The three of us sit in a back office where no one can see or hear us. I place my elbows on a desk and lean down placing my head in my hands. I run them down over my face. Last time the three of us were in a room together watching a tape of Angel, she had been taken. Now I don’t know what to expect.
“Are you sure about this?” Parker speaks pulling me out of my daze.
“Yes,” I snap. “Just play the fucking thing,” I mumble.
He sighs and his shoulders slump, but he pushes a button on a remote and the screen in front of us comes to life.
The first thing I see is the back of my Chevy truck. The brake lights come on as if she thinks the light in front of her is going to turn red.
She goes through the stoplight. It happens so fast, I jump back as if someone shoved me. A black truck comes speeding across the intersection and hits the back driver side of the truck. It sends the trucks rear-end to the right, where the back tire catches the high curb. And it starts to roll. If the truck hadn’t been lifted, it might not have rolled. But with it being so far off the ground and with the momentum from the other truck, there was nowhere for it to go but to turn over.
We all stand there watching helplessly once again as my truck rolls several times. I can here Parker’s voice yelling inside of his police car as his tires squeal and he comes to a quick stop.
Just then I hear a door open and then Parker is running in front of the police car, in view of the camera. He runs up to our truck stomping on glass and pieces of what have broken off of the truck.
He kicks in the already broken back glass and disappears into the truck. You can hear his ragged breathing, and he continues to talk to someone from dispatch on the radio connected to his chest.
“Samantha?” Parker yells. It’s clear that whatever he is seeing is not good. The fear in his voice is evident. “Hang on, Sam.”
I stand here as he continues to speak. From the angle of his cop car you can’t see them inside of the truck but you can hear every word from the microphone on his uniform.
I hear more glass breaking. “Christ,” he hisses. “Sam, open your eyes,” he demands. “Come on, Sam, look at me.”
Why isn’t she speaking to him?
“You have to look at me,” he pleads with her, and it has my heart pounding in my chest. Why won’t she look at him? Why doesn’t she open her eyes?
“Sam,” he shouts. Then he lets out a deep breath. “Good. Very good, Sam. I need to get you out. Do you understand? I’m gonna have to pull you out through the windshield.”
I run a hand down my face and I sigh when I realize she has opened her eyes.
“I need a fucking jacket,” he yells all of a sudden, and I refrain from jumping at his tone of urgency.
Someone tosses a jacket into the cab and then he speaks. “I’m going to place this over you, so I can kick the windshield out.”
I still don’t hear her say anything. But seconds later I hear him grunting and the sound of his boot hitting the glass.
“Stay with me, Sam,” he yells.
And then it happens, she screams. Her voice comes through the audio, and it rips my heart to shreds. It’s a cry of pain. He must have tried to move her because her scream is followed by his frustrated voice.
“Where in the fuck are the paramedics?” he snaps.
I faintly hear someone yell, “On their way. Get her out of there.” They must be on the other side of the truck and we can’t see them from it being on its side.
“I’m trying, the steering wheel is crushing her,” he says through gritted teeth.
I pry my eyes away from the screen and look over to Parker standing next to me. He’s looking down at the floor as if it’s too hard for him to relive what he went through just four days ago. Maybe the only reason I can watch it is because I know she’s survived it.
Then my eyes snap back up to the video when his voice speaks again. “Sam?” I hear him rustling around, then I hear a tearing sound. “Don’t pass out on me!” he demands. “Stay awake. Can you do that for me?”
I place my hand over my mouth trying to hold back the noises that I want to let out.
“I’m gonna make this as fast as I can,” he says sounding determined. I hear other voices talking to him. He barks off some orders, and I swallow when I hear a faint sound of sirens in the distance. “Just a few seconds,” he says. “Open your eyes goddamn it!” he demands again frantically.
There’s some more grunts, and he curses a few times and then he’s there, on the screen once again, walking her away from the truck. By this time you can see black smoke coming from the distance and people screaming things off in the distance as he places her on the ground.
He places his fingers on her throat and then leans down placing his ear on top of her lips.
He pulls back quickly and then his hands are on her chest, and he starts compressions. “You have to stay with me, Sam. They are almost here,” he yells.
“Come on, Sam. Don’t do this. Come on,” he pleads with her as she continues to lie there; not moving.
The room continues to fill with his heavy breathing and then he’s sniffing. He does it for about half a minute when he checks her pulse again.
Then things get even crazier. An ambulance comes to a stop in the street. The medics rush to her side. They place a monitor of some sort on her chest as Parker frantically explains what happened and that she’s unresponsive and not breathing. A medic then places a breathing tube down her throat while another works squeezing a bag. Another places a collar around her neck. Once they all finish they roll her onto a flat board and strap her down. They all help in lifting the board and placing in onto a stretch before loading her into the back of the ambulance.
“I’m riding with you,” Parker says as he wipes his nose with the sleeve on his uniform that is covered in her blood.
“Sorry, but you can’t,” a younger male paramedic responds placing his hand on his chest.
He snaps as he shoves his hand away. “She is my best friend’s wife. She is thirteen weeks pregnant, and I just dragged her out of that truck and had to do compressions. I’m not fucking leaving her side,” he screams before he spins around and jumps up into it before they can say anything else to him.
Parker gets my attention as he raises the remote beside me to shut it off. And I try to remember what I saw…“Stop,” I say quickly making Tate jump beside me. I think we are all in some sort of daze.
“Rewind it,” I order.
“No.” Tate’s voice cracks. “I can’t watch that again.”
Parker pauses it once again, and I spin around and yank the remote out of his hands. I aim it at the TV and press rewind to the very beginning.
“No. You have got to be fucking kidding me,” Tate growls from beside me when he sees where I’ve paused it.
There it is right in front of us. The old beat up black truck that hit my Chevy. It’s the same fucking black hood that was in the video of her from the parking lot that night at Larry’s.
“Whose truck is that?” Parker demands fisting his hands down to his side.
I look at him. “Have you got anything back from the body?”
He shakes his head. “The truck had a stolen tag. And we’re still waiting on the results from the body they recovered.”
I shut the TV off and throw the remote down before I spin around and storm out the door.
“Where are you going?” Parker demands as I make my way through the police station ignoring all the looks that I’m catching from other officers.
“Back to my wife,” I say as my jaw tightens. “She was wrong. Someone is not after me, they are after her.”
Parker runs up next to me. “I’ll have an officer placed at the hospital. Outside her door.”
I nod. “Take that tape and show it to Brad.” Brad and I are as close as officers and defense attorneys come. He helped us out back when she was attacked outside of Larry’s when Officer White had called to tell me they had arrested the man who brok
e into our house.
I come to an abrupt stop in the parking lot, Tate practically running into me. I spin around and face Parker heart pounding and ears ringing.
“What?” he looks around the parking lot quickly.
“Officer White,” I say breathless. “No fucking way.” I shake my head.
“What? Who’s Officer White?” Tate asks.
I point to Parker. “You said that house we found her at belonged to someone named White?” I ask and he nods. “Officer White was the one who called and told me they had arrested the man who broke into our house.” I shake my head. “But he had been wrong and released the guy and did not inform me. Brad was the one who informed us of the guy’s release.”
Parker frowns. “Did Sam ever say what the officer’s names were at Larry’s the night she had Jeremy arrested?”
I shake my head. “We never fucking asked only Officer Howard’s name was on the file,” I growl.
“Shit!” he hisses.
“Let’s go,” Tate hollers taking off once again to his truck.
“I want Brad to watch the surveillance from the night at Larry’s when she was taken. Show him it’s the same truck and have them begin an investigation,” I order over my shoulder now running to Tate’s truck. I need to get back to her.
CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
SAMANTHA
I’ve been in the hospital for a week, and I am about to go out of my mind. I continue to feel pain but it’s tolerable. The baby has been monitored around the clock and is doing great. I have actually started getting up and walking around my room. I’m still hooked up to several machines, and I look like I was attacked with a baseball bat but other than that, I feel pretty good.
I keep telling them that I’m fine and that I would feel even better if I could relax from my bed at home. They don’t believe me.
Slade left my side only once so far during my stay. He said he was going to go home to get some stuff but when he came back, he had nothing but questions.
I answered them the best I could. Letting him know that it was Officer White who had supposedly arrested Jeremy. He then started cussing up a storm as he called someone and started barking orders.
He is bitchier than the nurses. I actually think they would release me just so he would leave as well. But he says I’m not ready to leave the hospital. Three days ago, I would have agreed with him. The first couple of days I was out of it. The pain meds kept me pretty sedated. I don’t even remember the first day at all. I just remember waking up at one point in time and seeing Slade, Holly, and Micah standing in my room.
Holly in tears as she sat beside me and the guys off in the corner talking quietly. It’s been an emotional week to say the least. Missy hasn’t left the hospital. If she’s not in my room, she’s in the waiting room sleeping across chairs placed together. I know this, because Tate had sent a picture to Slade when he went to leave the other night and found her out there. I think it’s really starting to get to him that she acts as if he doesn’t even exist.
Vivian and Mark come in and out. Since Slade is not at work, I think Mark is having to pick up the slack even though he assures me that that’s why he hired Braxton in the first place.
Then there’s Parker. He brought me a huge bouquet of roses and a big stuffed teddy bear that he got from the gift shop. He also informed me that that was not the only thing he picked up. Only Parker could get a date at a hospital. Slade had told me that Parker saved my life and for that I’m forever grateful. This morning I woke up to Slade standing outside speaking to an officer who seems to always be standing outside my door now when I found Parker and I were alone. I thanked him for saving me and our baby. He looked very uncomfortable and shifted in his seat before he said that he was just doing his job. And although I know his job is to help people, it doesn’t make what he did any less heroic.
I overhear Slade and Parker talking by my door as I surf the channels while I lay in my hospital bed.
“It’s an active investigation now,” Parker informs Slade.
I watch as Slade fists his hands down by his side. “How did they know where she was at?” he snaps.
Parker shrugs. “Maybe they waited for her? She wasn’t even a mile from your guys’ house.”
Slade turns to look at Tate as he walks up. “Where was my truck taken after the accident?” he demands hatefully.
“It’s at the junkyard right outside of town,” Tate answers with a frown.
“Go and check it out,” Slade demands immediately.
Tate looks to Parker and then back to Slade. “What am I looking for?”
Slade runs a hand over his messy hair. “Anything,” is all he says.
Tate nods before he turns away and walks off.
“Any word on White?” Slade asks Parker.
He shakes his head. “Nothing, he has vanished as well as Howard.”
“Of course. Motherfucker,” he hisses under his breath.
I try to sit up and inhale sharply when I get an instant pain in my left side. They spin around to look at me.
“What’s wrong?” Slade asks concerned.
I shake my head trying take a shallow breaths trying to let the pain settle down. Once it does, I try to give them a smile. “I’m fine.” I wave a hand. “What are you guys talking about?” I ask once I’m situated. “What’s an open investigation?”
Slade walks over to me and sits down. He grabs my left hand and sighs. “The man who hit you? You know how I told you he didn’t make it?”
I nod my head. That poor family. I feel responsible that he hit me and lost his life.
“It wasn’t an accident,” he states with a hard look. “The guy driving the truck was Jeremy.”
Jeremy? How would he know something like that? “How do you know that?”
“It was the same truck that Jax jumped out of when he picked you up outside of Larry’s.” He lets out a long breath. “And we got confirmation last night. Dental records confirmed it was him.”
My eyes widen. “Oh my God, he was after you,” I say panicking.
Slade shakes his head.
“Yes. He was. I was in your truck. He was trying to kill you, Slade.”
“Angel,” he says softly. “Someone is trying to hurt me by taking you away from me.”
I let out a breath and place my hand over my mouth. “But I promise you. It’s not going to happen. Not again. Do you understand me?” he asks but all I can think of is that someone wants to take his child and wife away from him.
“Angel?” he demands. “Do you understand me? You will be safe. We have all seen to that.”
I nod my head, and I lick my lips nervously. I trust Slade. If there’s one thing I know, he will take down whoever threatens us.
*****
SLADE
They are releasing Angel from the hospital today. It’s been ten days since the accident, and she’s doing better than they could have imagined. She’s up and around, using the restroom on her own, and the baby is doing great as well. She will be limited on what she can do once she leaves though; no driving, lifting heavy things, stuff like that.
I sit in this uncomfortable fucking chair as I watch her and Missy laugh about what she should name the bakery when the doctor walks in to check her over before releasing her.
I stand when I feel my phone vibrate in my pocket. “Can you give me one second?” I ask the doctor, needing to take this call. The call I’ve been waiting on for three days.
“Hello?” I answer, walking outside of her door.
“I found it,” Tate’s voice calls out. “I fucking found it,” he growls.
Son of a bitch. It was a long shot but there had to be something in that truck to let us know how they knew where she was at. “What is it?” I ask rubbing my forehead.
“It’s some sort of tracking device,” he calls out. “It looks like it might have had more pieces to it but I can’t find them. They must have been swept up from the accident. I had enough of it to contact a friend
and he did some digging. I just got the call, and he confirmed it.”
My jaw clenches, and my hand tightens on my phone. “I need to call you back,” I growl. “The doctor is here to release your sister. I’ll call you when I get her settled back at home,” I say before I go to hang up.
“Wait,” he shouts.
“Yeah?”
“Slade think about it,” he says quickly. “Jax told her someone is always listening or watching. Jax knew your house was broke into…”
“What are you trying to say, because I’m not catching on?” I snap.
“Your truck was broke into and nothing was taken. They placed a tracking device in it. Your house was broke into…”
“Nothing was taken,” I state starting to see what he’s trying to say.
“Don’t take her there, Slade. Not until you have that place searched,”
I look down at my watch to see it’s a little past ten in the morning. “Call Parker and you both meet me at my house around three,” I say and then hang up.
*****
After having to spend hours persuading Angel to go to my parents’ house to stay for a while, I find myself pulling up to our house.
“Three?” Tate asks looking down at his watch with Parker standing next to him.
“Yeah. Well, you try to explain to your sister why she can’t go home without scaring the shit out of her,” She has had enough happen to her to last a lifetime. I wasn’t going to tell her that her truck had a tracking device on it, and the house might be bugged as well.
“So, what did you end up saying?” Parker asks.
“Termites,” I answer.
They both burst out laughing, and I look at them. “You’re serious?” Tate asks smirking.
I nod. “Of course. Those things are a bitch.”
Parker shakes his head as we enter the house. “This house is huge,” he whines. “How in the fuck are we supposed to find something so small?”
The UN Series Complete Box Set Page 123