Ruby Dawn

by Raquel Byrnes

  “That explains how they knew to have three different SUV’s waiting for us to follow. Surveillance tapes showed them dragging Tom into a car in the alley. They never even went inside Flow.”

  I sniffled and stared at the dark liquid in my mug. Numb from the water and the terror, I sat in a daze. Remembering what Antonio said, I looked up at her. “Was there some sort of explosion?”

  Dorris nodded, her eyes rimmed in red. “We tracked down three of the SUVs that left Flow, pulled each one over, but none of them had Tom. Just hired drivers; kids from the neighborhood. During our chase of the last SUV, we lost it. When we located it, under a tunnel, we went to open it…it was rigged.”

  “Rigged? It exploded?” I asked, remembering Antonio’s words. “Jason did that.”

  “Whoever left it idling in the tunnel did it with the intention of blowing up the officers who stopped it. We think it was a homemade bomb,” Dorris said.

  I put my hands to my mouth, horrified. “And Lopez?”

  “He’s at New Lakes Hospital, in surgery,” she murmured. “They say it’s touch-and-go right now. Two other officers died at the scene.”

  I tilted my face to the ceiling, blinking back tears. “I’m sorry, Dorris.”

  She looked at me, sadness ringing her eyes. “We’re sorry, Ruby. This went so wrong. We had no idea. But now that we do know, we’ll rip apart Blaine’s life and find out how bad this is.”

  I shuddered with sorrow. “He has a family.”

  “Not for long,” Dorris muttered.

  “What…what are we going to do about Tom?” I asked quietly.

  Dorris put her hand on my shoulder. “We’re throwing everything at them, doing everything possible to find him. Boats, helicopters…everything.”

  “He saved my life, Dorris. Tom pushed me off the boat. He offered himself as a hostage.”

  Dorris’s sorrowful gaze made my own eyes fill with tears, and I slumped deeper into the blanket, my breath hitching with sobs that wouldn’t come. “I-I heard a gunshot after…”

  “Don’t let your mind go there,” Dorris said, eyes tearing up. She rubbed my back. “We haven’t given up, Ruby. We won’t,” she promised.

  After a while, she left me in the cabin and went out onto the deck to talk with other agent-looking people and the Coast Guard.

  Outside the cabin window, a beam from the mounted spotlight slid across the water. I rubbed my face with both hands and shuddered. I was pouring another mug of coffee when commotion outside sent me running for the deck.

  “We got a body,” Dorris said to me. Her mouth set in a grim line. “We don’t know who it is yet.”

  Heart stuttering painfully, I nodded in the dark and clenched my jaw, cutting off the fear welling in my throat. Men in blue uniforms scurried along the railing, leaning over and shouting orders to each other. They maneuvered a hydraulic arm with a hook on the end over the side of the cutter.

  Slowly, the arm raised up a raggedy form dangling from the hook.

  I gripped the railing with both hands, not breathing. Fear tremored through me.

  “Get the light on him,” Dorris ordered.

  The spotlight beam cut through the darkness, resting on the limp, dripping body of Antonio Llave.

  An hour later, we docked at the harbor and Dorris led me off the cutter and into an awaiting car. The driver, Scott, never looked back at us.

  Dorris’s voice floated to me from the other side of the back seat. “Where can I take you?”

  “I don’t know.”

  The car’s interior light flicked on and she looked at me with sad eyes. “You have a really bad bruise on your face, and your lip is cut. We should get you looked at.”

  I ran my tongue over my bottom lip and tasted blood. The memory of Antonio throwing me against the side of the tackle box made my stomach churn. “I’m fine. It’s just a busted lip.”

  “I understand that you have epilepsy?” Dorris asked softly. “The Taser Antonio used on you delivers a lot of voltage. I really want to get you checked out. The scuba guy said you threw up and passed out on his deck.”

  I wrinkled my nose. “I don’t think the two incidents are related, Dorris,” I hedged.

  Apparently my stress response is a full body experience.

  She smiled sympathetically, then leaned forward, tapping the driver’s shoulder. “Take us to New Lakes Hospital, Gary.” She shrugged. “All our people are there, anyway.”

  I didn’t protest.

  We pulled onto New Lakes Road, and I turned to Dorris.

  “Don’t pull into the front, OK?” I touched my swollen cheek. “I don’t want my coworkers to see me like this.”

  She nodded and we went into the side parking lot. I put my hand up as Dorris climbed out on her side.

  “I don’t want a big hub-bub. Let me slip in the back and I’ll find someone to take a look and run some tests.”

  Dorris made a face, doubtful. “I can’t just leave you here.”

  “Yes you can, Dorris. I’d rather you get back out there. Go search for Tom.”

  She pursed her lips. “I’ll be in touch, then.”

  I swung my door shut. “I’ll be here.”

  I sniffled and ran in through the side door. I made my way to the ER and veered right, behind the reception desk, ducking into the lounge.

  Renee, sitting at the table eating noodles, froze with the chopsticks halfway to her lips. “Ruby, what happened to your face?”

  “Kind of a rough night, Renee,” I explained. “Can you help me out here? I think I need something for my lip.”

  She dropped the noodles back into her Styrofoam bowl, shocked. “What happened?”

  “I don’t want to be seen out there,” I answered, ignoring her question. “Can you grab me an ice pack?”

  She pushed back from the chair, getting up. “Stay right here, Ruby,” she said and walked to the door. “I’ll be right back.”

  I stared out at the nurses and patients wandering around outside the lounge windows. Tears burned and I blinked them back, unwilling to fall apart just yet. Closing my eyes, I sagged in the chair.

  I can’t take this, Lord. Help me…keep me together.

  A single thought resonated through my aching head.

  Trust me.

  Anger and frustration raged and I threw my arms out, toppling the table over. Renee’s noodles flew across the floor. Tom’s frightened face flashed behind my eyes and I trembled, wondering what happened. Sobs welled up.

  Heaving, I screamed at the ceiling. “I don’t know how to do that. I don’t know how to trust You anymore!”

  Heart heavy, I buried my head in my hands and cried. Salty tears stung my lip, and I looked for a tissue on the counters. I was exhausted, terrified, and running on empty. I blew my nose, wiped my wet face and tried to calm down.

  Outside the lounge window, Tiny’s familiar face caught my eye and I stood, knocking the chair over. Rushing to the door, I pulled it open and hissed his name. “Tiny, what are you doing here?”

  He lumbered over. “I’ve been looking all over this hospital for you, Ruby-D. Where’ve you been?” Frowning, he pointed at my head. “What happened to your face?”

  I pulled him into the lounge and closed the blinds. I locked the door and turned to face him, breathless. “What are you doing here, Tiny? The cops are looking for you guys.”

  He pointed to the turtleneck straining to contain his sizable neck. “I’m undercover.” He pulled the fabric down exposing his red tattoo. Looking at the mess of noodles and the overturned furniture, Tiny raised his eyebrows. “Having a bad day, huh, Doc?”

  I looked at Tiny, exasperated. “You didn’t answer my question, Tiny. Why are you here?”

  His expression turned serious. “I came to get you.”

  “Why?”

  “We need you real bad, Ruby-D. You have to come with me.” Tiny looked at me, his eyes wide with worry. “Please.”

  I took a step back, suspicious. “What for?”


  Tiny’s gaze slid away from mine. “It’s a secret.”

  42

  “What do you mean a secret?” I asked, irritated.

  “Can you just come?”

  “Tell me why, first.”

  Tiny’s gaze flitted to the window overlooking the ER. “It’s Downey.”

  “What happened to her?’

  “Nothin’s wrong, Doc. She just…” He clicked his tongue. “Can’t you just…trust me?”

  “Did you just hear yourself? You kidnapped, kidnapped me last time, Tiny. You want me to trust you?”

  “Well, we’re asking you nice this time, Doc. That’s something.” He smiled and blinked his eyes innocently. “Trust me, Doc.”

  Trust me. Trust me. I was getting tired of hearing that.

  “OK, fine,” I hissed. “Where are we going?”

  “Like I said before, it’s a…”

  “Yeah, yeah,” I interrupted. “It’s a secret.”

  I scribbled out an apology to Renee on a paper napkin and left it on the counter. Sticking my head out the door, I checked for cops and then motioned for Tiny to follow. We strode as nonchalantly as we could towards the ambulance bay exit and out onto the parking lot reserved for visitors.

  Paul’s tricked-out car stood parked in a fifteen minute parking slot. Tiny pulled the ticket left by the parking attendant off the windshield, wadded it up, and tossed it over his shoulder.

  “That doesn’t make it disappear, you know,” I told him as I got into the passenger seat.

  “Sure it does.”

  He drove us away from the hospital and back to my neighborhood. We passed the public park, discount grocery stores, and the coin laundry, to the neighborhood where Darnell and Paul lived. He pulled in front of their house, turned the car off, and smiled.

  “She’s in there.”

  “What is this, the new neighborhood urgent care center?” I asked, looking at the tiny house.

  “Well, it’s not like we can go and visit you at your place,” Tiny said quietly.

  “I don’t have any medical supplies, Tiny.”

  “Don’t worry.”

  I knocked on the door. Maddie, Darnell and Paul’s grandma, answered and she smiled, pushing open the screen door and letting me in. No one looked worried.

  “Dr. McKinney,” she said quietly. “She’s in back.”

  “OK,” I answered, still a bit confused.

  She opened a back room door. Downey and Darnell looked up from their hushed conversation to stare at me. I heard Tiny walk up behind me.

  No one looked hurt. No one seemed sick.

  “What?”

  Downey stood up to face me nervously. “Dr. McKinney, Darnell told me how you came to his rescue.”

  “I guess that’s one way to look at it.”

  “Just tell her, Downey.”

  “Darnell isn’t in a gang. He got into a fight with a guy in my building that’s been after me to…work for him.”

  “A pimp.”

  “It wasn’t his idea to bring you like that. Paul kind of overreacts when it comes to Darnell.”

  “Where is Paul?”

  “He’s having a talk with the guy who’s after Downey.” Darnell’s liquid brown eyes looked at me defiantly.

  “What is going on here, guys? What’s the big secret that Tiny couldn’t tell me at the hospital?”

  “Downey wanted to pay you back for saving my life,” Darnell explained. “She has some information you need.”

  “What kind of information?”

  “I think I know where they took your man, Dr. McKinney.”

  I stared at her, shocked beyond the ability to answer. My pulse paced up, pounding in my head. “What did you say?”

  “Your guy, your boyfriend. The guy with the green eyes,” Darnell interjected. “That DEA guy.”

  “How…how do you…” I shook my head to clear it. “What are you talking about?”

  “There’s a place over by the harbor where we…” she ran her gaze over Tiny and Darnell. “Where we all go to, uh, hang out. At least we did until a month ago when some seriously twisted guys started showing up there and chasing us off.”

  “What did these guys look like?”

  “I don’t know, two guys, but I’d seen one of them before.”

  “At the ER,” Darnell said. His lip curled up, disgusted. “He’s old, has grey hair. The other guy is a banger, real mean.”

  “A gang guy?”

  “Yeah, we thought it was weird, the two of them hanging out,” Downey said. “They were moving boxes into the old boat house.”

  “Boat house?”

  “Yeah, that place that’s halfway-built over by the jetty. There’s tractors and like, wood, but no one is working there, ever.”

  Anxiety surging, I turned to Tiny. “Can I use your cell phone?”

  Tiny handed it to me, and I dialed 911. I waited on a busy signal, hung up, got a recording to stay on the line, hung up again. Frustration burned my gut.

  “Come on,” I shouted at the phone. I dialed again, it was busy. A fourth time, I got an operator. “I have a tip that the guys involved in the SUV bomb are hiding out in a construction zone at—,”

  “Hold while I transfer you to the tip line, ma’am,” the operator’s bored voice interrupted.

  “No, I know this is who you’re looking for,” I argued. “I need to talk to someone in char—,”

  The operator transferred me and I heard elevator music. I stared at the keypad and started dialing.

  Darnell, Downey, and Tiny watched me with wide eyes.

  “Uh, Doc, you’re not calling the cops, are you?” Tiny asked, a nervous look on his face.

  “I need to call them, Tiny. They have to go and check it out. Tom is...” A fresh wave of panic washed over me. “He’s in trouble, and the guy who has him wants to kill him.”

  “But, aren’t the cops looking for us?” Tiny asked.

  “I didn’t give you guys up, Tiny,” I said, insulted. “I promised I wouldn’t.”

  “Yeah, but the shelter lady did. She described the tattoos, the car, everything,” Tiny countered.

  “I’ll call one cop, OK?” Dialing Ben’s number from memory I waited through the rings. “You sure it was the ER doctor and a gang banger over in the construction area?”

  “They were always shouting at each other.”

  Ben answered. “Who is this?”

  “Ben its Ruby,” I said breathless. “I need your help.”

  “Ruby, are you OK? I heard you were involved in that sting that went bad over on Forrest Street. Tom—”

  “That’s what I’m calling about.” I interrupted. “I have information for the police about the guys involved with that sting. I can’t get a hold of the DEA agent in charge, he was hurt, but I thought…”

  “If you’re talking about Lopez, he died, Ruby,” Ben said.

  “Oh, no,” I breathed.

  “Where are you calling from? I don’t recognize the number.”

  “Ben, I’ve got a tip from some people who say there were some guys over by the harbor, in a construction area. I think it’s Blaine…he’s the one who took Tom.”

  “Blaine, your boss?” Ben asked incredulous.

  “I don’t have time to explain, Ben,” I cried. “Please get somebody over there.”

  “Ruby, three cops and one DEA agent were killed in an explosion. I don’t know that there is anyone to call right now. Did you call 911?”

  “Ben, I already tried that. They sent me to a tip line. I need cops out there, now!”

  “The SUV bomb brought tons of crazies out of the woodwork. At least two groups already claimed it as an environmental statement.”

  “But Ben, I know this information is good.” Stomach flopping I tried to convince him. “Please, I don’t know how much time Tom has!”

  “I’ll try to get a hold of someone. I’ll call you back.” He hung up.

  “He said he’d call back.”

  All three kids nodd
ed silently. One minute passed, then two. By three minutes gone I was hyperventilating. “Call!” I yelled at the phone. “Call me back, Ben.”

  “Maybe they’re all tied up, with the explosion and stuff,” Darnell offered.

  “Do you guys know everything that happened today?”

  They shrugged in unison. I paced the wood floor of the small room, my heart racing. I struggled to breathe through my fear.

  Please, Lord. Please save Tom.

  “You love this guy, Doc?” Downey asked, pulling me from my panic. Her soft eyes searched mine.

  Lip trembling, I nodded. A tear fell and hit the phone in my hand. “Yeah, with all that I am,” I answered.

  Tiny cleared his throat. “Then maybe we shouldn’t be waitin’ around for no phone calls.”

  “I don’t know what you mean.”

  Tiny put his hands out in a grand gesture. “You’re Ruby-D, you’re not afraid of anything, right? Let’s go get your guy back.”

  “Not afraid…I’m standing here crying on your phone, Tiny.”

  “Ah, girls cry all the time. What I’m sayin’ is, you’re the one out there in the alleys talking to crazy people.” He pointed to his chest. “Patching up gang-bangers, fixin’ runaways…”

  Downey stood up. “Yeah, I mean, you’re who we ask for…Ruby-D, Dangerous Doc.”

  Darnell pointed to his arm. “Breakin’ and enterin’ to save lives,” he added.

  “I’m like, five foot-two, guys. I can’t do this on my own.”

  Tiny raised his hand. “I’ll go with you.”

  “I can’t get kids involved in this,” I countered.

  “I’m nineteen.” Tiny said.

  “And we’re eighteen,” Darnell responded, pulling Downey to him in a sideways hug.

  I looked at them askance. “You are not.”

  “How’re you going to find the right place?” Downey asked. “It’s not like there’s an address or nothin’.”

  Ten minutes passed since I called Ben. Ten minutes for them to hurt Tom. “Let’s go.”

  43

  The four of us crammed into the car, Tiny at the wheel. He peeled away from the curb leaving behind black acrid smoke. I put my hand on his arm.

  “Slow down, Tiny, we don’t want to get pulled over.”