by Unknown
In what seemed like slow motion, the bullet surged forward, straight into Dillon’s chest. Jamie didn’t even make a sound, but stood there stock still as if waiting to take the next bullet. He was very impressed with her composure; she should have been screaming her beautiful head off. The teams broke their cover and rushed toward the two of them, weapons drawn. Tommy learned quickly that you never drop your weapon until you’re certain the danger is gone.
Dillon defied the odds and lunged to his feet, wrapping an arm around Jamie’s neck and held the knife against her jugular. Fuck. Everyone came to a halt 100 feet from them, waiting for his next move.
“Jamie Wright.” Called Noah.
She visibly stiffened and then croaked when she tried to answer him.
“Yes.” She had clearly resigned to her fate but the hope had bled through that one word.
She lifted her gaze and glanced around, eyes squinted.
“Who-Who are you?” Jamie asked nervously but Dillon did not give them the chance to answer. Using her as a body shield, he backed up to the building and kicked back to knock in a boarded door. He was smart enough to have studied the layout before letting Jamie out of her prison.
Tommy gave a brief glance around at the others and saw that they were missing Matt. This fact should have worried him but considering his background he figured it could only play out in their favor if he had gone rogue.
A team – Mike, Candace and Noah – slowly approached the door when a loud shot pierced the night silence. The team retreated and took cover.
“Flash bang.” Peyton suggested over the mic.
Charlie pulled one off his chest and with awesome precision, lobbed it perfectly through the doorway, smoking them out.
“All state pitcher, baby!” Charlie boasted.
The smoke billowing out of the buildings cracks and doorway was a violet color and his eyes watered a little. That was unusual.
“Peyton’s special cocktail – a smoke grenade with a touch of gas, gas, gas!” Noah chuckled.
Well, that would do the trick if they wanted them out of the building.
“I assume Dillon wasn’t privy to this new toy?” Tommy asked. Otherwise Dillon would have a gasmask donned.
“Nope. Been tinkering with it; trying to make sure I didn’t blow my own asshole off before I brought it forward. It’s been ready since a week after…” Peyton cut his sentence off and focused back toward the building, setting his sight centered on the doorway.
A loud holler resounded from inside and a second later three bodies rushed out of the building. A female stood off to the side of the entry and coughed uncontrollably. The struggle was real – gas was no joke without a mask.
The other two bodies were entwined as Matt had Dillon in a choke hold, holding his own knife against Dillon’s throat; it put his arms in a very contorted and uncomfortable looking position. But it worked. Dillon could not break free and had snot and spit up running down his chin onto Matt’s arms. Dillon’s face almost matched the color of the smoke. Surprisingly enough, undeterred was he; Dillon was fighting with a vengeance despite his total inability to get free.
Mike and Candace approached the two of them with weapons drawn on Dillon’s form; Mike slung his on his back and began outfitting Dillon with new ankle and wrist bracelets aka zip ties. Once he had them on, he switched to some rope and bound him together – arms to his waist to his legs. If he escaped this time, they all deserved to lose their practice and try another career field.
Matt free, came into Jamie’s view and her entire body folded in on itself making her fall to her knees; she let out a sob and dropped her head into her bony hands. Noah took the lead while I stood by his side; Mike and Peyton focused their attentions on Dillon while Charlie and Candace maintained perimeter security. Matt made to reach out for her but Noah stopped him.
“My name is Noah Kane and this is my brother Tommy Kane. You know Matt. We are here to bring you home. Taylor sent us.”
Tommy looked to his brother who still had his hand encased around Matt’s bicep. A look on his brothers’ face he had never seen before; cold hard possession in his eyes.
As he released Matt, he swung his weapon to his back and approached her slowly.
When Jamie did not fight him, Noah slipped an arm under her knees and one behind her back, lifting her to cradle against his chest. As her body left the ground, Tommy and Matt both noticed the blood staining the ground where she just stood.
“Check her body – we got blood.” Matt announced.
Noah stopped and set her on her feet for as long as it took for him to do a full once over on her body, patting and sliding around. Then he picked her back up and started moving.
“Laceration across her throat. Get me a blanket, now. And some water.” He called to anyone listening. Even though he didn’t say bandages, it went without needing to be said when you had a cut like that.
Matt and Tommy led the way back to their waiting SUV’s with weapons raised, Noah jogging behind them.
Jamie’s arms wrapped around Noah’s neck looked like little sticks. Tommy wanted to turn back and kicked the shit out of Dillon before putting a bullet through his skull. It killed Tommy to see any woman hurt, but no person should ever be treated this way.
Mike came across the earpiece and informed them that Charlie was behind us and Candace would drive with Mike in Dillon’s truck. They had strapped him up exactly where and how he had Jamie. Too bad the bastard wouldn’t be there for as long as Jamie had been. A small part of Tommy wished that Dillon just bleed out in the hour it took to get back to the compound. Fucker was dumb enough to be so close when they were hunting him. Sadly though, Tommy knew the hit was clean and he was safe from dying…for now.
“Let’s roll.” Charlie called, hopping into the front passenger seat.
Noah had loaded up into the middle seat of the SUV with Jamie on his lap, ensconced in blankets. She had drank greedily for a steady five minutes while they waited for Charlie to get back. Her apparent thirst was only digging Dillon’s grave deeper; red hot hate ran through him like an electric current.
Taylor would be damn glad to see Jamie safe. He immediately realized his wife was seeing everything he was, but he couldn’t hear her. Tommy reached up and clicked his earpiece back on, effectively making himself go deaf when her screeching hit his ears.
It was going to be a long ride back.
Chapter 19
If he thought that shutting me out and only providing the generic, “Yes, honey” “Of course, baby” “I’m sorry”’s was going to cut it, he was sorely mistaken. By the end of the night, someone was going to get a swift kick in the family jewels. Seeing Jamie on the feed was such an overwhelming, immeasurable relief, I wept. I wept for her safety, I wept for all she had suffered and I wept for all she was to overcome. For the next few weeks, she was going to get real sick of me because there was no way I was going to let her out of my sight. I felt sympathetic to Tommy and Matt now, knowing this must have been what they experienced. Not that I’d admit it.
When I saw the shape that Jamie was in, I prayed that Tommy would pull the trigger and let it all be done with. The sound of a shot being fired jarred me from my angry daydream; maybe I was twisted for dreaming of a man’s death – a man who was once a brother to me – but I didn’t give a shit. After I saw that he was still alive, a pang of sadness hit me and I didn’t know what to do with it.
For the next hour I was going to monitor every single one of their feeds to be sure nothing even looked at them the wrong way. It was after thirty minutes, the fifty-fifty mark of my odds, that the universe told me it wasn’t over yet. We just couldn’t catch a break. Everything was copacetic; no talking or sounds came from Tommy’s vehicle as everyone processed the night.
Then the rear cam of their SUV captured lights swerving from side to side across the two lanes of traffic before I saw the 18-wheeler. My blood ran cold, the hair stood on my whole body and I knew. I knew before it happened, how tha
t drunk or tired driver was going to alter the night that should have ended in a successful retrieval and delivery.
Chancing a quick glance at the dash cam on Tommy’s SUV showed me that they were approaching a ravine, the road winding with no space outside of the two tiny lanes.
Looking back to the rear cam I saw it happen in slow motion. The truck pulled to the left, almost hitting the rock wall before the driver yanked back to the right. As he began drifting to the left again, he rode the bumper of the trailer and grazed it ever so slightly causing it to mock the trucks swerving. My guess was that the driver was falling asleep because he jerked one more time to the right, smacking his front end into the unstable trailer, forcing it off of the edge. The wheels had nothing to grab onto and being hitched to Dillon’s truck, it began pulling the truck to the edge, rear first. I jumped off of the chair and held my face an inch from the screen and yelled for Tommy and the guys to do something. Realistically I knew there was nothing they could do; that didn’t stop me from yelling though. No one ever accused me of having a level head in these types of situations.
The semi was still pushing forward, trying to gun it through the mountains, unaware of the damage he was doing.
Mike began honking the horn and shouting at the incoherent truck driver.
“Fuck.” I heard him shout. “Fuck, fuck, fuck!”
I could practically hear the wheels burning out, running through his options.
“Come here Candace, get in my lap.”
I could see through the rear cam that she was climbing over in the front seat and got as into his lap as she could without blocking him.
“Peyton, pull back and get the back doors open, Tommy.”
Through Tommy’s go pro I saw him open the rear doors and hold his foot on each end before sticking a block in each to keep them open. Peyton slowed down enough to get the rear level with Dillon’s driver’s side door.
“Okay…” Mike mumbled. “Grab that fire extinguisher in the center. Yeah, and put it right… yeah. There you go.”
Candace opened the door of the truck. Mike shifted to the side, still holding to the wheel. When they came up to a fairly straight stretch of the mountain road, Mike grunted before telling Candace to climb on his back like she was getting a piggy back ride and hold on with everything she had. The truck was jostled again and if they didn’t move they were going over, truck and all. Without waiting for her to agree, Mike leapt out of the door and onto the rear door of the SUV. In an excellent display of superhuman strength, Mike hung on the door, searching with his feet for a foothold of some sort. Tommy unbuckled his gear to move more freely and stepped out onto the rear bumper. I’m pretty sure that was the exact moment my heart stopped. Matt appeared behind him, as I saw on his go-pro, and held tight to his belt as Tommy grabbed his brother’s hand.
“No, get her first.”
Candace didn’t waste time arguing and reached out for Tommy slow and steady as if she didn’t doubt Mike’s ability to hold her there forever, hanging off of the door.
The door which now was waving around freely because the wood had snapped. Matt slipped a metal pipe, or something similar, into the door steadying it again.
“Alright superman, now you.” Candace was safely inside the vehicle and just as Mike clapped his hand into Tommy’s, Dillon’s truck tumbled over the side of the cliff, taking Dillon with it. The semi-truck was still behind them, swerving and speeding up.
“Taking so long getting in here, I’m starting to think you like it more out there than in here.” Matt joked.
“Well, yall do smell to high hell. Except Candace, she smells pretty nice.” He grunted, readjusting his hands.
“I smell like sweat, too.” Candace replied, feigning insult. She always did want to be considered just like one of the guys – keep it fair, so she could do her job.
“Yes, but I’d lick the sweat off of your body – these fuckers only wish I would do that to them.” Mike raised an eyebrow as if he was answering matter-of-factly.
“Dude, gross.” Noah denied, his face scrunching up comically.
This is almost exactly why I couldn’t be in the military capacity – I would never be able to separate that shit. Case in point, I was still shaking from head to toe and I couldn’t breathe right yet.
“Everyone’s fine, Annie.” This from Tommy. He always knew what I was thinking, how I was feeling. Always. If there was a manual on how to operate me, he had it and knew it front to back.
I just nodded. I didn’t even know if he could see me, but I was beyond words right now and not in a good way. Not like after he’s made me come a few times. Those were good speechless moments, this one definitely not.
“What about…” I couldn’t ask.
“We’ll be home soon, try and get some sleep, okay baby?”
I knew that wasn’t going to happen. He knew that wasn’t going to happen.
“Hey Tay?” Peyton called for me.
“There’s some tea in my desk. Your favorite.” The dash cam showed me his face; etched with worry but still hardened from the night. My twin.
“Okay.” I walked like a zombie over to his office.
It was the first time all night that I hadn’t been attached to Luke’s computer screens. Stirring my tea for what seemed like two minutes was obviously longer because I looked up and Tommy was making quick strides to me and enveloping me in his arms. He leaned back only far enough to kiss me from the top of my head to my chin and back again. There was a sense of urgency and these were no delicate little pecks. Leaving my tea on the table in the kitchen, Tommy lifted me off my feet and marched to the bedroom ignoring everyone and everything.
“I need to see Jamie.” I said, muffled by his neck.
“Later. Right now, we have her getting checked out by the Doc.”
“I want to be with her. Please.”
Tommy slowed his steps but continued for the bedrooms at the end of the hall.
“Tom.” I said, firmly.
He didn’t say anything as he knocked once and stepped into the bedroom across from ours.
“Tonight, we go home.” It wasn’t a question and I wasn’t arguing.
I nodded and kissed his mouth when someone cleared their throat. There wasn’t really anything that was going to get me out of Tommy’s arms until I turned my head and saw Jamie sitting on the bed with a gorgeous redhead hovering above her, checking her blood pressure. I couldn’t get out of his arms fast enough. Nearly knocking the Doctor over, I, as gently as possible, collided with Jamie and hugged her for a long time.
“I really need to check her out, hun.” The Doctor said to me, voice kind and gentle.
Really looking at her for the first time, I would have expected her to be a pediatrician or obstetrician, but not a regular ole’ physician.
“I’m sorry.” It came out like a pathetic squeal.
“It’s quite alright. I’m sure you friend is more than happy to have you here.”
She smiled and nearly melted my heart. I wasn’t in to girls, but damn this woman was gorgeous; she almost seemed like she belonged in a pin-up portrait.
I looked back to my best friend and lifted my chin in a testament to my steely resolve; I was not going to cry.
“I’m so sorry, Jamie. I didn’t know. I should have known.”
She put a finger to my mouth and shushed me. Her fingers were almost non-existent.
“This is not your fault. I never once blamed you. Just give me some time to recoup, okay?” I nodded and she hugged me. It was so heart wrenching to see her in a shell of her former self. She was literally a bag of bones, her skin almost translucent as thin as it was.
The night proceeded in a whirl of lights and sounds, none having any meaning; Jamie was my sole focus. The Doctor told me that she was dehydrated, malnourished, and weak from beatings and lack of sunlight. It was a fucking miracle that was all that was wrong with her. I couldn’t keep myself from shaking my head and cringing whenever I thought of what she mus
t have suffered this past six months.
Tommy left us shortly after he brought me to her, but came back just as Doc was preparing to leave. She prescribed a few medications to Jamie and told her that if she needed anything else for nightmares, panic attacks, depression, whatever to not hesitate to call. The brothers were paying her independently from the hospital and it was quite generous.
“Too damn generous” she had said with disdain.
“I’ll be back to check on you tomorrow, Jamie and even see your father, Taylor.” The Doc winked and gave a goofy wave before walking out.
“Let’s get you ladies home.” Tommy suggested.
“I can’t impose.” Jamie argued.
“You’re kidding, right? Don’t ever think or say that again.” I chided. It was the stupidest thing I’d ever heard her say.
“We’re going to Tommy’s house.” I told her, holding her hand and helping her up.
Tommy kept his distance, which was probably smart but snorted and corrected me. “Our house, Mrs. Kane.”
Jamie looked at me and attempted a smile. “It sounds like I’ve missed a lot.”
“Well, you didn’t miss that – I’ll explain later, trust me.”
“Oh, Taylor. I need to tell you – I’m sorry. Dillon held a gun to my head and told me to write some note. He made me sign it as you. I have no idea what he did to it, but I swear I didn’t do it willingly.” The sadness and regret drowning her.
I shook my head at her and hugged her close. “Don’t pay it a second thought.”
We walked out of the bedroom and down the hall to the private elevator. Only the brothers had access to it; the elevator was necessary because of how far underground they were. When the doors opened, Noah and Peyton greeted us.
Jamie shied back a foot or so when they approached and I pulled her in closer to me.