by Dale Mayer
As soon as she cleared the trees, she kept going. The last thing she wanted was for anybody coming behind her to realize she had escaped. She’d always been a good runner, although she was out of practice, but it didn’t take long to put several blocks between her and her kidnappers. She glanced back at the street sign and saw she was at the corner of Hemlock and Birch.
She texted that to Lucas and kept running. She never heard anybody behind her. There was a park up ahead. She slipped behind a bush and sat down where she could keep an eye on anybody coming. As soon as she could speak, she called Lucas and said, “I made it to a park just a few blocks away from that house.”
“We’re on the way,” he said.
She almost cried with joy. “Hurry, hurry,” she said. “I’m so scared they’ll find me.”
“We’re almost there,” he said, only to add in a sharp voice, “Did he hurt you?”
“Knocked me out,” she said. “Enough that I didn’t know where I’d gone—” Hearing an odd sound beside her, she stopped talking and crouched down low. She spotted two men walking toward her.
She whispered into the phone. “Two men walking my way.”
“You stay tight,” he said. “Hunker down low. Don’t make a sound. We’re almost there.”
She gave a silent but broken laugh. “I don’t know if these are the same men or not, but they’re walking into the park in business suits.”
“Business suits don’t sound right,” he said.
“It was a pretty fancy house,” she said. “I don’t know what’s going on. But I don’t want anybody else getting their hands on me.”
“Did you leave a blood trail?” he asked urgently.
She swore and said, “I don’t know. I didn’t even think of it.”
“Check. Are you bleeding?”
“My shoulder,” she said. “Maybe my face. It’s pretty swollen. Blood’s coming off my fingers, but I don’t think there’s enough blood for a trail.”
“Unless they’ve got a dog with them. Do they?”
“I can’t see through the bush, and I don’t want to move.”
“We’re coming,” he said.
She went silent, ended the call and sent him a text. I’m still here. They’re close, too close for comfort.
She hunkered down as low as she could go and waited. It was all too reminiscent of the last time she had done this. And she’d been caught, beaten, and woke up in the back of a vehicle parked in some strange house. This time she’d do a lot to avoid that again. From where she hid, she could see one of the men, standing with his hands on his hips as he surveyed the area.
“I doubt she went this far,” the second man said.
“Maybe not, but we can’t take the chance,” the first man said.
Just then a vehicle drove into the parking lot, and she watched as a family got out, kids shrieking, and a family dog bailed from the back, barking incessantly. The two men looked at each other, nodded and moved away. She sagged back in relief and closed her eyes.
She sent Lucas a text. They moved to end of park. They were looking for me. Watch for two men in suits.
He texted back. We see them. Watch out. We’re coming.
From where she was, she could see the men walking, and then a vehicle pulled up beside them, and somebody grabbed one and then the other, and both men were bent over the hood of the vehicle.
She wanted to straighten up, but she didn’t know which side had just grabbed the men because it was yet another black SUV. Then Lucas hurried toward her, pressing something thick against his shoulder, and it was soaked in blood. She bolted out of the brush and raced to him. He wrapped his arms around her as she slammed into him, a groan of pain coming from his chest.
“Oh, I’m sorry. I’m sorry,” she cried out, her hand going to the bloody bandage. “They hurt you!”
“Yes, but they also hurt you,” he said gently and held her close, kissing her forehead. “It’s over.”
“Is it?” she asked. Just then a dog jumped up on her, and she cried out as she looked down to see Top Hat on his back legs. She laughed and gave him a great big hug, kissing him. “Top Hat was great. He bit the guy who kidnapped me. I think that’s why the guy hit me. He was so angry. He kept trying to hit Top Hat, but he kept dancing away. Then Top Hat found me again. So we owe Top Hat a lot.”
Lucas squatted in front of the dog and gave Top Hat a good scrub on the face and neck. Top Hat licked his face.
“What will we do with him?” she asked.
“I suggest we keep him,” he said with a chuckle. “You might not want a family, but maybe, if we start with a canine family, you’ll be a little more amiable to having kids.”
She laughed. “I’ll never have a problem having a canine family,” she said.
“Tanya?” he asked.
Just the way he said her name had her studying him, wondering what serious business he was about to bring up. What could be more serious than the family angle that had broken them up to begin with? But she had to know. She wouldn’t give up Lucas so easily this time. She would fight for him, with him, to keep him. “What is it, Lucas?”
“Would you want to take in your brothers?”
She had thought about it, but mostly she had been working through her own problems with her mother.
“I mean, after your mother passes?”
She gave a one-arm shrug. “You saw them in there. They didn’t even respond to me as I walked out, too busy with their computer game.”
Lucas shook her gently by her shoulders, bent down to get to her eye level. “Remember what I said earlier? These are fourteen-year-old twin boys, interested in sports, girls and video games. And they are like men everywhere, with a single-minded laser focus on one thing at a time.” He laughed as Tanya frowned. “You women multitask. We men deal with one thing at a time. Like me with my hospital stay.”
“Okay?” But her confusion was evident in that one word.
“Your brothers were focused on their computer game. Don’t take it as anything more than that.”
“But taking on even one teenage boy is such a daunting task.” She faced Lucas fully now. “I raised mostly girls. Boys are different. Just like you said.”
“Yeah, but you’d have help this time.”
She almost danced a jig, but she needed clarity first. “You want to help me raise Tom and Tennessee? Really?”
Lucas pointed at Top Hat. “I’m a sucker for lost causes.”
She hesitated; it was all happening so fast. So many emotions tumbled through her.
“You don’t have to decide now. You have months for that. Then, when the time comes, you can have a face-to-face discussion with your brothers. You can all discuss it and decide. And I bet you’ll have their full attention then. Okay?”
She smiled, and it hurt, her hand coming automatically to her face. “Do you think we can go home now?”
He straightened again, reached out a hand and grabbed hers. “We have to go to the hospital. I need to get my shoulder looked at, and you need to get your eye looked at.”
She stared at him in surprise. “I can see just fine.”
“Maybe,” he said. “But your face is really puffy.”
And that was what they did.
By the time she was treated and released from the hospital, they were back to looking for each other again. The cops had been there multiple times, talked to her and talked to him, and the hospital had separated them, as they each needed different treatments. When Lucas finally walked out of the emergency area, she was at the front desk, filling out forms.
“Are you ready to go?” he asked, his voice slurred and his energy fading. He would collapse soon. “I need to go to bed. I’ve been given a shot that’s likely to knock me flat on my ass for the next twelve hours.”
She looked at him. “We don’t have wheels, but I think one of the police officers can give us a ride home.”
“Good,” he said. “Where is Top Hat?”
“One of the
cops was nice enough to watch over him, to let him get a bathroom break and to get him some water. He said he’d wait for us outside.”
They walked out of the hospital to see one of the cop cars pulling up in front. Detective Madison hopped out and introduced himself. He shook their hands and said, “You two look like you’ve seen better days.”
“Right?” she said. “Please tell me that you got everyone?”
He nodded. “The two businessman who came after you? They were the ones at the top of the dogfighting rings. They don’t generally get their hands dirty, but you disappeared from their house.”
“And that SUV?”
“We’re running forensics on it right now, but I’m pretty sure it’s the one that ran down your friend Alice.”
Tanya cried out, her hand going to her mouth as she stared at him.
“Yes, they are also associated with your former boss too. He’s been picked up for questioning, along with the rest of the staff. We will have a talk with them tomorrow.”
She nodded ever-so-slowly. “And Claire?”
His face was grim as he tilted his head and firmed his mouth. “As far as we can tell, yes, as a dispatcher, she overheard something about the dogfighting ring, … but we have some pieces to put together still.”
She nodded. “Any chance somebody can give us a ride to my place? Lucas will drop here very quickly.”
The detective nodded. “Come on. I’ll take you.”
Top Hat, who’d been lying close by, raced over. She watched as Lucas bent down to give the dog lots of love. “Do you mind if he comes with us? He saved my life. He’s coming to my place.”
“Sure. Why not?” the detective said. “Bullet wounds aren’t to be trifled with.”
The three of them piled into the back seat, and she watched worriedly as Lucas’s head rolled to the side. “You hang on, Lucas. We’re almost home.”
“Maybe he should have stayed in the hospital,” the detective said.
“No,” Lucas said faintly. “Me and hospitals don’t do well.”
“It doesn’t matter,” the detective said. “Sometimes you need to be there.”
“All I need now is sleep.”
“Well, that’s what we’ll do,” Tanya said. “Let’s get you home.”
When they got to her place, she opened the car door, looked at the detective and said, “I might need a hand getting him up to my apartment.”
He nodded and helped Lucas out of the vehicle, where he stood wavering on his feet, but he looked determinedly at the door and took several strong strides. The detective looped an arm around his ribs, threw his arm over his shoulder and said, “Come on. Let’s go.”
She led Top Hat to her place, and they slowly climbed the stairs, not for the first time. She was wishing again they had an elevator here. Finally upstairs, she unlocked the door and motioned for the detective to help Lucas in. “Take him straight through to the bedroom, if you wouldn’t mind.”
With Top Hat inside, and the door closed, she turned around to see the detective leaving her bedroom. “Is he out?”
He nodded. “He’ll be out for a while.”
She smiled at him. “And that’s fine. We’re home, and we’re safe, and hopefully this is all over with.”
“It’s over on your end,” he said. “Definitely we have lots of questions, and we’ll have to get several statements from you as we tie things up.”
“You got everybody involved in the dogfighting?”
“Seems so,” he said. “If not, we’ve still got a wider net we’re running. It’s a big operation, and we’ve taken down over thirty-five participants. We’ve also got the hit-and-run driver. I don’t know if there will be any charges for what happened to you at your job. If possible, we’ll add it to all the others, but you know it’s only the big charges that’ll stick.”
“Get everybody on the murder charge,” she said. “Unfortunately abuse of animals and criminal betting rings like that won’t have anywhere near as much emphasis as the murder, so nail as many as you can for that. My job loss isn’t an issue. I’ve gotten more out of this than I ever expected.”
“We’ll see.” He smiled, shook her hand and said, “I’ll contact you tomorrow. Right now you need sleep too.”
She checked her watch and realized it was almost ten p.m. She groaned. “I am so ready to go to bed.”
She thanked him, then locked the door behind him and gave Top Hat some water. She didn’t know what to do about dog food but found some ham and cheese, so she chopped that up and gave it to him. He ate that in two gulps, then still stared at her. So she made him some peanut butter on bread, and he devoured that. “I’m sorry, buddy. Tomorrow we’ll find you some more food.”
He didn’t seem to be too bothered once the food was gone, and he headed into the bedroom, looking for Lucas. She was in the same state. She pulled the blanket off the end of the bed and laid it on the floor for Top Hat, who stretched out.
It was all she could do to brush her teeth and to strip down before she fell over. She wanted to remove some of Lucas’s clothing, but he was a dead weight. She managed to get his shoes and jeans off, but that was it. She rolled over with another blanket and crashed.
She woke up several times in the night as Lucas rolled, shifted and moaned.
She shook him gently and whispered, “Take more painkillers.” She gave him two of the pills he’d been given from the hospital. He popped them in his mouth and drank some water. With her help, they stripped off the bloody T-shirt he still wore. She pulled the blankets back up and covered him. She snuggled against him, and they slept again.
Lucas woke up, feeling not so bad this time, and rolled over to see Tanya curled up beside him. He smiled and tucked her in close.
“You shouldn’t be awake,” she said.
“I’m feeling pretty good,” he said.
“In that case, Top Hat probably has to go outside.”
He swore. But, as he shifted to look down at Top Hat, the dog sat, staring at him over the end of the bed, hope in his eyes. “Yeah, that’s exactly what he needs,” he said. “I’ll be back.” He slipped out of bed and pulled on his jeans and took Top Hat outside.
He walked him to the area at the back of the apartment building and let him do his business. After that, he led him slowly back inside and up the stairs. He searched the apartment for food and found little. He made some toast and eggs and fed it to Top Hat. He also gave him some ham and cheese. Top Hat seemed to inhale whatever was presented to him. “It’s dog food after this, buddy,” he said.
Top Hat gave a bark. Lucas put on coffee, and, when he had a second load of scrambled eggs and toast ready, he piled it on a large platter and awkwardly brought it into the bedroom. His shoulder was holding, especially if he didn’t use that arm. Tanya was just waking up again.
She shifted on the bed, sitting up, tucking the sheet around her chest. Yawning, she said, “Coffee and breakfast in bed? Who’d have thought?”
“Yesterday I wouldn’t have,” he said. “But I’m pleased to be in this position right now. I’m sore. I’m stiff, and I’m feeling not as good as I would like to, but, hey, we’re alive. We have Top Hat with us, and we slept in a real bed so …”
She chuckled and shifted again as he placed the platter of food down on the center of the bed. Top Hat jumped up and lay down at the end.
Lucas groaned. “We’ll have to work on your manners, buddy.”
But he didn’t beg, he just lay here and watched as they had their breakfast.
“We have to get dog food,” she said. “The only thing I gave him last night was ham and cheese—oh, and some bread and peanut butter.”
“Well, he got eggs, toast, ham and cheese this morning,” Lucas said, chuckling. Just then he had the crust of his buttery toast in his hand, and it was the last piece. He reached across, and Top Hat inhaled it. “This is a really bad habit, isn’t it?”
“Really bad habit,” Tanya said, laughing. “It’s hard to blame us whe
n we don’t have anything else to feed him though.”
As soon as the food was gone, Lucas got up, gave the sheet a bit of a shake and lay down. He pulled her into his arms. “I’m so glad you survived,” he said. “I’ll have nightmares for decades from that.”
“So will I,” she announced. She studied the bandage on his shoulder. “I’m so sorry you got hurt.”
“Ditto,” he said. He leaned down and kissed her gently on the temple. “What will we do now?”
“You mean now, right now?” she asked in a teasing voice. “Because I’ve never, ever heard that you were slow to figure out what to do with an almost naked woman in a bed. Or were you talking about our future now?”
“Well, I was talking about our future,” he said chuckling. “But, hey, if we’ll talk about right now, I’m up for that too.”
She slid a hand across his muscular chest and down his abs to his boxers, her hand gliding along the cloth. “You are definitely up for that,” she said, laughing. “Never knew you when you weren’t.”
“That’s because there’s absolutely nothing about you that I don’t adore,” he said. “Even when we were apart these last many months, I always hoped we would get back together. I never went out with anybody else because you held my heart.”
She continued stroking him through his boxers, increasing the pressure to make him squirm. “I wasn’t anywhere near as astute. I figured it was over, and I’d lost the best thing in my life. I knew I still loved you, and, on my better days, I hoped deep down we still had a chance but …”
“You haven’t lost me,” he whispered. “I’m not going anywhere.” He shifted gently so his shoulder didn’t feel the same pain and pressure and rolled on top of her. “Unless, of course, you want more time to yourself to think,” he asked, pulling up on his good elbow.
She shook her head. “No, I’ve been a fool, and I came close to losing the only thing that really mattered.”
