Authors: Randi Cardoza
Chapter 26
Kenzi was worried. She could hear Shawn calling to her but the wind had started blowing terribly and she couldn’t tell what direction his voice was coming from. They couldn’t have much time left and from the looks of the sky a storm was coming in.
She heard something crash behind her and screamed as a tree fell and narrowly missed her. Branches snagged her hair and threw her to the ground and twigs bit into her causing tiny gouges in her skin.
“Shawn!” she screamed when the panic wouldn’t be kept at bay any longer.
As if her were a mirage, Shawn appeared towering over her. Kenzi cried and threw herself into his arms.
“Come on, Kenzi, we have to keep moving. Whoever this is will kill us one way or the other if we don’t,” Shawn said grabbing her hand and pulling her behind him towards the beach.
Wood splintered behind them as bullets hit the trees they passed. Stinging rain pelted down on them and they had to choose which way to go. Shawn knew the only way out was going to be getting to the cave where they’d stayed with Mimi and Danielle when they got lost years before on their junior class trip..
Kenzi stumbled and they could hear someone moving through the trees behind them. Shawn picked her up and pulled her along behind him not really caring where they went as long as they got away from this mad man.
“Kenzi, we have to jump! Jump into the pit and be sure to stay clear so I don’t hit you when I jump in,” Shawn screamed in her ear over the roar of the wind.
Kenzi nodded and jumped hoping there was nothing too horrible waiting at the bottom of the abyss for them. She landed with a splash and barely caught her breath before she went under. Trying not to panic she swam towards the edge of the cave, not hearing when Shawn jumped in behind her.
Shawn knew a bullet had hit him in the same shoulder as before as soon as he hit the water. He swam over to Kenzi and began to pray they could tread water long enough to be rescued or to climb out.
Shawn pushed Kenzi under the water as a spray of bullets peppered the water around them. They swam as deeply as they could until they couldn’t hear the bullets hitting the water any longer. Swimming to a dark corner where they wouldn’t be seen, Shawn grabbed a rock and heaved it at the opening of the cave.
They heard a grunt followed by a steady stream of cursing. Shawn had hit his target despite the wound in his shoulder.
“Shawn, do you see that hole? Do you think it'll be big enough for us to get out?” Kenzi whispered as she shivered with cold as well as tension.
“We can try it and see,” Shawn said gesturing to the north end of the cave where he'd briefly glimpsed the cave..
Swimming under water they both arrived there a few moments later undetected by their abductor. Kenzi crawled up and gave a thumb up sign to Shawn.
Leaning down she whispered, “The water must have hollowed it out through the years so we can get out.”
Shawn nodded and they silently climbed in the tunnel while their abductor fired more bullets into the heart of the cave.
Dammit! How did they get away and why didn’t I know this was here? I scoured this island and didn’t know this pit was here. This must have been where they disappeared to before.
With all the rain, they won’t make it out alive. They won’t be able to tread water forever and besides I put so many bullets down there it’s practically impossible that they survived anyway. Looks like it’s the end of those two goody-goodies
.
Kenzi crawled until she didn’t think she had the strength to continue. Shawn kept urging her to go on but she was tired and dirty and felt like falling asleep then and there.
“Kenzi, you can do it, come on. You have training to survive this kind of stuff and so do I. We are going to make it out of here. Get moving,” Shawn ordered as a last resort when Kenzi just looked at him with a dull glare.
Kenzi squared her shoulders as much as possible and started climbing again. Every foot she crawled, more grit lodged under her fingernails and ground into her already sensitive skin.
Shawn was ready for the nightmare to be over when Kenzi started moving faster. She saw something ahead and it had provoked her into moving faster and faster until she reached it.
“Look, Shawn. It’s daylight. That storm must have ended quickly because the sun is out again. Oh my God!” Kenzi gasped.
“What is it?” Shawn asked trying to push Kenzi out of the hole and onto stabler ground.
“You’re never going to believe who has been hunting us, Shawn,” Kenzi whispered as she climbed from the whole silently.
Shawn followed and looked at where Kenzi was pointing. It couldn’t be who he was thinking it was.
Nelson and Murphy were sifting through information in Farmington FBI headquarters when none other than Jan Sullivan came in.
“I’m looking for Shawn Douglass,” Jan said pointedly to Dylan.
“I’m afraid he and Agent Fromier are not available,” Nelson interceded.
“Oh. Well, I just wanted to ask him to keep a closer watch over Emma. My ex-husband jut broke out of prison and he might go after her,” Jan replied and left the office.
Megan ran after her and pulled her back into the small office they’d been sharing with Shawn and Kenzi.
“What is your husband’s name?”
“Jason Gramaldi. He was in prison for spousal and child abuse,” Jan replied with a shiver.
“Why would he go after Emma and not you, Mrs. Gramaldi?” Dylan asked cryptically.
“It's Sullivan, Ms. Sullivan. He has hated Emma since she was born. I was raped by Jason in high school and Emma was the result of it. For a while Shawn tried to protect me by saying Emma was his but that didn’t work out.”
“Why not?” Megan asked already disliking the woman she saw in front of her.
“Kenzi’s best friends Mimi and Danielle found out what happened. Shawn and Kenzi reunited later after he left me. Jason finally said he wanted to take responsibility for it because he loved me.”
“But?” Dylan asked leaning against Shawn’s desk and crossing his legs in front of him.
“He and Shawn haven’t spoken to each other since. Jason’s had a strong dislike for both Shawn and Kenzi since, not that they were actually friends before. He actually laughed when their baby was kidnapped.”
“Why are you telling us this, Ms. Sullivan?” Megan asked.
“My ex-husband deserves to die for what he did to me and my daughter. I lost Emma but despite what people think I do love her and would do anything to protect her. Good-bye.”
Nelson and Dylan watched Jan walk out the door. Both knew that she was up to something but not quite sure what it was. Nelson called another detective to follow her and listen for anything that would give away the location of Agents Douglass and Fromier.
Minutes later he reported back that she’d called someone named Jason and done what she was supposed to do. She also told him that the stupid cops bought it hook, line, and sinker.
“That’s what she thinks. Was she on a cell or a pay phone?” Nelson asked pushing her hair up into a ponytail and pulling a baseball cap over it.
“Cell phone ma’am. Would you like the call to be traced? She was on there for a while,” the detective asked.
“Yeah, set up a wire trap on the phone. We have enough probable cause we won’t need a warrant but I’ll call someone and get one anyway. Dylan we need to go talk to Jason Gramaldi's cellmate,” Nelson said pulling him towards the door.
“How do I get myself into these things?” Dylan asked himself as Nelson dragged him out the door and towards the car.
An hour later, they knew their destination after calling Brady Fromier and Victor Smith for maps of the area. It took two hours to fly to the coast an hour for the ferry ride and then acquiring a chopper took less than ten minutes.
Within minutes they were flying over the island. Coast guard boats were stationed around the perimeter so the abductor couldn’t get away by boat.
Nelson scanned the island with night vision glasses as the sun had dropped about an hour before. There they spotted Shawn and Kenzi huddled against a hole in the side of a cliff. Dylan’s radio confirmed that the abductor had been caught and arrested.
The chopper pilot flashed a large spotlight on Shawn and Kenzi to get their attention.
Shawn noticed the sudden bright light before Kenzi and looked up at the sky.
“I don’t know how they did it but they found us,” Shawn whispered to Kenzi when he made out the government insignia on the side of the chopper.
“I wanna go home, Shawn,” Kenzi said as Nelson rushed over to them from the chopper after it landed. Both were wrapped in blankets and then taken up in the chopper over to the main island and the hotel where they’d stayed what seemed like ages ago after they'd been lost on the same island overnight.
Chapter 27
Jason Gramaldi. Kenzi still couldn’t believe it. He’d made her and Shawn relive the nightmare they’d had on the island from the first time.
The cool air whipped through the front windows of the helicopter as it sped towards the main island. Kenzi could feel Shawn’s arm around her despite the blanket she was wrapped in.
“Kenzi, are you asleep?” Shawn whispered into her ear.
“No. I was just thinking I can’t believe Jason did this to us,” Kenzi replied snuggling into Shawn’s arms
“I hate to tell you this but it wasn’t only Jason,” Nelson said from the cockpit.
“What do you mean?” Kenzi and Shawn asked together.
“Jan was in on it, too,” Dylan said from his seat next to Shawn.
“That
bitch
!” Kenzi heard tumble out of her mouth before she could stop it.
Shawn gaped at her while Nelson told them what happened with Jan coming in and then contacting Jason afterward. Attempted murder charges would be pressed against both of them.
“I hope Emma doesn’t turn out anything like them!” Kenzi swore after Nelson finished.
“With Greta as her guardian, I highly doubt it. Besides from what I hear, Greta took Emma on a world tour and the first stop is a castle in France,” Shawn said drowsily.
“I didn't know there were any castles left in France,” Kenzi replied smothering a yawn.
“They reconstructed the entire thing from ruins,” Shawn told her as his eyelids fluttered down. “Go to sleep, my love.”
Kenzi didn’t respond, as she was already asleep. Dylan just looked up at Nelson and winked at her.
They reached the main island and Dylan noticed the blood on Shawn’s shoulder so they took Shawn and Kenzi to the hospital to be looked over. Shawn had to have both sides of his shoulder stitched up since the bullet went straight through. Kenzi had a long gash on her thigh that had to have stitches also.
Kenzi felt like she could sleep on her feet and just wanted about twenty-four hours of solid sleep. Her eyes popped wide-open when she saw Shawn come out with yet another wrap-around brace on his shoulder.
Shawn shook his head at the look on her face and said, “What can I say? Everyone wants a piece of me. What happened to your jeans?”
Kenzi looked down at her now cut-off jeans and shrugged, “Oh, just a snag. I decided rather than stitch them up, I would cut them off instead.”
She turned to walk, or rather limp, away from him and he caught sight of the large white bandage on her thigh.
“I guess Jason didn’t only want a piece of me, huh?” Shawn replied gesturing to her leg. “What happened?”
“I must have caught my leg on something when we jumped into the cavern,” Kenzi replied with a shrug. “Where are Nelson and Dylan? I want to go to the hotel.”
“They’re probably waiting for us outside with the rental car,” Shawn replied as he nudged Kenzi gently towards the door. Just before they got out the door, a nurse came up with a pair of crutches that Kenzi had forgotten to wait for.
Kenzi moved slowly so the stitches didn’t pull. The humid air hit her with the force of a punch to the stomach. Her stomach churned and she thought for a moment she was going to be sick. The bright morning sun glared in her eyes and she stumbled a bit.
“Are you feeling okay?” Shawn asked as he waved at Dylan to bring the car to them.
“Yeah. The humidity hit me hard when we came outside. I just want about a week of sleep with you next to me in the bed,” Kenzi said as she pressed a hand to her stomach.
“Me too. I can’t wait to go home and get things back to normal,” Shawn replied as he opened the back door of the car for Kenzi to get in.
Her leg moved stiffly and didn’t want to bend too easily. Luckily she could slide it across the seat and Shawn let her rest it across his lap on the way to the hotel.
Once they reached the safety of their hotel room, Kenzi collapsed as gently as possible into a chair pushing off her shoes.
Shawn sat on the ottoman and massaged her feet until her eyelids fluttered. She was almost asleep when he stopped and went to get some water from the refrigerator.
“Shawn?” she muttered sleepily.
“Yeah, honey?” he asked taking a large gulp of water.
“Would you be mad if I gave up the FBI? I think I want to work for my dad now. I can’t take this anymore and working for dad will let me get 8 hours of sleep a night,” Kenzi said sleepily as she pulled an afghan over her to ward off the chill the air conditioning put in the air.
“Actually, I’ve been thinking about giving it up myself to work at Farmington PD with my dad. Or maybe I'll go back to school. So, no, I won’t be mad if you want to give it up. I just want you to be happy,” Shawn said as he helped her up and over to the bed.
“What are you going to do, then?” Kenzi asked as her eyelashes fluttered closed.
Shawn didn’t answer immediately and wasn’t going to until he saw that her eyes were open and staring at him again.
“We’ll talk about it later. After we get some sleep okay?” Shawn asked as he lay down beside her and put an ice pack on his shoulder to ease the stiffness.
Neither moved the entire night and most of the next day. Kenzi woke up and looked at the clock. A knock on the door followed by Nelson and Dylan’s voices drew her out of the bed.
Shawn woke up when Kenzi turned in the bed and slowly got up.
“So how are you doing?” Nelson asked as she set out a tray full of donuts and fragrant coffee.
“Hungry, you evil woman. Get out of the way or prepare to lose a hand,” Kenzi laughed as she grabbed a raspberry-filled chocolate-iced donut.
Nelson obligingly moved out of the way and poured coffee for all of them and a juice for herself. Kenzi took it gratefully despite the fact that she’d lost the taste for it.
Kenzi swallowed it and her stomach lurched. She could feel the heated liquid start to come back up and she limped as quickly as she could towards the bathroom.
“Is she okay?” Dylan asked watching after her as she slammed the bathroom door.
“I think she swallowed too much water while we were in the cavern. She should probably go back to the hospital for an exam to be sure she didn’t catch an infection or something,” Shawn replied as he wolfed down a donut.
“We’ll take her this afternoon before our flight leaves. By the way, extradition to Illinois went smoothly. Gramaldi is on his way now. He’s also been charged with murder, the guard he attacked to escape died yesterday,” Nelson replied as she sipped her juice.
Kenzi wiped at the sweat that dotted her forehead with a cool washcloth. Her stomach cramped again and she leaned weakly against the sink.
Before she knew what happened she was falling and a excruciating cramp tore through her stomach. Her head hit the cool tiles and her vision blurred before everything faded and went dark.
Shawn heard a thump first and he ran towards the bathroom followed by Nelson and Dylan. Kenzi was lying on the floor, passed out. Dylan called an ambulance on his cell phone.
Kenzi came to in the ambulance but couldn’t say anything. Her head hurt badly and if she talked, she knew she would die. Her eyes fluttered and focused on Shawn for a moment and then she dropped back into unconsciousness.
Kenzi was rushed in to see the doctor immediately and woke up while she was in the exam room. He didn’t say much to her, he just drew her blood and took her temperature.
She was moved to her own room in the hospital a short while later and given some codeine to help her sleep. While she slept, Shawn paced the waiting room with Megan and Dylan trying to reassure him that everything would be fine.
The doctor came out to talk to Shawn and took him to his office.
“You’re her husband?”
“Yes. Well, former, and soon-to-be,” Shawn replied honestly.
The doctor looked as if he wasn’t sure if he should tell Shawn the results of Kenzi’s tests.
“Please, tell me what’s wrong with her?” Shawn begged.
“She caught a bacterial infection while on the island. She hit her head pretty hard during the fall and gave herself a nice, mild concussion. We also had to suture her leg again since she pulled the stitches when she fell,” the doctor replied.
“That’s all?” Shawn asked.
“There’s one other thing. She lost the baby. The infection didn’t allow it the nutrients it needed and she miscarried from a combination of the bacteria and the fall.”
Shawn stared at him for a moment and wondered why Kenzi hadn’t told him about the baby.
“I’m guessing from the expression on your face that you didn’t know she was pregnant,” the doctor said. “She wasn’t that far along and probably wasn’t sure herself.”
“Can I see her now?” Shawn said hoarsely.
“Sure. She’s in room 459 in the north wing.”
Shawn walked through the maze of hallways until he found an elevator to take him to the fourth floor.
He reached Kenzi’s room and quietly went in and held her hand until she woke up. Nelson and Murphy came up to deliver a basket of flowers and let Shawn know they’d contacted Kenzi’s parents as well as Shawn’s.
“What happened, Shawn?” Kenzi asked weakly.
“You caught a bad infection from the island. Why didn’t you tell me you were pregnant?” Shawn asked leaning forward.
“I’m pregnant?” Kenzi asked in shock.
“You didn’t know?” Shawn asked somewhat relieved that she hadn’t kept it from him.
“No, I didn’t know. I don’t know if I can be a mother again, Shawn,” Kenzi said wearily.
“Kenzi, they couldn’t save the baby. You miscarried when you fell in the bathroom,” Shawn said taking her hand.
Tears sprang to her eyes and she looked away from Shawn.
“I don’t know why you want me, Shawn. I’ve lost both of our babies. Layla was kidnapped because of me and now I lost this baby,” Kenzi said as she choked on a sob.
“I want you Kenzi Fromier because I love you. You didn’t mean to lose either of our babies and it was not in your control. We’ll get married again and have more babies,” Shawn promised.
“I don’t know if I can marry you, I don’t want to keep disappointing you.”