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.