Before he even had a chance to end the call, I was opening my mouth to tell him I’d stay with Tisha, but the door opened and Jolie walked in.
“Oh thank god,” I said in a rush. I’d assumed the news might have been about her since she was missing with no word.
Her eyes shot to me and blinked in surprise. “What are you doing here?”
Before answering her, I looked at Walker. “Go. We’ve got this. Be safe.”
I noticed Jolie’s eyes land on our joined hands. Her jaw tightened and her eyes narrowed, but she didn’t mention it. I quickly dropped Walker’s hand out of respect for her feelings. “Where are you going? What’s going on?”
“Car full of teenagers went off the road between here and Pelton. Evan’s bringing the hydraulics to get them out before the car lights up.”
“Shit,” I muttered. “Go. They’ll need you.”
Walker’s eyes jogged between Jolie and me. “Otto, come with me? I’m sure they could use an extra pair of hands.”
I nodded and raced ahead of him out the door, calling back over my shoulder at the last minute to ask Jolie to please tell Tisha goodbye for me. I didn’t stick around long enough to see her reaction.
As soon as we were in the SUV, Walker turned on the lights and stomped on the pedal to get us to the scene as fast as possible. His radio squawked updates as they came in, and we learned only one kid was left trapped in the vehicle. A helicopter was on its way and three ambulances had already joined the EMT first responders on the scene.
“Who is it? Do we know?” I asked, almost not wanting to know the answer. In a town the size of ours, someone knew everyone.
“Shayna didn’t know. Says the car has plates from a different county.”
I ran my hand over my short hair, feeling the prickly surface of my recent buzz cut. “Shit, Seth.”
“Yeah.”
We rode the rest of the way in silence until arriving at a scene of red and blue-lighted chaos. Before the car came to a complete stop, it seemed like Walker was out and striding quickly to the incident commander. Chief Paige was there as well as a sheriff’s deputy, two highway patrol officers, and heap loads of fire and EMT responders.
I made sure the road was clear before getting out and approaching the fire chief. He caught my eye and nodded while explaining the situation to Walker alongside Walker’s deputy. I noticed two firefighters in turnout gear at the front of the crushed vehicle, clearly trying to prevent the car from going up before the last victim was extracted.
We’d passed one ambulance racing away from the scene as we approached, and two more already had victims inside. I hoped the only reason they hadn’t left yet was because the injuries to their patients weren’t critical.
I noticed Chief Paige meet my eyes again a moment later and gesture with his head toward the truck. I scrambled to the truck and helped myself to some extra turnout gear before joining the other guys at the front of the vehicle.
“What can I do?” I called out.
A man who was finishing cribbing the car called out. “Clear debris around the perimeter of the vehicle. Battery’s already disconnected, and Daevon is placing a foam line just in case.”
I raced back to the truck to find the right tools and quickly made my way back to begin clearing brush from around the vehicle in case fire did occur. Luckily the highway patrol officers had been able to rig up some extra lighting for the scene in addition to the lights from the truck so we were all able to see enough to do our jobs quickly and efficiently.
The sound of powerful hydraulics and metal crunching overtook most of the other sounds around us until they finally went quiet and the last of the EMTs scrambled to get the victim out and onto a gurney.
The helicopter had landed only a couple of minutes before and was ready to whisk the final victim to the nearest trauma hospital. Once the victim and medical personnel were away from the vehicle, Chief Paige and his guys took the final actions to make the area safe. I was impressed with their efficiency and high level of skill, proving they were just as quality a crew to join as any I’d worked with in Dallas or the military.
I overheard Walker giving instructions to his deputy and the two highway patrol officers to notify three of the four victims’ families while he announced he’d notify the fourth before heading to the hospital. His deputy would return to the scene and make sure to stay until everything was clear.
Chief Paige pulled me aside.
“Good work, Wilde. Glad you came. You need a ride home?”