean, June, please step back so we can get her stabilized for transport."
June gently took Dean's arm and drew him away from where Carmen and her team were working to get Lacey onto a stretcher. The process took only minutes, but it felt like an eternity as Dean watched them check her vital signs, start an IV line, and prepare her for the rush back to the ambulance.
When they began moving toward the trail that led back to the vehicles, Carmen looked at Dean with compassionate eyes.
"You can ride with us," she offered.
Dean glanced at June, who immediately nodded her encouragement.
"Go," she told him. "She needs you there."
Dean climbed into the ambulance, his heart hammering with fear and that awful feeling of helplessness that he'd experienced during some of the worst moments of his life.
Lacey
Consciousness returned slowly, like swimming up from the bottom of a deep, dark pool. Lacey became gradually aware that she was moving, bouncing gently in a rhythmic pattern that made her stomach feel unsettled.
Where was she? The nausea and pain that were becoming more apparent made it difficult to think clearly. She felt weak and groggy, as if she'd been drugged or was coming out of anesthesia.
"Hello there," a familiar voice said warmly. "Welcome back."
Lacey managed to open her eyes and found Carmen smiling down at her, wearing her EMT uniform and surrounded by medical equipment.
"Where..." Lacey tried to speak, but her voice came out as a barely audible croak. She felt like she was trapped in one of those dreams where you can't move properly, where your body won't respond to your mind's commands.
Fragments of memory began to surface through the fog in her head. Footsteps behind her. The sensation of turning around. Then pain exploded through her skull, and everything going black.
Panic flooded through her as the implications registered.
"Where am I?" she managed to rasp out. "What's happening?"
"Lacey..." Dean's face appeared beside Carmen's, his expression filled with relief and concern. "Calm down. You're safe now. You're in an ambulance going to the hospital."
Dean? Dean is really here? Her eyes felt impossibly heavy, and keeping them open required more effort than she seemed to possess. The relief of seeing his face, of knowing she was safe, was overwhelming.
She lost consciousness again.
When awareness returned the next time, Lacey found herself in a hospital room filled with the familiar sounds of monitors and medical equipment. Something warm and soft was holding her hand, and when she turned her head slightly, she could see Dean sleeping in the chair beside her bed.
His head rested on his folded arm, and his other hand grasped hers with gentle but firm pressure, as if he was afraid she might disappear if he let go.
"Dean..." she breathed, her voice still weak but clearer than before. "Are you really here?"
His head shot up immediately, and his eyes opened, instantly alert and focused on her face.
"Lacey," he said, his grip tightening on her hand. "Thank goodness you're awake."
"What happened?" she asked, still feeling groggy and confused. "What's going on?"
"You don't remember?" Dean's eyebrows drew together with concern.
"I'm trying to..." Lacey swallowed, her throat feeling dry and scratchy. "We were supposed to have dinner. Then I got called away. I remember hearing footsteps behind me, and then something hit me, and everything went black."
The memories were fragmented and unclear, like trying to recall a disturbing dream.
"You found me," she said, managing a weak smile. "I remember waking up, and you were there."
"Yes," Dean confirmed. "June and I found you. We searched the campground until we located you at the old burned cabin."
He lifted her hand to his lips and kissed it gently. "I've never been so terrified in my life."
"I'm sorry," Lacey whispered, guilt washing over her. "So sorry. I should have called you, but I was told that if I contacted anyone, they would hurt everyone I loved. So I went alone to the cabin like they demanded, but then..."
"You didn't see who attacked you?" Dean asked.
"No," Lacey replied. "I got a text message from an unidentified number telling me to come to the cabin site if I wanted to protect my family. When I got there, I heard footsteps, but before I could turn around completely..."
"We'll need your permission to access your phone records," Dean told her. "Your phone was destroyed in the attack."
"Of course," Lacey agreed without hesitation. "Whatever will help find out who did this."
"But Dean..." she started to say, then paused as something important occurred to her.
"Before you continue," Dean interrupted gently, "I have to tell you something. I know this is terrible timing, but I nearly lost you tonight, and I'm not going to waste any more time being cautious about my feelings." He leaned closer, his eyes intense with emotion. "I love you, Lacey."
Her heart filled with warmth despite the pain and confusion, and she smiled up at him through the grogginess from her medication.
"I'm really hoping this isn't some kind of drug-induced dream," she told him. "Because I love you too, Dean. I fell in love with you last year, but I was just too scared to admit it to myself."
"I know," Dean replied, understanding filling his voice.
"I understand why you were afraid. But I need you to understand something too.
" He leaned over and kissed her gently on the lips.
"We're taking June up on her offer to stay at her house in Miami.
We're leaving as soon as you're well enough to travel, and we're staying there until Shaun's memorial service, or until they solve this case, whichever comes first."
Another thought penetrated the haze in Lacey's mind, and she felt a chill of fear that had nothing to do with her own safety. "No, Dean, we can't do that," she said urgently.
"Why not?" Dean frowned. "It would get you completely out of harm's way until Holt can figure out who your enemy is and why they want you dead."
"That's just it," Lacey told him, her voice growing stronger as the full implications of what she'd realized became clear. "It's not my enemy who's been targeting me."
She took a deep breath, knowing that what she was about to say would change everything about their understanding of the threat they were facing.
"The person I went to meet…” Lacey started to feel so tired again. “They were expecting someone else. Not me.” Suddenly, her eyelids felt too heavy to keep open. “The letter… Get the letter.”
With that, Lacey slipped into a fitful sleep.
Yes, I want to read Book 3 — Secrets of Sandpiper Shores: Hidden Embers!