The Summer Children (The Collector #3)(82)

“He’ll need to get lifted out. The copter can’t land and he can’t hike it. That’s way too far to carry him.”

“Is that your way of calling me fat?”

“It’s my way of saying make one more joke and I will leave you to Priya’s tender mercy.”

That asshole actually grins at me. “I was a model of restraint when she got hurt.”

“That doesn’t mean she will be.”

He grimaces against a throbbing wave of pain, the muscles twitching under my hands. “Point.” A Marine in full gear rappels down from the hovering helicopter. “Anyone hurt?” he bellows.

Cass grabs him by the elbow and shoves him our way. The Marine Corps, if I remember correctly, doesn’t actually have medical personnel, but most units have corpsmen with some medical training. He gives a quick check under the rapidly soaking-through bandage, then turns his head to speak into the radio on his shoulder. A second Marine drops down with a collapsible backboard and some rigging.

“Oh, fuck no,” mutters Eddison.

I flick his forehead with bloody fingers. “You will do it and you will say thank you,” I warn him ominously. And then, because he’s my brother and we’re both scared out of our minds, I scratch along his scalp, fingers digging into his shaggy curls. I don’t pull away until the Marines lift him in a smooth, practiced move and transfer him onto the rigged-up board. They carry the board over to the dangling ropes and with a series of knots that seem more fast than safe, to my inexperienced eye, have both themselves and Eddison roped in. Winches in the copter haul them up. The last I see of Eddison is his tired, somewhat mocking salute to the Marines pulling him on board.

Cass grabs my elbow with both hands and yanks me to my feet. “Nichelle,” she reminds me as the copter moves away.

Right. Traumatized child, who has absolutely no idea what’s going on.

She’s wrapped around Sterling, face buried in Eliza’s stomach, her shoulders shaking. Sterling rubs firmly between her shoulder blades, giving her a grounding point.

“Nichelle?”

She shifts her head to look at me with one eye.

I crouch down beside her, trying not to touch either of them with my bloody hands. “You are so smart, and so brave,” I tell her. “You knew just what we were trying to do, didn’t you?”

“Not at first,” she mumbles into Eliza’s shirt.

“But you figured it out. It was so frightening, but you figured it out and you helped us. Thank you, Nichelle. I’m sorry this happened, and I’m sorry I seemed to make it worse at first. And you know what, your mom is at home, waiting, and she is so worried about you.”

She perks up. Not enough to let go of Sterling, but I can see her whole face, at least. “Is she okay?” she asks in a rush. “She was bleeding but I couldn’t see how bad.”

“She’s hurt,” I admit, “but she’s going to be okay. Once she sees you’re safe and sound, you’ll both go to the hospital. Your dad is there already. I don’t know how he’s doing, though. He was in the ambulance before I got to the house.”

Sounds start carrying through the woods, yells and calls for us. Cass puts her phone back in her pocket where she’s standing guard over Cara’s body. “MARCO!” she yells, and there’s a ripple of shocked laughter through the trees.

“Stupid fed,” someone bellows. “The one looking is supposed to say ‘Marco’!”

“I can’t say ‘Polo’ if you’re not smart enough to say ‘Marco’ first!”

Nichelle giggles, even as she looks a bit shocked by it.

“Nichelle, we are really relieved that you’re okay,” I tell her, feeling a little giddy myself. “We might get a little silly. Is that okay?”

She nods with a shy grin.

A small herd arrives in the clearing, mostly uniforms with a couple of agents. A female officer immediately comes over to us and smiles down at the little girl. “Hi, Nichelle. My name is Officer Friendly. Do you remember me?”

It takes her a moment, but then the giggle slips out again. “You spoke at my school. You said your name is really Officer Friendly.”

“And so it is,” the woman says, pointing to her name tag. “Hannah Friendly. While we were out looking for you, the hospital called your mom. Your dad is going to be just fine. And you’ll get to see both of them really soon.”

Nichelle looks over to Cara, but a wall of police officers blocks her view of the body. “I . . . I . . .”

“It’s okay, Nichelle, you can ask us anything.”

“I didn’t do anything wrong, did I? She didn’t take me ’cuz I was bad?”

“Not a single thing,” I answer firmly. “She used to live here when she was a little girl. Her father was a bad man, and hurt her, and when she got really upset about some things, she thought your parents were hurting you, because you were in the same house. You didn’t do anything wrong, and neither did your parents. Promise.”

She studies my face like she’s memorizing it, her dark eyes lingering on the scars I got when I was only a year older than her, and finally nods. “Okay. And I can go home now?”

“Absolutely,” says Officer Friendly, offering her hand. Nichelle takes it and allows herself to be led away from me and Sterling. Eliza helps me stand, because my knees are a bit shaky in a way I can’t entirely blame on crouching.