by Ann Mullen
“Move over,” I demanded of Rose as I climbed into the front seat. “I’m going to get us out of here, or we’re going to die trying!” What a cliché! It didn’t matter. It worked for me. I was full of myself, and ready to take on the world. I wasn’t going to die like this!
“Hold on,” Rose said, reaching over to stop my hand from turning on the ignition. “Let’s think about this before we do anything rash.”
“Rose, I think rash is the only option we have left. We’re running out of air.” I knew the chances of us getting out of here were slim, but I refused to give up hope, and the longer I waited, the worse our chances got. I had to do something, and I had to do it fast.
I heard the sound of a muffled roar, and then felt the earth vibrate. “What’s that?” I asked, looking over at Rose. “Is that the bulldozer?”
“It is a backhoe, not a bulldozer,” she said. With the glow from the dash lights, I could see her eyes were filled with fear.
“Bulldozer... backhoe... who cares? What’s going on up there?”
“Well, they’re either packing the dirt down on top of us, or someone’s here to save us. What’s your guess on which one it is?”
“I’d say the chance of someone making it to our rescue in the nick of time isn’t good. We have to save ourselves if we want to get out of here.”
“All right, then... let me think.” She put her head in her hands and started to massage her temples. “I remember now.” But she didn’t say anything. She just sat there as if she was in a trance.
“What, Rose?” I screamed at her. “What do you remember?”
“Don’t yell at me,” she cried. “I’m trying to think.”
My patience was wearing thin. I wanted to grab her by the hair and shake her senseless. Didn’t she realize we didn’t have time for a casual chat? I was just about ready to pounce on her when she raised her head and looked up at me.
“I remember Jay hit me because I couldn’t get the gear right. It hurt so bad. I started seeing stars. I thought I was going to pass out, but I didn’t. He kept yelling and yelling. He made me back the car down in the hole. He said he wanted to be able to pull it out with a winch, in case he ever had to move it. I was so scared. Then he raised the butt of the gun and hit me again. That’s the last thing I remember.”
“Whoa! Wait a minute,” I said. “You’re telling me you backed this car down an incline? We weren’t just dropped into a hole?” My spirits lifted as I thought about the prospects of us actually making it out of this death trap alive.
I leaned over and took Rose’s hand in mine. “I know you’re scared. I am, too. But you have to trust me on this one.” I wanted her last thoughts to be comforting. If we were going to die in the next few minutes I wanted her to know that I didn’t blame her. “I don’t blame you for this. I want you to know that.”
A tear slid down her face and mixed in with the blood. She smiled a faint smile and said, “Don’t you think we should buckle up? I have a feeling this is going to be a bumpy ride.”
I had to laugh. Here we were at the footsteps of death’s door and she wanted to buckle her seatbelt.
“Sure, why not?” I replied.
This would almost be funny if it wasn’t so sad. Here we were, two young women in the prime of our lives—well, maybe one not so young—battered and beaten, seatbelts strapped on, buried in a car covered with dirt. This was going to take a miracle.
I believe in God, but I’m not a religious person. I hate to admit it, but the only time I seem to talk to Him is when I need Him. I don’t go to church unless I have too, so I try not to ask Him for much. I know it might be a sin in everybody’s eyes, but I’ve always felt that if you live your life honestly and try to be the best person you can be, that’s all He asks of you. I do my best.
I gave Rose’s hand one last squeeze. “Get ready! We’re getting out of here!” I let go of her hand and reached over to the ignition. “I’m going to turn the car on, slam it in gear, and then floor the gas. Got any questions?”
The backhoe overhead was coming to life. The roar of it, compiled with the scrubbing sounds I heard, boosted me into action. Whether someone was packing us down or digging us out was no longer a consideration. I grabbed the key and turned on the ignition. The Jeep fired up and sprang to life like the fine automobile it was intended to be. I put the car in gear and stomped down on the gas pedal. A vibration shook us.
“We’re moving!” Rose shouted. “We’re moving!”
I felt the dirt slowly give way as I rammed my foot on the gas and held the steering wheel tight. The inside of the car began to fill with an unpleasant odor, but the Jeep kept running, and I kept on pushing it. The pressure of a car trudging through dirt was like shoving your hand through a bangle bracelet that’s two sizes too small. You knew if you twisted and forced it hard enough it might fit. I kept on forcing.
We both coughed and hacked from the fumes and the dust floating into what little air we had left. My eyes burned and my throat felt raw, but I was determined not to give up. I looked over at Rose one last time. She was laid back in the seat, her eyes were closed and her head hung down. She’d stopped coughing. In that instant, I knew that these were our last few seconds of life.
Something came crashing down on the back of the Jeep, causing the front end to lift up. Glass from the hatchback shattered as something heavy scrubbed the roof. I could hear the dirt rushing in. The force of the backhoe had given us just the boost and lift we needed to free ourselves. When the pressure let up, the Jeep took off. We’d made it through the gates of hell! The Jeep was still at full throttle.
A second later, the Jeep sputtered, slowed down and died. The windshield was cleared of dirt just enough for me to make out a huge tree within inches of the car’s front end. My foot was still pressed to the floor with the gas pedal mashed down underneath, yet the car sat motionless. I was frozen. I tried to catch my breath as my fingers inched their way to the controls on the door. I pressed the buttons down. The automatic windows hissed and a rush of fresh air came pouring in.
When the dust cleared, I looked at Rose. “Please don’t be dead!” I cried, reaching over to shake her. When she didn’t stir, I shook her harder. “Wake up, Rose!” I demanded, tears flowing down my cheeks.
Her voice crackled under the coughs as she gasped for air. “Did we... make... it?”
“Yes, we did!” I said proudly. “We’re alive!”
The excitement immediately died when the realization hit us. We sat staring at each other. Had we made it out of the jaws of death, only to return to the hands of our captors?
The backhoe had been silenced. Voices echoed in the distance and the sky was lit up with flashing blue lights. The familiar sound of a van door sliding open and the bark of a dog brought me to my senses.
“Athena!” I wailed, forcing my tired and broken body out of the car. “Is that you, girl?”
Chapter 30
Athena came running up to me at full speed, charging like a raging bull. She was all over me, licking and digging her paws into my flesh. Her huge body overtook me and we both went tumbling to the ground. Her feet managed not to miss a sore spot on my body as her excitement became frenzied.
I grabbed her head in my hands and nuzzled her face, kissing her wet nose and getting dog yuck all over my face. Normally, I wouldn’t let a dog lick my face. They lick their butts with those tongues. But this was different. This time I relished the thought. I was alive and I was safe.
The commotion that ensued next was mind-boggling. The police and paramedics surrounded the car. Rose was helped out and put on a stretcher, while two paramedics squatted beside me and tried to help me push Athena away. I heard the command of Mom’s voice a short distance away.
“Athena! Come here!” she ordered. Instantly, Athena stepped back, turned and ran in her direction, leaving me sitting on the ground with my mouth hung open.
“What’s this? You obey her, but not me?” I joked.
Athena sat down
beside Mom and waited for another command.
I was stunned by how easily Mom had controlled her.
I was barely coherent by the time they strapped me down onto the gurney. Questions filled my ears from all different directions. The police wanted to know all the details of what had happened here. I heard Mom and Billy in the background asking me if I was all right.
“Not now,” said one of the guys who was carrying me to the ambulance. “You can talk to her after we’re finished.”
Seeing they were at a stalemate, the police relented and went about trying to keep everybody else back, doing their duties in crowd control—and there was definitely a crowd forming. Mom, with her hand holding Athena’s collar, stood to one side, while Jack and Dennis stood next to her with comforting expressions on their faces. Cole and Billy approached the back of the ambulance. In the background, amongst a field of police cars, I saw Jay. He was sitting in the back of one with the interior lights on, while an officer in the front seat wrote on a clipboard. A few cop cars down, sat Rita and her husband. They all leaned forward as if they had on handcuffs.
“It serves you right!” I hissed at them and then yelled as loud as I could, “I hope you all rot in jail!”
They hoisted me up into the ambulance, and prepared to leave. The driver was in the front seat, pushing buttons and talking into a box on the dash, while another guy started to close the back doors.
“We have room for one more person,” he called out.
I heard Billy say to Cole, “You go ahead. I’ll follow you in my truck.”
“No,” Cole whispered. “You be with her now, because from now on, she’ll be mine.”
“I don’t think so,” Billy said.
“Shut up, both of you!” I screamed, raising my head up just enough to see them. “Would one of you please get into the ambulance and let’s get out of here! You bunch of crybabies!”
Billy jumped up inside and helped the paramedic close the door. Sirens blasted as we sped down the road. The paramedic bandaged the wound on my head and then went to the one above my knee.
“The cut on your head isn’t so bad, but the one on your knee looks like it might leave a healthy scar. I’m going to cover it for now,” he said.
“Are you sure the one on my forehead isn’t real bad?” I asked, trying to talk through the oxygen mask. “I thought for sure it was bad, because it’s been steadily bleeding.”
“Head wounds usually bleed heavily and appear a lot worse than they are sometimes,” he said, trying to reassure me. “You might need a couple of stitches. I wouldn’t worry.”
I guess you wouldn’t... it’s not your head. Why do they always lie?
Once the paramedic gave the okay and backed out of the way, Billy leaned over close to my face and then grabbed my hand. “Two things,” he demanded. “I’m going to seriously kick your butt when this is over, and as much as I hate to admit it, I think Cole really does love you.”
“Where’s he now?” I mumbled. “Why isn’t he here with me instead of you... if he loves me so much?”
“Because he knows how to let go,” Billy said. “He knows if he gives you what you need now—your family and your friends—when all’s said and done, you’ll come back to him in the end.”
“Is that what he told you?”
“Those weren’t his exact words, but close enough. You do love him, don’t you? When this is all over, where’s the first place you’re going to run?” He was testing me and I fell into his trap.
“I don’t know, where?”
“You’ll run right back into his arms.”
“Maybe,” I said. “I’m still thinking that one over.”
Changing the subject, Billy asked, “What possessed you to pull such a stupid stunt like this? Don’t you know you could’ve died back there? You promised me you were going straight home!”
“I know, Billy.”
“If it hadn’t been for my wisdom and expertise as a great Cherokee hunter,” he said, sticking his chest out and bragging, “you’d probably be dead. You’re lucky to have me as a friend.”
“You’re the one who found me, huh?”
“I can’t take all the credit. I had a little help, but that’s another story. I’ll add this one to my list of great tales.”
“I can’t wait to hear it,” I replied. “Just not now, please. I have this whole thing figured out. I know where Helen Carrolton’s body is buried!”
“Save it,” he demanded. “Don’t answer any questions when we get to the hospital until Jack’s by your side.”
“What? Why?” I was confused.
“If this plays out the way I think it’s going to, the police are going to charge you with obstruction of justice. You interfered with an ongoing investigation and got caught. The cops don’t take kindly to people getting in their way, and boy did you ever get in their way.”
“I solved the case!” I cried.
“I hate to tell you this, but the cops already had it figured out. Once they had Helen’s purse, that was all they needed.”
“But do they know where the body’s buried?” I asked.
“Oh, they’ll find the answer soon enough,” he replied. “After what happened to you, by tomorrow morning, they’ll have their guys out there like rats on cheese, digging up every inch of ground. It’s just a matter of time before they find her.”
“I can take them right to the spot and save a lot time,” I offered.
“No way!” he objected. “You tell me where she is and I’ll tell them.”
“That’s not going to happen! After all I’ve been through, I deserve to be there. I earned that right.”
“You’re one stubborn `ge ya,” he hissed. “You can barely walk, yet you want to go back to the place where you almost died.”
“I want to see for myself if I was right.”
“You mean you’re not sure? Nobody told you her exact location? What kind of private eye are you?”
“We didn’t get around to specific details. They were too busy trying to bump me off.”
The ambulance pulled up to the emergency room entrance. I was whisked into an examining room, leaving the waiting area filled with police. Billy was by my side.
“You’ll have to wait outside,” the intern told Billy.
“No!” I screamed, removing my oxygen mask. “He stays, or I’m getting up from here and walking out!”
“I’m afraid that’s not going to be possible, Ms. Watson,” the intern replied. “They’ve posted an officer outside the door to make sure you don’t leave. They want to question you before you’re released.”
I looked over at Billy and asked, “Can they do that?”
“I’m afraid they can,” the intern answered before Billy had a chance to reply. He looked at Billy. “Are you a relative?”
“He’s my boyfriend,” I butted in.
The intern grabbed the curtain to close it and looked at Billy then back at me. Smiling and shaking his head, he said, “Who am I to judge? I’ll be back in a minute.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” I screamed after him. “That guy has some nerve!” My voice got even louder. “Who does he think he is?”
Billy laughed. “Don’t get your panties in a bunch! He’s got a point, you know. I’m almost twice your age.”
“Sixteen years, that’s all!” I corrected him. “Besides, who knows, maybe I like old men.”
“Thanks a lot!” Billy said, acting insulted.
“You know what I mean.”
A few minutes later, the curtain was pulled back and people dressed in green hospital scrubs surrounded my bed. A tiny, young woman removed the bandage from my head and began washing up my wound, while an even younger looking guy took a pair of scissors and cut the leg of my jeans. A tall, slender, blond-haired girl—I guessed her age to be around sixteen—took down information on a clipboard.
“Don’t you have any grownups working in this hospital?” I cried.
“Jesse!” Billy admo
nished me. “Don’t pay any attention to her. She’s delirious,” he said to the group around me, trying to apologize for my rude behavior. “She’s been through a lot today. You have no idea.”
“We realize people say and do things they don’t mean when they’re in a place like this. Hospitals are intimidating. They’re in pain, and pain does weird things to people’s manners.” He smiled as he scrubbed, poked and prodded.
“Drop dead!” I spat. “I was already in pain, and now you’re making it worse. What the ... Ouch... that hurts! I want some morphine!”
He motioned to the blond and spoke under his breath as he continued to torture me. “Miss Jensen’s going to get the doctor.”
“You mean you guys aren’t doctors? What are you then, Candy Stripers?” I continued to lash out at him. I hurt all over, and my disposition was quickly turning ugly. I had suffered enough for one day.
Billy was in the process of trying to calm me down and assure me everything was going to be fine when the doctor walked in, followed by a whole new team of hospital personnel. The tall blond handed him her clipboard and the first group left, so the real doctors could take over.
“I’m so glad you could make it, doctor!” I spewed forth my venom. “I just told that little boy I needed something for the pain if he was going to continue his ritual act of human torture.”
The doctor scanned the chart and then looked up at Billy and said, “She’s going to be fine.”
“Don’t talk to him!” I became hysterical. “Talk to me!” Everything that had happened to me in the last twelve hours came crashing down.
I had been shot at... again... beat up, buried in a hole, and left to die. The police were sure to hound me until they could come up with a reason to lock me away for the rest of my life. These were just some of the things that had happened to me since I moved to the mountains. The list was quickly becoming a long one.
I felt the prick of a needle.
“This will help ease the pain,” a soft voice said.
I turned my head to the side and looked into the nurse’s bright blue eyes.