“I don’t understand. I thought it was over. We hadn’t heard anything in months. How did he get the picture in here?”
Gregory steps forward and takes the picture from my hands, muttering curses under his breath as he dials the local authorities.
Alex bends at the waist and drops his arms onto his legs, resting his head between his knees.
“It’s alright, Alex. Gregory will get it all figured out,” I say trying to reassure him.
“It’s not alright, this person or someone in cohorts with him were here, close to you. I can’t tolerate that. And they again captured a private moment and no one has been in the house in months.”
“Don’t get worked up, Alex, please. It’ll upset me and I can’t get stressed out right now.”
He takes a few deep breaths in his position, then sits upright, and leans back in his seat.
Before we can discuss the matter further Gregory ends his call and tells us that we’re going to the security room, together, to view the tapes from today. We follow a maintenance worker down a dim hallway and enter a tight room filled to the brim with computer equipment and screens. As I gaze in amazement at all of the technology, Gregory takes a seat beside an officer and starts reviewing the footage at a high speed. Alex ushers me to a seat and hands me a small glass of water before turning his attention to the screen.
Ten minutes into their search, Alex shouts at them to stop the footage.
“That’s him. See the way he glances around and holds a hand in his jacket. He’s not wearing the exact hotel uniform, just one that is similar, and he comes right when the guests start arriving.”
“Good eye, sir,” Gregory says as he clicks a few buttons to zoom in on the face. “You and Mrs. Stone hadn’t arrived yet, but we’re all lucky that it was only a picture frame. Obviously, it could have been much worse.” Satisfied with the clarity of the image Gregory eases off the keyboard and asks, “Do either of you recognize this person?”
I move closer to the screen, but the image triggers no recognition. Just an average looking man, young, no more than twenty years old. Dark hair and eyes and golden skin.
Alex continues to stare at the screen; squinting his eyes as if to get a clearer view.
“He looks familiar,” he says standing straighter, “but I can’t place him.”
Frustrated, Alex snakes a hand through his dark hair.
“It’s terrible that it happened, especially on such a lovely day, but at least now we have an image of the perpetrator and can hand it over to the police; it’s already been emailed to the chief. With a facial recognition program they should be able to get a name and address and we can take care of this once and for all,” Gregory says soothingly as he waits for the security guard to print off the photo.
“I do not feel any better now having a face to go with the crimes than I did before. He is playing with fire and endangering my family and I won’t tolerate it anymore. This needs to end.”
“Alex,” I say as I stand and place my hand in his palm, “calm down. Gregory is doing the best he can. Please, let’s go out to the sunroom for a little bit and then we can head home. It’s a beautiful day outside.”
Knowing my soft voice and touch have a relaxing effect on my husband I use my other hand to touch the scruff at his jaw line.
Both men wordlessly follow me to the sunroom at the back of the hotel and a waitress brings me a glass of cool lemonade as I watch the butterflies in the garden outside the window.
Lost in his own thoughts, Alex jumps when his phone starts ringing. Taking the call Alex steps just outside of the room, but still in sight of Gregory and talks quietly to the caller. I turn my attention back to the magical courtyard and daydream about walking hand in hand with Alex through the garden while my other hand holds tightly to that of a young child. Her dark, curled hair bounces in the pigtails tied to each side of the small head. She flits from one bundle of flowers to the next. My heart warms as I smile imagining the youth of our daughter.
I jerk from my fantasy as Alex crouches down beside me, startling me with a hand on my shoulder.
“Sorry, love, I didn’t mean to frighten you. One of our drivers has fallen ill and I need to join our team as a driver this evening. Do you want to come and stay with Sophie or I can have Scott take you home.”
“I want to watch you race, of course. You know I love it. What about Gregory?”
“He'll gather the gifts and take them home and he's going to meet the chief at the police station. Let me tell Scott where we’re headed and he can meet us in the maintenance area of the track before escorting us inside.”
“Ok, I’ll just be here…working my way out of the seat. It may take a few minutes,” I say jokingly.
Alex chuckles and then confers with Gregory. Just as I swing my legs around Alex is there to heave me from the settee.
Security escorts us to the back of the hotel where Alex’s SUV waits. Gregory helps me into the passenger seat and then speaks with Alex for a few minutes before moving into the vehicle behind us. Alex slides into the car and drives away from the hotel.
“The race isn’t on the Formula One circuit, but a sponsoring affiliate is putting on the evening competition. We’ll be driving through some of the mountainous roads in Wales. Should take us about four hours to get there.”
“Ok, sounds like fun. And you said Scott is meeting us there?”
“Yes, and I have a medic for you on stand-by just in case,” he replies with a wink.
At that moment Anabelle makes her presence known by twisting around in my belly, sending shooting pains in my lower back, I grimace at the ache.
“Are you ok? Do you need me to pull over?”
“No I’m fine; the baby is just kicking my sciatic nerve again. Remember how I told the doctor it’s been happening a lot? She said that it’s common with such big babies.”
“Alright, but if you get uncomfortable let me know. I’ll find a place to stop.”
I pat his hand reassuringly as he guides the car away from the bustle of London and the winding roads of the countryside.
I doze for a bit, finally finding a comfortable position against the door, but I jerk awake as another large vehicles taps our car from behind.
“Alex, what’s going on?”
“It’ll be fine, Mallory, but I’m pretty sure that instead of us finding the guy ruining our lives that he has found us. The driver of the car fits the image perfectly.” Alex picks up speed as he whizzes the SUV around some tight corners. “Now I need to you hold on and sit back, ok?”
I nod in response, complete and utter terror plaguing my body. I glance at the side view mirror and see that the other driver doesn’t possess the same driving skills as Alex and he fishtails quite frequently as he tries to maintain Alex’s speed along the curvy hillside.
Alex comes ahead around many of the curves, but the other driver makes up the loss in the straight-a-ways. I try to keep my eyes on the road ahead, only gazing out the side mirror for split seconds. Just as I see the large craggy mountainside come to an end the other driver knocks into the lower back quarter panel of our car as he spins out of the turn. The other car goes careening into the rocky hillside smashing at such a high rate of speed the front crunches into itself, half of the vehicle disappearing before my eyes.
Alex works to regain control as our own vehicle spins and jerks in a fishtail, the damp road from the English weather not allowing the car to gain any traction, but just as I think we’re in the clear an enormous boulder slides down the mountainside, no doubt knocked loose from the other car’s collision.
Bracing ourselves for the impact, I instinctively cover my stomach with my arms as Alex works to swing the car in the opposite direction. I watch as the boulder glides down effortlessly onto the tip of the hood of our vehicle, the weight launching our vehicle into the air upside down. I can’t hear anything over the pounding of my heartbeat, but I’m sure Alex and I call out to each other. We lock eyes briefly, both expressing
our love before the car crunches upside on the pavement, knocking us both unconscious.
I wake in a fog, knowing I wasn't in an unconscious state for very long. I check my surroundings and find Alex still harnessed in his seatbelt and his head resting against the deployed airbag. Out of instinct, I wrap my aching arm around my stomach and feel the baby kick against my hand. I breathe a sigh of relief quickly followed by an agonizing wale of pain. The muscles of my abdomen tighten and I feel the contraction all the way to the tips of my toes. Now frantic, I search the ceiling, now below me, for the cell phone Alex always keeps in the cup holder. It is barely out of reach but I wiggle just enough to touch the screen with my fingers.
I waste no time pressing the emergency button and wait until the screen looks as if it has connected. I can't hear anyone on the other line, but I cry into the air that we've been in a wreck, that Alex is still unconscious, and that I believe I'm having contractions. I pause allowing the operator to gather her information and then I remember Alex mentioning that he had an airborne medical transport on standby. Unable to hear the operator I shout the information about the transport that should get here much quicker than an ambulance and I give the operator Gregory's name. I hope that he or she can get a hold of him.
I glance back over to Alex and see bruises starting to form on his face. Another contraction ripples through my body and I know that I need to try to get out of the vehicle. I take a deep breath, readying my body for the flip, and its then that I smell the gasoline. Now in a hurry, I lean my body against the door so I can control the flip of my body and I maneuver myself into the correct position and exit the vehicle.
A deep exhale escapes from my lungs and I glance back at the destruction of the other driver. From a distance, I can see his body lying lifeless against the steering wheel, which is positioned in the back seat due to the impact of the head on collision with the mountainside.
Glancing over the side of the road into the valley, I see a town that I can only pray has a rescue team. Another contraction hits, five minutes apart, and my worries escalate. The smell of gasoline intensifies and I rush over towards Alex's side of the car.
First I check his pulse and though a bit slow, I find it steady, and that relief echoes through my bones. Not wanting to injure him any further if he is already hurt, I twist his body so that his back faces me. I reach my arms between his chest and biceps and tug him in my direction. His body slides through the seat belt as I pull him through the open door.
Just as his feet hit the pavement another contraction halts my movements with a searing pain. I try to concentrate on the breathing techniques the psychologist showed me a few months back and the focus helps to ease the pain. I take the reprieve to tug Alex and myself away from the car towards the opposite side of the street.
Alex's body is propped against a guardrail and I turn to try to retrieve his phone from the upside down vehicle when a blistering explosion erupts up the road at the other vehicle. An eerie premonition assaults my mind and I quickly yank Alex farther up the road away from the vehicles. I have very little time to react before a trail of fire follows a leaking gas line to our own vehicle. I pull Alex as quickly as possible as far from the vehicles as my heavily pregnant self can. Just as the flames engulf our own SUV another excruciating contraction moves from my lower back, up my spine, and through my legs. My body drops down towards the ground and I have to brace myself with my hands before I fall completely.
Agonizing cries ripple from my throat. I turn my body to lie on the ground and I release the fearful tears that were building behind my eyes. I can only pray that a rescue team will arrive soon.
In and out. In and out. Focus on the deep inhale through the nose and the cleansing exhale from the mouth. In and out. In and out.
Lost in the control of the pain, each contraction about two minutes apart, I don't even hear the sirens approaching until they are right on us.
Two medics rush from the ambulance and come to our sides. A third follows behind with a flat board and tugs a stretcher out of the back of the vehicle.
"Miss, can you tell me what's going on. Are you hurt?" the young female paramedic asks.
"Yes, labor. Contractions are about two minutes," I say biting back cries of pain.
I watch as the other two paramedics load Alex onto the flat board and take him to the stretcher.
"How far along are you?" she asks bringing my attention back to her.
"Almost thirty-six weeks. Please help, I...I feel like something isn't right. Is my husband ok? His pulse was low."
"They'll take good care of him. We're just waiting on the helicopter to arrive. We want to take you back to London and it is the fastest method. Do you think you can walk?"
I nod my head wearily and rise to my feet with her assistance.
"I can give you an IV with a bit of pain reliever, but I can't give you an epidural to numb you completely, and I have a feeling that you may be past that point already, but I can check you once we get on a bed.
As she ushers me towards the ambulance the fire department arrives simultaneously with the medical helicopter.
Everything at that point becomes a flurry of activity.
Chapter 16
We're quickly ushered into the chopper. Alex is placed first, the paramedics attaching probes to his head to monitor brain activity and they check his limbs for broken bones. I stand mesmerized watching the powerful water supply from the fire department drench the scorching fire of the vehicles.
The female paramedic tugs on my hand, silently requesting that I follow her onto the helicopter. I vaguely listen as she transfers my care to another medic and I breathe through another set of contractions.
"Hi, I'm Ava. I hear that you've been having some contractions. What do you say to making those a bit less painful?"
I nod, trying to hold back my cries of pain and terror. Now that we've been rescued all of my composure crumbles and I have to fight to hold onto any sense of sanity. Alex isn't waking up and four weeks is too early for the baby. She's not ready and I'm not ready, I won't be ready without Alex.
The medic straps me onto the gurney and ties down the bed to the helicopter. After inserting the IV, which immediately goes to work at relieving some of the pain to a dull ache, she gives the signal to the pilot to lift off.
"Where are we going?" I ask.
"The Royal London Hospital," she replies as she straps a fetal monitor around my stomach. "It's to listen to the baby's heartbeat. Make sure it isn't in distress."
"Oh, ok."
She watches the screen as the baby's heartbeat jumps from peak to peak.
"Had you been planning a home birth?"
"We were. I was still trying to wrap my head around it. Where I'm from hospital births are the norm."
"Well, it may be best that the birth takes place in a medical environment, its heart rate is a bit high. We'll be there soon."
"How's my husband? Has he woken yet?"
She glances over her shoulder and her eyes jerk back and forth as she reads the monitors.
"He's still unconscious, which can happen if the air bag deploys against his temple. However, his vitals are stable. And he doesn't seem to have any broken bones or internal bleeding."
I grit my teeth as another contraction; the most painful yet, pierces my abdomen. The monitor closest to my head begins beeping loudly in alarm.
"Here, you can squeeze my hand if it will help. After this contraction I'm going to check your cervix. I think you're much farther along than we initially thought."
After the pain subsides an intercom sounds in the cabin, "Ten minutes out."
"Good we're close," Ava says as she begins to remove my lower clothing, draping a sheet over me. She shoves her hands into a set of latex gloves, performs the check and glances at the watch on her wrist. "Ok, Mrs....."
"Stone, Mallory Stone."
"Alright, Mrs. Stone, You're about nine centimeters and one-hundred percent effaced. You may have been laboring
for much longer than the past hour or so. First births typically take a while."
"Ok, what does that mean? Will I deliver in here? Will I make it to the hospital?"
"Everything is fine and as long as you stay calm and focus through the pain you'll deliver at the hospital. I'm going to message the emergency staff and let them know to prepare an obstetrics room for you."
"Oh no, no, not yet," I shout trying to get a glimpse of Alex. "He needs to be there, I can't do his without him."
The monitor beside my head starts beeping uncontrollably again and Ava rushes to press some buttons.
"Mallory, I need you to calm down. If you'll get worked up it could upset the baby and send it into distress. We're going to do everything we can to wake up your husband, but right now my concern is you and the baby."
I close my eyes and try to calm down. I picture the image I had at the hotel this morning of me and Alex walking hand in hand with an adorable little girl. The vision instantly brings tears to my eyes and a single one trickles from the corner down my cheek.
"We're very close now, Mrs. Stone. Do you know what you're having?"
"A...we're having a girl. Her name is Anabelle."
"That's very pretty. I'm sure she's going to be as beautiful as her name."
I feel the helicopter pause and hover before descending down to the helipad.
"Here we are," Ava says. "They'll take great care of you. And I'll make sure they place your husband next to your room."
As the door to the chopper flies open, I grasp Ava's hand and tug her close, gratefulness choking my throat, "Thank you, Ava. Thank you so much."
"You're welcome Mrs. Stone. Send me a picture of that beautiful baby girl. Good luck."
She steps from the helicopter and relays all the necessary information as two nurses help to remove me from the gurney, minding the monitors and IV, and transfer me to another bed. I'm wheeled into the building all while I scream Alex's name in fear.
"Don't worry Mrs. Stone; we're going to take good care of him and you. Now let's get you prepped for the baby's arrival, ok?"
Stone Mended (The Stone Book 3) Page 15
