by Vaughn, Ann
“Shane? It’s almost midnight, what...”
“I have to go home. My dad was in an accident. Cordy says it’s bad and that I need to hurry. You need to send someone here with Crownover.”
“Of course, son, you go. Be careful. Keep me updated.”
He turned to Crownover. “Tell Tessa I’m sorry. I don’t know when I’ll be back.”
Crownover nodded. “Yeah, sure, man, I’ll take care of her, don’t worry.”
Shane sent him a pointed look. “I’m trusting you with her. Don’t let me down.”
He hurried out to his truck and began the three-hour drive back to Indian Springs. Once he was safely away from the area of the compound, he put his light in the dash and flipped on his siren and floored it, determined to make it home as fast as he could.
He called his sister when he arrived at the hospital and she ran out to greet him, leaping into his arms and sobbing. He held her tight and listened as she cried. From what he could tell, his dad was still in surgery. They rushed in and he embraced his mother and his other sister Gracie. Practically the whole town of Indian Springs was in the waiting room with them. The McCanton family had been involved in law enforcement in Indian Springs for as long as anyone could remember.
Luke McCanton was strong. He came out of surgery and survived the night, but his condition was critical; and touch and go for days. He was placed into a medically induced coma to aid in healing. Shane stayed at the hospital with his family, and at the town council’s request, helped the Sheriff’s department with the investigation into the accident and filled in for his dad, all while keeping tabs on Tessa’s investigation, which was crawling at a snail’s pace.
Three weeks after the accident, Luke woke. Shane was in the room with his mother when his father opened his eyes, lifted his hand and touched his mother’s cheek. After a few hours of tests, Luke was alert and talking and everyone breathed a sigh of relief to know that it looked like he was indeed going to be OK. It was Luke’s sharp eye that was the first to notice that something wasn’t right with his son.
That morning, Shane had received a call from Bruce that contact with Tessa hadn’t been made for several hours. It wasn’t unusual except that she had never gone quite this long with the mike turned off.
“Has anything changed in her investigation? Any behavior toward her changed?” he asked Bruce.
“Not that has been reported. Gib and I were getting ready to pull the plug on the whole thing. She hasn’t really come up with anything to show that any women are being held against their will. Stephanie Quinn seems perfectly happy to be there. Not much we can do with that.”
“But Tessa hasn’t turned the mike back on?”
“She turned it off for her shower and they have not gotten her back online since. That was three hours ago.”
Shane cursed under his breath, an uneasy feeling washing over him. “OK, look...my dad is awake and doing better now. I’m gonna see if a friend who has a helicopter here can fly me in. I don’t like this.”
“I’m sure it’s nothing...but yeah, I’d like you to be here.”
When Shane came back into his father’s room after that, Luke’s sharp eyes zeroed in on him.
“Son? What is it?”
Shane raked his hand through his hair. “Maybe nothing. An investigation I was running hit a snag. I need to go back. I’ll see if Bob can fly me over, I need to get back fast.”
“Is it Tessa?”
For a moment, Shane froze, then he remembered that Bruce had briefed his dad on what was going on, and that his dad likely knew much more than he realized he did.
“Yeah, it’s Tessa. I’m hoping it’s nothing, but it doesn’t look good right now.”
Luke nodded. “You go take care of things, boy. I’m fine.”
Shane stepped to his dad and embraced him. “Love you, Pop. I’ll be back as soon as I can.”
During his short flight back to the command house, Shane couldn’t fight off the uneasy feeling in the pit of his stomach. Something was wrong. He knew it. Tessa wouldn’t cut off communication for that long.
When he exited the chopper and he saw Bruce’s face as he emerged from the house, he knew his fears were justified. Something bad had happened.
“Tell me,” Shane said, following Bruce into the house.
“She came back online as you were en route. It’s bad, son. Somehow they found out. They know she’s not who she said she was...I think the mike came back on when her head struck something...we’ve got to get in now. They’re killing her.”
Shane rushed in, ashen. Crownover met him at the entrance to the control room, flak jacket in his hand. Gibson was there and gearing up as well, his eyes piercing Shane as he took the vest from Crownover.
“I need to know if you can handle this,” Gibson said.
“I’m going in and bringing her out. You won’t stop me. I...”
He fell silent when he heard Tessa scream. It was an ear-piercing, pain-filled scream like he’d never heard before. Cold sweat broke out over his entire body. They heard another chopper land and knew that SWAT had arrived.
“Do we know what room she is in?”
“GPS has her in the Arena,” Pete replied.
They hesitated only long enough to form a takedown plan and then loaded up for the compound. They were greeted with light resistance at the gate, which was surprising. They barreled through and drove through the grounds to the gymnasium referred to as the Arena and blasted their way inside. Screams of the other women scattering greeted them as the smoke cleared from the door. The entire population of the compound was gathered in the arena. Tessa was in the center of the room, arms suspended above her while Paul and Nathaniel took turns beating her. When Shane led the way into the room, Nathaniel grabbed her around the waist and held her before him as a shield, a knife to her throat. The SWAT backup quickly evacuated the others from the room, leaving a small contingent to confront the Helton Brothers. Paul held a gun on them, just to the right of Nathaniel and Tessa.
“Let her go, Helton,” Shane demanded. “This ends now.”
Sweat beaded on his brow and ran down the small of his back. Shane couldn’t remember ever being this scared in his entire life. He aimed his gun at Nathaniel, trusting the others to have Paul covered. He dared not look too closely at Tessa, not wanting anything to break his concentration. He knew she was nude and severely beaten already, but she was on her feet and that had to be a good sign. Even without looking directly at her, though, he could see she was losing blood fast.
“It’s over, Helton,” he said, “the place is surrounded. You can’t win. Let her go and have your day in court.”
“I don’t recognize your courts. My word is Law.”
“That’s fine. You can recognize that I’ve got a gun on your head and if you don’t cooperate, I will shoot.”
“You won’t chance hitting your colleague here,” Nathaniel countered.
“I won’t hit her.”
“That sure of yourself, are you?” Helton said, tightening his grip on Tessa’s hair and pulling her head back, further exposing her throat to his blade.
Beside him, Paul began to move but Gib and Crownover advanced on him. Tessa didn’t make a sound, not that Shane expected her to. Tessa was the strongest person he knew.
“Let her go,” Shane repeated, taking a small step forward.
“Take one more step and I’ll slice her open,” Helton warned.
“I’ll put a bullet in you first.”
Helton laughed then, pushing the point of the blade into Tessa’s throat so that blood began trickling down.
“If you were going to shoot me, you’d have already done it. Now, you get me a car and let me out of here or I’ll cut her damn head off.”
“Not going to happen, Helton, you know that. Only way you’re getting out of here is in custody, on a stretcher, or in a body bag. Now, what’s it going to be?”
“I’m not afraid to die, but if I go, she goes with me.”
“Shane!” Bruce yelled from the doorway behind him.
Shane saw something flicker across Helton’s face, knew the situation was about to elevate. He watched Helton’s grip on the knife change slightly.
“Shane, huh? This Shane?” Helton asked, indicating with the blade the tattoo on Tessa’s abdomen. “This is the man you whored yourself for?” he breathed into Tessa’s ear.
Tessa grit her teeth, staring intently at Shane and doing her best to ignore Nathaniel altogether. Shane’s gaze was trained on Nathaniel; he had yet to look her in the eye. Blood loss was beginning to make her dizzy and she feared she would pass out at any moment. Her vision was already blurred due to repeated blows to the head. She studied Shane’s face as best as she could, trying to memorize every detail. It had been so long since she’d last seen him, she was glad she got to see him one last time.
She listened to the two men tap dance around each other, each trying to make the other back down. Twice Nathaniel inflicted more pain on her but she kept her jaw clenched, refusing to cry out.
Bruce called from the other side of the door, calling Shane’s name. Now Nathaniel knew who he was; knew that he was the man whose name she’d marked her body with. Things were escalating now. She could feel it in Nathaniel’s body...that tightening of muscles, the dampening of skin. It had to end now.
Steeling herself, she swallowed hard and licked her lips, happy she at least got to see Shane one last time.
“Shane,” she said, her voice hoarse and weak, but she knew he heard her even though his eyes never left Nathaniel. “Shane. Wildcat.” She saw recognition flash in Shane’s eyes and then there was nothing.
Chapter Thirteen
“McCanton! What the hell?” Gibson cried. “What did you just do?”
Shane’s eyes shifted to Crownover cuffing Paul Helton’s wrists behind his back as he and Gibson rushed over to Tessa and Nathaniel who were now in a tangled heap on the ground. Shane pulled Tessa away from Nathaniel, allowing Gibson to slap cuffs on him. He cradled Tessa’s head and shoulders in his lap, gently stroking her face.
“Shane?” she whispered when he shifted to apply pressure to her bleeding shoulder. “You came.”
“Shh, yeah, I’m here, baby,” he said, taking a blanket from Bruce to cover her.
“You remembered...about Wildcat.”
“Yeah, I did. Don’t talk now, OK? Just rest. What’s the ETA on an ambulance?” he asked the room at large.
“Five minutes,” Crownover replied.
Shane nodded, his eyes locked on Tessa’s swollen face. She’d been severely beaten. Before covering her, he noted every inch of her body was bloodied and bruised, including a large amount of blood between her thighs. He also noted that the Helton brothers were both wearing some sort of ceremonial robes and when Nathaniel went down, his opened to reveal he was nude beneath it. Shane prayed all of that didn’t add up to what it looked like had happened.
Tessa had passed out but her pulse was strong. The gunshot had done exactly as he’d hoped, gone clean thru the muscle of her shoulder and lodged in Helton’s body, minimal damage to Tessa.
He stepped back when the medics came and surrounded her, letting them do their jobs. Gibson charged him, grabbing him by his Kevlar.
“You wanna tell me what the hell just happened?” Gibson growled at him.
“Ever seen the movie Speed? Shoot the hostage? Dennis Hopper’s character called Sandra Bullock’s character “Wildcat”. Tessa was telling me to shoot her to get to him.”
Gibson swore viciously under his breath. “You meant to shoot her,” he stated flatly. “What if you’d seriously injured her? What if...”
“The boy is the best shot in our division, likely in the whole state,” Bruce cut in. “He would hit what he aimed for and she knew it.”
Gibson snarled at him and then released him, turning his attention to Bruce. Shane shut them out, listening to the medics assess her wounds; there were several, too numerous to count. She was covered in blood and Shane hoped that more of it was Helton’s than just from the gunshot wound. He hadn’t been able to see if there were any scrapes or scratches on him, but he prayed that Tessa had wounded him.
He saw her beginning to move and pushed his way thru the medics to her, taking her hand in his. Her eyes opened and locked on him, a tear falling down her cheek.
“Hey, baby, there you are,” he said, wiping her tears away with his thumb.
“We need to load her up,” one of the medics said.
Shane nodded and leaned down to kiss her brow.
“I love you, Tess,” he told her, then stepped back so they could roll her thru the building to the waiting ambulance.
“Do you have her mother’s contact information?” Gibson asked from behind him, “I need to call her.”
“Let me,” Shane replied, “I know her. She should hear this from me.”
“I’m Tessa’s supervisor, I should-”
Shane put his hand on Gibson’s shoulder. “I’ve known Mrs. Kelly all my life. Let me call.”
Gibson nodded. “All right, perhaps it should be you.”
Shane took his cell from his pocket and dialed Mary’s number.
“Mrs. Kelly, it’s Shane.”
He heard her laugh. “Honey, after all these years, you can call me Mary, it’s OK.”
“Yes, ma’am...listen, you need to come to Austin, and you need to hurry. Tessa’s been...injured...on the job. She’s en route to the hospital. I’m going to call Bob Potter. He can fly you here.”
“Is it bad?”
“She’s been shot and beaten...I think she will be OK, but you should be here. I’ll have someone come pick you up and take you to Bob at the airfield.”
“OK. Shane?”
“Yes, ma’am?”
“You tell her I love her.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
He made arrangements for Mary to be brought there, then rode with Gibson to follow the ambulance to the hospital, leaving Bruce and the team to see to the situation at the compound. Tessa was taken immediately into surgery so Shane and Gibson settled into the waiting room.
“Tessa never talked much about her family,” Gibson said. “I know the basics, that her father was abusive and her mother finally tossed him out when he turned his fists on Tessa.”
Shane nodded, sitting with his forearms braced on his knees. “Her mother, Mary, was afraid she couldn’t make it on her own, but when he hit Tessa, she finally found the strength to throw him out and press charges. She opened a wedding and party planning service and made a real success of it.”
“Is Tessa not close to her mother? I’ve never met her, and I’ve met most of my staff’s parents or spouses at one point or another.”
“Mary wanted Tessa to stay and help her run the shop. There was some tension there.”
“She never came to visit.”
“Tess probably didn’t want her to. She was a little...weird about being in the Army around everyone from home. She didn’t even tell anyone she was considering joining, just up and did it...then didn’t tell anyone she’d left the Army for the FBI.”
“Didn’t tell anyone, or didn’t tell you?” Gibson asked pointedly. “She mentioned you, when she got that tattoo.”
Shane let his head drop, feeling the weight of the world had settled on his shoulders.
“We had just been together for the first time in four years when she got that. It was right after I’d graduated college and finished the Academy. She went into the Army. We talked some. Texts. Emails. Video chats. She told me she got it to keep the guys at bay.”
Gibson nodded, a faint smile touching his lips. “It was a problem for a while, Tessa being...well, Tessa. The guys hit on her all the time. After the tat, they backed off some. And there were three she was close to, Colt, Coop and Whit. They helped keep the others away from her. Anyway, we were working late one night, just the two of us. So I asked her, all the years she worked for me, why had she never dated...and sh
e proceeds to tell me this long story about a little boy back home whom she made life a living hell daily for years, then ended up falling head over heels for.”
“Dammit,” Shane muttered, raking his hands through his hair.
“Shane?” Mary asked, coming into the waiting room. He stood and she gasped, seeing the blood on his jeans. He’d forgotten he was covered in Tessa’s blood. “Oh my God!” she cried.
He embraced her, assuring her once again that Tessa would be all right.
“Why didn’t you call me? I would have met you...” he began but she cut him off.
“I didn’t want you to leave in case anything happened. Any updates?” “None yet. Mary, this is Tessa’s supervisor, Glen Gibson,” he said, gesturing to Gibson.
“The infamous Gib,” Mary said, extending her hand to him. “Tessa has spoken of you often.”
“She is an amazing young woman, Mrs. Kelly.”
“Mary,” she corrected, “and thank you.” She looked back to Shane. “What happened? I thought you were home with your dad.”
They gave her an edited overview of events, as much as they could without jeopardizing crucial case information. Mary grabbed onto Shane’s hand while they spoke, leaning on his strength.
“Tessa Kelly,” a doctor said, walking into the room.
“I’m her mother,” Mary spoke up.
“Tessa’s in recovery right now. Damage to her shoulder was minimal. She has four broken ribs. Her right cheekbone and orbital bone are fractured. She’s lost two teeth. Her back where the whip cut into her may need a skin graft or two to repair damage. We just don’t know at this point how bad the scarring will be. We performed a DNC and...”
The temperature in the room dropped as Shane’s head snapped up.
“I’m sorry...a DNC?” Mary asked.
“The sexual assaults resulted in miscarriage.”
“Sexual...she was raped?” Mary cried.
“She was pregnant?” Shane asked hoarsely.
“Less than six weeks. I doubt she even knew, possibly was just beginning to suspect. The biggest concern at this time is the tearing to the uterus. The brutality of the assaults combined with scarring from a previous injury resulted in severe damage to the uterine wall. At this point, it is uncertain whether she will ever be able to carry a child.”