Break in the Storm (WeHo Book 2)

by Sherryl Hancock

  “Sarah!” Quinn had to yell to be heard over Sarah’s screaming. Taking the woman by the shoulders, Quinn shook her slightly to get her attention.

  “I can’t find her, I can’t find her!” Sarah was saying over and over.

  Quinn looked around quickly and located a very dirty Bobby. Kneeling, she took Bobby by the shoulders gently, looking him in the face.

  “Where are your sisters?” she asked Bobby, her voice as calm as she could make it.

  Bobby’s eyes were huge saucers as she shook his head. “I don’t know… Mom said go to the basement… we were going, but then everything was shaking and I couldn’t hold onto her, and….” His voice trailed off as he burst into tears, throwing himself into Quinn’s arms crying hysterically.

  Quinn looked around and saw Xandy walking up. Standing, she took Bobby over to Xandy, grabbing Sarah’s hand leading her over as well.

  “Xan,” Quinn said, touching Xandy’s cheek to make sure she was listening, she seemed almost as dazed as Sarah and Bobby. “Babe, you with me?” Quinn asked, her voice stronger now. “I need you with me.”

  Xandy nodded, doing her best to focus.

  “I need you to keep them back, and I need you to watch for help, okay?” Quinn said and began walking toward the house.

  “Okay,” Xandy said, nodding, looking more alert now. Xandy looked at Sarah. “Aunt Sarah, is Erin in there too?”

  Sarah looked back at Xandy, her look blank; she was definitely in shock. Xandy looked at Bobby.

  “Bobby, was Erin home?” she asked the boy.

  Bobby shook his head, his eyes still looking terrified.

  “Quinn!” Xandy called, “it’s just Elly, we’re just looking for Elly!”

  “Got it!” Quinn said, carrying on toward what was left of the house.

  She remembered where the basement door had been, back by the kitchen. She walked around the ruins of the house to the back area, where the kitchen had been, which was now just a pile of debris at least two and a half to three feet high. Quinn pulled on her Harley jacket, thinking that it would serve as some protection against nails or shards of glass. She reached into her pockets, thanking her maker that she always shoved an extra pair of leather riding gloves in the pockets. Pulling on the gloves, she leaned down, starting to carefully pull away debris that could be moved. She tossed the pieces away from her.

  “Elly!” she called, her voice loud, pausing she listened intently.

  Hearing nothing, she continued to pull pieces away from the area she’d estimated would be near the basement stairs. She knew that staircases were particularly fortified; if Elly had any chance of being alive, it would be near the stairwell. Quinn gritted her teeth as nails pierced her hand through the gloves.

  “Elly!” she called again, pausing to listen.

  Still she heard nothing, the silence was eerie and it was weighing on her mind that the beautiful blue-eyed girl she’d met earlier in that day could be lying under this debris broken and bleeding out the last of her life.

  “Damnit Elly, answer me!” she yelled, her voice angry at the thoughts running through her head.

  She was about to reach for another piece of debris when she thought she heard the faintest cry. Pausing, she listened, leaning closer to the pile to try to hear. Nothing.

  “Elly! Come on baby girl! You gotta tell me you’re there!” she yelled.

  That’s when she heard the best sound she’d ever heard in her life, a tiny little voice that said, “Kin?”

  “Yes, baby girl, it’s me! Keep talking, I’m going to get you out of there!” Quinn yelled, then looked back over to where Xandy was stood with Sarah and Bobby. “I can hear her, she’s here! Find some help!”

  Xandy nodded, looking around and running toward the only people she could see. Quinn braced a booted foot on a piece of foundation, and reached down, grabbing a large piece of debris that was actually part of a door. She pulled back with all her might, careful to make sure she wasn’t dislodging something else that could fall on the child, wherever she was in that mess. The piece gave and she yanked it away, feeling a sharp pain in her arm as she did, but ignoring it.

  “Elly?” Quinn queried, suddenly feeling a hand on her back. Glancing behind her, she saw Bobby, he looked back at her with a determined set to his jaw.

  “I want to help,” he said.

  Quinn started to tell him to go back to his mother, because she didn’t want to take the chance that he could get hurt too. But then she realized that if he didn’t get a chance to help rescue his sister, he’d blame himself forever.

  “Okay,” Quinn said, “but I need you to stay right there, I’ll hand you stuff, okay? Just throw it over there,” she said, pointing to the part of the backyard she’d been using to discard items.

  “Elly!” Bobby called this time.

  “Beebee?” came Elly’s voice.

  “Keep talking to her,” Quinn told Bobby, “we need to keep her calm.”

  “Okay,” Bobby said, nodding and moving to kneel next to the debris pile.

  “I’m right here, Elly!” Bobby called, as Quinn went back to pulling away the pieces she could.

  A few more pieces moved, but then she came to a section where the roof had actually caved downwards on the stairs. Looking around, she didn’t see Xandy anywhere. Shaking her head, Quinn knew she was going to have to do this herself. Reaching down, she grasped what had been part of the eaves of the house’s roof. Testing the weight of the huge piece, she heaved hard, it gave slightly, but she knew she was going to need more power. Setting the piece back carefully, lest she cause more of a cave in, she looked around for something to use as leverage. Everything was so small, she knew they’d snap if she tried, and that could cause more damage and possibly cave in what was left of the stairs to the basement.

  Taking a deep breath, she moved to put her back to the slanted section of the eave, sinking down to a squatting position, she put her shoulder against the wood, and then pushed upward with her shoulder, grunting with the effort, digging the toes of her boots in to give her more power. She felt the section shift. Keeping up the pressure, she brought her feet in closer, one foot at a time, careful not to lose any ground. She could hear Bobby talking to Elly, and Elly’s faint replies.

  Gathering her strength, and taking in a deep breath, Quinn shoved her shoulder further under the eave, and pushed upward. Driving her feet into the ground, she slowly marched in toward the house, levering the piece of roof up. She was on her feet, but still hunched with the weight of the roof piece, when she heard Xandy yelling her name.

  Xandy had seen Quinn lifting the section of roof with her own body and was terrified that the piece would shift and collapse on Quinn herself. She was leading two men that she’d finally located toward Quinn.

  “Holy shit!” one of the men exclaimed, seeing Quinn’s position.

  “She’s crazy!” the other guy said, as they moved to try to help.

  Quinn was panting at this point and feeling slightly light-headed. Her back was screaming as were her legs, they both shook uncontrollably. As the men ran over, she nodded to them.

  “Take it, take it,” she grunted to them. “I need to get to her!”

  The two men heaved the piece of roof, looking at each other wide-eyed as they realized how much weight this woman had just hefted, it was a strain for both of them to hold it.

  As soon as the weight was off her shoulders, Quinn dropped to the ground, and crawled over to the opening that raising the section of roof had exposed. She reached in to feel around to determine how much space there was.

  “Elly?” she yelled. “Can you see anything?”

  “No!” Elly cried.

  “Okay, baby girl, okay,” Quinn replied, her voice gentle, but loud enough for the child to hear, “I’m comin’ for ya, just hold on, okay?”

  “Oh… kay…”

  It scared Quinn. Fearing that the child was fading, she needed to get in there now. Reaching through the opening, she could feel a de
cent sized area. Levering herself up to a kneeling position, she yanked off her jacket, knowing it would impede her progress and possibly get hung up on things. She stripped off her loosely-fitting muscle tee as well, afraid it too would get caught, exposing sinewy muscle and a black sports bra. With that, she moved toward the opening, putting her arms through, and shoving aside the debris that was there. She belly crawled through the opening, unable to see anything.

  “Elly?” she queried. “Where are you baby girl?”

  “Hea,” Elly said softly.

  She sounded like she wasn’t too far away. Quinn shoved herself forward, wincing as she felt something scrape her skin sharply.

  “Reach out your hands baby,” Quinn said, “try to find my hands.”

  “Kin?” Elly queried.

  “Yes, baby girl, it’s like hide and seek, and you need to find me, okay?”

  “Okay,” Elly answered, sounding enthusiastic.

  Quinn pulled her knees up slightly, using her booted feet to shove her farther into the opening. Feeling something sharp rake her left arm, she tried to shift, but the opening was barely big enough for her, there was no extra room. Remotely she heard sirens, but pushed that away as she reached her hands further into the opening, encountering wires and praying none of them were live. That’s when she felt Elly’s fingers touch hers.

  “There you are!” Quinn cried out joyously.

  “Kin!” Elly also cried happily.

  “Okay, sweetie, hold on, okay? I got you, just give me a second here,” she said, stretching her arm back to the front of the opening, straining to reach her jacket.

  She wanted to try and keep Elly from getting hurt by whatever had causing her to bleed. The last thing she wanted was for this child to be scarred further from this incident. She laid her jacked over the debris in front of her. Shoving herself a little bit farther forward, she reached for Elly’s hand again.

  “Give me your hand again, baby girl,” Quinn said.

  She immediately felt Elly’s little hand touch hers. Quinn slid her hand around Elly’s wrist, giving it the gentlest of tugs to determine if the child was trapped, she was surprised when Elly slight weight shifted toward her immediately.

  “Elly, are you hurt anywhere?” Quinn asked.

  “No…” Elly said, sounding like she was worried that she’d be in trouble.

  “Okay, baby girl, here’s what we’re going to do,” Quinn said. “I’m going to hold your hand, and you’re going to crawl toward me, okay? Take your time, just edge forward a little at a time…”

  She felt Elly moving toward her, reaching up she did her best to pull aside the wires that were thankfully not live. Within a minute, Elly was nose to nose with Quinn.

  “Well, there you are…” Quinn said, smiling. “Now we’re just going to get out of here together.”

  Making sure that Elly was fully situated on the Harley jacket, Quinn did her best to pull it around the child. She continued to hold Elly’s hand with her other hand, and used her booted toes to dig into the ground and pull them backwards.

  “We’re coming out!” she called. “Fecking hell!” she screeched unintentionally as she felt a piece of rebar dig into her back and rake open her skin.

  “Quinn!” came Xandy’s immediate reply from out in the open, her tone almost hysterical.

  Quinn had no way of knowing that Xandy had paced back and forth, crying the entire time Quinn had been in that opening. She was terrified that the men would drop the roof on Quinn and Elly and kill them both. Sarah was standing to the side, crying silently, her hands clenching and unclenching unconsciously. Bobby was standing stock still, his eyes never leaving the opening.

  A moment later, Quinn’s boots appeared at the opening, Xandy ran forward, grabbing Quinn’s foot, with the intent on helping her.

  “Don’t Xan! Don’t!” Quinn yelled, her voice laced with pain.

  Quinn knew that if Xandy pulled her, the rebar would likely either break a rib, or pierce a lung or something. Carefully Quinn shoved her torso down into the debris under her, careful to dislodge the rebar from her skin, before she continued to move backward. She was also very cognizant of the location of the metal, to make sure that Elly didn’t run into it.

  After what seemed like forever, Quinn emerged, pulling Elly free. The child literally bowling Quinn over with the last tug Quinn gave her to pull her free. Quinn fell back, holding Elly firmly in her arms, cushioning the child’s body from the impact. She felt the wind knocked out of her, but she could hear Xandy calling out.

  “I’m okay, I’m okay.” Quinn assured her, “get Elly.”

  Xandy moved to pick Elly up, but the child was clinging to Quinn for dear life.

  Quinn felt the panicked clutching of Elly’s hands and knew that she wasn’t going to let anyone take her. Blowing her breath out, she forced herself to sit up. Using every last ounce of her quickly waning strength she pushed herself up to her feet, still cradling Elly against her with one arm.

  Xandy moved to put Quinn’s free arm around her shoulders, doing her best to support Quinn’s weight.

  “I’m okay,” Quinn said, her voice reflecting the exhaustion that was settling over her.

  Sarah rushed over to them as Quinn carried Elly farther away from the house to make sure they were all a safe distance. When Elly saw her mother she held out her arms to her. Sarah took the child, hugging her tight. Her eyes looked back at Quinn, tears in them as she said, “Thank you.”

  Quinn nodded, then moved to sit on the curb. She stripped off her riding gloves, noting absently that her hands were bloody too. It was only then, in the light of the headlights of a passing police car, that Xandy saw the blood all over Quinn’s back, and trickling from various cuts on her arms.

  “Quinn, you’re bleeding!” Xandy said horrified.

  “I’m okay,” Quinn said again, glancing behind her and noting thankfully that there was actually a patch of grass behind her.

  Lying back she blew her breath out slowly, feeling every muscle in her back screech in reaction. Xandy stood by watching, completely lost as to what to do. No ambulances had arrived yet, so there was no one to help.

  After a few minutes, Quinn moved to get up. It was then that one of the men came by and handed Quinn the shirt she’d discarded and her Harley jacket that was now slightly torn.

  “Thanks,” Quinn said as she nodded gratefully, and carefully pulled the shirt on, smearing the blood, but at least covering it. She then put her jacket around Sarah’s shoulders, since it was obvious she was shivering in the nightgown she wore.

  “Let’s get them back to the hotel,” Quinn told Xandy. “We can get the hotel doctor to check them out.”

  “And you can get checked out too,” Sarah said, her eyes on Quinn’s bloodied arms.

  Quinn looked at Sarah, her lips curling in a grin, as she nodded. She’d heard the ‘mom-tone’ in Sarah’s voice; she was not going to argue. The group made their way over to the lot two blocks down. Quinn leaned down picking Bobby up, since he was barefoot and she didn’t want him to cut his feet. At the SUV, Xandy turned to Quinn.

  “I’m going to drive us back,” she said, holding her hand out for the keys. “You look dead on your feet.”

  Quinn considered arguing, but then just nodded as a wave of exhaustion moved over her. She opened the door for Xandy, then opened the door behind the driver’s door for Sarah. Quinn then turned and took Elly with the intent of holding her while Sarah got up into the SUV.

  Elly wound her arms around Quinn’s neck and said, “Me ride with Kin!”

  Sarah and Quinn exchanged a comical look at the child’s edict.

  “Oh-K,” Quinn said, not sure if that was going to fly with the child’s mother or not.

  Sarah shook her head tiredly, then gestured to the back seat. Still holding Elly, Quinn climbed inside, setting Elly on the seat next to her and doing her best to seat belt the child in. Bobby ended up getting into the front passenger seat, and Sarah got in on the other side o
f Quinn and Elly.

  “What about Erin?” Xandy asked glancing back at her aunt as she started the SUV and adjusted the seat to her smaller size.

  Sarah looked worried suddenly. “I never know where that girl is these days! She’s never home, she’s always off with these friends of hers. I can’t control her in the slightest…” she said, sounding exasperated.

  “Does she have a cell phone?” Quinn asked, tiredly.

  “Yes,” Sarah said nodding.

  “Give Xandy the number,” Quinn said, “she can call or text Erin to see where she is. Maybe she can have someone bring her to the hotel, or we can go and get her.”

  “Sounds like a good plan,” Xandy said nodding.

  Sarah gave Xandy the number; fortunately the cell phone towers seemed to be working, so she was able to send a text. Xandy included the fact that her mother, brother and sister were all okay, as well as the hotel information.

  As they were driving back to Wichita, Xandy continually checked on Quinn in the rearview mirror. Quinn actually seemed a bit dazed, and Xandy was worried she might be going into shock from blood loss. She reminded herself that the cuts didn’t seem to be bleeding profusely, though it didn’t stop her from worrying all the way back to the hotel.

  As they pulled up to the hotel, a valet came to take the vehicle, looking shocked as Quinn climbed out of the truck.

  “Ma’am are you okay?” The young man asked, seeing the blood.

  Quinn nodded tiredly as she lifted Elly down from the SUV. The group walked inside and was met by a young woman that had to be Erin. She looked like a very tough, short haired version of Xandy.

  “Mom!” Erin cried, as she ran up to the group.

  Sarah hugged her eldest daughter, who was sixteen and a handful. Erin’s eyes took in Quinn in all her battered and bloody glory. Quinn saw the younger girl’s eyes widen, but then she was hugging by her sister and brother. Quinn walked over to the front desk, grinning at the predictably shocked looks she was receiving from the staff and hotel guests.

  “Just got my ass kicked by a house,” Quinn told the young lady at the front desk.

  The young woman looked back at her open mouthed in shock.