by Rachel Cade
Jack kept his voice low, his face an inch from hers. “Don’t make a sound and step only where I step.” He grabbed her hand, not giving her much choice as they hightailed it through the trees. Whether or not she could breathe didn’t matter as he quickly led her away from his cottage.
As they came up on a group of shrubs, Ciara wondered if it was water she was hearing in the distance. Jack let go of her hand and went to the side of the bushes, feeling around. He wasn’t wearing goggles, so how was he able to navigate the both of them? Was he digging for something?
A moment later he pulled out a small bag.
That’s what they stopped for? A stupid bag?
Normally she’d protest, but she was too scared to be angry.
They began moving again, slower this time. She had no clue why until she heard moaning.
To her left a man was on his back, his leg and arm stuck in metal traps.
Ciara had to clamp her teeth to keep from screaming at the sudden sight.
They kept moving. Saying nothing she followed his lead as branches scratched at her bare legs. She didn’t know what direction they were even going in when they came across her car.
“Oh my God,” she whispered.
“Keys?” he snapped, keeping his voice low.
Ciara cursed in her head. “No. I don’t - I might have dropped them.” She kept looking behind them for anyone following. “It doesn’t work! I already told you!”
Jack tried the handle then fiddled with it. The next thing she knew, the door was open.
“This is stupid,” she hissed.
Jack slipped into the passenger side and began fiddling beneath the steering wheel.
She wanted to leave him and keep running. If they found her car, that meant they were near the highway. What the hell was he trying to do?
The sound of the engine breaking the silence caused her jaw to drop. She was standing in front of the car when the headlights popped on.
The light lit up the long road she was all too familiar with. In the distance, Ciara could see two more men coming toward them.
“Get in the fucking car!” he yelled.
Ciara scrambled for the passenger seat, reaching to close the door as Jack began speeding backwards in the dark. Closing her eyes for a moment, she began to feel the sweat sink through her shirt to the seat underneath her.
Shaking hands managed to grab the seat belt by her shoulder to strap herself in.
Pinging metal came next, and she realized the men were shooting at them.
Her scream almost exploded the windows.
“Get down!!” was all she heard before the car started spinning.
Ciara hunched to her left, holding her hands over her head. Jack’s hand shifted the gear hard into drive. She felt each bump and jerk as he sped along the road. She couldn’t move anymore or think, not even to make her peace if she didn’t make her way out of this.
After a huge bump, she felt the car swerve hard. She pushed down further into the seat and tried not to scream again. A loud horn blared almost deafening her.
Se could feel the car shifting sideways and braced herself for it to turnover. Her stomach was probably going to follow.
“Almost hit a semi truck just now, but I think we made it.”
Ciara’s skin was sticking to the seat, and she could see her dirt-covered feet and strewn leaves on the car floor. “Are you sure?”
“Yeah.”
“Can I move now?” she asked, pretty sure she was never breathing right again.
“Yeah.” His voice was still hushed.
Ciara’s spine ached and the leather squeaked under her as she pulled her body up.
They were in civilization again.
The highway.
She never thought she’d be so happy to see paved roads again.
“They’re not following us?” She refused to look back as she asked.
“No. Hopefully the fuckers are still in the woods.” he answered quickly. “I’m sorry you got caught up in that.”
Ciara shut her eyes. Her heartbeat just wouldn’t go down. Who the hell was this man?
She couldn’t wrap her head around anything that was going on. Her hands were shaking and she hugged herself willing them to stop.
“You didn’t get hit, did you? Are you alright?”
She could barely feel herself to check, so much of her body was numb.
Ciara shook her head. “This is crazy. This is fucking nuts.”
She heard him mumble something and it made her look at him.
Blood was running down the side of his face, dark against the low light of the car.
“Jack, you’re bleeding.”
“It’s from the glass-”
She looked down and could see more blood trailing down his side.
“Did you get shot?”
“I’m fine.”
“Those guys were trying to kill you.” Ciara’s voice shook as she spoke.
He continued speeding along the dark highway, offering no answers.
Did you kill any of them? The question stuck in the back of her throat. All she could remember was darkness and the men she glimpsed in the traps. She didn’t want to think about it.
He was squinting as he held on the steering wheel. His jaw was tight and his teeth flashed. She realized he was in pain.
“Jack, pull over for a second. You’re hurt.”
“It’s fine. We need to keep going.”
Ciara could see the blood was against the car seat. “Pull over,” she demanded.
She could tell he didn’t want to, but after a minute, he merged into the edge of the road.
“This is stupid,” he said.
Ciara steadied her hands and pulled up his shirt.
“We need to keep moving,” he added.
While he spoke, she could see blood coming from a wound near his ribcage.
“Holy shit. You got shot.”
“Wouldn’t be the first time.”
Ciara looked up at him in shock. His eyes were narrow, pain caused him to hiss his words.
“We have to get you to a hospital!”
“No.”
“Jack you could bleed out from this and die! I can’t even tell how deep it is.”
“I’ll get you someplace safe so you can get yourself home.”
Ciara’s hand tightened on his shirt.
“Did you hear what I said? You could die.” She wanted to scream at him and felt the back of her eyelids burning. A whole new burst of adrenaline rushed her veins.
“That’s not your problem.”
He didn’t say it with any aggression, possibly due to weakness setting in but her anger swelled.
“We need to switch seats,” she snapped. “You can’t drive anymore.”
She pushed open the passenger door and reached for him, “Come on.”
The road was quiet but she couldn’t pretend they had time.
With a few grunts she managed to help him get his large body to the opposite seat.
Then she ran around the front of the car and got into the driver’s side.
“You’re going to the hospital!”
“I can’t.” He shook his head, his breathing labored. “I can’t.”
Ciara inhaled deeply.
Undoing the seat belt, she moved between the seats, rummaging until she found a blue spandex dress she had for a shoot.
“Hold your arms up.” Jack managed and she tied it around his torso, knotting it in the front. “Why can’t you go to the hospital?”
“You found me in the middle of no where for a reason sweetheart.” Sweat shined his forehead.
Keeping her breathing steady Ciara fished for her cellphone, praying it was still in her purse. When her fingers found the metal rectangle she snatched it out of her bag and plugged it in.
One glance in the side view and she hit her barefoot to the gas, skidding back onto the highway.
Ciara pushed a button on the steering when and said, “Call Devin
,” to the speakerphone.
When his voice came over the speaker, air rushed out of her mouth. “Dev, I need a huge favor!”
“Ci, it’s 3 a.m,” he answered groggily.
“My friend’s been shot.”
“What?”
“Meet me at my house please. I’m on my way right now.”
“Ci, is this a joke?”
“No!” She screamed, almost swerving into a sedan that she tried to pass. “Just get there.”
Ciara ended the call before checking the highway sign. When she glanced at Jack she saw his head had slumped forward. “Jack, don’t fall asleep or anything ok? Just stay up! Stay with me!”
*
Devin was there when she pulled into her driveway. He was in a pajama bottom and sneakers and had his arms tightly crossed when she pulled up.
When he saw Jack in the passenger seat his mouth dropped.
“I swear I thought you were joking!” he said.
“Can you help me get him out of the car?”
“Ciara are you insane? This guy needs to go to the hospital.” She jumped out of the drivers side and opened the side door.
“You’re the hospital Devin. Please help me get him into the house.”
“Holy God.” Devin was a pretty healthy guy but even he struggled trying to drag Jack’s body through the front door with Ciara trying miserably to lift his legs.
They got as far as the foyer when Devin began lowering him to the ground.
Ciara quickly shut her door behind them.
“Get me as many towels as you can find and sterile water, boil it if you have to.”
Ciara rushed into the kitchen and filled a silver pot with water before setting it on the stove.
She ran back to Devin who was cutting the dress away from Jack’s abdomen.
“What the hell happened?” he asked sharply.
“He was shot on his side.”
“Get the towels.”
Ciara rushed to the linen closet upstairs and came back down.
Devin had some small bottles of sterile water in his bag that he’d poured over Jack’s wounds.
“Looks like he got hit twice, once in the shoulder, but the bullet came out clean. This other one’s a deep gash on the side of his rib cage. I’m going to have to stitch it to close it.”
“Is he going to be okay?” Ciara pushed one of the towels under his injured side.
“He’s lost quite a bit of blood. He should have gone to the hospital.” Devin began stitching the wound.
In the bloody Bruins jersey Ciara reached for Jack’s hand, holding it tightly.
It was cool inside hers.
Chapter Five:
Too Close for Comfort
The crickets were so loud, the sound hurt his ears.
It happened after a while when it was the dominant noise.
There was nothing around him but darkness.
It was so damn hot but he could barely feel it.
He had to concentrate.
The branch he was on was sturdy and the moon gave him his only light to see the moss covered ground below him.
He had a bow and arrow.
It was all he was going to need to catch his prey.
To his left he spotted some fireflies swarming around a rock. It made him smile a little bit, maybe he’d get some time to catch a few in a jar.
An arrow hit his arm, slicing through his flesh before another came sailing by his ear.
It was so sudden he lost his balance and fell from the tree.
The ground was wet but it didn’t help much. The fall knocked the wind out of him.
Thankfully he wasn’t too far up.
“How many times have I told you to watch your six?”
Jack hissed as he tried to sit up. Then he felt a boot in his chest pressing his small frame back into the ground.
“You’ll end up dead one day.”
He started to twitch. Jack knew he wasn’t in the same place, it felt different.
Then he could hear voices.
But they were whispery, feminine.
Before he could register anything else, a searing pain ran up his side.
“Oh my God.” It was her voice, Ciara. He recognized it despite the fog in his brain.
Her features were blurry at first when he tried to open his eyes. Everything was blurry and all the pain was still there.
It was nothing new to him, but he’d had a year of quiet since anything crazy had happened to him.
“You’re in pain.” Ciara hovered over him. Her hair was in a ponytail and she had changed into a bright colored dress. “Are you allergic to oxy, Percocet or Xanax?”
“Didn’t Devin say to give him the oxy?” That voice belonged to someone else.
“I’m going to get you some water, ok?” Ciara said to him softly.
Jack wanted to answer, but he was barely conscious, and closed his eyes against the daylight to take a deep breath.
“Never thought I’d see the day when you’d be playing nursemaid.”
Water was pouring.
“Will you shut up?” Ciara hissed. “Jack. I crushed the pills in some water. Here’s a straw.”
He felt the plastic in the center of his lips.
Instead of protesting, he sipped from it. He drank until the water stopped.
He was angry but tired as hell, and the last thing he heard was, “You were shot in the shoulder another bullet grazed your side. The cut was pretty deep but my friend was able to stop the bleeding and stitch it up…”
“He’s out cold. He can’t hear you.”
Ciara stopped speaking when she realized her friend Kim was right.
Thank God the bullets hadn’t hit his heart or any organs. But there’d been so much blood, more than she’d ever seen in her life. Ciara didn’t know if he was going to make it.
“This guy is too big for the bed. His feet are almost hanging off the side. You want to explain again why this man isn’t in the hospital?”
Having a best friend that was also a lawyer could be a pain sometimes.
“I really shouldn’t have let you in. The mattress is fine, it’s better than the floor. We had a hell of a time getting him in it.” Ciara added.
Kim shrugged. “When that oxy kicks in, he’s going to feel like he’s on a cloud. You think you gave him enough? He’s, you know, huge, like I mentioned.”
“Kim, he’s a man not a bear. Stop being ridiculous.”
“You have a bullet riddled unconscious white man in your house. That’s ridiculous.” Kim moved closer to the bed to inspect him again with her arms folded, leaning her long thin frame forward. “I can’t even find a man in Target and you find one in the woods,” she spoke abstractly while eyeing his face.
“Don’t you have a court case this afternoon?”
Kim’s mouth folded. “I do.”
“Well?”
“You’re kicking me out?”
Ciara gathered her friend’s coat and suitcase. “My patient needs rest and you need to make sure bad guys go to jail. I’ll call you.”
“Your patient,” Kim mumbled, slowly shaking her head as she accepted her bag. She leaned forward to kiss Ciara on the cheek.
“You be careful. Tell him when he wakes up, I’m going to kill him.”
“Yep, until then you were never here.”
She was late checking his bandages. Devin told her to check every hour and if there was more bleeding to call 911. He was probably never going to talk to her again but he was going to be a great doctor.
Phillip left her a ton of voicemails. She’d barely listened to one, and just text him to let him know she was fine. She couldn’t deal with him right now.
Gingerly, she sat on the bed, trying not to disturb him, and lowered the covers to check his bandaged side and make sure there was no blood beneath his body. In addition to his new wounds, the scars on his body were too numerous to count. What kind of life had he lived to accumulate so much damage?
A t
hrashing arm jolted her from the bed away his grasp.
“Jack!” she called out. “It’s me.”