Edge of the Heat 2 (Westwood Harbor Corruption) (15 page)

They ran. Emma ignored the pain in her ankle as long as she could, but it did slo
w her down. Vivian pulled her. “Come on Emma, hurry”

“
Go Vivian, go, get help. Flag down a car. Tell them to call the cops, go. I can’t run any faster. You have to go or he’s going to catch both of us.”

“
No, Emma, I -”

Emma interrupted her, terror in her
voice. “Vivian GO, you have to run! You have to tell Craig where we are!” She gave her sister a little push, still running herself.

Emma saw the regret already in Vivian
’s eyes, but she did as Emma wanted. She turned to the road, tucked her head and arms in and ran. Emma couldn’t have kept up with her at that speed even without a hurt ankle. Heck, Norman probably didn’t even have a chance of catching her. She was
fast
.

Emm
a ran too, landing on her hurt ankle as lightly as she could. She could hear Norman behind her, gaining on her.
Well at least he didn’t stand at the RV and mow them down with bullets
.
At least Vivian still had a chance.

Emma felt a hand entwine in her hair
and jerk her to the ground. Norman landed on top of her, driving all the air out of her lungs for the second time in a few minutes. She felt more pain in her ankle, but it was no longer as important as the crushing pain in her ribs.

“
Bitch,” Norman spat out, trying to catch his breath. Emma squirmed beneath him but couldn’t dislodge his hold on her.

Hurry Vivian, please get help,
she thought as she writhed in pain in the parched, baked dirt.

Cr
aig sat in the back of the helicopter, scanning the roads for the large dark RV.

“
Hawk, they must have turned off, they had to have, or we’d be on them by now.” His voice sounded tinny and strange to himself inside the headset.

“
Yeah, I think you’re right. If we don’t come on them by the next bridge we will backtrack and check Highway 99.”

They were less than two hour
’s drive from the Mexico border. The team on the ground was coordinating with border patrol to stop all RVs and arrest Norman on sight, but Craig was afraid Norman had other plans. They all knew there were plenty of places to cross illegally. Or what if something went wrong. What if he were changing vehicles right now. The bridge cams hadn’t picked him up for an hour, and the state police hadn’t found him yet either, even though they had the urgent APB.

If Norman slipped through to Mexico their chances of finding him would instantly drop in half or maybe less. Especially if he already had a support team over there. Or Heaven forbid if he had a
contact at the border who would just wave him through and claim not to have gotten the message.

Craig
’s mind ran down a list of a hundred things that could go wrong, a hundred ways that Emma could be stolen out of his life forever. He squeezed his fingers to the back of his neck, trying to calm the pounding in his skull.

The pilot broke through his thoughts. “
Call on the radio for you Agent Masterson, I’m patching it through.”

Craig sat up straighter, the road temporarily forgotten. “
This is Agent Masterson,”

“
This is officer Thompson of the State Police. We’ve got units headed out to Piers Road just outside of Bakersfield to meet with a woman who claims she was kidnapped. The vehicle description she gave matches your APB.”

Craig felt the helicopter bank a
hard left and looked up at Hawk. He was listening intently, but gave Craig a thumbs up and a nod.

“
Is she OK Officer?”

“
We don’t know yet sir, we haven’t gotten to her. Apparently she flagged down a motorist and he called it in. Officers are 5 minutes out.”

Craig looked at Hawk, a question on his face. Hawk held up 4 fingers.

“Ok Officer, tell your guys we are going to beat them there. We are coming in hot. Anywhere to land around the area?”

“
Oh ayuh, take your pick. It’s nothing but a big, dusty landing pad.

“
Thank you Officer.”

Craig heard the radio switch off. His heart beat in his throat. Normally he would take a few minutes to calm himself, but he didn
’t know if it would work today. Not till he found Emma and knew she was OK.

His eyes scanned the ground again, looking for any sign of that RV.

Norman struggled to his feet, still panting hard, sucking in lungfuls of dirt and coughing them out again. He tried pulling Emma back to the RV by her hair but his grip kept slipping. He leaned down, digging his fingers into her armpit cruelly, intending to stand her up and make her walk.

Emma relaxed her body, trying to make herself dead weight. He stood up and aimed a boot at her ribs. “
Bitch, get up, now!” He punctuated the ‘now’ with a kick and Emma scrambled to her feet, doubled over in pain. She couldn’t take another kick. He grabbed her under her left arm and dragged her back towards the RV, moving fast.

Emma coughed and sputtered, tasting blood in her mouth. She felt
along her right side with her fingers, wondering if her ribs were broken. Anger blazed in her eyes. She was
not
going back to that RV with Norman. Something in her pocket grazed her hand.
Oh yeah.
She pulled the syringes from her pocket and uncapped them all with one motion, jabbing all of them into Norman’s neck with every ounce of strength she had left.

He tried to scream, but sounded strangled.

He dropped her arm and bent over, tearing the syringes out of his neck one at a time.

As he bent, his white, bu
tton down shirt flapped up and Emma saw a gun in a holster. She darted in, unsnapped the holster and pulled the gun out quickly, backing up and thumbing off the safety with it pointed straight at Norman’s back.

She kept backing up, slowly, back the way the
y had came. Her world narrowed to the sight of his back over the gun’s sights and the feel of her finger on the cold, hard metal of the trigger. He would fall, or he wouldn’t. He would rush her, or he wouldn’t. He would retreat, or he wouldn’t. She was ready, playing her reaction to each scenario over in her mind. Dust whipped around her, unnoticed.

He pulled the last syringe out and clasped a hand to his throat. She could see tiny droplets of blood between his fingers, slowly dripping to his collar. He tur
ned on her, his face deadly. She saw clearly that he planned to kill her now.

She stopped and planted her feet in the sideways shooter
’s stance that Norman himself had taught her all those year ago.
Make your body as small a target as possible,
he’d told her. She’d always loved shooting, even in the army. She’d always been good at it too. Her mind didn’t want to shoot a real flesh and blood person, but her body didn’t care. Her body was in charge.

“
Stop Norman, or I’ll shoot you.”  Her voice rang over the desert, clear and strong.

He kept coming, his lip curled up in a sneering, skeptical smile. He was only 5 feet away. She took her aim from his chest, out to his shoulder, held her breath, and squeezed.

The shot hit him in the arm and knocked him to the ground. He screamed this time, a guttural, aching sound. She moved the gun sights back in to land on his chest, still not wanting to kill him though. She healed people, she didn’t kill them.

He reached for his boot, probably for an ankle holster. “
Stop Norman!” she screamed. His fingers pulled up his pant leg.

She fired again, twice this time, tears streaming down her face.

Norman’s body jerked and twisted and he fell to the ground without another sound.

She stood there. Waiting for him to move again. She sto
od there, as the dust kicked up around her and the helicopter landed 50 feet away. She waited and watched, barely breathing, watching for the slightest movement.

She was still standing, rigid, unmoving when Craig came up behind her.

“Emma, it’s me, you can put the gun down.”

She couldn
’t though. He could move at any second. He was just playing possum, she knew it.

Craig put an arm
gently around her shoulder, and his other hand over the gun she was holding. “Baby, let go of it, it’s Craig, I’m here and you are OK. You did it. He can’t hurt you again.”

Craig?

She let go of the gun. Her knees gave out and she dropped to the harsh desert ground.

Emma’s fingers clawed at her throat, the taste of desert dust clogging her mouth.

“
Shhhh, sweetheart, it’s a bad dream, that’s all, you’re home in bed. Norman is paralyzed in the prison hospital, remember? He can’t hurt you. You don’t have to shoot him again.”

Her eyes flew open. She was home, in her new home she shared with her boyfriend, s
leeping in bed. She tried to force herself to relax and take a few deep breaths.

He put his hand on her forehead and smoothed her hair away from her head. “
Was that a bad one? Are you OK?”

“
Not too bad.” She grabbed his hand and held it, snuggling into his bare chest.

He held her close. “
Was it the end again?”

“
Yeah, the shooting. I keep shooting him over and over again. But this is the first time in a week, so it’s getting better.” She gave him a weak smile.

“
Yep, way better. Dr. Anderson said this would happen. If she’s right, then you shouldn’t have them at all in a month or so.”

She already felt sleepy again, but didn
’t want to stop talking to Craig. She glanced at the clock. It was 6:40. She didn't have to be up for an hour. Sunlight streamed in the windows, chasing all that was left of the dream away. Vivian was following the moving truck in today and Emma was supposed to meet her at her new place at 10. Emma snuggled into the blankets, suddenly blissful at the thought of Vivian living in Westwood Harbor, only a few short blocks from her and Craig's new place. She almost felt disappointed that work had cleared her to come back so quick after learning the true nature of her 'arrest'. She'd only have a few days to help Vivian unpack before she had to return. Oh well, she did miss her job and she missed seeing Jerry every day too.

No sense getting too happy though. The question of Craig staying or not staying always loomed large in her mind. If Craig had to go somewhere else for the FBI it would kill her.

She looked up at Craig and kissed his chest, and with her lips still pressed up against him she said “yeah, but if you have to leave town, then what? I don’t want to try to face the dreams without you here.”

“
Oh, didn’t I tell you?” he said, sitting up a little. “Me and Hawk have been permanently reassigned. We are now working out of the Westwood Harbor FBI office for good.”

She smiled against his chest. “
How wonderful.” She thought for a second. “But what happens when you finally catch that Senator? I know you guys will eventually.”

“
Emma, I don’t care if it takes 6 years, or 6 days. When we finally put him behind bars I am retiring from the FBI forever.”

“
Really, you mean it?” She jumped up and kneeled over him. “Don’t joke about that Craig, I couldn’t take it if you were joking.”

“
I mean it. Didn’t I tell you I always wanted to be a firefighter for real?”

Emma beamed. She couldn
’t imagine. Craig. Hers, here forever. Did that mean ...? She thought back to the first time she ever talked to him, when the flash of a baby with big dimples and strawberry blond hair had come to her mind.

She twined her fingers in his and brought his hand to her lips. That was tomorrow. For right now, having
him here in her bed was enough to keep her warm and happy for a good long time.

The End

       <<<<>>>>

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