Deb:  Ryan...where do I turn?

Ryan squinted through the pounding snow, trying to see the turn that
that would take them back to Jade.  For long moments the trees were hidden
behind curtains of moving white and all his landmarks were gone.  To his
relief, the curtains parted, and he was able to get his bearings at last.  

Ryan:  It's right up here, lass.  Right ahead, see the large 
tree to the left there?
 
Deb:  Okay...that would be the service road...another ten miles up that,  
as I recall...better flip on the 4x4.
 
Ryan:  Aye.  
 
Ryan settled back in the seat.  She thought he was resting.  It was, in 
fact, his attempt to impose calm and order on his racing brain, in order 
to gear up for whatever he was going to find.

The storm did not abate the entire trip.  It took roughly three times as 
it normally did to make the drive.  Ryan's almost preternatural stillness 
masked barely controlled terror.  After a few long minutes, they both made 
out the dark spot against the expanse of white.  The air was still, tense.
 
Deb:  Do you want me to pull up to the house or stay back?

Ryan was studying the house, looking for...for lack of a better word...
signs.  Something told him to do this.  Unfortunately, the recent snow 
had masked all that may have remained.  The surface of the snow was smooth 
from the wind that had been blowing at a constant 30mph all morning.  
 
Ryan:  Go ahead and pull up.  

She put the big truck in gear and drew up alongside the house.  She
started to get out, but Ryan stopped her with one big hand.

Ryan:  Stay here.  If I need you, I'll come for you.  

Deb:  What...okay.  I'm gonna try and call Bill...forgot to 
leave a note.

She pulled her cellphone out and started dialing as Ryan headed for the  
door.  She watched as Ryan leaned down at the door, stopped by something 
solid underfoot.  He brushed snow away.  She moved forward in the seat to  
see, cellphone forgotten, and glimpsed flesh.  Ryan took hold of the body 
and dragged it away from the door so that he could open it.  The snow 
around had been colored dark...red.  As if in a trance, Deb punched the
power button on the cellphone and watched Ryan.

Deb:  Jesus...she wasted the guy...

Ryan steped lightly into the little cabin, scanning the sitting room,  
which appeared to have had a tornado go through it.

Ryan had been gone for several minutes... where in hell did he go?  She  
heard no sounds coming from the cabin, no gunshots, nothing.  Should she   
follow...?
 
Ryan:  Jade?...lass...where are you, darlin'?

Jade leveled the gun at the open doorway, the voice so familiar, but in  
her ears, so... confused.  Was it the young one again, the one who brought  
this on her?  She leaned against the wall, her weight resting on it, feet   
planted as solidly as possible.  Jade shook her head from the dizziness and 
tried to follow him with the muzzle of the gun, wavering slightly.  
   
Ryan:  Jade...Christ Jesus...

Ryan dived aside as Jade fired, instinctively knowing that she would 
have hit him had he not done so...Deb jumped as she heard the report, and
decided that she had to go inside.  Deb stumbled through the door. Never  
mind sitting in the damn truck until somebody decides to shit or go blind.

Jade:  Get... the holy fuck... outta here...

She raised the gun again when she heard noises from the far corner of 
the room.

Deb:  Ryan?!  Jade?  What the...Jade, it's me!

The gun is lowered at the sound of his name.  Jade squinted, shook her
head, tried to clear her fading vision.  

Jade:  Deb?
  
Deb:  It's me...I brought Ryan...say something, you fucking mick...

Jade:  That you, Ryan...?  Christ...
 
Ryan:  God...lass, ye nearly had me there...

Jade:  Sharpshooter... remember...?
 
Deb trotted across the room to Jade, sidestepping another prone figure...
very still, very red.
 
Deb:  Jade...are you okay?

Deb:  Ryan!  Get over here!
 
Jade dropped the gun and faltered, on her knees.  Deb caught Jade as she  
fell forward.

Jade:  Ryan... 
 
Ryan:  Darlin'...here...

Deb:  She's been hit...once...twice...

Deb was making a swift examination of Jade, but Ryan was concentrating on
her face and was unable to see what her condition was.  He would check for
himself when he finally got her where he wanted her, in his arms.

Ryan:  How many of them were there, lass?

His gentle voice perfectly concealed murderous rage.  Though he had no
no idea how many people had invaded his mountain refuge...he knew exactly
who had led the way inside.

Jade:  Three... fourth one took off...
 
Jade pointed toward the front door with an unsteady hand.  Ryan drew 
her into his chest, lifted her sweater...  

Ryan:  Where's the third one, love?
 
Deb:  Think I found him.  Dead Eye there...

She grinned at Jade.

Ryan:  We must get you to a doctor, aingeal.  Can you walk, or shall I 
carry you as a bride?

His tone was light, reassuring.  Inside, he was horrified at her 
injuries,  the amount of blood she had lost.  Jade smiled, then 
grimaced, started to cough.  Blood ran from the corner of her mouth as 
she tried to respond to her man.  She swallowed thickly.
 
Jade:  Ryan... one of them looked... like you... 
 
Jade looked up at him, her eyes studying his face for something to use
to gauge his reaction.  Ryan said something in Gaelic...Jade caught very 
little of it...

Jade:  I love you...
 
Ryan:  Ta gra agram dhuit, mo chroi...

Ryan lifted her up in his arms, easily, turned for the door.  She 
shivered, then went limp in his arms.  All was desperately quiet.

Deb:  Ryan...what did you tell her?  It sounded lovely.

Ryan:  That I love her.  

His voice was low as he made his way for the door, but he shifted 
gears quickly.
  
Ryan:  In the hall closet, a blanket.  Get it and get out here, now.

Normally Deb had to talk everything to death.  Now, she reacted instantly,  
followed instructions, brought the blanket and draped it over Jade.

Deb:  What next?  I'll go move the truck closer, so you don't need to wade
through that snow...

Ryan:  Make it quick.  
 
He wrapped Jade in the blanket to ward off the cold, held a hand to her abdomen.  The truck was immediately against the rough steps, back door open.  The  interior was warm.  Ryan was able to transfer Jade to the backseat 
easily.

Deb:  Gaerity, let's blow this popstand.  
 
Ryan hopped into the driver's seat and immediately shifted into gear,
pulling away from the cabin.  Jade huddled on the seat, in and out of consciousness, cold in a way that no amount of heat could relieve.

Deb:  Ryan...I think she's going into shock.  Can you go faster?

Ryan:  Goin as fast as I can in this fecking blizzard...
 
Yet, he pressed down harder on the gas and steeled himself to do battle 
against the snow underneath.  Deb felt the truck shoot forward.  She hauled
her cellphone out of her purse again.
  
Deb:  Hold on...maybe Bill can kick something in the ass.  She's gonna 
need to go to Lubbock.  Strannix....come on...you hate the beeping....

Ryan:  Have William put runners on this damn thing... 
 
Jade groaned as Ryan hit an especially rough patch of rutted snow.  

Ryan:  Hold on, aingeal... 
 
 His eyes flick to the rearview mirror, but he only saw Deb.  The black 
orbs are questioning...is she?  Deb shakes her head.  Not good.  Jade cried
out, her belly an agony.

Jade:  Ryan!  Aaaah!...

Deb:  Bill...where the hell have you been?...with Ryan, on our way down  
the mountain...the mountain, the mountain...I brought him...Jade's been 
hurt,  we need an ambulance to meet us...
 
Ryan's jaw tightened and he bore down on the gas pedal.  The truck roared,
Deb could barely hear Bill above the din.  
 
Deb:  ...ambulance...she's been shot...SHOT...Dammit, Bill, we need help here!...

The truck hit a patch of ice, went into the kind of protracted skid  
that causes people to see their entire lives pass before their eyes.  Deb 
fell onto the floor, braced Jade as best she could against the seat.

Deb:  Gaerity?!

Jade:  Christ... Ryan... 
 
Jade took a quick breath.  Grimly Ryan fought the wheel, ever mindful
of the injured woman fighting for her life in the back seat.

Deb:  Icy road, Jade...

Jade:  Whoa... Six Flags all the fuck over 'gain... 

The truck rocked on its springs when Ryan finally pulled it out of the 
spin.  For a minute, it felt like the problem would go from appalling to 
unbearable when the Expedition rolled, but it righted itself.  Ryan was 
disoriented, put the truck in gear and headed off up the mountain.
Jade was delirious, or something like it.
 
Jade:  I'm not Catholic.
 
Deb pushed tangled strands of hair out of Jade's eyes, crouching on the
floorboards near her face.  It seemed to be the best way to monitor her
condition.

Jade:  Really... and I'm not good with math, either

Deb:  Neither am I, who gives a damn...Ryan, turn us around, you're going 
back up...
 
Jade was looking to the middle distance.

Jade:  There were... five.  There should have been six.  Eight.  Where 
were they...?

Deb:  Hang on, girl.

Ryan:  William...I might kiss you...
 
Ryan was the first to see the flashing lights of an ambulance waiting 
by the side of the road.  He nearly hit it in the act of stopping.

Jade:  Right there, and there was nothing. 

Jade was out again.  Just in time.  Ryan leaped out of the truck and
around to the side, yanked the door open.  He reached inside to pull his
lady out, and found that the blanket was dark with blood.
  
The ambulance attendants were forcing their gurney through the deep snow.  
As they brought it alongside the door, Ryan pulled Jade out to place her 
on it.  The men discovered that the device wouldn't move with the addition 
of Jade's weight, so Ryan took her up again and ran her around to the back  
of the ambulance.  He waited for them to return with the gurney, slide it 
into the vehicle so he could put her on it.  She was shivering violently,  
and in Gaelic he cursed the ambulance drivers.  Finally they gurney was
muscled into position, forced into the back of the big ambulance.  Ryan 
knelt on the ambulance floor to gently place her on it.  The attendants 
piled into the back, and he started to himself, then remembered Deb in the truck.  He saw her in the driver's seat, waving him on.  She stuck her 
head out into the blast.

Deb:  Go on, go with her!  I'll get your cat and get this thing back if 
it's the last thing I do!  Go on!

TO BE CONTINUED...

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