Driven By Love (20 page)

“Are you going to be okay walking?” Anne whispered as she squeezed Dean’s hand.

“I could walk to California if I had to,” he told her with a smile as he gritted his teeth when he stood up. They had both watched as Keith disappeared into the darkness, working his way to cover Tiny. Dean listened closely on the radio for Keith’s okay to make the run for it. Like Tiny, he too had equipment issues. His radio was loud with static.

Anne's nerves were frayed as she tried to keep an eye out for danger while she made sure Dean didn't bleed to death. It felt like something terrible might happen at any second. Her heart raced, and she felt weak as she began to shake again mildly. Dean reached out and touched her cheek lightly as he moved her head to face him as he gently kissed her. For a moment her heart rate slowed a bit and her body calmed as she stopped shaking.

“Anne, it's okay. You're doing great. We're going to be fine,” he assured her.

Anne lost the only source of energy she had once the boat caught fire. Whatever she was able to soak in would have to be enough to get to the boat. She worried it might not be. Still, Dean’s presence seemed to give her a different kind of strength. As long as she was with him she knew they’d be okay. Anne looked back at Dean and wondered why he would risk everything like this for her. She couldn’t understand why anyone would care so much for her but she knew he did.

Dean caught Anne's attention when he motioned towards a man hauling a boat out of a shed. It was a surreal sight watching a one hundred and sixty-pound man pick up a two-thousand pound boat.

So there are others like us.

As he dropped it into the water, Dean tried his radio again.

“Damn, no radio. Anne, Tiny looks ready. I can’t confirm anything on the radio. I think we should run for it.” She nodded and followed close behind. With his good hand occupied with keeping steady pressure on his wound, he needed her hold on to his gun.

They jumped in the boat with Tiny and soon saw another man come out from the rocks. He raised his hand up, down, and then to the left.

“It’s Keith,” Dean whispered as Tiny got in the boat and started the motor. The second he jumped in, Tiny gunned it as they sped for shore. Occasional small arms fire hounded them as they fled. The ever increasing darkness made it difficult for the guards to target them.

Anne felt a small but steady flow of energy from the small boat’s outboard motor. The relief came not a moment too soon for her. Keith kept a watchful eye on the shore and on the now-dwindling flames from Foss’s boat. Tiny focused on navigating the boat to the mainland.

Dean held Anne and whispered into her ear, “We’re all right, Anne. You’re free and we’ll be back on dry land in fifteen minutes.” She steadied herself against the waves and movement of the speeding boat all the while carefully holding a dressing to Dean’s wound. They spent most of the trip silently looking into each other’s eyes. Both were so relieved just to know the other was alive.

*

The shore was pitch black when they landed. Tiny guided the boat to the dock and Keith helped him secure the rope.

Even with his bullet wound, Dean never even flinched as the waves beat the small boat towards the shore. Keith helped him out of the boat and Anne was instantly next to him as they walked towards the parking lot.

Tiny insisted on going with them to help show them the way to the hospital. As they neared the lot, red and yellow lights bounced off the night sky.

“Wonder what that’s about,” Keith muttered as they realized there was an ambulance and tow truck in the lot.

“Probably some drunk kids causing some trouble. Happens a lot this time of year especially with those who come in from out of town,” Tiny chimed in as they reached the lot. “I wouldn’t worry about it. Let’s just focus on getting Romeo to the hospital. My truck’s not too far away.”

“No offense, Tiny, but we’ll just follow you,” Keith said with a smirk. “I drove with you once during a mission and that was enough for me.”

“Hey, we got back in one piece, didn’t we?” He laughed as they walked towards Tiny’s truck.

“Keith, do you remember where we parked?” Dean asked as he scanned the area, not seeing Hawk anywhere.

“We were right by the door to the marina.” Keith looked at the spot but saw the car missing.

“Whose car did you take?” Anne asked as she felt the energy from the vehicles around her. None were familiar to her.

Keith kept glancing around trying to find Hawk. “We took yours, but I don’t see…”

“Oh, shit…” Dean muttered as he saw the tow truck pulling out from the water a dark sports car.

Anne followed his gaze and felt her heart begin to race. Grabbing on to Tiny’s truck, her energy surrounded it as she whispered, “Hawk?”

Suddenly, images came flashing towards her mind. Dean and Keith parking Hawk in the lot. Hawk waiting as darkness fell. A front loader coming into the lot and barreling down on him. Hawk accelerating as much as he could while the giant yellow machine just kept pushing him closer towards the edge of the marina. Hawk pushed back, but the front loader ultimately had more weight and thrust him right off the lot and into the bank of the marina. His lights flashed and horn blew but soon he was encased by the water and no sound emerged from him.

“No,” Anne whispered as she blindly began to walk towards the tow truck.

“Keith, we need to stop her,” Dean told him as trotted and grabbed hold of her arm with his good arm.

Anne didn’t feel Dean or Keith stopping her. Her gaze just stayed fixated on the California plates and the four letters that confirmed the images and ripped her heart out.

HAWK

Tears clouded her vision as she threw what energy she had left towards Hawk and waited for his response. A sputter, a flickering light, a puff of smoke… there was nothing.

The scream that cried out from her soul started every car, siren, and flashing light that was around her. Dropping to her knees, she harnessed the energy from the vehicles.

Dean knew he had to stop her before anyone got hurt. Dropping in front of her, he moved his hand to her neck. “Forgive me, Anne.” He hit a pressure point and in an instant she was slumped over him.

Tiny leaned down and picked Anne up. “What the fuck was that, Dean?”

“Her gift, Tiny.”

“Shit. That’s why that bastard brought her to the island.”

Dean nodded as he stood up. One of the police walked over to them and Tiny intercepted him, realizing it was one of his cousin’s friends and made up a story about them partying too late. Moments later they were on the road, headed to the hospital.

Anne felt the steady hum of the cars in the parking lot coming and going, even before she fully woke up. As she slowly regained consciousness, the sound of the hospital began to draw her attention. She heard the monotonous beeping of someone’s heart monitor, intercom pages for various staff, and general bustling of people around. Suddenly, she remembered Dean and shot awake.

“Hey there, sleeping beauty.” Anne heard a male voice. She couldn't immediately place it, though she was unalarmed as she turned round to meet it.

“Keith! Where's Dean?” Anne looked around her hospital room and saw no sight of him.

“Relax, he's fine. They are just wrapping up the surgery on his shoulder. I spoke with the doctor twenty minutes ago. He's in no danger.”

Anne sighed in relief. Then, she thought about Hawk. She couldn't shake the lifeless feeling she got from him. He was dead, she knew it. He had been there for her through so much of her life. How would she go on without him?

“Hawk,” she murmured.

Keith leaned forward.  “Well, you'll be glad to know the cops caught the lackey that pushed your car into the water. He's singing like a canary to the cops. If that creep Foss somehow survived, he's a fugitive and broke now. They have enough to lock him away for good. All his assets are frozen.”

She looked up in alarm.

“You think he might have survived?”

“Oh no, I am sure he's a goner. I am just saying even if they can't find a body, you still have nothing to worry about. That little imp isn't anything without his wealth and his goons.” He leaned back against his chair. “After the basting we gave them, I doubt anyone would work for him again even if he had his money. Mercenaries are chicken shits. They fight for cash and pussy out the second it gets rough.”

Anne slumped back into her bed and breathed in deeply and sighed. “I don't know how you guys do it. I mean, day after day, risking your life like that. I just keep seeing Dean bleeding. I can't shake it from my mind.” she looked up trying to clear her thoughts.

“That'll go on for a while, Anne. You'll get through it. You guys have each other to lean on. Believe me, he'll need you just as much as you need him.”

“Do you have someone like that? Is that how you deal with this?” Anne asked.

“Her name's Jen. We… live together. It's not what you and Dean have though. I can tell. You guys have something special. Just listen to each other. Talk to each other. You'll be all right.”

“And what if I'm not all right? What if I always feel like this?”

“Well, a fifth of gin usually does the trick for me.”

Just then the doctor stopped in. He chatted with Anne for a few minutes and cleared her for release. He also reported that Dean's surgery was over and completely successful. They could visit him after he finished in recovery.

*

“Thanks again, Keith.” Dean grabbed him in a bear hug, careful not to crush his injured shoulder. Keith stayed a few extra days until Dean was released from the hospital to make sure that Anne still had someone to protect her even though they were sure that Foss was long gone.

“You know that if you ever need anything…”

“Oh, I’ll find you, Miller. You can count on that,” he said with a smile. Glancing over, he nodded towards the garage. “She going to be okay?”

Dean shook his head.

Keith knew that his friend was worried about her and with everything he learned about her over the past few days Keith could see why. Ever since they brought back what was left of Hawk, Anne kept trying to “revive” him, as she put it. He learned from Kenneth that normally those cars who Anne had a more permanent connection with had a brightly colored blue fluid instead of the golden brown color of regular oil. They never really had to change the oil or any other fluid in those cars. Now, when they pulled out the dip stick the fluid was a dark blue color. Adding some of the fluid from the van named Logan also didn’t help at all.

“I don’t know. He was more than just a car to her, he was probably her best friend. Kind of strange to me, but to her with her gift it makes sense.”

“You really can pick ‘em, Miller.”

“Hey, Keith!” The door to the house opened and Jeri came running out with a large bag.

“You can pick a great one too, Brinks,” Dean told him as he slapped him on the back and headed off to the garage.

Keith knew he referred to Jeri, and he silently cursed his friend. He didn’t know why he had these feelings for Dean’s little sister, but he knew that he couldn’t act on them.

“I made you a little something for the road,” Jeri said as she handed him the bag.

“What's all this?” Keith asked as he looked through the bag of goodies.

“It's just a few little snacks for the road. I wanted to give you a little thank you for helping my brother.”

“A thank you? This looks more like full scale bribery to me. Pie, fresh peaches, blueberries. Keep this up and you'll never be rid of me.” He smiled in appreciation.

“Well, I could think of worse problems. I could always put you to work out in the fields weeding.” She winked at him.

Keith caught himself entertaining the thought for a minute as he leaned over and hugged her.

“Call me if you ever need anything.” He let go before the sweet scent of her intoxicated him.

“I will. Say hi to Jen for me.” When they released each other, he walked towards his car and reached into the bag to pull out a peach. As he started the engine, he took a bite out of it and looked at Jeri as she walked back to the house.
This peach is sweet but not a sweet as her.
He shifted the car to reverse.

The smile on his face faded as he thought about the events of the last day. The gun fight and seeing Dean hurt had brought back a lot of ugly memories from his time in the service. His missing foot began to throb again with ghost pain as he pulled onto the on ramp of the expressway. Now that the fight for Dean and Anne was over, he wondered what was waiting for him at home. Was Jen back from her business trip yet or was she still on the road? He texted her a few times to let her know where he was to which there was no reply. That meant she either didn’t get them because she was out of the country or she was pissed and didn’t care to reply. His mood slowly darkened with each mile that took him closer to home.

The normally warm metal panel now felt cold and hard. Anne leaned her head against Hawk’s body and wondered what else she could do. Logan was parked next him and stood silently, not knowing how to comfort her. She felt his confusion and anger over what happened to Hawk and she had to calm him down a number of times so he wouldn’t drive off and find the machine responsible and pound it to a metal pulp.

So many got hurt because of Foss, and Anne couldn’t help wonder how she could have stopped it from happening.

“How you holding up?” a voice from the doorway called out to her.

She sighed and pressed her palm against the metal by her head as Dean walked in and sat down beside her.

“I still can’t believe everything that’s happened. I would have never thought that Marshall would be the one who wanted to kidnap me, or that he even knew about my powers…” Worry choked her. “I was always so careful to not expose my secret. I didn’t even tell my ex-husband so how did he find out? And what is the Orion project he kept talking about?”

Reaching over, he took her hand away from the metal and embraced it in both of his.

“Your brother has been doing some digging and found a few things. Seems like back during World War II, there was an experimental serum that was given to a few men in order to give them strength. It looks like it worked and they all gained strength plus some other abilities. They went to fight the war, but all of them mysteriously disappeared except for one who died during a battle.”

Anne’s eyes widened. “Does it say how they developed it or what happened to the formula?”

“That’s what he’s trying to figure out now. There isn’t much information, so it might be that those files were lost or they have not been digitized.”

“We must be the descendants of these men, but if they disappeared…”

“They could have wanted to disappear and that would have been easy to do in that era.”

“What could have happened that made them want to disappear?”

“Hopefully, we will find out.”

Anne’s heart sagged again at the thought of leaving Dean. Her next movie was due to start filming in a month and for the first time in years she really didn't want to be in the spotlight again. All she could think about was Dean and how much she just wanted to stay with him on his boat and just sail away.

“Dean, I’ve been thinking about quitting acting.”

His head shot in her direction. “But you love it.”

“I love you more.”

“Anne...” His strong fingers lifted her chin and those hazel green eyes captivated her again.

“Don't give up what you love to do because of me.” His lips leaned closer towards her. “I'll follow you, Anne. You are a huge part of my life now. Where else would I go?”

“What about your sister? She needs your help on the farm. ”

Dean shrugged. “I have a strong feeling that she won’t be alone for very long. There’s a certain sergeant who has her heart and he doesn’t know it yet. Besides...I love you too, Anne. I want to be your bodyguard forever.”

Tears blinded her vision as his lips captured hers in a deep and sensuous kiss that held hope and promise for the future.