Chief stirred and then looked up at me with confused eyes.

“You all right?” I asked, hugging the children around me.

He nodded and then helped up the woman he’d pushed out of the way.

“Thank you,” she said, looking around in a daze.

Chief peeked out the hole in the wall that the car had created. “It’s passed.”

He took a step toward the broken bodies around the car but paused when his radio came on.

A deep voice broke through as a man spoke, “Two-nineteen to Base G.”

“Base G. Go ahead,” the dispatcher spoke back.

Chief turned up his radio. He could hear the disguised panic in the officer’s voice.

“Officer down at Highway Fifty and Sherman. My cruiser has been overturned. Multiple fatalities and injuries in this area, including me. Requesting ten-forty-nine to this location. Over,” he said, grunting the last word.

“How badly are you injured, Reyes?” the dispatcher said.

Chief glanced up at me. “I have to go.”

“Not sure,” the officer said. “I was bringing a young woman to the hospital. She’s unconscious. I think her leg is trapped. We’re going to need some hardware. Over.”

“Copy that, two-nineteen.”

“Delores?” Reyes said. “Her boyfriend was reported to be at Newman Regional with the fire chief. Can you radio the hospital to notify?”

“Ten-four, Reyes. You hang in there. We have units on the way.”

I gripped Chief’s arm. “That’s her. America is with that cop.”

“Base G is the Turnpike Highway Patrol. She’s with a state trooper.”

“It doesn’t matter who she’s with. He’s hurt, and she’s stuck in there. He can’t help her.”

Chief turned away from me, but I tightened my grip on his arm.

“Please,” I said. “Take me there.”

Chief made a face, already against the idea. “By the sounds of it, they’re going to have to cut her out of the cruiser. That could take hours. She’s unconscious. She won’t even know you’re there, and you’ll probably just get in the way.”

I swallowed and looked around as I thought. Chief pulled his keys out of his pocket.

“Just …” I sighed. “You don’t have to take me. Just tell me where it is, and I’ll walk.”

“You’ll walk?” Chief said in disbelief. “It’s dark. No electricity means no streetlights. No moon because of the clouds.”

“I have to do something!” I yelled.

“I’m the fire chief. There’s an officer down. I’m going to oversee the extraction and—”

“I’m begging you,” I said, too tired to fight. “I can’t stay here. She’s unconscious, she might be hurt, and she’ll be scared when she wakes up. I have to be there.”

Chief thought about it for a few seconds and then sighed. “All right. But stay out of the goddamn way.”

I nodded once, following when he turned for the parking lot. It was still raining, making me worry about her even more. What if the car was overturned in a drainage ditch, like the Charger? What if she was under water?