Butterfly Bayou (Butterfly Bayou 1)

She dropped to her knees because the man’s leg was broken and he was losing blood. A lot of blood. It stained the street. She looked down at him and emerald eyes looked up.

“I can’t feel it.” He was dressed in a dapper-looking suit. His reddish-gold hair had likely been slicked back to perfection once, but now it hung around his face. “I should be able to feel it.”

His foot wasn’t where it should be. It was at an odd angle. “You have a compound fracture, but what I’m worried about is the blood loss. I need you to stay calm while I find something to use as a tourniquet.”

“We can use my belt.” Armie was behind her, pulling his leather belt from the loops on his khakis.

No matter what had happened between them in the diner, she was happy he was here. He was calm, his expression showing nothing but stable professionalism.

“Did you call it in?” She took the belt and wished she had her kit. She carried it with her in her car, but they’d walked the block to the café. “And do you have a knife on you?”

“Roxie’s on her way and so is the ambulance, but it could be a while. We have one ambulance and it serves the whole parish. They’re fifteen minutes out.”

Fifteen minutes out. Another thirty to the hospital, potentially. It struck her hard how vulnerable they were. She was the only thing standing between this man and potential death, because he wouldn’t last fifteen minutes without care.

“Rene, it’s going to be okay.” Armie opened the Swiss Army knife he’d pulled from his pocket.

“I’m not even sure what happened.” The man named Rene winced as she neatly sliced through his slacks.

“Keep the ambulance coming, but I think we need to call in a chopper.” That was definitely a compound fracture, and it was going to require surgery and probably a metal rod. This man was looking at automatic pat-downs whenever he flew from now on. But she was going to ensure he lived so he could endure all the joys of the TSA. If she could stop the bleeding. Unfortunately, she was worried it was his femoral artery. “I need something to stanch the bleeding while I’m putting the tourniquet on.”

Armie was on his phone again, arranging for the Life Flight. She might be going into overkill, but they were isolated and moments would matter.

“These are clean.” Dixie was pale but she had a stack of towels in her hand. “I can do it. Do I put it over the wound?”

Lila grabbed a couple of the towels. It wasn’t gauze but it was all she had. She found the bleeder and eased the towel on. She immediately needed a new one, taking a couple from Dixie and putting them on top. “Come down here and apply pressure. Don’t let up. You have to put some strength behind it.”

Armie had moved away, going to check on the vehicle. “Lila, it’s Janice Herbert, her daughter Hallie, and the baby. The adults are unconscious, but I think something’s wrong with the baby.”

Shit.

There was a crowd around her, everyone coming out of the buildings that formed the small square of downtown Papillon. They were watching on, some of the women crying. But she needed help.

It came in the form of her nurse. Mabel was running like a damn track star as she rounded the building, Lila’s kit in her hand. She was in her scrubs and Peanut was chasing after her.

“I’ve got this.” Mabel dropped to her knees. “I’ll put the tourniquet on. You go deal with the baby.”

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Noelle. Her face was flushed and she appeared out of breath.

Smart girl. She’d gotten Mabel and now they had a chance.

“We’re going to need water and maybe more towels. Someone get them.” It was often best in an emergency to give people something to do. “And clear a way for the ambulance.”

Comfortable that Mabel knew what she was doing, Lila raced to the truck. Her slacks were coated in blood, but she couldn’t think about that right now. Armie had the baby in his hands. She was running on pure adrenaline, a drug she knew well. It had fueled her many a crazy night in the ER. Adrenaline made her stronger, faster, more able to focus. It took her to that place where she could do what she needed to do.

The baby was turning blue. There was no blood on the child. “Was she restrained properly?”

“What? Momma?” Hallie was coming to, but Lila didn’t have time to update her.

“Yes, I had to get her out of the car seat,” Armie replied to her question.

She held her hands out to Armie, glancing into the car. Armie immediately went to Hallie, who was starting to understand that something had gone terribly wrong.