His female partner was already dealing with Rene’s injury. “He’s stable. He would have bled out if they hadn’t gotten to him quickly. I hear you’ve got a cardiac patient. Do we need to look at her? We can fit him on the bench and her on the stretcher.”

She shook her head. “I have a chopper coming for her. She needs a cath lab ASAP.”

The EMT gave her a thumbs-up. “You did good work here.”

Mabel stood up. They were both covered in blood, but they still had work to do.

She needed to get Mrs. Herbert safely on that chopper and then check out her daughter and granddaughter.

Her day wasn’t close to being done.

chapter eight

Hours later, Armie sat in the clinic waiting room, a vision of a blood-soaked Lila Daley single-handedly taking chaos and turning it into survival imprinted on his brain.

They’d been on the knife’s edge today. One wrong move and they would have lost Rene or Janice or that precious baby.

She’d been the difference. If she hadn’t been there, the day would have turned out very differently.

“What are you doing here?” Lila asked as she walked in. “Of course. You want an update. The good news is Rene came through his surgery with flying colors. He didn’t need the rod I thought he might. He was lucky. He’ll be in a cast for a few weeks and he’ll be weak, but I hear he’s already making plans to come home. As for Janice, she had an eighty-eight-percent blockage. They put a stent in and she’s resting comfortably now. She’s got some lifestyle modifications she’ll have to make, though.” Lila closed her office door behind her. She’d put on new clothes, taken a shower in the back, and now she looked perfectly clean, but he remembered what she’d looked like when she’d taken control.

She’d looked like a warrior, like a freaking Valkyrie.

He’d been wrong to tell her to fit in.

“I came to drive you home.”

There was a weary look in her eyes. “I have a car here.”

“Lila, you went through a lot today. Let me drive you home. Or take you to your sister’s. I don’t think you should be alone tonight.”

She seemed to think about that for a moment. “Lisa and Remy are in New Orleans for the weekend. I’m fine. It was a job, and one I’ve done a hundred times.”