Free Dead Aim by Iris Johansen Page B

vehicle and meant for rough driving. She just wished she could see better. Once she got down this mountain she'd be--
    Icy branches looming out of the darkness, blocking the road, reaching out . . .
    "No!" She turned the wheel, but it was too late. A branch shattered the windshield as she skidded on the ice and into the tree.
    "Jesus!"
    Judd broke into a run as he came around the curve, sliding and falling and then getting to his feet again.
    The headlights of the Land Rover were piercing the darkness, but the SUV had come to a stop, wheels still spinning as it rested on top of the fallen tree--and the big branch that had smashed through the windshield, splitting on impact to a dagger-thin splinter.
    A splinter that had entered Alex's body and was pinning her to the seat.
    "This is going to hurt."
    What was he talking about? She already hurt, Alex thought dazedly.
    "Do you hear me? I can't wait. I have to get you out of here. I've got to break this branch and get you free. I'll try to be quick, but you mustn't fight me or you'll tear more. Do you hear me, Alex?"
    "I . . . hear you." She opened her eyes to see his face before her.
    Icy blue eyes. Ice everywhere. The windshield lay shattered around her like glittering cubes.
    His hand was closing on the branch.
    She stiffened as she realized what he intended to do. "No!"
    "I have to do it. I have to get you back up to the lodge. I can't leave you to get help. You could die of hypothermia out here."
    "Hurt . . ."
    "I know." His hand gently stroked her hair. "It's going to hurt like hell. But only for an instant and then it won't hurt anymore. I'll take care of you."
    Safety. Smoke. Dad . . .
    No, this wasn't him. Her father was dead.
    God, she missed him. . . .
    "Alex, will you try not to jerk?" He held her gaze with his own. "I'll take care of you. I promise you'll be safe. I promise you'll live if you'll only help me."
    "Dad . . ."
    "It's not your father, Alex."
    Yet her father was here. Acrid smoke, rescue dogs, and Sarah holding her. Life was important. She had to remember that, or her father would have died for nothing. She nodded and closed her eyes. "Do it."
    Agony.
    "I need a doctor up here, Galen," Morgan said as soon as Galen answered the phone. "Someone who's good and fast and will keep his mouth shut."
    "Why?"
    "There's been sort of an accident."
    "I don't like the sound of this."
    "Alex is hurt."
    "Oh, shit. Tell me you didn't cause this 'accident.' "
    "I can't do that. I think she's going to be okay, but I want to make sure there's no nerve damage. I don't want her crippled. I need a doctor to clean and stitch the wound. One that won't insist on her going to the hospital."

"What did you do to her?"
    "Nothing that she won't get over . . . eventually."
    "My God, Logan's going to murder you."
    "He'll have to stand in line. So will you get me the doctor?"
    "Give me fifteen minutes."
    Morgan went back to the bedroom and checked Alex. She was pale, still unconscious, but her pulse was steady. He should probably take this waiting period to go back down to the scene of the accident to clear the road so that the doctor could get to the lodge.
    Jesus, she was pale.
    Screw what he should do. He wasn't going anywhere right now. He'd wait until he had to leave her.
    Judd Morgan was sitting in a chair beside the bed.
    She had seen him there before, she realized drowsily. How many times? Five? Six? She couldn't remember. But he'd been there, sketching in that pad as he was doing now.
    "What . . . are you doing?"
    He glanced up and put aside his pad. "You must be feeling better if curiosity is raising its head."
    "Better than what?"
    "You've had a fever for the last two days. The doctor said your body was fighting infection."
    "Doctor?"
    "You don't remember him? Dr. Kedrow. I dragged him up here to tend that extremely nasty wound in your shoulder."
    Her right shoulder was swathed in bandages.
    A razor-sharp branch stabbing through her flesh.
    "Now you remember." His gaze was on