by Mark Stone
I stepped toward her, reading the clock as it ticked closer to the three-minute mark.
“We’re going to fix this,” I said, swallowing hard and praying to God above that I would be able to make good on the promise I was about to make. “I’m going to get you out of that thing in one piece.”
Lilith stared at me like I was the craziest person in the world.
“No,” she said simply.
“Excuse me?” I asked, glaring at her.
“You can’t do that, Dillon,” she said. “You can’t waste your time with me, not when they’re out there.” She pointed to the distance. “They just left! If you go, you can catch them.”
“I can’t leave you,” I said, still walking toward her.
“The hell you can’t!” She sneered. “You better get your ass back in that ridiculous car. Do you hear me, Detective?”
“Lilith-”
“He’s better than me, Dillon,” Lilith said. “We both know you can’t save us both. Even if, by some miracle, you were able to disarm this damn bomb, they’d be long gone by the time you did it.” Her face twisted into a pained mask. “He’s hurt. My baby, the person I love the most in the world, is hurt. I don’t know if he’ll make it through the night if you don’t find him.”
“I have to save you,” I insisted.
“Save him,” she said. “He’s the only part of me that matters anyway.”
I shook my head, not sure whether to be upset or in awe. In the end, I settled on a mixture of both. She was a fierce woman, Lilith Mayberry, and she was willing to give her life on the off chance I might be able to save her son’s. She wasn’t even hesitant about it. Still, the woman was making my job a lot harder.
“You talk too much. Anybody ever tell you that?” I said, settling in front of her and calling the emergency number again.
“Leave!” Lilith shouted. “Get the hell out of here! That’s an order.”
“I don’t take orders from you,” I said. “And stop moving around so much. You’re going to cause the damn thing to go off, and I don’t want that. You might be ready to die, but I’ve got a fiancé who’d be pissed if I showed up to our wedding with a hole in my head.”
“My boy is-”
“Going to be okay,” I said. “I got the license plate of the ambulance and gave it to emergency services. Don’t worry. By now, the intel has been spread all over town. There’s no way that ambulance is getting away.” I blinked at the woman. “Now, please, calm down and let me help you.”
Lilith stared at me, her eyes starting to soften a little. It seemed as though she was starting to consider my suggestion.
“What can you do?” she asked, finally looking down at the ticking clock across her chest. “They told me there was no way for this to be taken off without it going off.”
“I’m sure they did,” I answered, walking toward her. “But, if I’ve learned anything in my time on the police force, it’s that criminals aren’t always truthful.”
“You should go,” Lilith said, nodding at me firmly.
“I just told you there might be a chance to save your life and you want me to leave?” I asked, narrowing my eyes at her. “I’m not going to go after your son with you like this.”
“As hard as it might be to believe, this isn’t about my son,” she sighed. “It’s about you.” Her head dropped a little. “I’ve been hard on you, I know that. I’m not saying you didn’t deserve that, but you don’t deserve this.” She shook her head as I tapped redial on my phone, leaving it in my hand. “You don’t know anything about this, do you, Dillon? Even if this bomb had three times as long as it does on the timer, that still wouldn’t be long enough to get someone here who could help us.” She cleared her throat. “Think about your fiancé. Think about your family. I can assure you that, if the shoe was on the other foot, that’s exactly what I would do.”
“Well then,” I said, my mouth thinning out into a straight line on my face. “It’s a good thing the shoe isn’t on the other foot then, isn’t it?” Lifting the phone to my face, which had already called emergency services again, I asked, “You get all that?”
“I did,” a man on the other end of the line said. “I’m connecting you to a specialist now.”
“Good. Move quickly though. There’s a timer, and we’re down to about two minutes,” I said, nodding to myself, but doing it in the direction of Lilith. “Don’t worry,” I said, turning my attention back to Lilith. “I’m getting you out of this.”
Chapter 9
“And you just cut the wires?” Justin asked me, his eyes wide and his mouth stretched in a jubilant smile. “Like you were damn Steven Segal or something?”
“Not Steven Segal,” Rebecca said, shaking her head and grinning at my lawyer friend from Chicago who had done pretty well since moving down to Naples a few months ago. “He’s gross.”
“Steven Segal is gross?” Justin asked, looking back at me with a quizzical look on his face. “I swear, I don’t think I’ll ever understand women.”
“That’s probably why you’re still single,” I said, though my words were still tense and my limbs were still ridged.
“What’s wrong? Are you in pain?” Rebecca asked, sitting on the chair across from my hospital bench. She had fidgeted nervously as she watched a doctor other than herself examine me and, though the doctor gave me a clean bill of health, my fiancé was still nervous about it. I suppose that’s why the hospital had the rule about couples examining each other.
“I’m fine,” I said, waving off her concern. “I’m not the one who went through hell tonight, babe. You should check on Lilith.”
“I already checked on Lilith,” Rebecca answered, standing up and walking toward me. “She seems to be in shock but, physically, she’s okay.” She folded her arms over her chest and glared at me. “It’s her son, isn’t it? You’re upset that they still haven’t found the ambulance.”
I blinked at the woman who would soon be my wife. “I need to be out there,” I said.
“You need to be where you are, you jackass,” Justin said. I could have just as easily heard the words coming from Rebecca, save the ‘you jackass’ part, of course. They were both concerned for me. They both thought I had seen enough action for one night. I didn’t though, not with Joel still unaccounted for, not with the people who took him still on the loose.
“It’s my job, Justin,” I said.
“I know what you’re damn job is, loser,” he said, speaking to me in the way only a good friend who knew me well enough to have stopped caring what I thought ever could. “I also know that you don’t know when to stop. You didn’t back in Chicago, and I guess you still don’t” He huffed at me. “Dillon Storm thinks he can save the whole damn world. You can’t. You’ll only kill yourself trying. You did your part, Dil. You saved a woman. You might very well have saved that EMT too, if he survives the surgery. You disabled a bomb, for God’s sake. Take the rest of the night off.”
Rebecca laughed loudly. “I like this one, Dillon,” she said, motioning to Justin. “You should have convinced him to move down here sooner.”
“That’s what I’m talking about,” he said, smiling and shrugging at Rebecca.
“That’s enough,” I said. “The last thing I need is for the two of you to gang up on me.” I looked over at my would-be wife. “Especially considering that I can’t best this one when she’s all by herself.”
“And don’t you forget it,” Rebecca said, leaning in and planting a kiss on my lips.
“I’m glad you like me,” Justin said, shuffling uncomfortably in his chair a little. “Because I’m not sure that’s going to continue.”
“What?” I asked, looking over at him. “Why would I stop liking you?”
“Not you, you idiot,” Justin said, grinning at me. “I couldn’t care less what you think. I’m talking about the vision of a woman you’ve somehow convinced to marry you.”
“Is that right?” Rebecca asked, leaning against the wall. “And why
would you think that I would stop liking you?”
“Dillon said I was in the wedding,” he started, looking over at me.
“You are,” Rebecca said. “Second groomsman, right after-”
“Boomer, I know. Don’t rub it in,” Justin said. “The thing is, I’ve started seeing someone, and- if things keep going the way I think they might- I’ll want to bring her to the wedding.”
“And you forgot to add ‘plus one’ on your RSVP?” Rebecca asked. “I’m having trouble following why I might be upset with you about this.”
“It’s not the fact that I want to bring someone,” he said. “It’s who I want to bring.” Justin cleared his throat. “I’ve started seeing Charlotte Cooper. That’s who I’ll want to bring to the wedding.”
My cheeks flushed a little as I shuffled uncomfortably in my seat. I had heard rumblings that Charlotte and Justin might be interested in each other. Hell, some of it I’d heard from Charlotte herself. That had been a while ago though, and I assumed things between them had either fizzled out or never started.
It didn’t matter to me, of course. I mean, not really. Charlotte and I were ancient history. We might as well have been hieroglyphics etched into stone walls for all the relevancy our past relationship held on the way I felt today.
Still, the situation was a unique one. My ex-girlfriend- a woman I swore I would go to my grave loving- was not only the mother of my nephew but she was now dating one of my best friends. The whole thing was a little complicated for my taste.
“I like Charlotte Cooper,” Rebecca said matter-of-factly. “She’s a sweet woman, she works hard for her and her kid, and she’s absolutely freaking beautiful. It doesn’t surprise me that you’d want to go out with her.” She shrugged.
“I get that,” Justin said, leaning back in his seat. “But it’s your wedding, Rebecca. It’s your special day and all that crap. I just wanted to make sure you wouldn’t be sore at me for bringing your soon-to-be husband’s-”
“Friend?” Rebecca asked, her eyebrows darting upward. It wasn’t that she didn’t know about the relationship Charlotte and I shared, but she likely didn’t need all the details of it thrown in her face right this minute. “You bring who you want, Justin. I trust your taste. Besides, I’m sure you’ll make a beautiful couple.”
Justin smiled widely. “Thanks, Becks. You’re the best. I just figured since she didn’t get an invitation herself, maybe you didn’t want her there, and it would be better to ask you myself.”
“What did you say?” I asked, narrowing my eyes.
Justin looked over at me. “That’s right,” he beamed. “Your fiancé and I are good enough buds that she lets me call her Becks. You got a problem with that?”
I did have a problem with that, not because I cared about Justin and Rebecca being close. That made me happy, actually. Rebecca wasn’t a fan of that nickname though, even if she was too polite to say it right now. Either way, it wasn’t what I was talking about.
“Of course, Charlotte got an invitation to the wedding,” I said, looking over at Rebecca. “Charlotte got invited to our wedding, right?”
Rebecca just looked at me, sighing and biting her lower lip. “It’s been a long day. Let’s talk about this later.”
“Rebecca,” I said, standing. “I think we need to-”
The door of the hospital room swung open. Gary Mayberry stood on the other side of it, flanked by men in black suits. His eyes were tired and his face looked sunken in.
“Detective Storm,” he said in a ragged breath. “I’m sure you’ve had a rough evening. If you’ll indulge me though, I’d like to extend it further. We need to talk.”
I heard Justin scoff from beside me. “So much for taking the rest of the night off.”
Chapter 10
Gary Mayberry looked exhausted as he and the men flanking him took me into a small waiting room at the end of the hall. I recognized the room immediately. It was the same room I sat in during one of my grandfather’s surgeries, the same room I prayed in, the same room I cried in.
I had to imagine Gary and Lilith were doing some crying of their own tonight. Though, to look at him, you couldn’t tell it. No, the exhaustion on his face spoke to something deeper than tears. It spoke to being ripped apart in a way few people ever truly understand.
“I trust you’re alright,” Gary said as one of the men closed the door behind us and stood stalwart at it.
“I’m not the one you should worry about,” I answered in a firm but calm voice. “I was being checked out as a precaution. It’s protocol. Your wife however-”
“My wife isn’t speaking to me at the moment,” Gary answered. “I’m sure you can imagine why. Our family secrets never stay that way for long when my wife gets upset.” He sat on a nearby chair placing his face in his hands. “I’ve given her more than a few reasons to be upset with me these days.”
I blinked, looking at the man. He seemed to be a mixture of emotions. That made sense. He had been through a horror show of a night ,too, even if his whereabouts left something to be desired for that of a married man. On another day, I might have given him a piece of my mind about that. I might have told him that, when you make a vow in front of God, the people you love, and the world at large, it’s probably in your best interest to stick by it. I’d have also told him that being a politician having an affair with an underling was so cliché that the thought of it made me more tired that I cared to admit.
This wasn’t another day though. This was the day Gary’s son had been forcibly taken from him. It was the day I had allowed that to happen. It didn’t seem fair to pile onto him right now. So, I didn’t.
“That’s not my business,” I said. It was the most I could give him that wasn’t a lie. “What is my business is finding your son.” I took a deep breath. “I want you to know that there are people on the case. Even now, the best and brightest in Naples are combing the streets. We will find him.”
“No, you won’t,” Gary said quickly, his face grim and his eyes sallow as he looked up at me.
I steadied myself. “I know things might look dire right now, but I promise you, I have seen worse than this. I have solved cases worse than this one, and I’ve brought children back to their families. I’ll bring yours back too.”
“That’s not what I meant, Detective Storm,” Gary said. “I have faith in your abilities and the abilities of your colleagues. I watch the news. I know you’ve done great things since you’ve come back to town. I mean you won’t find my son, because I already did.”
“You what?” I asked, my body tensing up and I walked toward him. “How could you have-”
“I already lost one son, sir. Sam and I were the only ones in that house the night it caught fire. I watched him die in front of me. I swore I would never let that happen again.” He shook his head. “Joel had a heart condition,” Gary said somberly. “He was born with a defect in one of the chambers of his heart, I think.” He shook his head. “It was something like that. In any event, he was fitted with a pacemaker two years ago.”
“He was?” I asked, my eyes narrowing. “That’s not in his records, Gary. If we’d have known-”
“Yes,” Gary cut me off. “He didn’t want anyone to know. He was embarrassed about his condition and felt that the pacemaker made him seem weak and feeble. I told him he was being ridiculous, of course. But he was adamant about it. So, we elected to have it put in during one of our trips abroad. It was a simple enough procedure, and we could do it without making a scene.”
“You can track someone through their pacemaker, Gary,” I said, blinking hard. “We could have found him if you’d have just-”
“I did find him, Detective Storm,” he answered. “I got someone on it the second I heard my son was missing, and I’m here to tell you that it wouldn’t have made a difference. The second you decided not to chase that ambulance, you signed my son’s death warrant.”
“Death warrant?” I asked, my heart dropping. “He’s-”
“He’s dead, Detective Storm,” Gary finished. “I tracked his pacemaker to somewhere in the Gulf, but his vitals are nonexistent, which means the tracker won’t last much longer.” He shook his head. “And the way this storm is raging outside, I don’t know if there’s any way we’re going to be able to find his body.”
Gary stood to meet me.
“So, that’s it, Detective. My wife was right. I didn’t listen to her. We didn’t listen to her. Because of that, my son is dead, and I’ll likely never even have a body to bury.”
“I’m so sorry,” I said, my voice cracking. “If I could have done things differently, if I could have-” I stopped short. “I’m going to get to the bottom of this. I swear it. I’ll figure out who did this.”
“We already know who did this,” Gray said, sighing loudly. “My wife told us who did this, and we didn’t believe her. Not that it would have done us any good.” The man blinked back tears. “You can’t fight these people. They’re too powerful. They wanted me out of the race for mayor, and now they’ve got it.”
“You don’t mean you’re dropping out,” I said.
“I don’t have the heart for this anymore and, to be frank with you, I don’t think this is the right place for me,” he said. “I don’t want to help these people make their lives better. After tonight, I’m not sure they deserve it.”
“Don’t say that,” I answered. “Your son would have wanted you to-”
“Save him,” Gary cut me off. “I’m assuming my son would have wanted me to save him. We’re too late for that though, aren’t we? I’m not doing this, Detective Storm. I just thought you should know that, and I thought I should tell you- in advance- that it’s alright.”
“That what’s alright?” I asked.