by Lori Ryan
“Patch him,” Jason answered quickly.
It took a minute before another voice came on the line.
“Jason? It’s Matt Kelter. I think I saw your missing woman a couple of hours ago. Pulled over a woman for speeding. She said her friend had been in an accident and she was trying to get her help. Something about her seemed off, but the friend was there clear as day in the backseat with a gash in her head, so I gave an escort. They’re at Mercy now. Well, at least they were when I left.”
Andrew felt both a wave of relief and a wave of anguish wash over him. Theresa must have gotten caught speeding and done the only thing she could. Lied to cover the fact that Jill had been knocked out and lying in her backseat. But Andrew had no idea what Theresa would do now. Would she run, leaving Jill safely at the hospital? Or would she remain, trying to get Jill out of there? Never mind his worry over the head wound Jill had. No telling what Theresa did to Jill before that cop found them.
Jason’s foot pressed on the gas, increasing his speed and Andrew was grateful for the red flashing lights of the Fire Chief’s truck.
“Kelter, I need you to call Mercy. We’re four minutes away but the woman Jill is with is armed and dangerous. They need to take her into custody and get her away from Jill,” Jason barked into the phone.
“Got it,” the officer said and the connection was broken.
Jason exited the highway and turned right, following the large blue H signs to the hospital. As they pulled into the lot, the radio crackled to life.
“Jason, the room is empty and both women are missing. They’re searching the hospital now and they have it on lockdown,” Matt’s voice reported.
“Shit,” Andrew said as he ran for the hospital doors. A guard was shaking his head ‘no’ at Andrew through the locked glass doors, but Jason and the others caught up to him and Jason’s credentials got them through the door.
Chapter Forty-four
Jill kept her head down but listened carefully to the ping of the elevator as it traveled up the floors.
Why isn’t anyone else getting on the elevator? This is crazy.
Out of the corner of her eye, Jill saw Theresa move. She was holding something, but Jill couldn’t see what it was.
“Time for a little cocktail party for you, Jill. I think this is a sedative. I hope so anyway. Snagged it from one of the nurses. Time to knock your ass out so you can’t cause any trouble while I figure out how to get you on the roof.”
Now or never. Please let this work.
Jill hit the alarm button on the elevator panel and shoved the wheelchair back as hard as she could, using her legs to push off the wall in front of her. It wasn’t a direct hit, but her captor went flying against the elevator wall just the same. Jill stood and turned, but her legs were weak. She mostly stumbled into the woman, wrapped her arms around her waist and pushed her into the wall again. Jill managed to raise her arm and grab the kidnapper’s hair and slam her head into the elevator wall before Jill fell, her strength depleted.
***
As Andrew listened to hospital security explain that they were searching the floors of the hospital – all ten floors with a staff of six security officers – he knew they needed a better plan. It would take forever to find Jill and who knew what Theresa might do to her in that time.
Andrew slipped from the room. Screw waiting around like they’d been ‘instructed.’ Jack and Chad slipped from the room with him. Jason gave him a look and continued to chat up the head of hospital security, hopefully distracting him long enough for Andrew, Chad and Jack to find Jill on their own. Kelly and Jennie were waiting out in the hall and approached as soon as the three men left the room.
“All right, Andrew. Your gut has worked for us on this so far. Turn on your Jill homing signal and tell us where to look,” said Chad.
“Sorry, I don’t have shit. I have no idea where to look now.” Andrew had never felt so hopeless as he eyed the clock on the wall wondering how much time Jill had left.
“Let’s think like a crazy chick,” Jennie said. Everyone turned expectantly and her face clouded. “What, me? Why do I have to pretend to have the crazies?” She received pointed looks in answer. “Okay, okay. Good point.”
Jennie shook out her arms and legs as if getting into character and stared at the ceiling. Then at the floor… Then the ceiling… Then the floor.
“Roof or basement. That’s where I’d go. Roof or basement.” Jennie nodded her head at the group.
“Good,” Andrew said. “Chad, take the basement. Jack and I will hit the roof. Jennie and Kelly stay here and call us if these guys find anything.” Andrew jerked his head toward the security office where they could hear Jason blowing hot air up the security guy’s ass to keep him busy.
The three men took off running toward the elevators. Just as they arrived at the bank of elevators, the alarm went off in one of them. All three men shared a silent look that spoke volumes. They honed in on the elevator that was making all the noise and checked the lighted number above it.
“Fourth floor. Jack, call me if it starts moving again,” Andrew said and he and Chad ran for the stairwell. Even in the stairwell, the men could hear the tinny ring of the elevator alarm. When they hit the third floor the alarm stopped.
Andrew’s phone rang seconds later.
“Talk to me, Jack. Which way?” Andrew asked.
“Up,” came Jack’s voice through the phone. “They’re going up.”
Chad and Andrew continued to run the flights.
“Let me know if it stops,” Andrew said into the phone and then pressed his body into high gear. Chad was ahead of him, taking the steps in triple time without breaking a sweat. Andrew’s legs burned, but not as much as the pain in his heart at the thought that they might not make it in time.
Up and up and up. Andrew pictured Jill waiting for him. Praying for him to get there. He just hoped she could hang on long enough. Panting, he lifted the phone to his ear and spoke.
“Anything, Jack?”
“No. They’re still going up. They’re on nine now but still going up. Get to the tenth floor.”
The last floor marker they had passed had said eighth floor. They were two behind.
“On tenth, Chad. They’re almost there,” Andrew said, picking up his pace, putting everything he had into it. Chad did the same.
Chad and Andrew burst through the door to the tenth floor moments later, but the floor was quiet. Eerily silent. It was a floor filled with offices that appeared to be empty for the weekend. The men stood and listened.
A shrill scream.
“Rooftop,” Chad said, pointing to another door at the end of the hall marked Rooftop Access.
***
Jill was barely hanging on by a thread. There were black spots at the periphery of her vision and her body felt sluggish. Slow to respond. She’d been unable to fight as her attacker dragged her from the elevator and up the stairwell. Jill felt battered and bruised by the repetitive knocking of the stairs. Her mind grasped at threads of ideas, wisps of defenses, any way to ward off the blows and escape what was clearly a completely insane woman.
The woman dragged Jill out onto the roof of the building and let Jill’s body drop to the rooftop. The woman was winded and clearly agitated. She circled Jill, ranting about Jill’s manipulations, her scheming against Andrew.
Jill went back into possum mode and lay huddled on the ground, regaining her strength. Planning. Preparing.
Jill focused on her breathing, steadying it. She cracked her eyelids open to see where her kidnapper was and she watched, waiting for the woman to come close. Jill could hear the woman trying to catch her breath – as if she, too, were readying for something.
Jill didn’t want to know what that something was. She had a pretty good idea that it had to do with the edge of the roof and Jill going over it.
“Well,” the woman said, taking a deep breath, “it’s that time. Any last words before you go?” She laughed the laugh of a crazy loon as i
f she had made the joke of the century.
Jill watched through slitted eyes as the woman came toward her and bent over, placing her hands under Jill’s arms to prepare to lift Jill again.
Without hesitation, Jill struck. Thumbs gouged as hard as she could into the woman’s eyes. The scream of pain was all Jill heard as she got to her knees and crawled toward the door to the building. She felt one hand clutch at her ankle but she kicked out as hard as she could and then kept moving.
Move. Just keep moving, keep trying. Don’t stop.
One minute she was crawling and the next she was hallucinating. Jill’s emotions were ripped to shreds as she realized if hallucinations had taken over, she was probably done for. She had no more fight left in her. She let her weight sink into her illusion that Andrew’s arms were really around her. That she could really hear Andrew whispering words of safety and love to her as she lay wrecked in his arms.
Chapter Forty-five
Andrew’s whole body shuddered with relief when he finally had Jill in his arms. She had fought. He’d seen her.
Jill had gotten away long enough for Chad and Andrew to get to her. As Chad subdued a shrieking Theresa, Jill sank into Andrew’s arms as he dropped to the rooftop and held her tight. Andrew rocked Jill and whispered to her.
“I’ve got you, sweetheart. You’re safe now.” Over and over he whispered the words. “I won’t let you go, honey.”
And he didn’t. Not while they treated her wounds. Not while they began an IV to rehydrate Jill. Not while she finally slept. Andrew held her all through the night, laying kisses on her temple whenever she began to dream or toss in her sleep.
When Jill woke in the morning, she blinked up at him, confusion washing over her features.
“I thought you were a hallucination. I thought I imagined you. That you were a dream,” Jill whispered.
“The only dream here is you, Jill. You’re my dream, my heart, my future. I thought I’d lost you forever. Don’t ever leave me, Jill.”
Epilogue
Andrew didn’t let Jill out of his sight for a week. Kelly took Jill to her support group, a group for survivors of violent crime. Jill hadn’t wanted to go, but she had to admit, it felt good to meet people who had been through similar situations. Everyone’s story was different, but they shared similar emotions, struggled with similar obstacles as they tried to settle back into everyday life.
Theresa was arrested, but she was currently residing in a state mental health facility where she was receiving treatment for a host of issues. Jill knew it was a little odd, but she couldn’t help feeling badly for Theresa on some level. The woman was struggling with several mental illnesses. She had apparently received treatment for them when she was younger, but had lost her insurance several years before. When she got on the Sutton Capital Insurance Policy, she never sought the help she needed. Most likely, by that point, she no longer recognized her need for help.
Jill felt Andrew’s strong arms come around her waist. She hugged his arms closer to her, reveling in the feeling of safety and security she felt when she was with him. Not only security from people like Theresa, but security for her future. She believed, with all her heart, that her love for Andrew would never die. And, she knew that his love for her was strong enough to last two lifetimes. They would never part the way she and Jake had.
Jill smiled whenever she thought of the young Andrew Walsh that watched her so many summers ago. Perhaps it was fate or kismet that neither had found lasting love with anyone else. Perhaps they had always belonged to one another.
“How are you feeling, sweetheart?” Andrew asked, dipping his head to the nape of her neck to bury his face in her hair.
Jill was used to hearing this question quite frequently now, but she knew he meant well. He didn’t mean to be overbearing. Jill turned in Andrew’s arms and wrapped her arms around his neck.
“I’m perfect, now. Just perfect,” Jill said as she stood on tiptoes and raised her lips to his. Andrew’s response to her was instant and she felt the familiar thrill at being able to arouse him so quickly and thoroughly.
Andrew scooped Jill up, causing a shriek and a laugh to fall from her lips.
“I bet I can make you even better,” Andrew said as he strode toward the stairs with Jill in his arms.
“You’d mess with perfection?” Jill laughed.
Andrew growled and claimed her lips as he brought Jill down on the bed. And within minutes, Jill was very, very glad that Andrew had been bold enough to mess with perfection.
Acknowledgements
Thank you to my wonderful husband for his patience and support. Thank you to Susan Smith for her endless brainstorming and reading and to Patricia Thomas whose editing proved invaluable. Thank you to Patricia Parent, my final set of eyes, for cleaning up after me.
I’d like to thank Dr. Kerry Weisz for her consultation on canine veterinary medicine and for her care of the real Rev. To read more about the dogs that are featured in the book, visit my website at www.Loriryanromance.com.
I would also like to thank Jocelyn Stohl for her expertise in search and rescue operations. I apologize to search and rescue handlers everywhere for taking the liberty of having my characters do everything wrong (take matters into their own hands, leave the scene, you name it). It was necessary to the story! I am always in awe of the dedication and expertise that search and rescue handlers and their dogs have and hope someday to write a novel that will truly showcase the amazing work done by these professionals.
Thank you to all of the friends and friends-of-friends who read the pre-release version for me. I owe you all so much.
Thank you for reading my book!
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