LITMIR.BIZ

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      “Where do you need me?” she asked another paramedic who was examining a man’s leg beneath his torn pants.

      “The truck driver was pretty shaken,” the paramedic told her. “He’s sitting in the back of a squad car for questioning right now. No visible injuries, but his pupils were dilated and he did say his back was hurting. Seems he was driving this illegal group and he had no clue.”

      Piper nodded, gripped her bag tighter and headed toward the squad car closest to the overturned semi. Sure enough a trooper had his forearm resting on the roof of the car as he leaned in and listened to whatever the man seated in the back was saying.

      “I swear I had no clue what was in the back of my truck. Please, you’ve got to believe me,” the driver pleaded. “I was just trying to get into the other lane and that car came out of nowhere. I didn’t see him at all.”

      According to the man’s story, he was completely innocent. This was a mess of epic proportions and not something a few questions would solve. But all Piper needed to do was to assess the man to see if he needed to go to the hospital or if he could continue being questioned.

      “Officer, may I please check him out?” Piper asked. “I understand he has back pain.”

      The officer stood to his full height and nodded, but didn’t move too far away. Often medics and cops worked together. Being a first responder required teamwork and so far she’d never had an issue with any cop getting in the way of her treating a patient at the scene.

      Piper leaned in and saw a middle-aged man with a protruding belly hanging over his faded jeans, a dirty, bushy blond mustache with matching beard and nicotine-stained fingers.

      “Sir, my name is Piper and I’m an EMT. I was told your back is hurting. Can you stand?”

      He nodded and slid out of the car as Piper backed up. When he came to his full height, he winced, grabbing his lower back—whether for show to get the officer’s sympathy or because the pain was indeed real, she didn’t know. Yet again, not her place to judge.

      “If you’ll come this way, we can set you in the back of an ambulance. You may want to go to the hospital just to make sure nothing else is wrong, but I can get your vitals over here.”

      “I appreciate that, ma’am.”

      As she led the man toward the nearest empty ambulance, her eyes scanned the crowd for Ryan. Had he already been taken to the E.R.? Were his injuries life-threatening? The unknowns were killing her.

      She knew a life flight chopper hadn’t been dispatched to the scene, so that was a mild comfort. Not only for the fact Ryan didn’t need a medevac, but that none of the others involved in the accident did, either.

      Another ambulance arrived on the scene as Piper assisted the truck driver into the back of a vacant one. When fresh paramedics hopped from their emergency vehicle and made their way toward the group of injured people, she jogged back over to assist.

      But froze in her tracks as one head lifted and a familiar set of dark eyes met hers. He was amid a group of Mexicans, but this man... She knew this man.

      Dear God. How could this... What the hell...?

      “Alex?” she whispered to herself.

      Piper took off at a dead run and stopped beside Alex Santiago. Her bag dropped at her feet as she held her breath.

      Was she honest to God seeing the man who’d disappeared months ago without a trace? Could it truly be him?

      The man glanced up at her, holding his hand over his eyes to block the glaring afternoon sun.

      My God. It was him. The hair was a shaggy, unkempt mess and the scruff on his cheeks and chin indicated he hadn’t shaved in a few days or even weeks. But this was Alex... The man who’d been missing from Royal, Texas, for months.

      The man most people assumed had become a victim of foul play, maybe even at his best friend’s hand. But here he was, living and breathing.

      “Alex, what on earth are you doing here? Where have you been?” she asked, eyeing the knot on the side of his head.

      He winced as she slid her fingertip over the swollen bump. “You must have me confused with someone else. My name isn’t Alex.”

      Piper’s hand stilled above his head as she leaned down to look him in the eyes. She was pretty sure she knew what her friend looked like. Just because she hadn’t seen him in months didn’t mean she was clueless.

      She looked closer. Um...yeah, this was Alex. If he didn’t think he was Alex, then he’d hit his head too hard in that crash. But at least he was alive.

      “Your name is Alex Santiago,” she told him, making sure to keep her eyes locked on to his, waiting for a spark of recognition from his end.

      His brows drew together and he slowly shook his head. “I’ve never heard that name.”

      “Then what do people call you?” she asked, worry growing deeper with each passing moment.

      Alex’s eyes searched hers; he opened his mouth, closed it and sighed. “I don’t...remember. That doesn’t make sense. How could I not know my own name?”

      “You have a good bump here on your head,” she reminded him as her eyes traveled down to the wrist he cradled in his other hand. “Looks like you may have broken your wrist.”

      He glanced down and simply nodded. Piper worried shock may be setting in. Between the accident and the apparent memory loss, she had no doubt Alex was shaken.

      “Let’s get you to an ambulance and see what the doctors have to say once you get to the hospital,” she said gently. “I’m sure you’ll remember you’re Alex Santiago in no time. I’m Piper Kindred and we’ve been friends for a while. Can you at least tell me how you got into that truck?”

      Piper lifted her duffel bag, helped Alex to his feet and held an arm around his waist when he started to sway. “Easy,” she told him. “No rush. We’re only going to that ambulance a few feet away. Think you can make it or should I bring a gurney?”

      “No, I’m okay.”

      She didn’t quite believe him so she kept him leaning against her side as she led him to the waiting ambulance.

      “Go ahead and lie down on that cot,” she said as she assisted Alex into the back of the vehicle.

      “Do you know where you are?”

      His blank look added to the sickening feeling in her stomach.

      “We ready to roll?”

      Piper glanced at the other EMT on the scene. They might as well go without her because there was no way in hell she was leaving without at least seeing that Ryan was okay...and to tell him of miraculously discovering Alex.

      “Go ahead and take him. He’s got some memory loss so he doesn’t know his name. Make sure the doctors are aware this is Alex Santiago and he’s been missing for months. I’ll go inform an officer because Alex was the subject of an ongoing investigation.”

      Turning her attention back to Alex, Piper offered a warm smile. “You’re in good hands now, Alex. I know you’re confused, but I’ll be at the hospital as soon as I can to check on you.”

      Continuing to hold on to his wrist, Alex leaned back on the gurney. Piper closed the doors and tapped the back to inform the driver he was good to go.

      With several paramedics now on the scene, Piper felt comfortable going in search of Ryan.

      After searching frantically, running through the chaos, she found him next to the road on the other side of the overturned semi. Her knees weakened with relief at the sight of Ryan whole and upright. He was a good bit from his car, so she had to assume the officer had taken him aside to get his statement.

      But glancing at Ryan and actually talking to him were two different

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