A/N: A quick resolution after that cliffhanger, I own nothing but mistakes. Tell me if you guessed the plan that Schuester hatched with Menkins that we discover in the end.

64

If Scooby-Doo taught us nothing else,

it's that real monsters are always human.

—SIGN AT LIMA SPRINGS COUNTY SHERIFF'S DEPARTMENT

"Whoever orders these lunches needs to find a new job," she said.

Hunt looked at her. "Yeah, that's you."

"Exactly. I am fired. And I mean it this time."

The incident commander voice, Ken Tanaka, came in on the radio. "Sheriff, we found something."

"Hop on," Hunt said to her, motioning to the ATV he was on.

She dropped her lunch and jumped on the back as Hunt raced the couple hundred yards to the scene. The search team stood not far from where they found their Jane Doe, in exactly the same place Cedes had guessed the suspect dropped Beatrice McClaine over the side of the guardrail.

The dogs were going crazy. Half a woman's foot protruded from the ground where the crew had dug when the dogs alerted them to a body. She wore pink toenail polish that matched the tips of the blond hair they'd found on the guardrail up top.

Cedes studied the area. She'd never been so disappointed to be right. The suspect had dumped her over the guardrail, then taken another route down to bury her. He would have done the same with their Jane Doe if she hadn't fought. If she hadn't ruined his plans for her to fall all the way to the bottom.

"You were right," Hunt said.

"We'll get forensics out here to process the scene." She turned toward the commander. "Thank you."

He took her hand. "Of course, Sheriff." He looked past her. "Looks like your lieutenant may have something as well."

Cedes turned to see McCarthy running toward them.

"Boss, something's happened," he said, gasping for air.

The last time McCarthy ran up to her and uttered those words, Gina had almost been killed. And that was only days ago, so the reaction she had now could be chalked up to a latent case of PTSD. "What is it, Lieutenant?"

He looked from Cedes to Hunter and back. "There's been a shooting."

Cedes nodded and looked at Tanaka.

"I've got this," he said to her.

They stepped to the side. Hunt followed and Chang stayed close, too.

"Where?" Cedes asked her.

"At the petroglyphs."

At first Cedes thought she misunderstood. She shook her head at McCarthy.

"It's a bus full of kids. A group of them flagged down a motorist, who called it in. Boss, there's an active shooter up there."

Hunt grabbed Cedes' arm before she realized she was swaying. "Bring him," she said to Hunter, pointing at Chang as she and McCarthy sprinted for the man's UTV. Hunt and Chang scrambled onto the ATV so Hunt could give him a ride to his UTV, considering Chang was the only one in the bunch who almost died a few days earlier and shouldn't have been out there at all.

They beat her and McCarthy to the vehicle, but the minute she jumped in the four-seater, she asked Chang, "How fast can you get us to the top?"

"Let's find out."

Chang took a lot of risks getting them up to the small access road, but the three of them made it to the top in a little more than ten minutes. Hunt's ATV wasn't far behind, and his ride was the more dangerous.

Once up top, she ordered Chang to stay there, and she and Hunt jumped in her cruiser. Martinez picked up McCarthy and they raced down one mountain pass to go to another one that led up to the petroglyphs. They were met on the way by a convoy of first responders. State police, Fire, and EMS sped up the road until the whole line came to a screeching halt. Three girls were running down the highway, one had blood running down her face. Cedes jumped out and sprinted toward them as the EMTs got out.

"Girls, what happened?"

"There's a shooter. He shot at the bus as we were leaving and we went down the side of a hill. The bus is upside down."

"And the shooter kept shooting, Gina told us to wait between firings when we got off the bus, and then she told us to run."

"Gina?" Cedes could barely speak her daughter's name.

An EMT led the third girl, the one with the head wound, away.

"Yes, she told us to wait until the shooter paused to reload, and then run for the trees, so we did."

"Did you see her after that?"

"No, Sheriff, I didn't. I'm sorry. We just ran and kept running, like she told us to. We didn't stop until we saw you guys."

"Okay." Cedes drew in a deep breath and nodded to the EMT.

She put a blanket over the girl's shoulders and led her to the back of an ambulance.

"Sheriff, we need to cordon this entire area off and get some more fire trucks in here." The state policeman told her.

"What? Why?"

"There's smoke."

She whirled around to see the smoke up ahead.

"And we have an active shooter on-site," he reminded her.

"I have to get up there. My father and my daughter were on that bus."

"Yes, ma'am. I'll send a couple of my men up there with you and coordinate a search for more survivors. Be careful."

"You too, Officer."

She and Hunter got back into her cruiser, after giving McCarthy and Martinez instructions, and hurried up the mountain with two state police units right behind them. They came across more survivors running down the road. Three boys and a girl, but no Gina. No Malcolm Jones.

Cedes let the last state cruiser take care of them. They pulled over to assist the kids as Cedes and the other state officers continued on. The higher up they went, the thicker the smoke became, and the more Cedes' chest squeezed in panic.

"They're okay, Cedes," Hunter said, as though soothing himself as much as her. "They've got to be okay."

"This is not happening, Hunt. With everything she's gone through, this is not happening."

He didn't answer.

The cruiser behind them pulled to the side of the road, and Cedes realized they'd spotted some students running below them. She and Hunt drove another couple of minutes until Hunter pointed.

"There," he said, and she swerved to miss a girl helping a boy down the road. The boy leaned heavily into her and she was struggling to stay upright.

Cedes pulled to a stop as the two turned back and walked out of the smoke toward them, the girl swaying from exhaustion and fear, her cheek scratched and bleeding. Cedes jumped out of the cruiser and raced to their side.

"We need to get them to medical," he said when she joined him noticing how injured the kids were.

"I agree. Get them down the mountain. I'll go up on foot."

"You can't be serious."

"I am and you know it."

"Then, no."

"Hunt—"

"Not just no," he told her.

"Hunter." She said pulling rank. "Do your job. Get them to safety."

"You're not doing this to me right now."

"I am, Deputy."

"Fine. I'm going to take them to the officers we just left, and then I'm coming back. After that, Sheriff, I quit. So don't try to order me around again."

She gave him a curt nod, then started running. She heard the tires squeal as he put the cruiser in reverse and took the curves far too fast, heedless of the fact that there could be more kids out here. She ignored the stinging in the backs of her eyes. He wouldn't quit. She knew that. But the mere thought was enough to spike her anxiety.

The smoke became thicker with each step Gina took, but other than her eyes burning, she was fine. She could still see and breathe thanks to her inhaler. She'd taken several hits on the way up, but the albuterol was running seriously low.

She glanced around for Daniel before leaving the cover of the trees. Flames licked along a wall of smoke to her left. She couldn't wait any longer. She turned and made a run for it. Logically she should go down to avoid smoke inhalation, but she had to get to her grandfather. Smoke was already filling the bus.

Her grandfather was still there but unconscious. "Big Poppa!" she shouted, patting his cold face. "Big Poppa, please, wake up." She said over and over again.

"Gina?" he said finally.

She showered his face with kisses.

"Gina. No." He fought to open his eyes. "What are you doing here?"

"There's a fire. I think Daniel set it."

"Daniel?"

"Daniel Schuester. He's the shooter. At least I think he is. I haven't actually seen his face. We have to get you to safety."

"No." He said as he tried to push her away. "No, Gina, run."

Her Big Poppa had always been the strongest person she knew. Seeing him like this tore her apart. "Please, Big Poppa. We have to get you out of the smoke. There's a fire."

She was wasting her words because he had lost consciousness again.

She found a hoodie on the bus and tried to rip it, but she couldn't quite manage it. Her hands were shaking so bad and her strength was gone. So, she tied it around his leg as tight as she could, finally noticing the pool of blood he lay in. With tears pushing past her lashes in droves, she covered him with the backpacks again before deciding to try the radio, just in case.

The bus driver lay in a pool of blood under his seat, but his chest was moving. He was still alive. Gina slipped on his blood when reaching for the mic.

She put it to her mouth and pressed the button on the side. "Hello?" she said, turning knobs with her free hand. "Is anyone there?" When no one answered, she examined the large hole in the front of the radio. Daniel had shot it clean through.

After coughing, she took another hit off her inhaler, only then realizing her hands were covered in blood. She pocketed her inhaler and wiped her hands on her jeans before looking up the mountain. She had to get back up to the petroglyphs. She only managed one bar there, but a single bar was better than none. Someone had to know her Big Poppa was in the bus. He and the bus driver would burn to death if no one knew to look for them.

She went back to her grandfather. "I'll be right back, Big Poppa to get you out, but I want to try to get help first in case I can't manage it. Please don't leave me," she told him as she thought of ideas of how to remove him from the bus, but she could only do that if help arrived.

Feeling alone and abandoned, Gina jumped out the back exit. After looking at the area with her phone to make sure Daniel wasn't there, she hiked up the slope, following the grooves the bus left when it slid down. The bus had rolled farther than she thought, and it took some time to get back up to the road.

She didn't stop to catch her breath. She ran with her phone in her hand until she had a bar. She stopped and clutched the phone to her chest, then texted her mom before trying to call, just in case her calls wouldn't go through.

Big Poppa injured in bus. The fire is close. Please come get him.

She hit SEND just as she heard a voice behind her. "See?"

Gina turned around.

Lily stood there, her smirk perfectly placed. "She's right where I told you she'd be."

Daniel Schuester walked up behind Lily, the gun aimed at Gina, when her phone rang. She didn't dare move when he reached over and took it out of her hand.

"How'd you guess?" he asked her.

"Guess what?"

"You know what Gina." He smiled at her.

"That it was you. It wasn't hard because you are not that smart."

"Damn, I knew I liked you. I'm really going to regret killing you. You would have been my first black girlfriend. Any last words?"

"Move?"

"What?" he asked as Lily raised a rock and smashed it into the side of his head.

He fell to his knees, stunned as a river of blood flowed down his face.

Lily tried to get away from him, but he caught her ankle and she fell.

"Lily!" Gina cried as she went to help her, but he had the rifle on her with one hand before she took another step.

He grabbed Lily's hair with his other hand and slammed her head into the ground. Blood poured from Lily's face.

"You're a little fighter like your cousin, aren't you? And here I figured you for a petty wimp."

"Daniel, please stop hurting her."

Instead of listening to her, he slammed Lily's face into the ground again. She went limp and Gina fell to her knees, silently pleading for Lily to wake up like she did her grandfather earlier.

"That was not a smart thing to do." He said and pointed his rifle at Lily.

"Stop Daniel!" Gina yelled as she tried to stop him, but he once again pointed the rifle at her.

She thought about so many things in that moment. It was weird how quickly the mind focused on what meant the world to her. Her mother braiding her hair. Her grandparents wishing her a happy birthday at midnight. The way Ricky's eyes sparkled when he smiled at her. The way Sam looked at her mom. Stevie's mom teaching them to make moonshine, Ashlyn and Kourtney and even Lily trying to rescue them both. It was the people most important to her that flashed before her eyes in the end.

Well, that and a second shooter she say coming close to them.

Surprisingly, Cedes found the scene before Hunt made it back to her. The bus lay upside down, the back open with items strewn about the ground. The bus driver lay slumped underneath his overturned seat, and she couldn't find her father and Gina. Where were they and the shooter? She was just about to head down to check on the driver when she saw drops of blood leading to the picnic area across the road. Not a lot, but enough to convince Cedes to head to the petroglyphs.

She spotted another vehicle and wondered if the truck belonged to the shooter. She hurried over for a quick assessment. No weapons in the cabin or the bed and the tread pattern was different, so not the same tires that had parked at the pass at Copper Canyon where they found their Jane Doe. She tried the passenger's-side door to check the registration, but it was locked. It could've still been the shooter or a concerned citizen or a hiker who got caught up in the horrific events of the day. There was no way of knowing just yet.

After a quick look for the owner and finding no one, she eased up the path to the rock formations with the petroglyphs, keeping a lookout for anything unusual. She slowed when she heard voices. Or, more to the point, one specific voice. The voice she'd been searching for.

Fighting the urge to sprint to Gina, she drew her sidearm and crept closer just in time to see the shooter slam a girl's head into the ground.

Gina sank onto her knees, begging him to stop, but when he repositioned the rifle—the rifle he had in his left hand—and trained it on Gina instead, a calmness sank into Cedes like she'd never felt before. A sense of calling like she'd never known. She raised her sidearm, aimed for the base of the man's skull, and pulled the trigger.

He crumpled instantly, losing all motor skills and falling into a heap all the way to the ground.

She'd taken the only shot she knew would incapacitate him instantly, so he couldn't pull the trigger and kill Gina in reflex, but the smoke that was getting thicker by the moment had obstructed her view for a split second. She was afraid she'd missed. She still may have. The fact that he went down didn't mean she'd completely incapacitated him. Her bullet could've grazed him instead of ending his life as planned.

Keeping her sidearm trained on the shooter, she hurried up and kicked his rifle down the trail. He lay on his left side, eyes open as though in disbelief but unable to move. Before she could search him for other weapons and check his pulse, she was tackle-hugged by her reason for living.

"Mom!" Gina cried, squeezing the breath from Cedes' lungs.

Cedes holstered her duty weapon and hugged her back, squeezing with all her might before Gina remembered the other girl and tore away from her.

"Lily!" she said, falling to her knees beside her.

Cedes knelt to check the girl's pulse, but the poor thing started to come around with a soft moan. "Hang tight, Lily," Cedes said, trying to keep her immobile with a light hand on her shoulder. "Help is on the way. Don't move."

Lily groaned again, and Gina surprised Cedes by taking the girl's hand. "It's okay, Lily. My mom is here just like I said." Gina began crying and Cedes put both arms around her shoulders. Not for comfort and not because she was proud of the brave, selfless human that Gina had become. All those things were true. All those and then some.

But she put her arms around Gina because the shooter had pulled a pistol and was aiming it at Gina.

Too late to draw her sidearm, Cedes raised a palm as she slowly nudged Gina behind her.

"What are you—" Gina began, then she saw the gun, too. She froze, so Cedes pulled harder at her arm, trying to block the gun's targeted trajectory. Namely, her daughter's head.

The shooter still lay on his side, barely able to lift his head much less the gun, but he was simply too close to miss. The left side of his face hung in shreds from Cedes' bullet which had entered the base of his skull and exited through his cheek. Blood poured out of the wound, clumping in his hair and pooling on the ground.

A cautious and subdued voice sounded from behind them. "It's okay, son."

Cedes turned ever so slightly and saw Daniel's father, former sheriff Will Schuester, slowly walking toward them. He'd picked up the rifle Daniel had dropped and trained the tip on the back of Cedes' head.

"Daddy?" Daniel said. "I can't move my left side."

"It's okay, son. I'm here now." He looked at Cedes, his face twisted into a mass of hatred and agony. He jerked the rifle he had perched on his left shoulder, motioning for Cedes and Gina to get back.

They scrambled back, Cedes doing her best to put herself between the firearms and her daughter, but Gina seemed to be doing the same. She kept trying to get in front of her, so Cedes had to keep a firm hold on the headstrong girl.

Emergency vehicles sounded in the distance, getting closer by the second and ramping up Schuester's anxiety. He rubbed a cheek on his shoulder as he scissor-walked to his son's side. But he kept his aim steady, not daring to take his eyes off Cedes.

When Cedes slowly inched her hand toward her sidearm, he stared at her. "I know how fast you are, Little Mercy Jones. How about you keep that hand right where it was."

"I'm just trying to understand all of this, Schuester."

"Isn't it obvious?" he asked, a breathy sob escaping him.

"Not really. Is this, like, a bonding experience with your son?"

Daniel tried to aim his gun at her but he couldn't quite manage a steady hold, and if Cedes was right, he was left-handed like his father, which would make his aim less accurate since he held the gun in his right hand. Even with him unable to keep a steady hold, if he got really lucky and pulled the trigger at just the right moment, he could very well hit any of them.

"Something you two do in your spare time?" she continued. Cedes heard Gina wheezing and realized she was having a hard time breathing. Gina clutched at Cedes' shirt and coughed as Cedes pulled her closer. She had to get her out of the smoke now. If the Schuesters didn't kill her daughter, the smoke would.

Schuester wiped his face again, and she realized he was crying. "It's not his fault."

She continued to scan the area for possible escape routes for Gina and wondered why Schuester was crying. "Whose fault is it then?"

"He was just born this way. His mother OCD didn't help either. He really doesn't mean to hurt people."

"So, it's okay to allow him to continue because he is mentally ill?" she asked to keep him talking knowing Hunt would be there soon, and she would find away to escape the two and get Gina to safety.

"Yes, he needs help not prison."

"He needs more than help for mental illness," she said looking at his partially paralyzed son.

"Don't you think I know that?" he asked pointing his gun at Cedes.

She had to get him talking. Maybe now he would confess about his dealings with Cooter Menkins and how did all of this play into their dealings together?

"I've tried everything you can think of, Mercedes. His mother is a guidance counselor, so counseling and medication were the first things we tried. After everything else failed, I even tried to beat it out of him, but there are just some things that burrow inside too deep. You can't get the evil out no matter what you do."

That would explain why Daniel had been beaten up recently.

"I'm sorry, Dad," Daniel said as he tried to keep aim with his right arm.

"Don't you worry about a thing, son."

"What does this have to do with your deal with Cooter Menkins?" Cedes just flat out asked him.

"Not in the way that you may think."

"Please explain, unless covering up your son's crimes is why you want your old job back so much?"

"That's only part of it."

"What does that have to do with Cooter?"

"We have very similar goals."

She nodded seeing movement but in case she was wrong she kept him talking. "So, what? Cooter kills Sam and you kill me and you two run Lima Springs together?"

"Cooter can't kill Sam. His family would never let him get away with it. He needed a rock-solid alibi when the deed went down. Something indisputable."

"Ah. And that's where you come in. You kill Sam, and then what? Cooter kills me to make sure you get your old job back so that you can clear his name?"

"Not even close," he said while looking at his son.

She saw movement again and knew it had to be Hunt. If she could cause a stir, make some noise, he could make it close enough to take a shot. She took hold of Gina with the one hand she had behind her back and prepared to push her down the slope. There were enough trees and bushes to give her some semblance of cover as Cedes and Hunt saw to the Schuesters.

"Then what was Cooter's part of the deal?"

"Something I couldn't do myself." He began to cry like a baby, and Cedes realized he was stalling as much as she was.

She realized the truth. "Schuester, why are we still here? Your son needs to be an ambulance?"

He howled in rage and grief. And when he could, he answered, "We're waiting for my son to bleed out."

Cedes couldn't believe his words. His deal was if he killed Sam, then Cooter would kill his son for him. Wow. Cedes would have never guessed it.

Daniel couldn't believe his dad's words, he struggled to understand but could only say, "Dad?"

Schuester's shoulders shook, and he started to lower the rifle, but Cedes called out to him when Daniel raised the gun at his father.

It happened faster than her mind could register. Daniel pulled the trigger at the exact moment a second bullet snapped his head back, the impact almost taking it off. He went limp and Cedes finally saw Hunter advancing up the trail, his rifle now trained on Schuester senior.

But Daniel had succeeded in shooting his father. Schuester stumbled back, holding his chest as blood spilled from between his splayed fingers. He looked at Cedes and nodded a heartbeat before he lost his footing and slid down the side of the mountain.

Cedes grabbed Gina to her, not wanting her to witness the tragic events, but she wasn't having any of it.

She hugged her mom and went to the girl on the ground side. "Lily!" she cried as she took Lily's hand into her own and ignored the boy lying in a pool of his own blood.

"Is it over?" Lily asked. "I tried to stay really still."

Gina brushed her hair off her face. "You did great, Lily," she said, before succumbing to a fit of coughs.

"Where's your inhaler, ladybug?"

Gina pulled it out and drew in what she could. "It's out, but I think I'm okay."

"We'll get you some oxygen." She waited for Hunt to check Daniel and Will Schuester. The adrenaline coursing through her veins finally caught up with her, and she started shaking uncontrollably. Not for herself but for Gina. She'd almost lost her. Again. What the hell?

"They're dead, boss," Hunt said after checking both of the bodies for a pulse and running back to her side.

Gina threw her arms around his neck.

He hugged her for as long as she would stay still.

"I forgot Big Poppa!" she screamed as she slid out of his arms and started running down the path before he could steady her.

Cedes ran after her. "Gina, wait!"

"Big Poppa's in the bus!" She pointed towards the bus.

"What?"

"We have to get him, Mom! He's bleeding badly, and he has a broken leg!"

And Cedes thought she was all out of panic mode. Emergency vehicles started filing in when they got to the picnic area. A helicopter flew overhead as they ran across the road and slid down to the bus. The flames were only a couple hundred yards out. Far too close for Cedes' peace of mind.

"Big Poppa!" Gina cried. She rushed inside and started throwing backpacks around.

Cedes didn't realize why until she saw her father lying underneath them. "Dad!" She hurried to him and checked his pulse.

"Mom?" Gina asked, tears streaming down her face.

"He's alive."

"Damn straight, I'm alive," he said with a soft cough. "I'm just resting my eyes."

"Big Poppa!" Gina draped herself over him while Cedes checked his wound. The large pool of blood underneath him looked worse, and she felt like she was going to faint. He had lost way too much blood.

"Gina," he said, in a barely there voice, "I always knew you'd light the world on fire, but this is a bit extreme, even for you."

"It's not me this time, Big Poppa."

Cedes got up. "I'll be right back."

"Don't hurry on my account," he said. His lids sealed shut but there was a sweet smile on his face as he rubbed his granddaughter's hair.

Cedes gave him a quick kiss, then went to check on the driver. He was still breathing, but he had a gaping head wound. She sprinted back up the hill.

"Well?" Hunt said to her. He was busy organizing emergency services like a master.

"He's alive. They both are. We need two stretchers. Where's Lily?"

"EMTs are bringing her down now."

"Good," she said, looking for another ambulance.

"They're all at the bottom seeing to the kids," Officer Bucannon said. "All but two have been accounted for."

"There are two here along with the shooter, Daniel Schuester, and one more victim," she said, categorizing the former sheriff accordingly. "We have to get downwind of this fire."

"I agree. There's another ambulance on the way."

"Can we safely get them out of the bus while they're en route?" Hunter asked her.

"It's safer than them suffocating from smoke inhalation. And Gina needs oxygen."

He nodded and grabbed a portable canister out of the ambulance.

Cedes started back down the hill when she heard a commotion. She turned to one of the state cruisers and saw Sam and Chang in the back. Clearly, Chang followed orders as well as the rest of her staff did.

"Oh, we had to put those two in cuffs. Deputy Clarington wanted to assess the situation before letting anyone else up, and they were not fond of his plan."

"Of course they weren't," Cedes said. She turned to Hunt. "Happy now that you got to put him in cuffs?"

A wicked grin spread across his face. "You have no idea."

Hunt and Cedes headed down to the bus while the state patrolman released Chang and Sam. She was inside when the pair stormed the gates. Chang was all business. He helped Hunter get the oxygen on her dad because Gina had refused it while Gina ran into Sam's arms. To say that Sam was beyond angry would be an understatement, but she could tell by the look on his face he was also relieved. And possibly even grateful.

"I take it Chang called and told you what happened?"

The fury he'd been keeping in check was apparently not all directed at Hunter. "Why didn't you as soon as you heard?"

"I'm sorry, Sam. I could hardly focus on driving, much less making my way through the phone tree on the rare occasions we had a signal. Speaking of which, I need to call my mom." She took out her phone only to be once again left with no bars.

"I had McCarthy call her," Hunter said.

"We have one stretcher. Waiting on another." One of the EMTs, Hank stood at the opened emergency door.

Cedes stood, ducking under one of the seatbacks. "Okay, we need to clear the area."

Despite the cramped space, Sam picked Gina up and carefully carried her. Cedes pressed her mouth together and looked away, fighting the blur of tears. Her daughter would need years of therapy after this. And the smoke billowing around them wasn't helping.

"I'm kind of light-headed," Gina admitted before going limp in his arms.

"We have to get her some oxygen," Cedes said, hurrying Sam to the waiting ambulance while Hunt, Chang, and two EMTs got her dad loaded and up the hill, then went back and did the same for the bus driver.

Most of the emergency crews had already gone back down the mountain, surely struggling to see through the ever-thickening smoke, when the second ambulance arrived. They got her dad loaded and Gina on oxygen seconds before the fire jumped the road and headed toward the petroglyphs. Thankfully, two fire trucks had already doused the area. That, along with the recent rains, seemed to be doing the trick.

After getting the bus driver into an ambulance, they drove as quickly as they dared with such limited visibility. Sam still held Gina, and Cedes was trying not to fall even further in love with the man, when her phone sounded with an alarm. Sam's went off as well as they'd both received service at the same time, and if Cedes had to guess, so did Hunter's. The alarm was their proverbial bat signal. The Dangerous Damsels were calling them in.

"You have got to be kidding me," she said, letting go of her dad's hand long enough to check her phone.

Sam didn't even bother to look at his phone. Gina had regained consciousness and lay nestled in his arms. He pulled her tighter, and she snuggled against him.

But it wasn't a call to arms. It was a call to go to Sam's distillery.

"Sam," Cedes said, hating to do it, "check your phone."

He pulled out his phone. Gina sat up to give him space, but he kept an arm around her, not willing to let her go just yet. He read the text, then cursed under his breath.

"What's wrong?" Gina said, her voice almost gone, her breathing labored as Hank checked her oxygen level.

"When we get to the bottom, I have to take care of something," he said to Gina, "but I'll meet you at the hospital, okay?"

"Okay, but I don't need to go to the hospital. I'm feeling much better."

"Nice try, ladybug. I'll tell you what. You go keep Big Poppa company, and maybe let them check you out while you're there?"

"They will have a breathing treatment waiting for you the minute we show up," Hank said.

She nodded as her grandfather lifted a finger to her. It was all he could manage under the straps and plastic tubing.

"I'll keep him safe, Mom."

"I'm pretty sure you've already done that, ladybug."