"How do I look?" she asked, nervously fingering the fresh gold highlights in her hair.
"Sexy as hell."
She spun in a slow circle to show off the sleek black dress with its plunging back. Peering over one glitter-powdered shoulder, she said, "So you like my new dress?"
"I'd like it better," he said in a soft voice, "if it was on the floor."
Minutes later, they were entwined in the sheets, out of breath and laughing like teenagers. Sex with Jane was always like that. Exciting. Youthful. Fun.
After dressing, Jane retreated to the bathroom to fix her hair and makeup. "Camouflage on," she said when she returned. "Now let's get going."
"Yes, ma'am."
He heard her whispering, "Six plus eight plus two…"
"Are you doing that numerology thing again?" he asked with a grin.
Jane had gone to a psychic fair when she'd found out she was pregnant, and a numerologist had given her a lesson in adding dates. Ever since then, whenever something important came up, she'd work out the numbers to determine if it was going to be a good day or not. She even made Marcus buy lotto tickets on "three days," which she said meant money coming in. They hadn't won a lottery yet, but he played along anyway.
"What is it today?"
She smiled. "A seven."
"Ah, lucky seven." He arched a brow at her. "So I'm going to get lucky?"
"I think you already did, mister."
They'd been late for the awards banquet, which didn't go over too well since Jane was the guest of honor, the recipient of a Best Programmer award for her latest video game creation at BioWare. When Jane had stepped up on the stage to receive her award, Marcus didn't think he could ever be prouder. Until the night Ryan was born.
Ryan…the son I killed.
Marcus gave his head a jerk, forcing the memories back into the shadows―where they belonged. He picked up the can of shaving cream. His eyes rested, unfocused, on the label.
To shave or not to shave. That was the question.
"Nah, not today," he muttered.
He hadn't shaved in weeks. He was also overdue for a haircut. Thankfully, they weren't too strict about appearances at work, though his supervisor would probably harp on it again.
The alarm on his watch beeped.
He had twenty minutes to get to the center. Then he'd get back to hiding behind the anonymity of being a faceless voice on the phone.
Yellowhead County Emergency Services in Edson, Alberta, housed a small but competent 911 call center situated on the second floor of a spacious building on 1st Avenue. Four rooms on the floor were rented out to emergency groups, like First Aid, CPR and EMS, for training facilities. The 911 center had a full-time staff of four emergency operators and two supervisors—one for the day shift, one for the night. They also had a handful of highly trained but underpaid casual staff and three regular volunteers.
When Marcus entered the building, Leonardo Lombardo was waiting for him by the elevator. And Leo didn't look too thrilled to see him.
"You look like your dog just died," Marcus said.
"Don't got a dog."
"So what's with the warm and cheerful welcome? Did the mob put a hit out on me?"
Leo, a man of average height in his late forties, carried about thirty extra pounds around his middle, and his swarthy Italian looks gave him an air of mystery and danger. Around town, rumormongers had spread stories that Leo was an American expatriate with mob ties. But Marcus knew exactly who had started those rumors. Leo had a depraved sense of humor.
But his friend wasn't smiling now.
"You really gotta get some sleep."
Stepping into the elevator, Marcus shrugged. "Sleep's overrated."
"You look like hell."
"Thanks."
"You're welcome." Leo pushed the second floor button and took a hesitant breath. "Listen, man…"
Whenever Leo started a sentence with those two words, Marcus knew it wouldn't be good.
"You're not on your game," Leo said. "You're starting to slip up."
"What do you mean? I do my job."
"You filed that multiple-car accident report from last night in the wrong place. Shipley's spent half the morning looking for it. I tried covering for you, but he's pretty pissed."
"Shipley's always pissed."
Pete Shipley made it a ritual to make Marcus's life hell whenever possible, which was more often than not. As the day shift supervisor, Shipley ruled the emergency operators with an iron fist and enough arrogance to get on anyone's nerves.
The elevator door opened and Marcus stepped out first.
"I'll find the report, Leo."
"How many hours you get, Marcus?"
Sleep?
"Four." It was a lie and both of them knew it.
Marcus started toward the cubicle with the screen that divided his desk from Leo's. Behind them was the station for the other full-timers. He waved to Parminder and Wyatt as they left for home. They worked the night shift, so he only saw them in passing. Their stations were now manned by casual day workers. Backup.
"Get some sleep," Leo muttered.
"Sleep is a funny thing, Leo. Not funny ha-ha, but funny strange. Once a body's gone awhile without it or with an occasional light nap, sleep doesn't seem that important. I'm fine."
"Bullshit."
They were interrupted by a door slamming down the hall.
Pete Shipley appeared, overpowering the hallway with angry energy and his massive frame. The guy towered over everyone, including Marcus, who was an easy six feet tall. Shipley, a former army captain, was built like the Titanic, which had become his office nickname. Unbeknown to him.
"Taylor!" Shipley shouted. "In my office now!"
Leo grabbed Marcus's arm. "Tell him you slept six hours."
"You're suggesting I lie to the boss?"
"Just cover your ass. And for God's sake, don't egg him on."
Marcus smiled. "Now why would I do that?"
Leo gaped at him. "Because you thrive on chaos."
"Even in chaos there is order."
Letting out a snort, Leo said, "You been reading too many self-help books. Don't say I didn't warn you." He turned on one heel and headed for his desk.
Marcus stared after him. Don't worry, Leo. I can handle Pete Shipley.
Pausing in front of Shipley's door, he took a breath, knocked once and entered. His supervisor was seated behind a metal desk, his thick-lensed glasses perched on the tip of a bulbous nose as he scrutinized a mound of paperwork. Even though the man had ordered the meeting, Shipley did nothing to indicate he acknowledged Marcus's existence.
That was fine with Marcus. It gave him time to study the office, with its cramped windowless space and dank recycled air. It wasn't an office to envy, that's for sure. No one wanted it, or the position and responsibility that came with it. Not even Shipley. Word had it he was positioning himself for emergency coordinator, in hopes of moving up to one of the corner offices with the floor-to-ceiling windows. Marcus doubted it would ever happen. Shipley wasn't solid management material.
Marcus stood with his hands resting lightly on the back of the armless faux-leather chair Shipley reserved for the lucky few he deemed important enough to sit in his presence. Marcus wasn't one of the lucky ones.
Bracing for an ugly reprimand, his thoughts drifted to last night's shift. A drunk driver had T-boned a car at a busy intersection in Hinton, resulting in a four-car pileup. One vehicle, a mini-van with an older couple and two young boys, had been sandwiched between two vehicles from the impact of the crash. The pileup had spawned numerous frantic calls to the emergency center. Emergency Medical Services (EMS), including fire and ambulance, arrived on scene within six minutes. The Jaws of Life had been used to wrench apart the contorted metal of two of the vehicles. Only three people extracted had made it out alive. One reached the hospital DOA. Then rescue workers discovered a sedan with three teenagers inside—all dead.
They'll have nightmares for w
eeks.
Marcus knew how that felt. He'd once been a first responder. In another life.
He straightened. He was ready to take on Shipley's wrath. At least this time it would be done privately. Plus, if he was honest, he had messed up. Misfiling the report was one of a handful of stupid mistakes he'd made in the last week. Most he'd caught on his own and rectified.
"Before you say anything," Marcus began, "I know I―"
"What?" Shipley snapped. "You know you're an idiot?"
"No. That's news to me."
Pete Shipley rose slowly―all two hundred and eighty pounds, six feet eleven inches of him. Bracing beefy fists against the desk, he leaned forward. "I spent three hours searching for that accident report, Taylor. Three hours! And guess where I found it?" A nanosecond pause. "Filed with the missing persons call logs. Whatcha think of that?"
"I think it's ironic that I filed a missing report in the missing persons section."
"Shut it!" Shipley glared, his thick brows furrowed into a uni-brow. "Lombardo says you've been sleeping better, but I don't believe him. Whatcha got to say about that?"
"Leo's right. I slept like a baby last night."
Shipley elevated a brow. "For a baby, you look like shit. You need a haircut. And a shave." He wrinkled his nose. "Have you even showered this week?"
"I shower every day. Not that it's any of your business. As for the length of my hair and beard, sounds like you're crossing discrimination boundaries."
"I'm not discriminating against you. I simply do not like you. You're a goddamn drug addict, Taylor."
Everyone in the center knew about Marcus's past.
"Thanks for clarifying that, Peter."
Shipley cringed. "All it'll take is one more mistake. Everyone's watching you. You mess up again and you're out on your ass." His shoulders relaxed and he folded back into the chair. "If it were up to me, I would've fired you months ago."
"Good thing it isn't up to you then."
Marcus knew he was pushing the man's buttons, but that wasn't hard to do. Shipley was an idiot. A brown-noser who didn't know his ass from his dick, according to Leo.
"This is your final warning," Shipley said between his teeth. "We hold life and death in our hands. We can't afford errors."
"It was a misfiled report. The call was dispatched correctly and efficiently."
"Yeah, at least you didn't send the ambulance in the wrong direction." A smug smile crossed Shipley's face. "That was the stunt that got you knocked off your high horse as a paramedic. Got you fired from EMS."
Marcus thought of a million ways to answer him. None of them were polite. He moved toward the door. "I think our little meeting is done."
"I'm not finished," Shipley bellowed.
"Yes you are, Pete."
With that, Marcus strode from the office. He left Shipley's door ajar, something he knew would tick off his supervisor even more than his insubordination.
He tried not to dwell on Shipley's words, but the man had hit a nerve. Six years ago, Marcus had been publicly humiliated when the truth had come out about his addiction problem, and his future as a paramedic was sliced clean off the minute he drove that ambulance to the wrong side of town because he was too high to comprehend where he was going.
That's when he'd taken some time off. From work…from Jane…from everyone. He'd headed to Cadomin to clear his mind and do some fishing. At least that's what he'd told Jane. Meanwhile, he'd secretly packed his drug stash in the wooden box. Six days later, while in a morphine haze filled with strange images of ghostly children, he answered his cell phone. In a subdued voice, Detective John Zur revealed that Jane and Ryan had been in a car accident, not far from where Marcus was holing up.
That had been the beginning of the end for Marcus.
Now he was doing what he could to get by. It wasn't that he couldn't handle the career change from superstar paramedic to invisible 911 dispatcher. That wasn't the problem. Shipley was. The guy had been gunning for him ever since Leo had brought Marcus in to fill a vacant spot left behind by a dispatcher who'd quit after a nervous breakdown.
"What did Titanic have to say?" Leo asked when Marcus veered around the cubicle.
"He doesn't want to go down with the ship."
"He thinks you're the iceberg?"
Marcus gave a single nod.
"I got your back."
Leo had connections at work. He knew the center coordinator, Nate Downey, very well. He was married to Nate's daughter, Valerie.
"I know, Leo."
As he settled into his desk and slipped on the headset, Marcus took a deep breath and released it evenly. The mind tricks between him and Shipley had become too frequent. They wreaked havoc on his brain and drained him.
Because Shipley never lets me forget.
The clock on the computer read: 12:20. It was going to be a very long day.
In the sleepy town of Edson, it was rare to see much excitement. The center catered to outside towns as well. Some days the phones only rang a half-dozen times. Those were the good days.
He flipped through the folders on his desk and found the protocol chart. Never hurt to do a quick refresher before his shift. It kept his mind fresh and focused.
But his thoughts meandered to the misfiled report.
Was he slipping? Was he putting people's lives in danger? That was something he'd promised himself, and Leo, he'd never do again.
Remember Jane and Ryan.
How could he ever forget them? They'd been his life.
The phone rang and he jumped.
"911. Do you need Fire, Police or Ambulance?"
Marcus spent the next ten minutes explaining to eighty-nine-year-old Mrs. Mortimer, a frequent caller, that no one was available to rescue her cat from the neighbor's tree.
Then he waited for a real emergency.
Chapter Two
Edmonton, AB – Thursday, June 13, 2013 – 4:37 PM
Rebecca Kingston folded her arms across her down-filled jacket and tried not to shiver. Though May had ended with a heat wave, the temperatures had dropped the first week of June. It had rained for the first five days, and an arctic chill had swept through the city. The weatherman blamed the erratic change in weather on global warming and a cold front sweeping down from Alaska, while locals held one source responsible. Their lifelong rival—Calgary.
"Can we get an ice cream, Mommy?" four-year-old Ella said with a faint lips, the result of her recent contribution to the tooth fairy's necklace collection.
Rebecca laughed. "It feels like winter again and you want ice cream?"
"Yes, please."
"I guess we have time."
They hurried across the street to the corner store.
"Strawberry this time," Ella said, her blue eyes pleading.
Rebecca sighed. "Eat it slowly. Did you remember Puff?"
Her daughter nodded. "In my pocket."
"Good girl." Rebecca glanced at her watch. "It's almost five. Let's go."
Her cell phone rang. It was Carter Billingsley, her lawyer.
"Mr. Billingsley," she said. "I'm glad you got my message."
"So you've decided to get away," he said. "That's a very good idea."
"I need a break." She glanced at Ella. "Things are going to get ugly, aren't they?"
"Unfortunately, yes. Divorce is never pretty. But you'll get through it."
"Thanks, Mr. Billingsley."
"Take care, Rebecca."
Carter had once been her grandfather's lawyer and Grandpa Bob had highly recommended him—if Rebecca ever needed someone to handle her divorce. In his late sixties, Carter filled that father-figure left void after her father's passing.
Her thoughts raced to her twelve-year-old son. Colton's team was up against one of the toughest junior high hockey teams from Regina. With Colton as the Edmonton team's goalie, most of the pressure was on him. He was a brave boy.
She bit her bottom lip, wishing she were as brave.
You're a coward, Becc
a.
"You're too codependent," her mother always said.
Rebecca figured that wasn't actually her fault. She'd been fortunate to have strong male role models in her life. Men who ran companies with iron fists and made decisions after careful consideration. Or at least worked hard to provide for their families. Men like Grandpa Bob and her father. Men who could be trusted to make the right decisions.
Not like Wesley.
Even her grandfather hadn't liked him. When Grandpa Bob passed away two years ago, he'd sent a clear message to everyone that Wesley couldn't be trusted. Grandpa Bob had lived a miser's lifestyle. No one knew how much money he'd saved for that "rainy day"—until he was gone and Colton and Ella became beneficiaries of over eight hundred thousand dollars from the sale of Grandpa Bob's house and business.
Grandpa Bob, in his infinite wisdom, had added two major conditions to the inheritance. Money could only be withdrawn from the account if it was spent on Ella or Colton. And Rebecca was the sole person with signing power.
Wesley moped around the house for days when he heard the conditions. Any time she bought the kids new clothes, he'd sneer at her and say, "Hope you used your grandfather's money for those."
Once when he'd gambled most of his paycheck, he begged her for a "loan," and when she'd voiced that she didn't have the money, he slapped her. "Lying bitch! You've got almost a million dollars at your fingertips. All I'm asking for is thirty-five hundred. I'll pay it back."
She'd refused and paid the price, physically.
Rebecca wanted him out of her life. Once and for all. But for the sake of the children, she had to find a way to forgive Wesley and deal with the fact that he was her children's father. He'd always be in their lives.
Every time she looked at Colton, she was reminded of Wesley. Unlike Ella's blonde hair and blue eyes that closely resembled her own, both father and son had dark brown hair, hazel eyes, a light spray of freckles across their noses and matching chin dimples.
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