“So he’s out of commission,” Ty muttered with a defeated look at Zane as they moved him.
She shrugged in answer.
“But how…” Henninger started, but glares from both Ty and the EMT shut him up.
Ty was torn. He’d already stepped over the line by forcing the anesthesia on Zane, though why the EMT hadn’t just done a local he couldn’t guess. She obviously knew more about it all than he did.
Should he call Burns and let him know Zane was out of service? He certainly wouldn’t be much good to the case now. Perhaps Ty should have Burns send someone new in. Or he could keep going on his own until Zane recovered, although he knew he couldn’t do this alone. He wasn’t as smart as the killer. He didn’t know what to do, and the indecisiveness was as annoying to him as it was uncharacteristic.
“Garrett can’t work like that. You’re going to have to call in and have him taken off the case,” Henninger advised as he watched Ty think it over.
“A case is the last thing Special Agent Garrett should be worrying about,” the EMT offered.
“Hmm?” Ty asked them both distractedly. “How did you get here, anyway?” he asked the young agent with sudden annoyance.
“I was waiting to meet you, heard about this mess over the radio, and got a bad feeling about it since you were late. When you got later, I decided to drive up here just in case and I saw you standing by the wreck,” Henninger answered defensively. He glanced to the EMT uncertainly, and she rolled her eyes and walked the few steps to climb up into the truck with her patient.
“Look, Grady,” Henninger continued. “Catching this serial is more important than keeping Zane Garrett on the job.”
Ty was shocked that he almost found himself agreeing with the sentiment. He blinked at the man and then looked over at Zane, who was obviously struggling with the effects of the drugs. “You ever been asked the question ‘Who would you choose to save? A hundred strangers or one family member?’” he asked softly.
Henninger drew back in surprise and a hint of concern. “No,” he said cautiously. “But I’d answer a hundred strangers. That’s our job.”
“That is the noble answer, isn’t it?” Ty murmured as he looked back at Zane.
“We have a responsibility. If that’s noble, then….” Henninger shrugged, frowning as he noticed Ty’s attention wavering. “You know it’s the right thing to do,” he insisted.
“What do you care, anyway?” Ty asked him in slightly desperate whisper.
“I care about catching the guy who’s going around cutting people into such small chunks you could make Hamburger Helper with them!” Henninger retorted. “I’d care about that more than I’d care about one man who I can barely stand to work with.”
Ty was still aware enough of his surroundings not to argue that point.
“Do you have your car?” he asked Henninger hoarsely without answering.
Henninger blinked at the sudden change in topic. “Yeah,” he answered warily.
“Can he ride?” Ty called out to the EMT inside the vehicle.
“If you can make him sign this release, he’s all yours,” the woman yelled back.
Ty cringed and looked back at Henninger. “Go get your car,” he told the kid softly. “We’re getting him the hell out of here,” he muttered as he headed for the ambulance.
Before Ty could get there, Zane stepped down out of the truck, holding tightly to the grab bar as the paramedic held the clipboard and the signed release form up behind him for Ty to see. Zane’s glazed eyes were blazing with anger, and he was trembling from the pain and the drugs. “You goddamn piece of shit,” he said thickly, obviously trying to throw off the effects of the sedative.
“I know,” Ty agreed unapologetically as he reached out to support Zane. How the man was walking, he didn’t know.
Zane was wobbly and weak, and he hated that he felt like he was moving through water and seeing through a haze. A red haze, but still a haze.
He had to lean heavily on Ty when the other man slipped under his good arm.
He thought about cussing some more, but all that came out was a hiss of pain, and his knees tried to give out on him. “Bitch gave me a shot, goddammit,” he muttered mostly to himself. “I am so f**ked.”
“I know,” Ty repeated as he tried to support him without hurting him or himself. “You’re gonna be just fine,” he promised. “Henninger’s got cigarettes for you,” he said as if in consolation as he nodded at the kid.
Henninger watched them with wide, confused eyes before nodding quickly and fishing for his keys. “In the car,” he told Zane agreeably.
Zane grimaced. “Why does everything hurt when just one side got banged up? And why did it have to be my gun arm?” he half-whined as Ty got him walking, albeit unsteadily, to follow Henninger, who took off ahead to get his car and move it closer.
“I used all your ammo anyway,” Ty grumbled. “And then threw your gun at a car. Have fun filling out that paperwork.”
Zane managed to clear through the haze enough to look at Ty as they struggled through the crowd. “Are you hurt?” he asked.
“If I say yes, will it make you not mad at me?” Ty asked almost teasingly, his voice slightly strained under the bigger man’s weight.
“No,” Zane bit out. He went quiet as they walked several steps. “I asked you to get out of the car.”
“Must not have heard you,” Ty murmured in response.
“I begged you,” Zane said weakly, but his hand tightened on Ty’s arm. “Bastard.”
“I know,” Ty repeated softly, looking around at the various pods of people being tended to and interviewed as they made their way practically unnoticed through them, following Henninger toward the concrete barrier.
Henninger pulled up nearly in front of them as they broke free of the perimeter of the wreck site on the other side of the closed-off highway, and Ty groaned as he looked at the two-foot-high concrete median wall.
Henninger hopped out and stood on the other side indecisively, unsure of how to help.
Zane focused on the wall and sighed. “Shit. It’s never easy, is it?”
Taking a deep breath, he blinked hard and lifted his weight off Ty to stand up straight. By force of will he walked the two steps to the barrier and stepped over it. Both Ty and Henninger had their hands out around him, hovering protectively and looking like parents watching their firstborn take a step. Zane couldn’t help but chuckle at the two of them as he took the three more steps to the car and sagged against it. “Okay, I’m done,” he whispered as the pain from his whole right side echoed through him.