Hour of Reckoning (Donatella Book 2)
Page 23
“Oh right, the car. Ok. I will go park the car and then come up to labor and delivery on the fourth floor.”
“Fifth floor, Mr. Thompson.”
“My bad! Fifth floor. Gotcha.”
As Marcellous hopped back in the car, heading for visitor parking, Jasmyn said, “That Marcellous. You have to forgive him, this is our first baby.”
Her voice was soft and sweet, Patti thought. “Don’t worry, Mrs. Thompson. Like I told your husband, we are going to take great care of you.” Before walking back into the entrance, Patti pulled a syringe from her pocket, removed the cap with her teeth, and pressed the needle into the neck of Jasmyn before pressing the plunger home.
The patient, raised her hands to her neck, preparing to protest; however, the sedative coursing through her bloodstream triggered an immediate reaction. She was completely out before Patti wheeled her through the entrance.
She moved with haste toward the back of the hospital using her badge to provide clearance for areas deemed off limits and not open to the public. At the southeast exit an SUV would be waiting, prepared to take them to their next destination. She moved as quickly as she could while trying to attract as little attention as possible. Terri had assured her techs working for The Syndicate would alter the video feeds, but she hadn’t survived this long without being vigilant.
She made her way through the last set of doors, Jasmyn’s head pressed against her chest. The SUV flashed its lights twice as it pulled up to her location. Two men exited the vehicle – one from the front passenger side and one from the rear. They sat the pregnant woman in the seat, strapped her into her seatbelt, and climbed in on either side of her. Patti leapt into the front. “Let’s go,” she said with the first part of her mission now complete.
Smithville – 4 years prior
Terri Buckley awoke from anesthesia in a hospital room. Slightly groggy, she looked around noting a figure sitting at the edge of her bed. She blinked a couple of time bringing her blurry eyes into focus. Once her vision cleared, she realized the figure sitting there was her partner, Donatella.
She pressed her mind, attempting to recall her reason for this hospital stay, for this had not been her only one. The memories slowly pushed toward the front of her mind. They were at the house of Aaron Smithville. She had her gun trained on that rapist. His daughter walked into the room and cuddled up with him on the sofa. And – she shook her head trying to remember, the medicine still clouding her thoughts.
“Hey Terri,” came the voice from her partner. “How are you doing?”
“Still a little out of it, but I’ll live.” She put on a smile while her brain continued to recall the day’s events.
She could sense her partner eyeing her with interest. She could sense tension radiating from her body but didn’t know why. After a few moments Donatella spoke.
“Terri, while we were at Aaron’s house, he called you Becky.” She paused for a moment – their eyes connected. “Why would he call you Becky?”
That’s all? she thought. That’s easy enough. Had she been lucid she may not have given a straightforward answer; however, in this instance she told the truth.
“Becky Lurtire is an anagram of my name. It’s something I’ve been doing since I was a kid. I started with my name and came up with some interesting combinations, then moved onto famous places.”
Finishing that sentence, more information came back to her about her current predicament. Donatella was there – that’s right. She wasn’t just there; she had her gun drawn. The gun was pointed at… me. A clear picture began to form in her mind. She shot me!
Buckley’s entire demeanor shifted; a change Donatella noticed. Buckley stared at her, brows furrowing. “I’m a little tired, I think I need to get some rest. Why don’t you come back later – partner.” She emphasized the last word.
Donatella nodded and without another word took her leave.
June 8th – 7:15 p.m.
Donatella, in a flat out run to her car, admonished herself for missing clues staring her in the face. Having worked with Terri Buckley previously should have helped her think through this issue earlier. Thinking back to the conversation she had with Buckley working the Smithville case it was all so clear.
Terri killed Samantha Young, called Dr. Prince’s office pretending to be the temp agency, and was hired on as the new receptionist, Lucie T. Berkry. This allowed her unfettered access to Jasmyn Thompson. Getting close to Jasmyn has been her plan.
The thing bothering her, she didn’t see how the death of Penny Hampton fit into the picture.
She slid into the seat of her Audi R8, fired up the engine and took off. She noted Sampson had been paces behind her and eyed his police vehicle next to hers. He could catch up.
Why would Buckley kill – “Damn it! She was the director of nursing. She wanted to have her replaced with someone she could control. She’s going after Jasmyn during the birth of her child.”
She activated the Bluetooth calling function in her car willing the phone to ring faster. Finally, after a couple of rings Marcellous answered the phone.
“Hey, Donatella. I was just about to call you. We –”
“Marcellous, are you still with Jasmyn!?” She interrupted Marcellous in a huff. “Are you at the hospital?”
Alarms began to register in his head. “No, I’m not with her, I just dropped her off with the nurse at the entrance to the hospital. They are taking her to labor and delivery.”
“Shit!” she said in a panicked voice. “This has all been a trap. A well-orchestrated trap. Jasmyn is in dire danger and you need to find her immediately.”
She pressed down on the gas pedal reaching speeds of 95 mph. She wasn’t sure if Sampson was still with her, but she had to do everything possible to save Jasmyn. She could hear a voice in the background over the in-car speakers.
“You must be Marcellous. I was told to expect you and your wife. Is she outside in the car?”
“What do you mean is she outside in the car? I just dropped her off with a nurse who was waiting outside,” he stated in a high, confused voice.
A knot began to form in her chest. This cannot be happening. Jasmyn has to be ok!
“I only received the call mere minutes ago and I haven’t had time to tell anyone else. I came right down so I could meet you both.”
She could hear the panic in his voice when he spoke. “Donatella, they’ve got her. They’ve got Jasmyn.”
“Marcellous, I’ll be there in a moment, meet me outside.” She disconnected the call, immediately placing a second. This call was immediately answered before the first ring completed.
“BJ, they have Jasmyn. I need for you to activate the tracking beacon!”
For weeks Donatella had a suspicion that Buckley was working an angle that might place Jasmyn in harm’s way; however, she could not find anything to prove this. She didn’t want to scare the couple that she now considered friends, but she couldn’t leave Jasmyn exposed with no safety net. To that end, she worked with BJ to implant a tracking device inside the spacers of the Pandora bracelet she had given to Jasmyn.
Other than activating it once to ensure tracking worked as expected, she swore she would not infringe on her privacy unless absolutely necessary – and this was an absolutely necessary case. Specifically what she had the device created for at the time.
“Absolutely,” came BJ’s alarmed voice. “It’ll take just a moment.”
Donatella swung into the lot in time to see Marcellous from a distance exiting the hospital walking toward his car. She raced through the lot skidding to a stop next to him.
A look of sheer terror had plastered his face, “Donatella, what’s going on?” he demanded.
“Terri Buckley has been masquerading as the receptionist, Lucie, at Dr. Prince’s office. She’s been planning all along to abduct Jasmyn, for what end I’m not sure.”
“How are we going to get her back?” Marcellous demanded, voice raising several octaves.
“I h
ave BJ working on that as we speak.” Looking in the rearview mirror she noticed Sampson pulling into the parking lot.
BJ’s voice shot through the speakers, “I’ve got her! Looks like they are just entering I-277 heading west. The trace has been synced with your onboard computer.”
As part of the tracking software, BJ made two additional modifications for Donatella. Using an over-the-air update, he loaded the software on her phone to track the bracelet in real time. He had also designed the software that would need to be installed on her car. Being more a software guy than a hardware guy, he sent the necessary specs to a fellow graduate from MIT to produce the hardware.
Once the hardware had been designed and the software was loaded, the package was sent to Donatella. From there she took care of having the new hardware installed. With the trace now activated, the bottom half of the windshield in Donatella’s R8 illuminated. A map displaying the city of Charlotte was now present on her windshield. A red dot could be seen leaving Kenilworth Ave. taking the loop onto I-277.
“Thanks BJ,” Donatella said. “I’ll take it from here!”
“I’m coming with you!”
“No, you are not!” Donatella shot back. “She already has one of you, I’m not allowing you to put yourself into any danger.”
“Damn it, Donatella. That’s my wife. I said I’m going.” He reached for the handle – locked.
“No, you’re not,” she said calmly while pulling off in a flurry.
Marcellous, standing next to his car, leapt into the driver’s seat and took off behind her.
June 8th – 7:15 p.m.
For Detective Sampson, chasing Donatella on foot from the coffee house was not an easy feat. Her long, athletic legs propelled her across the concrete at a much faster rate than he could move.
He reached his squad car, old Betsy, 20 seconds after Donatella had taken off. “Come on, old girl, start up for me.” He turned the key in the ignition and for the first time in ages, the car started on the first turn. He yanked the car into drive giving pursuit.
He was able to make out her black car against the blackness enveloping the city. She was tearing down the highway, her car moving as gracefully as she had done. Old Betsy on the other hand had her work cut out for her. As the needle edged closer to 80 mph, the car began to shake. He was afraid to push her any harder, but realized he was losing ground so pressed his luck.
“Come on, old girl. We can do this.”
He could sense himself losing track of her as the brake lights continued to grow in distance. His cop intuition told him she was headed toward the hospital, so that would be his aim as well. He had a chance to learn more about Donatella over the last few months and this was the first time he had seen her this animated, this intense. He sensed this episode coming to a climax and he was worried how it would all end.
Betsy groaned as he edged the car closer to 85 mph and he was happy to see the exit for the hospital was approaching in one mile. By this time, he had lost all contact with the Special Agent and he hoped his guess was correct. He thought about activating the red and blue lights along with the siren but the streets were clear enough for him to navigate.
After a few minutes he pulled into the hospital lot and could see Marcellous standing outside of the Special Agent’s car. As he inched closer, watching out for passing pedestrians, he noticed Marcellous becoming more animated.
He pulled in behind Donatella’s R8 shifting Betsy into park. “Good job,” he said patting the dash. Reaching his hand toward the seatbelt latch, he saw the brake lights in front of him register white for a moment. He looked up in time to see Donatella’s black R8 pulling off and Marcellous jumping into his blue Model S. By the time he shifted his car into gear, Marcellous had already taken off trailing the agent.
“Alright, old girl. Looks like our night is about to get more exciting!”
Firing out of the parking lot, Donatella made a left onto Blythe Blvd – accelerating at a dizzying speed. “BJ, best guess on where they are headed.”
“They are still heading west on I-277 and they don’t appear to be speeding. Heading that direction there are a number of under construction or abandoned buildings.”
“Terri didn’t go through all of this to end up in an abandoned building. She still has plans for Jasmyn – and me.”
Speeding toward the intersection, she slowed slightly to make the right onto Kenilworth. Checking her review mirror, she saw the unmistakable blue Tesla belonging to Marcellous turning the corner right on her bumper. He’s going to get himself killed, she thought, but she pressed forward.
“Guess it depends on which way they go once they approach I-77. Going north they could be attempting to leave the city or to the home of Veronica King.”
Donatella thought the latter was highly unlikely.
“Continuing west, they could be heading toward the airport.”
“Well let’s hope they turn north,” she said entering the highway. Now free of the constant stop lights and cross traffic, she opened up the 562 horsepower V10 engine with the 0-60 acceleration of 3.4 seconds. She ate up concrete and cars like Pac-Man and the pellets.
Checking her review once again, she saw Marcellous keeping a car length distance, desperate not to lose track of her and his wife.
Donatella watched the windshield navigation display as she weaved her way through traffic. She had made up plenty of ground and was still closing in.
The vehicle carrying Jasmyn made a right and headed north on I-77. Donatella pondered what could possibly be this way and she got the answer over the in-car speakers.
“Wreck on 74. They may be making a run north to circle the airport, if that’s where they are going.”
Donatella blew past the Panthers stadium less than a mile from 77. She peered up at her rearview to see Marcellous still fast on her tail. At the speed she was traveling, making the quick right to exit onto 77 could be dicey.
Peeling her eyes from the rearview, she checked the side mirror to see a four-door sedan accelerating onto the highway. She depressed the gas pedal pulling more horses from her engine before yanking the steering wheel to the right.
She cut in front of the sedan, looked like a black Honda, and immediately onto the exit. She fought with the Audi to stay on the ground as she rode the berm taillights whipping past in a blur.
“In another 10 seconds you should see them,” came the frantically calm voice of BJ. “Unfortunately, all we have is her location. I don’t know what kind of car they are driving.”
“I’ve got them BJ,” came her clip response. The SUV Jasmyn had been tossed in was cruising down the center lane. As if they sensed Donatella nearing, they jumped onto the express lane and accelerated.
Donatella, who had to cut her speed slightly once she hit traffic, maneuvered her vehicle to the express lane and gave chase. The SUV that the abductors were in was no match for the speed of her car and she knew that. The problem was, how did she stop the vehicle without harming Jasmyn, or the baby?
She covered the distance in five seconds before seeing an arm reach from both backdoor windows. In the ever-fading darkness she immediately recognized “gun" and realized she was pinned in on the express lane. Instinctively, she slammed on the brakes as gunfire showered the ground where she would have been had she continued her course.
Ahead she could see the SUV pulling back into the main traffic as she pressed forward again. As she accelerated, she thought she heard the sound of a helicopter in the distance but was not sure. What she needed was a plan. The good thing is she had the bastards in her sight. The problem was if she spooked them too much, they may just harm Jasmyn right now and cut their losses.
Closing in on the vehicle once again she realized the arms were back in the window, but their speed had increased dramatically. She was nearing 90 in her vehicle and was barely making up ground. She pushed the car to go faster while formulating a plan in her mind. She knew she only had one chance if she was going to make this work.
She heard the indistinguishable sound of hot metal crunching together. She felt the body of her car lift into the air before seeing the back of the SUV rotate from left to right. She felt the immediate impact of the car hitting the ground, heard the gas ignite from the airbag deployment before being smacked in the face and entombed in a protective bubble.
Her vision was immediately skewed but for a moment, her ears still worked. She felt her body being roughly jostled, glass shattering, and more metal crunching. She had the sensation that she was upside down. She heard BJ yell her name several times before losing consciousness.
Marcellous was fast on the tail of Donatella as they approached the Panthers stadium. He was furious with the agent for not taking him along, but that didn’t mean he too could not give chase. He took a quick glance in the rearview mirror to see the beat-up clunker police vehicle that Detective Sampson was driving. He put his focus back on the road just in time to see Donatella accelerating and making a right to exit onto 77 north. He prepared to do the same when he noticed a car, looked like a black Honda Accord, flying onto the highway within the space he had left between himself and Donatella. He pressed on the break quickly lowering his speed from 91 to 60.
Free from any additional incoming traffic, he maneuvered toward the exit picking up speed again. In doing so he was able to reach the exit ramp a few moments after the Special Agent. Just in time to see her flying down the berm to avoid the slower moving traffic exiting I- 277 the proper way.
He decided he would follow in her wake when a white F-150 also decided the berm was the quickest way to escape this traffic. Again, Marcellous had to hit the brakes in an effort not to run up into the back of this truck. Idly he thought, at this speed I may have killed myself.