Cascade (29 page)

Aden nodded.

Aden and Alex leaned back as the paramedics
moved over Sandy.

“
Do you know what this is?” the
paramedic pointed to Sandy’s bandaged head.

“
She was hit with a backpack
yesterday,” Aden said. “She has some stitches. But, sir, she’s
pregnant. You’ll…”

Sandy whimpered and opened her eyes. Aden
kneeled over her so his face was next to hers. The paramedic took
the bandage off Sandy’s head to look at the wound.

“
Aden,” she whispered. “I don’t
feel very good.”

“
I bet,” he said.

Aden and Alex’s head’s jerked over to Sandy’s
father. Leaning against the wall for support, the man cackled with
laughter. He began chanting that he would be free while everyone
else in jail. He would have the boyfriend’s daughter whenever he
wanted. His glee took everyone’s attention.

“Hey!” the paramedic yelled as Sandy rose to
her feet. Wobbly at first, she gained her footing. In a step she
was in front of her father.

“
SHUT UP!”

In one swift practiced move, she jerked her
knee into her father’s groin. Her father fell over in pain and
Sandy collapsed to the ground.

“
Sandy!” Aden and the paramedic
ran to Sandy’s side.

“
Sir, we can’t tell what’s going
on with her until we get the body armor off,” the paramedic said.
“We’ve got to get her to the hospital.”

Uniformed police officers lifted Sandy onto
the stretcher. Aden moved to follow the stretcher but Alex put a
hand on his chest.

“
You’re in the custody of the
Denver Police now,” Alex said. “I’ll go.”

Aden nodded. Alex and Captain Ramirez followed
the stretcher out of the building.

“
We think they’ll just book you
and let you go but we don’t have control over that process,” Max
said.

“
Is it true what he said?” Aden
asked.

“
He seemed delusional to me,” Max
said.

“
Did he make a deal with the
Feds?”

They fell silent as they watched Sandy’s
father escorted by Denver Police from the building.

“
He made a deal with the Feds,”
Seth said. “But his crimes happened in the City and County of
Denver. The DA isn’t as lenient as the Feds.”

“
Nor is the Interpol,” Max said.
“But the Feds did say they wouldn’t prosecute him on the sale of
his videos if he released the list of buyers and testified on the
supply chain. Just a second.”

Max turned away to speak with the Denver
Police.

“
So he’s going to be free?” Aden
asked.

“
He’ll die in prison,” Seth
reappeared next to Aden. “If not sooner.”

“
I didn’t kill him,” Aden said
under his breath. “I didn’t kill the baker’s father.”

“
And that’s a good thing.” Seth
patted his back.

“
You all right?” Aden
asked.

“
They took my gun,” Seth said.
“Standard procedure. IAD will do an investigation. Thank God, and
Max, I didn’t kill the baker’s father, either.”

Aden smiled.

“
I’ll be on desk duty for a while
which is good. Sandy’s going to need me. I’ll walk out with
you.”

“
We’re going to cuff you,” Seth
said. “There’s a crowd of your employees here. We need you under
control. Can you do that?”

“
Employees?”

“
Command says that every Lipson
employee is here,” Seth shrugged. “You’re a popular
guy.”

Max returned from speaking with the
police.

“
You’ll call Jill for Sandy? Take
care of my kids?” Aden asked Max.

“
Jill’s on her way,” Max
said.

Aden nodded.

A police officer cuffed Aden’s hands behind
his back. With a uniformed Denver Police officer at each side, Seth
put his hand on Aden’s arm. They walked out of the
house.

A cheer rose from the people surrounding the
police barricade. The Lipson employees cheered and hooted for Aden.
Aden nodded to the crowd. Lipson employees jumped the barrier.
Within moments, Aden, the police officers and Seth were surrounded
by hundreds of construction workers. The police pushed at the
Lipson employees but they stood firm.

“
You arrest him, you have to
arrest all of us,” Bambi said.

“
Wait!” Aden yelled. “Everyone
stop!

The Lipson employees turned to look at
Aden.

“
I appreciate what you’re doing,”
Aden said. “It means a lot to me that you’re here. But I need to do
this myself. I made a choice. I broke the law. I can deal with the
consequences.”

“
But Aden, we love those kids
too,” Bambi said.

“
We
have
kids, Aden,” Jerry said. “What you
did you did for all us parents!”

“
Every kid is our kid!” A voice
yelled the Marlowe School’s slogan from the back of the
crowd.

“
Jerry. Bambi,” Aden said. “I need
you be leaders here. This is not the time for misguided
heroics.”

Bambi sniffed back a tear then nodded. Jerry’s
face darkened to a scowl. Bambi kissed Aden’s cheek. Turning away
from him, she moved into the crowd.

“
Let’s get down to police
headquarters!” Bambi yelled.

“
Round it up!” Jerry
yelled.

Aden, Seth and their police guard watched the
Lipson employees move away.

“
That was well done,” Seth
said.

“
Thank you, sir,” Aden said. “Did
you hear we’re going to have a baby?”

“
I thought you were in a cooling
off phase,” Seth laughed.

Aden laughed. The policemen nudged Aden
forward and they began walking across the grass. The police
officers helped Aden and Seth into the back of the car.

“
I just hope she’s all right,”
Aden said.

Seth nodded.

~~~~~~~

A half hour later

Wednesday evening — 6:10
P.M.

Running full speed, Jacob burst into the Rose
Hospital waiting room. He skid to a stop in front of a Lipson site
manager. A team of Lipson people had already gathered to support
Sandy.

“
Where’s Jill?” Jacob’s question
echoed his panic.

“
Jill?” the man
repeated.

“
My wife. Where’s my
wife?”

“
She’s back there…” a woman
standing next to the site manager pointed toward
emergency.

Jacob was running again. Ever since Delphie
told him Jill was in the hospital, he couldn’t shake his terror.
His ears heard only the timpani of his pounding heart. His mind
filled with the horror of having to live without his precious Jill.
He’d always known there would be a violent confrontation between
Aden and the baker’s father. Was Jill wounded? Injured?
Dead?

Trailing a yelling nurse, he jogged from green
curtained area to green curtained area until he reached the back of
emergency. He stopped short.

“
Sir!” the nurse yelled. “You
can’t be back here.”

“
I have to find my
Jill!”

“
Jacob?” Jill poked her head out
of a curtained area near the opposite corner.

She was in his arms. He held her until his
heart stopped pounding, his breath began to even and the pressure
from his unshed tears eased.

“
What is it?” Jill whispered in
his ear.

“
I can’t live without you,” he
said.

She held him tight.

~~~~~~~~

Wednesday evening — 6:10
P.M.

“
Who are all these people?” Aden
asked.

Stopped at the corner of Broadway and
Thirteenth, they could see a large crowd surrounding the downtown
Denver Police Station. The police cruiser started across the
intersection.

“
Is there an event tonight?” Seth
asked the officer in the driver’s seat.

“
No sir,” the officer said.
“They’re here for Norsen.”

“
Those aren’t Lipson people,” Aden
said. “We wear Lipson shirts, hats...”

“
They announced on the radio that
the guy was a pedophile and pornographer. Some reporter got a Fed
to say they’ve been watching him for six months. People are
pissed,” the officer said. The officer turned the car into the
station. His voice dripping with sarcasm, he added, “You’re a hero,
Norsen.”

Aden looked up to see the Assistant Principal
from Nash’s Middle School being escorted into the building. Another
cruiser pulled up. The officers pulled out the father of the boy
who gave Nash so much trouble. By the time the officer came around
to get Aden out, another five police cruisers pulled up with men in
the back.

“
Who are these people?” Aden asked
Seth.

“
People who purchased from Sandy’s
father,” Seth said. “Having child pornography on your computer is a
crime.”

“
But that was Nash’s Assistant
Principal!”

“
Yep,” Seth said.

Two police officers came to get Aden. The
crowd went wild when Aden was pulled from the police cruiser. Aden
nodded to the crowd then let himself be led into the station. The
waiting area was jammed with Lipson employees who cheered when they
saw Aden. While the officers pushed Aden through the crowd, people
touched his shoulder in support. Once in the back, the officer took
Aden past the people arrested for child pornography.

“
We’re kind of full up,” the
officer said. “We’re going to leave you with O’Malley. He’ll get
you through booking. The Chief will decide what to do with you.
Your lawyer is already waiting for you.”

“
My lawyer?”

“
Samantha Hargreaves,” the officer
said.

Policemen looked up as Aden passed. They
nodded or smiled.

“
In there,” the officer
said.

He held the door open to a small closet-like
office. Samantha was sitting on a desk waiting for them.

“
Can I…?”

Aden raised his handcuffed hand but the
officer was gone.

“
I’ll get them.” Seth unlocked
Aden’s hands. “What do you know about Sandy?”

“
Nothing,” Samantha said. “Jill
said they’re running tests and she’s still out. She’s pretty
bruised up.”

“
But she was wearing body armor!”
Aden said. “Doesn’t that mean she’s Ok?”

“
Not always,” Samantha said. “Her
body still gets the full impact of the bullets. That’s a lot of
stress. Given that she has a head wound, is pregnant and has been
under so much pressure? There’s no way to know.”

“
What happens now?” Aden
asked.

“
We wait,” Samantha said. “They
want to move the other guys through booking before they book you.
They won’t put you together so we think they’ll book and release
you. That was one of the deals on the table. My guess is, with the
crowd outside, the DA will be here soon.”

Aden nodded.

~~~~~~~~

Wednesday night — 7:36
P.M.

“
I understand Sandra is
here.”

Sandy’s mother approached Jill while she and
Jacob waited outside Sandy’s curtained area. Knowing how happy
Sandy would be to see her mother, Jill smiled. The woman glared at
Jill.

“
Thanks for coming. I know…” Jill
started.

“
Is she here or not?”

“
We can only have two people
here,” Jacob said. “I’ll go to the waiting room.”

Jacob squeezed Jill’s hand then kissed her
cheek. Jill smiled at him then turned to the angry woman in front
of her.

“
She just woke up,” Jill said.
“The doctor is talking to her now. We have to wait until they tell
us we can go back.”

Sandy’s mother flared her nostrils then nodded
her head.

“
Angry?” Jill asked.

“
I suppose you knew about this the
whole time,” Sandy’s mother said.

Jill’s eyes were luminous. She nodded. Sandy’s
mother ground her teeth. Her rage was apparent.

“
You can go in now,” the nurse
said. “She’s very fragile. We’ll give you a chance to visit before
we take her for tests.”

Jill held the curtain for Sandy’s
mother.

“
Mom!” Sandy exclaimed.

“
Do not speak to me,” Sandy’s
mother said. “I knew. I just knew in my bones that he left me for
another woman. It never occurred to me that the other woman was my
own daughter.”

Too horrified to speak, Jill went to Sandy’s
bed. She took Sandy’s hand in silent support.

“
I was two years old!”

“
And the sex tapes? You made those
tapes behind my back so everyone would know he wanted YOU and not
me! You’ve humiliated me!”