Authors: Micki Fredricks
He stood up, keeping the gun to my head with one hand, and flipping the knife around with the other. “You almost did it – you almost brought me down. Hell, you almost brought the whole house down. But you see this?” He held the blood covered knife up in front of my face, making sure I could see it, and then whispered through clenched teeth. “This is my proof to you that I win.”
He raised the knife up and brought it down with such brutal force, that at first, I didn’t feel it slice into my thigh muscle. But then he twisted it, and the pain shot through my entire body like an electrical jolt. I let out a guttural, gurgling sound and tried to grab his hand that held the knife, to keep it still.
“You may have gotten away if it weren’t for my girl Becky. She’s what I like to call my side job. Through the house I make big money, but with girls like Becky … they keep the money flowing every day. When I put the word out I was looking for you, she said you’d been here, but hadn’t seen you in a while. She promised she would call if she saw you again – and she did.” He grabbed the knife and twisted it as he pulled it out slowly. I groaned loudly, reaching down as I tried to put pressure on the gash, blood oozing out from between my fingers. I rolled to my side. A strangled scream stuck in my throat as I prayed I would pass out.
Looking down at me, he sneered, “You make me sick. As much as I want to draw this out and make you suffer, I honestly can’t stand to look at you anymore.” He shook his head in disgust.
“Really is a shame.” He raised the knife above his head and I closed my eyes, picturing Ryan’s face.
A shot rang out – my eyes sprung open, and for a split second, surprise crossed Cale’s face. Then a circle of blood began to form on his chest, slowly getting bigger. His eyes rolled into the back of his head as he fell to the ground. Becky ran over to me and using both her hands, put pressure on my leg wound. I touched her hand.
She hesitantly looked at me, fear and panic in her eyes, I smiled as much as I could. Tears began to run down her face. “You said I needed more protection.” She let out a small laugh, “You were right.”
“Why did you save me?” I whispered.
She shrugged her shoulders.
I welcomed the darkness as it came. I could hear Becky yelling my name, but she sounded so far away. A part of me wanted to stay with her, but I just couldn’t. Everyone I loved was dead, and I wanted to be too.
CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
I moved my fingers; it was hard to do and I didn’t know why. I moved them again and felt something furry. I heard a faint beeping noise and then the weight of the sheets over me registered. I was in a bed – and by the sounds and smells, it was a hospital bed.
There was movement under my hand and suddenly a wet cold sensation. It was licking, something was licking my hand. I moved my fingers again. There was a rustling noise and the bed dipped next to me. Something nuzzled my chin – Angel!
I tried as hard as I could to open my eyes, blinking against the bright lights. Someone stood next to the bed on the other side of me. I blinked again, trying to figure out who was brushing the hair from my face.
“She’s waking up, go get the nurse.” Ryan! That was Ryan. My heart rate shot up as I tried to speak his name.
“Shhh, it’s me. You’re okay, just relax. I slumped back onto the bed, trying to remember everything that had happened. I opened my eyes just as all of the memories flooded back. I reached for him and he leaned down, embracing me.
“Marcus?” I whispered. He stilled and slowly shook his head. My stomach twisted. “My mom?”
“She was hurt pretty badly, but she’s going to be okay. She’s still in the hospital, but I’ve talked with her almost every day. She can’t wait to see you.” I smiled and nodded my head but couldn’t hold it in any longer. I cried into his shoulder as he held me, telling me everything was okay now.
I pushed him back suddenly and whispered, “Cale, is he … is he dead?”
“Yes, he’s dead.” Relief flooded through me and I ran my hand through Angel’s fur. He lifted his head and I noticed the shaved areas of hair and the staples holding together his surgical sites. I winced as I tenderly ran my fingers over them.
Ryan let out a small laugh, “I brought him here for a short visit because the doctor said it would be good for both of your healing. I got him up on the bed, thinking he would stay for a couple hours, but he made it pretty clear he wasn’t leaving you. He only gets off the bed when he needs to go outside or when the nurses are bathing you. Stupid dog even makes me feed him on the bed.” I laughed, but then looked at him.
“How are you alive?” I asked reaching for his hand.
“After I faxed the information to DCI, I waited for Cale and his guys to come back. I figured it would only be a matter of time before they figured out I was involved. But they never came back, so I left to go and look for him. The guys that were with him, told the DCI agents he had just figured out that I was involved when Becky called him. He never had a chance to come after me.”
I smiled. Ryan leaned down and whispered, “Jen … I am so sorry. I should’ve never …”
I reached up and put a finger across his lips. His eyes were full of tears when they met mine. “You were going to die to keep me safe.” He dropped his head and I held him and we whispered, “I love you,” over and over again to each other.
Becky came running back into the room pulling a pissed off looking nurse right behind her. She came to a stop when she saw my eyes were open. She looked over at Ryan as he wiped tears off of his cheek. I smiled at her and reached a hand out in her direction. She hesitantly took my hand, moving over to the side of my bed.
“Thank you for saving me,” I said.
She cleared her throat, trying to keep her emotions in check. “Do you remember in the apartment, right after I shot Cale … you asked me why?”
I nodded my head at her.
She shifted her weight back and forth between her feet. “Well, no one had ever tried to save me before you did that night. I did it, because I was hoping maybe we could save each other.”
I thought for a second – had I ever saved anyone? I’d spent my whole childhood hiding from the monsters and my teenage years trying to be invisible … But had I ever really stopped and looked at the people around me? There were people that needed to be saved; kids that were living in similar situations to what I had grown up in, women who, like Becky and my mom, were stuck in a life they didn’t know how to get out of.
It was time for me to stop being invisible – stop waiting for someone to come and save me. It was time to be seen and do the saving.
“You want to save each other huh?” I asked as I smiled at her, squeezing her hand. Her eyes got big as I pulled her into an embrace. I held her for a minute and then whispered in her ear, “I think we’re on our way to doing just that.”
Thank you so much for reading, Chasing Jenna. Although this is a fictional story, I want to take this opportunity to bring to light the real life horrors of the sex-trade industry. One of the most common things people have pointed out to me after reading this book is how frightening it is because it could so easily happen.
The reality is, not that it could happen, but that it
is
happening!
Every day, all over the word, men, woman and children are sold into the sex-trade industry for the sick profit of others. Please, if this story moved you at all, think about giving to a charity that helps prevent the sale of human beings and assists with the rehabilitation of those who have been rescued.
Thank you.
About The Author
If they’d known about ADHD when I was little, my Ritalin dosage would've been OFF THE CHARTS!
It goes without saying; I spent A LOT of time by myself after the teacher moved my desk out into the hallway. ** Silver lining** with all that alone time on my hands, I used my imagination to make the world interesting.
When I was little, people said I had an "active imagination". In elementary school, teachers called me a "daydreamer". My high school counselor said I needed to “learn how to focus" and my college professors warned me to "buckle down". Before I knew it, it was time to “grow up”.
So that’s what I did, I grew up, got married and had five kids. I work as a full time nurse, I'm active in my church, part of the most amazing book-club, blog about books with my best friend and cart small humans to school, football, theater, dance ect. Oh yeah ... and write when I can and now people say I’m "talented".
Moral of my story: Hug your kids, embrace their differences…love them for who they are. Someday, the traits you think are struggles now…Might be what makes them the happiest!
Micki lives in small town Iowa with her husband, kids and a fat Cocker Spaniel named Joey. She is the author of Winds of Darkness, released in February of 2012 and Chasing Jenna, released November of 2014.
You can find her at the following social media sites:
Goodreads: http://bit.ly/1pyVv90
Facebook: http://bit.ly/1wkQ03K
Twitter
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http://bit.ly/1ylBBop
Pinterest: http://bit.ly/1zSZdUV
Blog: [email protected]
Acknowledgements:
Thank you to my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, who I give all glory to. I thank him for the blessings in my life.
Thank you to my family for the sacrifices that are made to allow me to follow my dream. Without the support of my husband and children, these characters would never get a voice.
To Author K.J Bell. THANK YOU for making me cry. I needed it so badly. It was in that moment, I had to decide if I really wanted to pursue this dream, or if that is all it would ever be…a dream. Without those tears, I don’t think I would’ve ever realized how much I was willing to work toward my goal.
To the many ladies in my life that I endlessly bother with chapters, paragraphs, sentences or sometimes just ideas… knowing that you are always there to push me along is sometimes the only thing that keeps me going.
To my invaluable BETA readers, who loved this story from the beginning and never let me give up on Jenna, Thank you!
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