"Grab some gear from in there!" Hawk barks. "I want to put something better on her when we get in the vehicle. We gotta go."
Jennifer nods and grabs a kit with one hand while covering Tom with the other.
"What about him?"
"Fuck him. Alexis needs help."
"Okay," Jennifer says. "Got it."
Then she lifts her leg up, and with a well placed kick, breaks Tom's leg at the knee. Tom's leg just folds the wrong way and he clutches the joint, screaming.
He screams and flails as Hawk mounts the side of the… thing, climbing up inside. Jennifer puts her hands on his back to steady him as he lowers himself inside and pulls me on his lap, then rests my head against a panel of buttons and stuff inside. Jennifer climbs in and the top canopy slides closed over us. The windows are a funny color, like there's gold in the glass. My neck hurts.
I moan softly.
"Alex, look at me,” Hawk says, shifting my weight awkwardly in his lap. "Stay awake, honey. I've got you."
He's doing something to my neck and it hurts. It's hard to breathe, every inhalation a struggle, something around my neck.
"I'll let Jacob know we're coming. He has more kit than we do here. We'll meet up with him."
"Another one of your safehouses?" Hawk snaps.
"They're not going to find us this time," Jennifer says.
This… thing is so loud. I shift my weight against Hawk. My eyes want to close so badly, I just want to go to sleep. I can't talk.
"Stay awake, baby, please."
It's like trying to drag a dead elephant, but I stay awake. I keep my eyes open. The machine lurches and Hawk holds me tight, even as it bounces and tilts up so far one time I think it's going to flip itself over. Then there's a suddenly weightless moment and the whole thing slams down and sends a jolt through my body. I whimper softly.
"Thirsty," I croak out.
"We'll get you something," Hawk says.
I hear sirens, but they fade into the distance. There's so much noise and motion, and my neck hurts. Everything hurts.
Very softly, I begin to cry.
"Hawk, they have my sister."
"I'll get her," he says. "Shh, I'll get her."
I can't stop, though. I sob softly, each time sending a shooter of pain from my neck.
"She needs stitches."
"I know," Jennifer says flatly. "Not far."
I look over and see trees. We're in the woods. There's a splash, we must have crossed a stream. The trees fall away and I see it's getting dark. Has this been one day? All that and it's just now getting dark?
The machine slows, gently this time, and the canopy opens. Jennifer climbs around and steadies me as Hawk stands. Jacob is there and they all lower me down together, then lay me on another freaking gurney, and roll me inside, through a door. It's cool inside.
"Help me," Hawk says. "Do exactly as I say."
The other two don't argue. The bandage comes off my neck and Hawk turns my head a little, and I see a long hooked needle and thread. Hawk stares, sweating as he drags it through my flesh, wincing every time I wince.
"Sorry, honey, I can't do anything about the pain right now."
I can't nod so I look at him and give a weak smile.
He finishes, ties off the thread, cuts it. Jennifer gingerly lifts my head as Hawk puts on a better bandage, spreading tape down my back and over my chest to hold it in place before lightly wrapping gauze around my neck.
They prop my head up on some pillows, Hawk pours a can of Sprite into a little plastic cup, and sticks a straw in it. I take a sip and it's blessedly cool in my throat.
"Just a little at a time," he says. "A little bit."
I want to suck it all down now, but I do as he says, taking a trickle at a time until my throat doesn't feel so dry.
"Now what?" Jacob asks.
"Jennifer, stay with her," Hawk says, rising. "I have to go get her sister."
"I'm going with you," Jacob says. "You have a plan?"
"Yeah, kick the shit out of anybody in my way and grab the girl."
"That'll work. Let's go."
"Hawk," I croak, grabbing at his hand. I can just barely move my arm.
Jennifer is sticking something in my other arm. A big needle. There's an IV stand next to the bed, and a bad of red. A bag of blood.
"She's going to be fine," Jennifer says calmly. "Go on, boys."
"I love you," I croak, squeezing his hand.
"I love you too," he says, and bends to touch his lips to my forehead. "I'll be back soon."
"Something… tell you…" I say, but I feel so heavy.
"Later, baby. Get some rest."
"Your dad… dad didn't…"
I try to tell him, but I'm so tired, the world just slides away and I fall asleep.
Hawk
Now
I take a long look at Alexis on the bed. We need to change her clothes. She's
covered
in blood. If Jennifer didn't get us here so fast, she'd have bled out. Tom didn't open up her carotid artery but he came damn close. It's only luck that he didn't cut a little deeper and drown her in her own blood. I should be angry, I should be burning with fury, but I feel sick and, even after stitching her up myself, helpless.
I want nothing more than to stay here by her side and hold her hand until she wakes up again for me, but May is still in danger, I have to get her back. Jennifer will stay here, in this safehouse, and that makes me feel a little bit better, but after the last one, I wonder how 'safe' they really are.
"What happened?" I demand of Jacob. "How did they find us?"
"Alexis' car," he says. "Your father put a GPS tracker on it."
"That's illegal."
He sighs. "Yes."
Damn it, why didn't I think of that? I was right, we should have just driven until we ran out of gas. At least it would have bought us some time.
Except, it wouldn't. He’d be able to tell the cops exactly where we were or near enough and they'd just have waited for us, cut us off before we could even get that far. Damn it.
"House first," I snap. "May’s probably there."
"Let's take something a little less conspicuous."
Jennifer parked the big, lumbering machine behind the building, which I'm pretty sure was a fast food place at one point. Parked alongside is a mid-eighties Dodge, the most nondescript car I've ever seen. I slip into the passenger side and shake my head.
Now is not the time to be tired. I feel like I've been tossed around in a rock tumbler all day and night, and I need sleep myself, but May needs me first. Once we get her out, we can get the fuck away from here.
"Is there any chance we can really be safe?" I ask. "Seems like everything’s going ass over teakettle."
"We're forwarding info about Tom's activities to the right people," Jacob says. "Right now we need to get the girl. You with me on this?"
"Bullshit, big man. You're the one with me, got it?"
"Right."
"Drive."
He drives. I fight sleep, even as unease and anticipation burn in my chest. I haven't felt this feeling in a while, not since I was in the back of a Humvee out on patrol. I sit up from the seat and drum my fingers on the sides of the seat. I still have Jennifer's gun in my pocket.
"We don't have much time, need to move fast," Jacob says. "They might decide to move her."
"Right."
"We need a plan."
"I told you the plan."
"It's not much of a plan."
I glare at him but he doesn't react, he just drives. He flexes his fingers on the wheel.
"Some day you're going to tell us your real story."
"Yeah, after this is taken care of."
I nod. Right.
He drives.
Every time we take another turn I look around, expecting a dozen cop cars to come flying from every direction and surround us. My whole system is on edge, nervous energy trembling in my limbs. We couldn't take Tom with us, but now I have no idea where he is, or where Helen is, or my brother. I have so little information.
I have to find her. I can't stand the thought of walking back in there and telling Alexis something happened to her sister, that May is gone. I will not suffer that. I will not make her suffer that. May was like my little sister too, back in the day.
Everything can just go so wrong.
There's the bridge. It looms overhead, the red lights blinking in the dark, bright spotlights casting a glow along the bright yellow cables. It all rushes overhead so fast, and we're in town. Kane drives, swings the car around and heads up my street. An eerie feeling settles over me. It looks perfectly normal.
No cop cars, no commotion, nothing. There are a few lights on in my house. I could drive by and think this was just a normal goddamn day. Kane rolls past the house, looking, then swings around and drives back the other way.
"Looks empty."
"Let's check it out. You stay out here. I'll go in."
"You sure?"
I nod. "Need to do this fast. If they left we'll have to figure out where. I can get in without being seen. Drop me here."
He pulls to a stop and I step out, a wave of fatigue trying to drive me back down. I push that down and lock it up tight, force myself alert. I'm limping now and I can't remember why. Just a hint of a drag in my right foot. I'll worry about it later.
I walk along the fence, head into the backyard, grab the post along the side of the porch, and shimmy up. Alexis' window is locked, so I climb my way up to mine and push it open. I never leave my own locked, just in case I need to get back in this way. I slip inside and let my eyes adjust to the dark before slipping out into the hall.
The third floor is the smallest, only three rooms, two of them guest bedrooms. I check them anyway before slowly working my way down stairs, skipping the third step from the bottom, lest it creak and give me away. I step down and pull the gun from my pocket, check it very carefully and quietly once more, and slip along the wall to May's bedroom.
I open the door slow, stopping just before it will creak. It's dark inside, but I slip in and check anyway, the closet, the bed. Her bug-out bag she made up is still there, a battered Hello Kitty bag overstuffed with clothes.
The door creaks a little as I slip out, and I freeze.
Nothing.
Over to Alexis' room, and I find the same, checking everywhere. Empty.
Now I take the main staircase, heading towards the living room and kitchen. The main floor is the largest, and the layout the worst. I'll be completely exposed at the foot of the stairs. I crouch at the top and look around as best I can, see nothing, and head down. All the lights are off in the kitchen, dining room, living room, foyer, everywhere.
A soft glow rolls down the one hallway, leading to my father's office. I slink low down the stairs, pressed down, looking through the slats under the railing, watching for movement. I'm vulnerable here, hemmed in. There's a soft sound, like a sigh. At the bottom I wait and look slowly around, up the hall. The office door is open, light spills through the crack.
Pausing by the door, I peer through. The light is on, but I can't see anything but a bookcase.
I take a deep breath and swing the door open, glancing at the corner over my shoulder.
There is a soft click-click, the sound of a hammer being pulled back on a gun.
Helen sits in one of the side chairs, facing May across the cocktail table, a small pistol aimed at her daughter's chest.
She looks over at me.
"Hello, Hawk."
"Helen, what are you doing?"
May sits there frozen, trembling, a tear streaming down her face.
"Hawk, shoot her," May pleads.
"Shut up!" Helen snaps.
She sits up and I watch her finger shift, caressing the trigger. The gun is pointed right at May's chin.
"Mom, please," May whimpers.
"I said shut
up
. Hawk, where’s my husband?"
"I don't know."
"Did you kill him?"
"No."
"Where's my daughter?"
"Alexis is safe."
May lets out a slow breath, only to tense again, staring at the gun pointed at her as if seeing it for the first time.
"Helen, please," I whisper. "You don't want to hurt her."
Helen's arm tenses, and she aims a little higher, right between May's eyes.
"Mommy don't," May sobs, "Please."
"Why not?" she asks. "Our lives are over. Everything’s ruined." She turns her head just a little, to focus one eye on me. "All because of you. You couldn't stay away. I told Tom to kill you and he didn't listen to me. 'I can't kill my own son', " she says, mocking his voice. "He'd justify anything, but not that."
"He killed his first wife. You mean nothing to him. He wanted to fuck Alexis."
She laughs bitterly. "Don't you think I know?"
"He'd have killed you too, just like my mother."
She laughs louder now, and May tenses, rearing back in the seat. The gun is shaking.
"Did he, he killed her, right?"
"Yes, I found proof, that's why he sent me away-"
"He wasn't doing a web search on the poison to figure out how to kill your mother, you dolt," she snaps. "He wanted to figure out how I did it."
A heavy silence falls on the room.
"What?"
"I killed her," she hisses. "I did it. Me. I put the pesticide in her coffee myself. I took your father's key and had a duplicate made. I came in the house and put it in her coffee pot and she drank it and she died."
"Fuck," I mutter.
"He knew, of course. We never discussed it, but we understood. We'd been fucking since my husband died. Do you want to know the first time? At my husband's funeral. After. Jack could’ve been anything he wanted, he could’ve been rich, but he wouldn't leave this shitty little town. Tom’s a man of ambition, a man of understanding. A man of
power
. Your stupid bitch of a mother couldn't understand that, she was talking to the wrong people, she was going to ruin everything. So I got rid of her and Tom got rid of you. We couldn't have you prowling around my daughter, fucking his stepdaughter. That wouldn't do." Her voice rises. "I hitched my wagon to a rising star."
She extends her arm again.
"You ruined it," she hisses at me, "You ruined it all. All this embarrassment, and now the police will be asking questions. How are we supposed to run a mayoral campaign now? Tell me, Hawk."