“Mac, stop!”
The hand on her arm spun her around and she found herself looking up at Alex Trevino. Where the hell had he come from? “I have to get to Gage,” she told him. “He and the other guys were in there.”
Trevino transferred his grip to her shoulders, holding her still as he looked deep into her eyes. “I know. And I’m going to get them out. But I can’t do that and worry about you, too. I need you to stay here. Can you do that?”
She thought she nodded, but she wasn’t sure. It must have been good enough for Trevino because he ran toward the house.
Mac followed despite her promise, but stumbled to a halt within a few feet. Trevino was right. She couldn’t help Gage or the other men by climbing into the smoldering wreckage of the house. She’d only get in the way.
So, she stood there, feeling useless as the other police officers caught up and passed her. She watched as they joined Trevino in the remains of the building, shouting for the SWAT officers by name.
While smoke was rising steadily from the remains of the house, there wasn’t a lot of fire. That had to be good.
But there was still so much damage. Most of the walls were gone, along with the roof and a good portion of the second floor. Jagged pieces of beams and steel pipes stood up in crazy angles, a testament to the force of the blast that had destroyed the place. She’d seen photos of meth labs that had blown up, but in person, the aftermath was a hundred times worse.
Mac was almost afraid to move closer, but she couldn’t hang back anymore, either. As the minutes slowly ticked by, she lost more and more hope. There was just so much damage. No one could survive a blast like that, no matter how much training they had or protective gear they wore.
She couldn’t explain why, but it felt as if she’d lost something that would have been very important in her life. Not something—someone.
Mac didn’t realize she was crying until she tasted tears on her tongue. She choked back a sob. She couldn’t stand here and watch while they pulled Gage’s body from the rubble.
“Over here!”
She spun around, her heart pounding. Trevino was clawing at the chunks of concrete and pieces of brick like he was possessed.
Mac hurried over, trying to see around the cops who’d stopped searching other parts of the house and moved to help. She was afraid to hope, afraid to believe.
Alex grabbed a section of what used to be part of a brick wall and tossed it aside like it weighed nothing. Underneath, there was a set of steps leading under the house and into the basement. Mac’s heart beat even faster. Just because some of the SWAT officers might have made it to safety and survived the explosion didn’t mean Gage had been one of them. But as Trevino reached down into the blackness, she couldn’t stop hope from surging through her.
A bloody hand grasped Alex’s. The team’s sniper pulled, yanking a man from the rubble. He was covered in black soot and bloody scrapes, but there was no mistaking Xander. A uniformed cop tried to throw a thermal blanket around the squad leader, but Xander shrugged it off, instead turning to help pull someone else out of the basement.
Men climbed out one by one. First Cooper, then Delaney. And after them, Becker, Lowry, and McCall. Mac hadn’t realized she’d climbed into the wreckage of the house until Trevino and Xander had dragged the last man out of the basement.
When she saw Gage, Mac’s tears flowed even harder and faster than before. He was covered in soot from head to toe, but he was alive.
Thank you, God.
Mac heard Weaver ask Xander if there was anyone else in the house, but she didn’t hear his answer as she stumbled through the rubble at a run and threw herself into Gage’s arms. She almost knocked him back down into the basement, but he didn’t seem to care. He hugged her to his dirty uniform as she buried her face in the curve of his neck and cried.
She completely forgot they weren’t alone until she pulled away and saw Cooper standing there with a knowing grin on his face. Embarrassed, she lifted her hand to wipe the last traces of tears from her cheeks when she caught sight of Xander’s arm. He was bleeding. So were Lowry and Becker.
“Oh God, I’m sorry,” she said. “I didn’t know you guys were hurt. I saw Gage and I…”
Xander’s mouth edged up in what looked like a smile, though it was difficult to tell under all the soot. “Don’t worry about it. We’re fine.”
“Like hell you are,” Weaver said. “You’re all a bunch of bleeding pincushions and everyone is getting a free ride to the hospital.”
None of the SWAT guys looked too happy about that. Remembering how Martinez had declined medical attention when he’d been shot, Mac wouldn’t be surprised if they got in their vehicles and went back to the compound to treat their cuts, scrapes, and abrasions themselves.
But Gage squashed that idea. “He’s right. Everyone’s getting checked out—no exceptions.” He grinned at her, and suddenly she felt like a weight had been lifted from her shoulders. “You ever ride in an ambulance before?”
* * *
Gage knew he wasn’t the only one who was steaming mad. His entire pack would walk out of the hospital with him if he gave the word. Unfortunately, the doctors and nurses weren’t going to let them out of here anytime soon. Which meant he had to lie in this damn hospital bed and stew. He wasn’t really mad at the medical staff. They were just doing their jobs, even if they were a pain in the ass with all their stupid tests. No, he was pissed because that freaking meth lab they’d been lured into had been a trap, and he
