by Christina OW
“Please no!”
Joe stabbed her with a needle, “Well, next time be careful with who you piss off.”
Within a few seconds, Ellie began to feel drowsy. She felt numb all over, even her lips, but she wasn’t going to let it stop her from screaming for help.
Jane laughed as she made the first incision, “You sound like a cat!”
Ellie whimpered when she felt the dull pain of the knife slicing through her, “No please,” she begged one more time, her head dropping on the table, too heavy to hold up anymore.
“Hold her open Joe,”
Ellie cried when she felt the push and pull pressure. They were stealing her baby from her and there was nothing she could do.
“Here he is!” Jane announced, holding the baby up for Ellie to see. He was so tiny and his skin was ashy pink. He didn’t move nor did he seem like he was breathing.
“You killed him!” Ellie cried, turning away from her lifeless child.
Jane took him to another table, “I’m a nurse, and I know what I’m doing.” After a few minutes of prompting, a sharp baby’s cry filled the empty warehouse, bouncing off the walls.
Ellie turned to him. Jane was blocking him, but she could see his little feet move around. She cried out of happiness and immense sadness. Her baby was alive, but she was never going to have the joy of being his mother.
“Hurry up with that brat before she bleeds out!”
“Hold your horses.” Jane swaddled him up and placed him in the incubator, “You are a very pretty baby and very strong too!” She cooed at him before she moved to Ellie, “You and that husband of yours have really good genes, a gorgeous daughter and a stunning son. He is going to be a heartbreaker when he’s grown, too bad you won’t see it.”
“Please let me see him,” Ellie begged, “Just let me hold him once.”
“No. Now close her up,” Joe ordered.
“Sorry, but we need to leave,” Jane said. Before she could even touch Ellie, loud sirens echoed in the warehouse, “What the hell, Joe?”
Joe yanked off of his bloody surgical gear, “Shit! I knew that the witch couldn’t be trusted. Let’s go!”
Jane pulled her overalls off, “What about her and the baby? And our money?”
“Leave them and she’s not going to pay us, especially if we are in jail!”
Ellie gave a tired laugh, “You won’t get to jail. Dale is going to kill you the moment you step outside.”
“Who’s Dale?” she asked.
“Her FBI husband.”
“You’ve been standing here for two minutes already, one more minute and you’ll both be dead. No questions asked, just a bullet right through your head,” Ellie slurred out.
“Is she serious?”
“I’m sure, and I’m not sticking around to prove her right!” Joe took off running, Jane hot on his heels.
Ellie struggled to release her hand. It hurt as she tore her skin out of the plastic cuffs, but she didn’t care. Once she was free, she reached above her head and held on to the incubator. She pulled it and it rolled in view of her.
Ellie smiled when she saw him. He had a small oxygen mask a few inches from his face. His eyes were closed, but his little red lips moved like a tiny fish’s. She placed her hand up against it. The incubator felt warm. He was safe in there, but she knew something was bound to go wrong if he didn’t get to the hospital.
She pulled the incubator closer and opened the little door. She stuck her hand inside and stroked his tiny head. He stirred and whined for a moment before he settled again.
“My beautiful little baby boy,” she whispered, too weak to talk aloud, “You are going to be fine. Your daddy is going to save you.”
“Ellie! Oh my God!” Paloma exclaimed when she saw all the blood dripping from the table and join a huge pool on the floor, “We need the paramedics in here!” She whispered urgently, into her radio.
“Paloma,” Ellie whispered through her dry throat, “Where is Dale?”
“He is...” Four-gun shots finished her sentence. She didn’t need to be told for confirmation, “He’s on his way.”
“In case he doesn’t get here in time...”
She grabbed the tarp and wrapped it around Ellie’s open belly. It didn’t stop the bleeding, but it slowed it down, “Ellie, you’ll be fine.”
“Tell him I love him very much and that I’m sorry.”
Paloma nodded, unable to hold back the tears, “I’m sure he knows, and you can tell him yourself.”
“And tell him to tell Stacey-Ann that her mommy loves her so very, very much. He has to tell them both that every day.”
Paloma yelled into her radio, “Where the hell are the paramedics?”
“Oh God,” Kevin uttered.
“You have a medical degree, do something!”
Kevin nodded. He pooled the tarp off and grabbed the surgical tape on the table, “This can be controlled. I can fix this,” He said, more to himself than anyone else.
Ellie however knew better. She wasn’t going to survive it, she could feel it. She turned to her son and looked at him one last time. She stroked his tiny ear. It felt as soft as a petal against her touch. She would miss this. Just like she’d miss Stacey-Ann’s first date, graduation and college. She would miss it all and her heart broke over it.
“His name is James Dale Carson. Make sure to tell Dale that,” she closed her eyes and sunk into the dark abyss.
“Ellie!” Carson yelled as he run to them.
“Stop him, don’t let him near here!” Kevin ordered.
Doran grabbed his arm, but he got shoved to the ground. Then Richard grabbed hold of him before he took another step. They wrestled him to his knees, but it was proving to be a battle they would both lose, until Gwen joined them. She put her knees on his legs and hung on his neck, weighing him down.
“The baby is fine Carson, it’s just Ellie now!” Paloma offered. She wanted to comfort him, but she couldn’t leave Ellie. She looked at her pale face and her hand which rested on her baby’s head, and her heart broke. She didn’t have the words or the thought to describe what she felt.
The paramedics passed the wrestling group to get to Ellie. Kevin spoke quickly to them, each word passing Carson too fast for him to understand. But when one of them took out the defibrillator, he didn’t need words to understand that.
“Ellie!” he heaved up and tried to push the trio off him.
Gwen was thrown off when he got to his feet. But before he could shove off the other two, she kicked his knees, sending him down hard. She went back to her prior position, with a tighter hold on him this time, “Let them work Carson. They can save her, just wait and don’t get in their way!”
Carson sank to the ground, his hands over his head as he cried.
He’d failed, again.
What was he going to tell his children?
Chapter Twenty
Carson looked at his watch and leaned on the bed, “Ellie, it’s been four weeks, five days and two hours already, don’t you think it’s time you woke up?”
He watched her still lips, hoping they would move and a sound, any sound would come out and answer him.
Nothing.
She’d been in a coma for weeks and as hopeful as the doctors seemed, he wasn’t so sure she would wake up, “Third is out of the NICU,” he laughed. “Yes I nicknamed him Third I don’t like Junior. Anyway, he’s in the nursery. I asked Roger to take care of him. I figured that’s what you’d want. He says Third is ready to be discharged, but Richard thinks it would be safer for him to stay here. He doesn’t think we are out of the woods just yet.”
He stared at her, waiting for an answer, but still nothing. He climbed onto her bed and laid next to her. He gently lifted her head and placed it on his shoulder. And then he hugged her to him, “I’ve missed holding you.” He chuckled, “If your nurse walks in here she’s going to flip.”
He caressed her cheek, “I like James, in honor of your dad right? So did you name him afte
r me or my dad? That’s a dumb question considering we are both named Dale Carson.”
“How is she?” Kris asked.
Carson looked up. Audrey was here too, with Stacey-Ann asleep in her arms. He looked back at Ellie, “She’s still giving me the silent treatment.”
“I read online that talking to a patient in a coma is good.” Kris rapped out, and then bit her trembling lips shut to keep the threatening sob in.
“Yeah. She can hear you,” Audrey added.
“That’s good. She’ll be well informed when she wakes up because I’ve been talking for weeks.”
“We should try something else,” Kris announced, taking Stacey-Ann from Audrey. “Baby wake up,” She nudged her awake. Stacey-Ann’s eyes fluttered open with a whine.
“Kris, let her be.”
“Maybe if Ellie hears her daughter cry then she’ll wake up. She has a family to take care of, she needs to wake up!” She half yelled, tears freely spilling over.
Carson patted the bed, “Lay her here.”
Kris moved Ellie’s hand, then placed Stacey-Ann next to her and draped her hand over the child. Stacey-Ann cuddled against her mother, moving up to sleep closer to her face. “Mama,” she said, placing her hand on her cheek. When Ellie didn’t respond, she cuddled closer and hugged her neck and then went back to sleep.
“I... I can’t...” Kris uttered, running out. She sat down against the wall and cried.
Audrey pulled the covers over Stacey-Ann, “Do you need anything?”
He traced the outlines of Ellie’s face with his finger, “Do you think Kris is right? Maybe if we brought in Third and let him cry...”
“Maybe later,” Kevin said, stepping into the room, “Daniel is awake and you wouldn’t imagine what his first words were.”
“What?”
“Tell Carson to keep Ellie safe, Ellsa wants to kill her.”
Carson slid out from under Ellie and rushed out the door, “Audrey stay with them, you too Kevin.”
Carson marched into Daniel’s room and headed right for his bed, moving a nurse out of his way, “Daniel what do you know about Ellsa?”
“Thanks, I’m doing great after being in a coma for two months.” Daniel’s voice sounded scratchy.
Carson picked up the cup of water and held the straw to his lips, “I’m glad you are okay, but Ellie is still in a coma.”
Daniel’s eyes widened with shock. He spat out the straw, “Why didn’t anyone tell me this before!”
“You woke up only an hour ago,” Richard answered.
“What happened?”
Richard ran it down for him, “Stacey-Ann was kidnapped. Seth got shot in the process, but he’s okay. Ellsa told us it was a kidnapping, she said she was going to look for the money and then Ellie got traded for Stacey-Ann.”
“How’s Stacey-Ann?”
Carson smiled, “She’s fine. She’s asleep next to her mother.”
“And the baby?”
“Did you know she was pregnant?”
Daniel shook his head, “Ellsa told me before she shoved a knife through my chest. I knew something was up when she brought me Chivas Regal as a thank you gift.”
Richard whistled, “Top five best scotch in the world, and probably your favorite.”
“Not when it’s drugged. I couldn’t move after I took a sip of it. But I could hear and feel everything.” His face creased at the memory. He placed his hand over his chest as if to confirm his heart was still there.
“What happened to Ellie?” He directed the question to Carson, but when he saw him clench his jaw and turn away, he looked at Richard for an answer.
“Ellsa had some people steal the baby while he was still inside Ellie. They were both in critical condition, but James Dale Carson is doing fine now. We are waiting on Ellie to wake up.” When his phone rang, he stepped away, “Excuse me.”
“Hi Richard, do you know where Gwen is?” Paloma asked, staring down at James as he slept. He was bigger and breathing on his own. After his traumatic birth, she expected him to have a lot more wrong with him, but he was completely fine.
“I’m right here,” Gwen announced, walking in, “Give me five minutes to change.”
Paloma turned to get her stuff, “She’s here Richard. I’m going home...” she stopped when she turned around and stared at the empty baby bed.
“What’s wrong Paloma?”
“He’s gone! Someone took him!” She dropped the phone and ran out into the corridor. She didn’t have to look far. There was a nurse in pink overalls heading for the fire exit, holding a baby, “Hey stop!”
The nurse glanced at her and kept walking.
Paloma rushed forward and pulled her gun out, “I swear, take one more step and I’ll put a bullet in your head!”
The nurse stopped.
“Turn around slowly.”
The nurse turned, exposing the baby in her arms. James was still sound asleep. Paloma took him with one arm, her other hand still pointing the gun at her, “This baby has gone through enough, and I am at my wits end, so don’t play with me. Why and where were you taking him?”
The nurse put her hands up over her head, “A woman in the parking lot paid me to take him. She said it was her baby and she was been forced to put him up for adoption by her crazy husband.”
Paloma moved back, signaling her to move with her, “What’s the woman’s name?”
“Ellie Carson.”
Paloma huffed, “Of course, it is.”
Paloma felt relaxed when she saw Doran came round the corner.
“Richard called. What’s going on?” Doran asked cuffing the nurse.
“Ellie asked her to steal the baby.”
“Ellie? In other words Ellsa?”
“No. She said her name was Ellie,” the nurse argued.
Doran took out his phone and scrolled to a picture of Ellie, “Is this her?”
“Yes, but her hair was straight and she had bangs.”
“The woman you met is Ellsa. She’s a serial killer who tried to kill her sister and steal James, her sister’s baby.”
The nurse had a horrified look on her face, “I think I’m going to be sick.”
“Paloma, take the baby back,” Doran instructed, settling the woman on the chair. “And could we not tell Carson we almost lost his son?”
“You don’t have to tell me twice,” Paloma announced. She went back to the nursery and placed James back into his bed. She then pushed the bed to the furthest corner, far away from both the exits.
Doran sat next to the nurse, “Now, let’s start from the beginning.”
“Why don’t we just jump straight to the end? Where is my baby?” Ellsa demanded, pointing a gun at the duo.
Chapter Twenty-One
She kept the gun pointed at Doran as she pulled the nurse up, “I sent you to get me my baby, not to socialise. Where is he?”
“They took him back. They said he’s not your baby!”
“Took him where?”
“To the nursery.”
Doran stood up, “Ellsa...”
“You have a very short time to live old man, do not waste it by dying in a hospital corridor.” She walked to the nursery using the nurse as cover. She tried the door, but it was locked. She cursed, and knocked on the glass, “You, open the door!”
“Not a chance Ellsa!” Paloma yelled back.
Ellsa banged frustrated, on the glass with her fist and roared, “Don’t make me shoot through this glass because I will.”
“You can’t, it is bullet proof,” the nurse stuttered.
“Give me that baby Paloma or I swear your family will be next on my hit list!”
Paloma moved towards the glass, her face turning red with fury, “I will hunt you to the ends of the earth if you so much as go a mile near my family. And I promise you, I will kill you, even if you’re Ellie’s sister.”
Ellsa puffed, “You talk about Ellie like she was some kind of god.”
“Is, she’s not dead Ellsa.
”
Ellsa’s lips rose in a smile, “Yet. She’s not dead yet.” And then she shrugged her shoulder, “I never intended on her dying, that was never in the plan, but she is in a coma. She could never wake up and that gives me full rights to the baby.”
“You’re forgetting something, James has a father.”
“What makes you so sure he’s the father?”
“Ellie is a woman of honor and loyalty, and she has a heart. Everything you lack.”
That comment turned the smile on Ellsa’s lips into an angry quiver. Murder yelled out of her eyes, as she glared at Paloma, wishing that glass wasn’t there to shield her.
“Paloma,” Doran warned, “Ellsa lets discuss this.”
Ellsa grabbed hold of the nurse’s hair and dragged her a safe distance away. She placed the barrel of the gun in her ear, “I’m done talking. Give me the baby, or she’s going to have a really bad ear ache.”
Carson and Richard stood close by, behind the cover of the wall. Paloma had texted them about Ellsa’s attempt to steal James. That sent Carson into a murderous rage. He wanted to put a bullet through her heart and watch her die a slow death for what she’d done to his family. He didn’t care if she was his sister-in-law, all he wanted was retribution. But as the homicidal thought commanded his mind, Ellie’s voice persistently whispered in his ear. She loved her sister, no matter what the psychopath did, and killing her would only hurt Ellie. Ellsa would still have won in destroying their lives.
Carson and Richard moved closer, lying g in wait for Doran’s signal. No matter how they played it, for Ellie’s sake, Ellsa had to make it out alive.
“Give me my son!” Ellsa yelled, making the nurse cry louder.
Carson clenched his jaw, forcing his emotions behind and allowing his professional instincts to take over.
Doran took a step closer, “Ellsa, you don’t have a baby here. James is Ellie’s baby, and Carson is never going to let you have him.”
She chuckled, “What? He’s going to kill me like he did my employees. Ellie is going to hate him if he does.” She laughed loudly, “I saw them and those shots were meant to make them suffer before they died. Carson is just like me, we would have made one hell of a couple.”
