The EMTs blasted the lights and sirens, more for fun than necessity in Shane’s opinion.

One of the medics started to come through to the back but Shane waved him away with his good hand. “This field cast will do until I get to the emergency room.”

The guy nodded, seeming a little intimidated and Shane remembered he was in full battle dress and laden down with weapons and explosives.

They went over a pothole and Shane swore again as pain streaked up his arm and lanced his shoulder.

“You sound worse than Grace when she was in labor with Katie.” Scotty gripped Shane’s good arm hard though. Shane knew his friend was worried about him.

“Grace is a badass.”

“Strongest person I know,” Scotty agreed about his wife.

“I have no idea what she sees in you,” Shane told the guy, though in reality Shane had never met a more compatible couple. Nor a couple more in love.

“I got lucky. If you weren’t such a cry baby and, frankly, so fugging ugly, you might find true love, too.”

“No sane woman would put up with our bullshit schedule or workload.”

“Are you calling Grace insane?” Scotty gave him a mocking glare.

“Well, she did marry you.”

Scotty grinned again. “The guys are probably taking bets on exactly what you broke and how many pins it’ll take to fix and how long you’re gonna be out for. I’m guessing ulna and radius. Three pins but if you hear anything different, I want the skinny.”

“I’m not going to need an operation.” Shane narrowed his eyes, trying to ignore the increasing pain radiating from his snapped bones. “I don’t need to be off the team. I can do my job wearing a cast.”

“Sure you can. And you can breathe fire and shoot bullets out of your ass while you’re at it. We know this already—unless you have really bad gas…”

Tears streamed from Shane’s eyes more from laughter than pain, but some of it was pain and that was humbling for a member of HRT. “I love you, man.”

Scotty ruffled his hair like he was a little kid. Shane didn’t recall removing his helmet.

“I love you too. But if you ever embarrass me like this again, we’re over.”

“Next time, you take the beautiful young woman in high heels and I’ll take the judge, okay?”

Scotty grinned. “Deal, but no one will ever be as beautiful as my Grace.”

Sudden claws of envy scraped Shane’s insides, but he ignored them. He wasn’t ready to settle down. Maybe when he stepped away from HRT if there was anything left of him to give. Not everyone was lucky like Scotty and Grace Monteith. Not everyone got their happily ever after…

1

Seventeen days later

A living nightmare was playing out in real time on Yael Brooks’s monitor.