Fight By The Team (Team Fear Book 2) by Cindy Skaggs

in.
    “Second man is down. Put himself out of his misery. These guys are crazy as fuck,” Craft said. “They keep self-eliminating, we won’t have to kill them. We got four at Ryder’s townhouse. These two today. Leaves six if they had twelve on their team.”
    “Unless they’re self-duplicating.” Rose had a bad feeling about the way the men had gone out. What the hell kind of information were they trying to protect that they were willing to kill one another, kill themselves, to protect? Or had the drug cocktail finally driven them out of their minds? He thought back to the number of times he’d promised to end himself if he became a threat to others. Maybe these guys took the same vow if they became a threat to their twisted mission. “Fowler, think faster or we’re going to the ER.”
    Ryder scrubbed his hands in the kitchen sink soaking his bandages in the process.
    “Keep the wound clean,” Rose ordered. Ryder had taken a solid stab to the palm in the fight a few days ago. They couldn’t afford an infection.
    “We had to bury them in a shallow grave, didn’t have equipment for much else. Coyotes will get ‘em before anyone else ventures up that bluff.”
    “I’m more worried about their reinforcements.”
    “Roger that.” Ryder dried his hands on a cloth. “We need to get gone.”
    “We have time to finish this?” Rose asked. Debi’s health trumped the mission.
    “We can keep guard while you stitch her up, and then we’re out.”
    “Ry, I can triage, but she needs a real doctor.” He didn’t want to screw up. A soldier, no problem. He could get them back to fighting shape, but Debi deserved a legitimate doctor who could keep her stable, limit scarring, and prevent infection. “Plus she needs blood and IV antibiotics.”
    “Wait.” Debi’s words started to slur. “As long as we’re here, I need clothes. And take the food. And—”
    “We got it.” Rose assured her.
    “Wait.” She blinked several times and struggled to lift her head off the couch. “Ryder.”
    Ryder stepped closer. She pulled him down to whisper in his ear. He smiled and squeezed her hand. “Thanks.”
    “What was that all about?”
    Ryder stepped toward the back bedrooms. “You’ll have to ask your patient.”
    Rose looked down but Debi was fully out. The hair that normally flowed down her neck was in a lopsided ponytail away from the wound and her navy blue shirt had a hole cut in the shoulder to reveal the ragged wound filled with blood clotting agent. Blood flow was down. “When I’m done here, I want you to lift her while I put her in a shoulder sling. I want to keep her unconscious until we get to an ER.” He didn’t want her to feel the pain, which was why he’d waited to finish dressing the wound.
    “We’re not going to the ER,” Fowler insisted.
    “The hell we’re not. You want to keep your sorry ass secure, you can hold back, Sally, but I’m—”
    “Just shut up for one damn minute.” Fowler yanked out his cell phone, cursing like a Basic Training Instructor. “Craft can be your surgical assistant, Dr. Frankenstein. I’ve got some calls to make.” Fowler crashed out the front.
    Craft scrubbed up at the kitchen sink like he knew what he was doing, cleaning all the way to the elbows with soap and water. Rose prepped the bandages he needed, but his gaze kept straying to Debi’s still form. He’d spent his whole life protecting women, and somehow he’d still ended up here. A complete failure with Debi’s injury on his shoulders.
    “She looks so small,” Craft said, coming over to stand next to Rose. “Fragile.”
    A knot the size of a walnut lodged in Rose’s throat. “Six sisters, and not once did I have to take them in for stitches or broken bones.”
    “Because you’re an overprotective asshole and they now hate you.” Craft shoulder bumped him, keeping his hands clean. “Get your head in the game, brother. She needs you focused.”
    Rose packed the guilt and the shame and