by Mathews,Mark
The blast shook the whole factory, sending Garrett and Alice to their knees. He grabbed her by the back of the head and shoved her face under his chest. He didn’t want any flying shrapnel to cut her to pieces. He didn’t have much time to do anything, but he wasn’t going to let that stop him from trying. When silence filled the factory again, he got shakily to his feet. There was a large crater off to the right, almost at the foot of a staircase. It had a pile of men around it, and Garrett tried to inventory who they were. His eyes roamed from one to the other, until he saw Ben’s body. His eyes saw, but his mind wouldn’t register the information. He just couldn’t believe it. He held his breath. Any second now, Ben was going to open his eyes, shake his head, and grin about the chaos he’d caused. He waited. Ten minutes went by. Still no movement from Ben. Garrett felt his knees go weak.
Alice didn’t know what was going on. She stood behind Garrett, where he’d pushed her once he’d gotten to his feet, but she slowly was starting to edge her way around him. She caught sight of the men, and her face contorted with anger that they had been here and after her little girls. Then Alice gasped. Her hand flew to her mouth. Garrett couldn’t really tell what was going on, because his vision now was being blurred by tears. First, Athena, now Ben. He had lost two of his best friends within two weeks. He just couldn’t believe it. Max wasn’t even there. He should know about Ben, and Garrett couldn’t even get a hold of him to let him know what was going on.
“Oh, Garrett! I’m so sorry!”
Her eyes were dry, but it seemed she really felt bad about him losing his friend. Garrett turned away from her and punched a wall. His anger was getting the better of him now. Not only did he just lose another of his good friends, but now the crater separated him and Alice from getting to the rest of their group. What were they going to do? It went way too deep for them to get across, and there was no way around it. The other staircases had been destroyed, and this was the last one. His girls were probably up there…and Wren. He needed to make sure that they were okay.
Movement caught Garrett’s attention. Two men were rounding the corner at the top of the stairs. That had to be where the girls were hiding. Wren and Kayleigh heard the men coming, and started firing as soon as the men came into range. A bullet found Wren, hitting her in the side. She went down with a scream, writhing in pain. Garrett heard the scream reverberate off the walls, and his heart started racing. What the hell was going on up there? He needed to find a way to get across the crater. Climbing in and back out was out of the question. It was just too deep, with no way safely in or out.
“Wren! Wren! What’s going on up there?”
Garrett’s voice was forceful as he called out to them, as if by mere force he could 3licit the answer he wanted, that everyone was alive and okay. There was a commotion at the top of the stairs, and Garrett quickly shoved Alice behind him again. He cursed himself for letting her go with him. She was more of a liability than a help. Now he felt like he was being pulled in three different directions, so he couldn’t keep up with everything that was going on. He raised his pistol up to the window that slowly was creaking open. Jenny’s head popped out, and she waved grimly to her father. Garrett swore and quickly pulled his pistol back, hoping she didn’t think that he actually would try to shoot her.
“Hi, Daddy. We’re up here. Brooke and I are okay. Kayleigh, too.” Garrett waited for her to add Wren’s name to that list. When she didn’t, he felt his heart start racing all over again.
“Jenny? What’s wrong with Wren? Why didn’t you say that she was okay?” Behind him, he missed Alice’s glare at the mention of her rival. She wasn’t sure she was still okay with giving Garrett to Wren. Over the course of the last few hours, she was beginning to think she was never really okay with it.
“She got shot. In the side. She’s bleeding pretty badly. Kayleigh’s trying to help her, but I don’t know if she’s going to be okay.” Her childish voice didn’t help soften the blow at all, and now Garrett raged at the wall again. Why was there no way across this damn crater? Then it hit him. Outside! Maybe there was a way to the office from outside!
“Jenny! Look at all the windows and tell me if any of them open to outside.” She nodded, then ducked her head back in. She was gone for maybe two or three minutes, but it felt like an hour to Garrett.
“Some of the windows go outside, and I can get them open.” Finally! Something good had happened!
“Okay, I want you to open all the windows to outside, and lean out a little so we can see you. Your mom and I are going to go out there and see if we can get to you.”
With that said, Alice and Garrett made their way outside, back to the employee parking lot where they’d come from. Jenny was looking out at them, and Garrett started looking frantically for an outside entrance to the second floor. He found none. Punching the building wasn’t going to do anything but hurt, so he turned his attention to his daughter.
“Is there anything up there that could help you guys get out?” Jenny shrugged her shoulders and disappeared again. A few minutes later, she poked her head back out of the window.
“There’s some rope up here, but that’s really it.”
Rope! That gave him an idea. He knew every action movie had rope in it to some capacity, and he thought about some of the daring escapes that had been made from horrible situations with nothing more than rope. It gave him an idea about how to get all the girls down to him safely. But he would need some help, since he wasn’t able to get up there to do it himself.
“Is Wren conscious?” Jenny nodded.
“Okay, bring her the rope. Tell her to build a cradle. Then you can tie the rope to something, and start lowering yourselves out. If the rope is long enough, I’ll be able to help.” Jenny disappeared again.
About twenty minutes later, Jenny came swinging out of the window, pale with her eyes closed, clinging to a little basket made up of rope. It was easy to see that she was terrified. She made it down to the ground safely. Garrett tugged on rope to let them know it was safe to pull up, and the basket disappeared. Next came Brooke. The third person was taking much longer than the children had, so Garrett started getting nervous. Then he saw why. It was Wren. She was tied up in the basket, but she looked like she was barely conscious. He hoped Kayleigh knew what she was doing. Wren came down slowly, but it looked like Kayleigh was having some difficulty holding Wren’s weight. The girls had been much lighter, and now Kayleigh was getting tired. Wren made it down unscathed, and Garrett immediately took her to the side, away from the landing zone, to start looking at her injuries. He left Alice to help Kayleigh. There really wasn’t much that he could do for Wren. The bullet had passed clean through her, but it looked like she’d lost an awful lot of blood.
“Garrett?”
Wren’s voice was so quiet he had to lean down to hear her. The bleeding had stopped, but she was still weak. It really didn’t look good for her. Pain lanced through Garrett’s chest. Would he have to say goodbye to Wren, too? They’d already lost Ben and Athena, courtesy of the same evil men. Now it looked like he might lose the one other person he’d really started to care about. Alice suddenly screamed. Everyone’s attention went to her right away. She was looking behind her, and everyone followed her gaze. The rammed cruiser sat there, with the door open, and she knew right away it was empty. Nat started limping in their direction. Austin had knocked him unconscious with the butt of his shotgun, and he was just coming back around.
“Austin. It was Austin.” He was still winded, and his voice came out raspy.
“He rammed the car and took the baby.”
Alice’s knees gave out and she sank to the ground. Her son was gone. The bastard she’d married had stolen him. How could he have rammed the car that his son was in? Seth could have been killed! She was going to get her baby back, and she was going to kill Austin herself for putting Seth in danger.
“He drove away in another car.” Alice saw red.
“Which way?”
It was
n’t a question, it was a demand. A demand for information that would help her kill this son of a bitch who would dare hurt her baby. Nat looked from Alice to Garrett, and Garrett jerked his head once, indicating Nat should tell Alice he didn’t know. His gaze went back to Alice, and he could see she already was starting to go crazy. Her eyes were wild and her hair was blowing around in the soft breeze. Her hands were clenched into fists at her sides, and she looked like she was getting ready to deck someone clear into the next month. He didn’t want to be on the receiving end of that blow.
“I’m not sure. I was out before I hit the ground. I didn’t see or hear anything again until you started screaming.”
Nats’ cheeks turned red, and Garrett noticed he was blushing furiously. The poor kid already was embarrassed he’d let Austin get the better of him, but now he was trying to help control the situation by telling Alice he had no idea where they’d gone. The two men had said a few more things that night that Nat had been spying on them, and even though Garrett had debriefed him, he kept that one detail to himself. If he knew where to go when no one else did, then maybe he’d be seen as valuable. That would show Brooke. He was a man, and now he was ready to prove it.
Chapter Ten
Alice felt like her heart had been ripped out of her chest. Her husband, who was now more than a little estranged, had stolen her newborn son from her. It had taken a few minutes for the information to really sink in and saturate her brain, but when it did, she started screaming incoherently. Hysterics took hold of her, and she wheeled in a drunken circle, looking for someone to blame. Her eyes fell on Nat. Nat was only a teenage boy, but he’d been charged with looking after baby Seth, and he’d failed. Alice’s eyes grew wide and her hands formed claws and she started toward him. She started screaming at him as tears ran down her cheeks.
“I trusted you! You were supposed to watch out for my baby! What did you do? How could you let him take Seth? Which way did they go?”
By this time, her hands were on the neck of his T-shirt, and she was pulling him up on his toes so he was face-to-face with her. Poor Nat had been knocked unconscious, so he hadn’t seen which way Austin had gone. He tried explaining that to Alice, but she just wouldn’t accept it. It was almost as if she had obtained superhuman strength and was going to take out all her anger on him. He felt horrible already, but now he might actually die for it.
“I don’t know! He knocked me out. I didn’t see anything.”
Alice was shaking him now, and that set Kayleigh off. This was her son, and no one was going to treat him that way. She came up to Alice, grabbed her wrists and pulled the woman’s hands off of her son’s shirt. She forcibly shoved her aside, to the point where Alice lost her balance and fell to the ground. The impact seemed to jolt her out of her temporary lunacy.
“Are you okay? Where did he hurt you?” Kayleigh was in complete mommy mode, checking over Nat’s exposed skin and trying to test all of his joints. Nat’s face got beet red because he saw that Brooke was watching him with a raised eyebrow.
“I’m fine, Mom, I just have a couple of bumps and bruises.”
He almost whispered the words, because his cheeks were flaming, and he felt like a five-year-old rather than a fifteen-year-old. His mom was trying to fuss over him, scraping dirt from his face, and he just wasn’t having it. He gently but firmly pushed her hand away and got shakily to his feet. He winced when his hand accidentally brushed his forehead, which had a large gash above one eye.
“You’re going to be okay, Honey. That’s going to scar, though.”
Keeping a brave face on, she hoped it would show him that it wasn’t so horrible, and that they both would get over it quickly. After all, this was nothing compared to what his father had done to them both when he’d gone through his drunken phases. The prick actually had broken their bones; this was nothing. She tried hugging him, and he endured it bravely. Alice was boiling mad now. It was a good thing she wasn’t one of the people who carried a gun, because in that exact moment, she wasn’t thinking clearly. she might just have grabbed it and squeezed off a few rounds to get what she wanted out of the situation. Not only had her child been taken from her, this bitch had the audacity to shove her, then rub it in her face that she still had her son.
Alice climbed to her feet, almost in slow motion, and started for Kayleigh. She dropped her hands to her sides, balling them into fists. Her sudden movement caught Brooke’s eye. She swiveled her head to look over at her mom, and immediately knew what was going on. Brooke motioned to Jenny, who came behind her as Brooke put her arms around her mom’s waist from behind. Jenny jumped in front of her mom, trying to push her back, getting in her way and pushing against her chest and stomach. Alice was on a mission, and she was ignoring both her girls. It took her a few minutes to realize she wasn’t getting closer to her intended target, and that’s when she started looking around. Seeing both her girls trying to stop her from doing something stupid made her come to her senses.
Garrett was watching his ex-wife, and he actually was embarrassed for her. She always had been the one who kept her cool, regardless of whatever the situation was. Yet right now, she was acting like a little child who hadn’t gotten a toy she wanted and was throwing a tantrum to get her way. He couldn’t dwell on it too much, however, because Wren was fighting for her life right now, and she was taking up the majority of his worry. He still wasn’t sure what he was feeling for either woman, because things seemed to change at the drop of a hat. He didn’t want to waste time with his feelings right now, when things just barely were hanging in the balance.
Another thing that was plaguing him was their group kept getting smaller and smaller. He’d been so happy when he knew Ben was back, but now Ben was somewhere they never could get him back from. The only consolation Garrett had was that now Ben was with Athena, and they never would be separated again. It was hard on him to lose one of his best friends, and one of his military comrades, but he hadn’t been given the time to grieve properly because of everything happening in such quick succession. He felt like he was a hamster on an exercise wheel, constantly running but going nowhere. On the other hand, his mind was going everywhere he didn’t want it to go. He couldn’t control it from thinking horrible things. and the scenes that went through his mind of the most horrible outcomes to each and every situation were beyond grotesque. He wouldn’t even acknowledge them when they showed up, but they burned themselves into the back of his mind’s eye so they were there when he went to sleep.
Max hadn’t come back, and Garrett’s optimism that he would was fading. He wasn’t going to hold his breath on that one. Ben had come back quickly, only leaving again to try finding the group something to help in their current situation. Max hadn’t been seen or heard from since they got into the factory. Or so Wren had told him. Wren. He looked over to where she was lying on the ground, pale and shaking, hair plastered to her forehead with sweat. Her eyes were closed, but he could see her eyelids fluttering. He didn’t know what he would do if he lost her. It would tear him apart inside…but so had losing Seth. He’d been giving too much of himself to everyone, and now he was being ripped apart by every little thing that happened.
Kayleigh seemed to be satisfied enough that her son was fine, and she glared at Alice for daring to attack him. For her part, Alice still was trying to break away from her daughters so she could go after Kayleigh. So their heated gazes met with some animosity. Taking a deep breath, Kayleigh squared her shoulders, lifted her chin, and walked straight past Alice like she meant nothing at all. Her eyes were only for Garrett.
“I think we should take the vehicles from the gang and go separate directions to try finding Austin. If Seth cries, we might even be able to find them if they are hiding.” It was a good idea, and Garrett mulled it over. He didn’t like the thought of Seth crying, or the fact that Kayleigh had said it, because it made Alice redouble her efforts to rearrange her face.
“I’ll take this truck with Nat, and Alice can take the other one wi
th her girls.” It was almost like she was trying to step up and show she was a leader. Garrett didn’t like that too much, but he did need someone to help him while Wren was hurt. Alice was too hotheaded to get the job done.
“That sounds like a good idea, but there’s one thing I would change. Please switch with me so you can keep an eye on Wren and take care of her. I need to be out there. He’s my son.”
Kayleigh opened her mouth to say something, but the look in Garrett’s eyes told her not to go there, and she shut her mouth with a snap. She nodded quickly to recover from the situation, then went over to Wren, feeling her forehead for a fever like she was a nurse. Alice was stomping over to the truck she was going to be driving, but the girls came running up to their dad. He was glad they were coming to say goodbye, even though he knew it would irritate Alice to no end for them to be on his side. Part of him felt sorry for the girls because they were going to be cooped up in the truck with their mother after this. If anyone understood the way Alice worked when she was angry, it was Garrett. She’d been angry at him many times, and he was still here to tell the story.
“Be careful, girls. Take care of your mother, okay? I know she’s pretty upset right now, but I can’t do anything to help her except find Seth. If you girls find him, honk the horn as loud as you can, and we’ll do the same thing. If you hear it, just have her drive toward the noise.”
The girls nodded, and he hugged and kissed them both, feeling like every minute they were together might be the last they would have. He hadn’t been there for Ben when he had breathed his last, and he wasn’t going to be away from his family if something was going to happen. The instant he felt uncomfortable or got a nagging feeling that something bad was happening, then he was going to go find them, no questions asked.
“You be careful too, Daddy. We want to find Seth just as much as you do, but just be careful. We don’t want to lose you, too.”
