Mary was scared, but very mad and yelled, “You had better get out of my car and run. My husband will kill you if you hurt either one of us.”
This made Jack very mad and he hit Mary on the shoulder with the butt of the pistol.
“Look bitch, I am in control. You will do what I say when I say or die. Your husband is next on my list after I get my little darling safe. If you shut up and do what I tell you to do, I might let you live.”
Mary knew that he was lying and planned to kill Bill and her. She looked in the mirror back at Jack and noticed that he didn’t have his seat belt on. She then looked over at Sam and saw that she had her seatbelt on and then sped up to over 60 mph. She reached for her purse and palmed her Ruger .380. She then quickly made a turn back towards town and sped up to 80 mph.
“What are you doing? Slow down and turn back to Cox Lane or I will shoot.”
“Go ahead bastard and you will die in the wreck.”
Jack knew that she was right and moved the gun to Sam’s head and said, “If you don’t slow down and turn around, I’ll kill Sam.”
Mary saw that they were back in a populated area and slowed down to about 50 mph. She knew that he wouldn’t be fooled long so she chose her target. She suddenly turned the wheel and aimed at a parked car in front of a house.
She yelled, “Sam, hold on!”
Her car rammed the parked car at 45 mph and threw Jack against the back seat and then against the side window dazing him.
“Sam, get out of the car and run for help!”
Sam was shaken up, but got the door open and ran towards the closest house.
Mary got her seatbelt loose and turned around in time to see Jack trying to get out of the car. She shot through the back of her seat and Jack fell out of the car to the ground. She crawled out of the front seat and turned towards Jack with her pistol aimed at him. He fired first and she then got two shots off. He shot her again and she blacked out.
Sam heard the shots, looked back and saw Mary fighting with Jack for control of the gun. She heard gunfire and saw Jack standing over Mary looking at her.
He yelled, “I just wounded her. Come with me or the next shot will be to her head.”
Sam walked back to him, Jack grabbed her arm and told her, “If you ever leave me again, I will kill that woman and cut your head off.”
Sam saw blood coming from Jack’s side and left leg. She could see that he was turning white.
“If you don’t get these wounds fixed, you are going to bleed to death.’
He looked down, saw the blood and told Sam to bandage his wounds. He made her rip a piece of his shirt off and put pressure on the wound in his leg. She wadded up a piece of his shirt into a ball and tied another piece over it to keep pressure on the wound. The other wound stopped bleeding on its own and was only a deep furrow. He then flagged a car down and forced the driver out at gunpoint.
“Get out of the car if you want to live.”
“My baby is in the back seat. Let me get him.”
Jack opened the back door, took the baby out of the carrier and tossed him on the street.
He ordered Sam into the car and took off heading out of town, leaving the mother crying over her baby.
***
The engine and transmission were almost ready to pull and he only had to disconnect the driveshaft to be able to separate them from the truck. He kneeled down beside the creeper to roll onto the creeper when he felt a pain in his right hip. He loved his 1911 Colt .45 Auto, but it often got in the way of daily activities. He slid it out of the way and then rolled under the truck.
This truck was a 1975 F250 4x4, which had been customized and used as a show truck for many years until it was stolen and crashed. The engine had all of the usual high performance parts and everything on it was chromed. The transmission looked brand new and was painted Ford blue. He looked at the rest of the truck and saw nothing that was needed on the F1 trucks except for the custom seats and he wasn’t sure that they would fit. He was deep in thought when the phone rang.
“Bill, this is Sheriff Cox. Now, I need you to stay calm. Mary is in the hospital and I need you to meet me at the front door so I can tell you what happened. She is in surgery and will be okay.”
“Oh God! I will be there in ten minutes.”
The sheriff replied, “Drive safely,” but heard a click as Grumpy hung up.
Grumpy jumped in his pickup and drove like a madman to the hospital. He started praying to God and begged him for Mary to be okay. He promised everything he could think of if God would save her. He even asked God to take his life instead of hers. He was halfway there when he saw Mary’s car on a side street surrounded by cop cars and thought that she must have been in a wreck. He suddenly felt bad because he hadn’t asked how Sam was doing.
He felt something on his right leg and saw Sammy nuzzling against him. Bill thought, “How the hell did Sammy get in the truck? He was lying in his bed by the workbench when I answered the phone.”
Bill pulled up to the emergency entrance and saw the sheriff standing there. He jammed on the brakes and left the truck when he came to a stop. He ran up to the sheriff asking a thousand questions.
“Bill, calm down. Mary is in surgery and the reports are good so far.”
“What happened to her and where is Sam?"
“Bill, Mary was shot twice and was also in a crash. We don’t know where Sam is. From the witnesses' description, it appears that Jack Collins tried to carjack them, but the car crashed. He then carjacked another car and took Sam with him. That’s all we know.”
“Take me to Mary.”
“Follow me. We have an APB out on Collins and they were last seen heading out of the area on the Bluegrass Parkway. He has carjacked at least one more car in an attempt to cover his tracks. One other thing, it also appears that Mary may have shot him or he was injured in the crash. Her gun had been shot four times. She still had it clutched in her hand. We found a blood trail from Mary’s car to the location of the first carjacking and blood in that car when we found it. We think that she crashed the car to stop the carjacking and then tried to save Sam from him.”
***
They were stopped at the nurses' station where the attending nurse told Grumpy that Mary was in the recovery room and he could go in and see her for a minute. She would be brought to her room in a couple of hours assuming all was still going well. Mary’s surgeon joined the conversation.
“Mr. Jones, your wife is doing very well and will have a complete recovery. You will need to keep her from being too active, but otherwise she will do okay. She has three broken ribs, a gunshot to the left shoulder and another bullet wound to her left side just below the ribs. I hope she did more damage to the man who shot her.”
“Thanks, and I will finish the job when I catch the SOB.”
The sheriff grabbed Grumpy’s arm and said, “Grumpy, don’t make threats and then go shoot the guy. That’s called premeditated murder. Stop mouthing off. If he attacks you, I’ll give you my blessing to fill him full of lead, but you can’t hunt him down and shoot him.”
“I know that you are right, but I won’t let him get away with this. His dad’s money won’t mean crap this time.”
Grumpy went to the recovery room and Mary was asleep and looked very peaceful. She had burns and scrapes on her face from the airbag deployment. He gave her a kiss on the forehead and held her hand until the nurse ran him out of the room.
“Mr. Jones, we are taking your wife to her room and she should sleep through the night. Tomorrow she should wake up and be able to talk to you. If I were you, I’d go home and get some rest.”
“Thanks, but I’ll stay with her. Where is the cafeteria?”
“Go past the nurses' station, take the elevator to the ground floor and take a left out of the elevator. It’s on the right about a hundred feet down the hall.”
He went down to the cafeteria and had a couple of burgers, French fries and a coke. He brought another hamburger back with h
im for a snack later that night. He traveled back to Mary’s room and waved at the nurses as he passed. He opened the door to Mary’s room and was shocked to see Sammy curled up beside her on the bed. Sammy heard him enter the room, looked up at Grumpy and then laid his head back on Mary.
Grumpy walked over to him, rubbed his ears and patted him on the back. He then remembered that poor Sammy hadn’t eaten all day. He tore off a small piece of hamburger and fed it to Sammy. He kept feeding him until the burger was gone. Sammy licked his hand as if to say thank you and went to sleep curled up against Mary.
***
Jack hid the car behind the gas station and handcuffed Sam to the steering wheel.
“Now be quiet and I won’t hurt the nice lady anymore, but if you do make a fuss, I’ll kill her and her husband.”
They only waited for a few minutes until a well-dressed man pulled behind the building and parked. The guy got out of his car, was walking towards the men’s room when Jack jumped him and demanded his wallet and keys. The man put up a fight, but Jack stabbed him several times and dragged him behind a stack of old tires. Jack got the man’s keys and wallet before freeing Sam and pushing her into the car. Jack pulled out of the parking lot and slowly got onto the road and drove off.
“Sam that guy could have just given me his keys, but no he had to try to hurt me. I’m not going to let that happen. It was his fault. It always is. They just won’t do what they are told to do.”
“Jack, you were robbing him. What did you expect him to do? You are nothing but a petty thief and I don’t want anything to do with you.”
“My little darling, you had better change your tune and be good to Jack or you could end up like that guy with his gut slit open.”
Sam thought for a minute and realized that he would kill her if she was too mean to him, but she didn’t want to be too nice either. She looked over and saw that his wound had started bleeding again.
“Jack, you are bleeding again. We need to get you to a hospital quickly or you might die.”
Jack pushed his hand more firmly on top of the wound in his thigh and knew that he was lucky that the bullet had missed the large artery in his thigh. He knew that he should have killed that crazy woman, but he didn’t want to upset Sam too much. He also knew that Sam was right; he needed medical attention and soon. He pulled out his phone and called for help.
“I’ve been shot and I need help. Can you get me a doctor? I’ve got a bullet in my leg. How did you know? So I’m famous now. At the old mill on 27. Yes, I can be there in under an hour. Yes, I have her. No, I won’t let the Doc see her. I’ll pick one up just for you. Yes, a blond. Thanks.”
“What was all of that about? Jack, you need a doctor and I need some food and something to drink.”
“Shut up, I’ll tell my……. I’ll tell my friend to drop off some fast food at our home since I won’t be able to cook for a while.”
Jack turned off the road and went back west for a while, pulled into an empty parking lot and drove behind a very large old building. He parked the car and again he handcuffed Sam to the steering wheel and told her to be quiet. He then walked around the corner of the building and disappeared for over an hour.
Sam heard a noise, turned towards the building and saw Jack walking towards her using a crutch to walk. He was wobbling and almost fell down several times. He finally walked up to the car, stumbled and fell against the door. He pulled himself up, unlocked the handcuff from the steering wheel and cuffed Sam to his right arm. He then started the engine and drove across the parking lot to the opposite side of the building. A car sped off just as they rounded the corner. Sam saw an old truck parked close to the building. It was an old Chevy that had been restored and had candy apple red paint.
Jack pulled up to it, stopped and got out of the car.
“Come on Sam. We have to leave this car here. My friend will get rid of it."
They got into the truck and sped away. They had been on a back road for 30 minutes and there was nothing but trees on both sides of the road.
Sam asked, “Where are we going? I have to pee. Please stop at the next gas station. Jack, just let me go and I won’t tell them who took me.”
Jack looked over at her and said, “Now little darling we are only a few minutes from home and you are staying with me the rest of your life. Hold it until we get there.”
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Chapter 15
Mary heard a noise in the room that sounded like low rolling thunder on a stormy summer night. She rubbed her eyes and opened them to see Bill sleeping in a recliner next to her. The noise was his snoring.
Her first thought was, “We don’t have a recliner in our bedroom. Where am I?”
Then she felt the pain in her shoulder and saw the IV tubes taped to her wrist and everything started coming back to her. She remembered Jack telling her to drive her car out of town and then the wreck.
“Where is Sam? Did he take her?”
She was yelling which woke Grumpy up and brought two nurses running into the room.
“Mrs. Jones, are you okay?"
“Yes, I guess, but where is Sam? Please tell me that he did not take her.”
Grumpy answered, “Mary, you were shot two times and were in a car wreck. Let’s focus on getting you better.”
“Bill, where is Sam?”
“We don’t know. She was taken by her mom’s boyfriend; the same man who shot you.”
Mary thought for a minute and asked, “Did I hit him? I shot several bullets at him. I’d hoped he was dead.”
“You did hit him and there was a lot of blood, but he escaped with Sam as his hostage."
“Bill, go find her and deal with that evil man. I will be okay. Please find our Sam. I’ll get my sister to sit with me while you help find her. Please?"
“I’ll talk with the doctor and if he says that you are recovering okay, I will go join the search.”
“Bill that would mean so much to me. Please find Sam.”
Sammy heard Mary talking and jumped up on her chest, looked her in the eyes and licked her face before she could turn her head.
“How long has Sammy been in bed with me?”
“Since last night. He snuck into the room and won’t leave. He has been watching over you the whole time. I had to carry him outside to do his business. He won’t eat or drink.”
“I wish he was guarding Sam.”
Mary’s sister, Joan, arrived about an hour later. The surgeon and Mary’s family doctor told them that Mary was doing well and would be able to go home in three days as long as she stayed in bed for another week. Then she would have to take it easy for several months as she healed.
“Bill, both doctors said that I am okay. Please go find Sam. I know that this puts you in danger, but I know that you can handle this scum and get our girl back. I can’t lose another child.”
“Okay, I will do the best I can,” he told Mary.
Out in the hallway he told Joan, “As much as I want to find Sam, these cases don’t turn out well if the kid is missing more than 48 hours.”
Joan replied, “Do the best that you can. At minimum you can keep pressure on the police to keep looking.”
Joan went back into the room and sat down beside Mary’s bed.
“Mary, I knew that y’all were foster parenting this kid, but I had no idea that y’all had become so attached. Tell me about my new niece."
Mary told her all about Sam, her home life and her stalker.
Joan said, “I know that you don’t want to think about this, but she is lucky that she didn’t get pregnant. That happens all too often in these cases of child abuse.”
Mary sat up in bed and exclaimed, “Darn Joan, I should have recognized the signs. Sam is pregnant. She gained twenty pounds, had morning sickness and was having mood swings. This makes it more urgent to get her back before she or the baby are harmed.”
***
Sam thought that they had made so many turns on back roads t
hat she could never find her way out if she escaped. Jack slowed and turned onto a gravel road that turned out to be a long driveway to a nice cabin. He reached above the visor and Sam saw the garage door open. Jack parked the truck in the garage that was attached to the cabin. He then closed the garage door. Jack dragged Sam from the truck and forced her to help him limp up the steps from the garage into the kitchen.
They stopped in the kitchen and he had Sam change the bandages covering his wounds. Several times during this process, Sam thought that she had heard a baby crying.
“Jack, is there someone else here? I hear crying.”
“No one is here; that’s a damn cat that keeps getting into my garbage. Now shut up and finish with my bandages.”
Jack then went to a door, turned on a light and disappeared down a set of stairs. Sam could have sworn that she heard the crying again, but it stopped and then Jack came back up the stairs and shut the door.
“That damn cat got into my basement. I killed it with a baseball bat and threw it out a window. It won’t bother us again.”
She wondered if she would face the same fate as the cat. Poor cat.
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Chapter 16
The FBI showed up at the hospital and interviewed Grumpy and Mary. They started working with Sheriff Cox on the few leads and evidence that were available. They told Grumpy that since this was not a kidnapping for ransom that they didn’t expect the perpetrator to try to contact him or Mary.
The lead agent told Grumpy, “We think that we have a good chance of finding this guy today since he is wounded and will have to seek medical attention.”
Grumpy looked the lead agent in the eye and asked, “What if he doesn’t seek medical attention?”
“Sir, I want to be honest with you. If we don’t find her in the first 72 hours, the chance of finding her alive drops quickly. Child molesters don’t like to leave witnesses.”
Grumpy, Sam and Sammy: A Murder Mystery and Thriller Page 9
