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Chapter 575 Shots Fired

"

Steve watched as Tara tried to drag herself to safety. She didn't have a chance. He was too far away to save her. That left him with only one option. He pulled his 9mm from his holster. He might be too far away to grab Tara but he wasn't too far away to hit the van.

He aimed at the windshield knowing that a shot to the driver's side should hit the driver. With luck, he'd kill the driver or seriously injure him and stop the van from hitting and killing Tara.

He took aim and fired four shots at the van's windshield. It swerved wildly, rocking from side to side. It stopped briefly. Steve put another couple of rounds into the van's windshield. It took off again, turning around in a squeal of mechanical protest and headed away.

When he fired his gun, the people in the park scattered not wanting to get hit by stray bullets and having no way of knowing who would be the next target. He holstered his weapon, grabbed Tara's medical bag and ran to her side.

A woman crawled out from under a picnic table where she'd taken cover and watched hesitating. Steve saw her.

"Can you help me?"

She stared at him clearly fearful.

"I'm in security. I only shot the van to save Tara. She's a surgeon at St. Thomas," Steve said.

"I'm a nurse."

"How about I take my gun out and unload it and then will you help?"

The woman gave Steve an appraising look, deciding whether or not to trust him.

"That's OK. Keep your gun loaded. Just in case."

Once the nurse began to assess Tara, Steve called 911. He didn't want to assume someone had called and he needed to make sure an ambulance reached them without delay.

"Tara," Steve called looking at Tara's ashen face. "Can you hear me?"

Her eyes fluttered open.

"This lady . . ."

"Sara," the woman supplied.

"Is a nurse," Steve continued, "and she is going to help you until paramedics get here."

"Tell Scarlett . . . to talk . . . Hale," she whispered before her eyes closed.

"She's lost blood," the nurse said pointing to Tara's leg. A bone was protruding through the skin. "I need to do a tourniquet or she'll bleed out."

She already had on gloves and was removing a length of rubber tubing from Tara's medical bag.

"What can I do to help?"

"Get someone to direct cars away from us so we don't get hit."

"OK," Steve said getting to his feet and looking for someone who looked open to helping.

"You need help?" a man asked.

"Yeah, we need to keep cars from coming down this way until police and an ambulance get here so she doesn't get hit again."

"I work for the cable company. I've got traffic cones on my truck and I'll direct traffic until help gets here."

"Thanks," Steve said gratefully and ran back to the nurse taking care of Tara.

"Found a guy to help."

"Good," she said finishing the tourniquet. She checked Tara's pulse and began to do CPR.

"Is she going to make it?"

"She's lost a lot of blood and I'm sure there's internal bleeding. She needs a hospital now."

In the distance, Steve heard the comforting sounds of sirens. He hoped they would get there in time to save Tara.