“No! Damnit, not an ambulance. You won’t make it in time.”
“Ma’am, we need to—”
“The helicopter. Or something better. I’d get him there myself but I can’t move him!”
“Ma’am, try to calm down.”
“I can’t fucking calm down! I love this man! Please help him. God, he can’t die. I promised him I wouldn’t let him die. Please!”
A few moments elapsed. “Helicopter has been dispatched.”
“Thank God. How long?”
“As soon as humanly possible, ma’am. No longer than a half hour.”
Damn, too long! But she didn’t have a choice. She couldn’t do anything else.
She thanked the operator but had a hard time hanging up. The call was her lifeline. Sam’s lifeline.
She drove back to Sam. God, please let him still be alive.
The sedan shone innocently in the sun, as if it didn’t know it held a life in peril. Fear gripped Sydney as she ran toward the car.
Sam sat in the same position she’d left him.
She gulped back her tears. “I’m back, Sam. Help is coming.”
No response.
She touched his cheek again. “Sam?”
Still no response.
She took a deep breath and pressed her shaky fingers to his pulse point.
Nothing.
Chapter Twenty-One
Oh my God!
“Sam, no! No, no, no!”
This time she couldn’t hold back the tears. Why? Why hadn’t there been cell service here? Why hadn’t she run after him when he left Rena’s? Why hadn’t she told him about Duke in the first place?
Why?
Why?
Why?
She laid her head in his lap and sobbed. Please don’t leave me, Sam. Please don’t leave me.
She’d promised she wouldn’t let him die.
She’d promised.
How would he ever trust her again?