Free Play to Win by Tiffany Snow

through what little I knew. We were standing there, then there was the car, then gunshots. Then Parker was bleeding and my dad wasn’t moving…
    I couldn’t breathe and tremors shook me. There was blood on my hands and clothes. Parker’s blood…
    “It’s okay. Take a deep breath. You’re hyperventilating. Look at me. Focus on breathing…”
    The paramedic’s words penetrated, but I still couldn’t breathe, and now I was sobbing.
    “Parker…Dad…”
    “It’s okay—”
    But it really wasn’t, and I had to watch as they loaded both Parker and my dad into separate ambulances, still trying desperately to regain control. Schultz climbed in with my dad, looking more shaken than I’d ever seen him. The paramedic with me helped me into the ambulance carrying Parker, and with the sirens screaming, we roared away into the night.

Chapter Five
    T he bullet that had struck Parker had gone clean through, so he needed stitches, blood, and antibiotics. He’d be fine with only a scar. My dad, though…my dad was a different story.
    I stood there, dried blood on my clothes, listening with as much control as I could muster as the surgeon described to me my dad’s condition. He’d been hit three times. He needed surgery. One bullet had fragmented off a rib and they were prepping him now to go in and remove the metal shards. He was stabilized, but at his age surgery would be hard on him. Depending on the extent of his internal injuries (which wouldn’t be known “until we open him up”), he might need to be put into a medically induced coma for an indeterminate period of time.
    I nodded like I was taking it all in, but my hands were still trembling and Parker’s blood was on me. Schultz stood by my side, his solid presence comforting to me. He’d worked for our family for as long as I could remember, all the way back to driving me to school in the back of our Rolls.
    “Surgery may take several hours,” the doctor was saying. “You’re welcome to wait in the surgical waiting room rather than in the ER. It’ll be more comfortable for you.” He gave us a last little nod, then turned and headed back through a set of swinging doors.
    Schultz wrapped me in a hug, but I didn’t allow myself the luxury of tears. I squeezed him hard, then took a step back. There were things that needed to be done, and I had to be the one to do them.
    “I’ll call Mom,” I said. “Do you think you can go get her, bring her here?”
    “Of course.”
    I already had my cell out. “I also need to call Charlie. He’ll know the implications and what we need to do for the business if Dad’s going to be—” I had to stop and clear my throat. “If Dad’s going to be laid up.”
    There was also Parker.
    I had his parents’ phone number in my phone. I’d put it there a while ago just for emergencies. I needed to call them, as well as his office, and tell them what had happened.
    I phoned Charlie first and to his credit, he didn’t seem shocked at the news. Upset, yes, but nothing fazed him apparently, not even the fact that my dad had been hit in a drive-by shooting. It was as I was talking to Charlie that it occurred to me perhaps it hadn’t been a random thing. I remembered what Dad had said about the problems he’d had over the years and the tough-looking ex-military men he’d hired to secure his business.
    “Charlie, do you think Dad could have been targeted?”
    There was a hesitation on the other end. “Maybe,” he said at last. “It’s hard to know just yet. If he was, it shouldn’t take long to find out.”
    “Can you find out?”
    “Absolutely. I’m on it.”
    I hung up, my mind working. I didn’t want to know exactly how Charlie would go about investigating this, but I did want to know the answer. Because if this hadn’t been random and my dad had been a target from a rival…well, then there’d be hell to pay, courtesy of his daughter. I could feel the anger in my veins at the thought and I took a deep breath