Amber Alert (Amber Alert Series Book 1) (18 page)

Chapter 30

The shot made me jump, and I turned to look at the officer standing behind me with his gun in the air. The pistol was smoking from the recent shot into the air. The sound must have alerted his back-up because soon we were surrounded by officers and patrons that had come to assist in any way possible.

"Put the gun down, Mr. Bennett. You're surrounded; let this end peacefully," the officer commanded, as he took hold of my shoulder and pushed me behind him for protection.

"Fine, I can see that I'm beaten. I surrender," Steve stated nonchalantly. I glanced around the officer to see that Steve was holding his hands in the air as two other officers put him on the ground. A smile curved onto my lips as I heard the handcuffs click into place.

"Anna! Anna!" I heard a voice calling from the woods. I attempted to glance around the officer again, but he put me behind him again and leveled his gun.

"Don't move!" the officer stated authoritatively.

"I'm not here to hurt anyone! I'm here to find Anna. Is Anna okay? I heard a gunshot!" the voice asked, his words dripping with worry.

"Garrett?" I hadn't heard his voice in so long. I glanced around the officer again to see Garrett standing on the edge of the trees, taking tentative steps toward my voice. "Garrett!" I stated excitedly, as I ran around the officer and toward Garrett.

"Anna, it's good to see you again," he said, as I closed the distance between us and he lifted me into a hug. He felt better than I remembered. The second I touched him all my fears vanished and only he and I were left. I missed him so much, I hadn't even realized how much he meant to me until I touched him again. I heard him groan as he put me back on the ground, a loud crack echoed in my ears and his grip loosened slightly.

"Are you okay?" I asked.

"Let's just say I'm not really healed and I should still be in the hospital," he stated with a soft chuckle.

"Garrett..." I started to reprimand, but stopped when I felt a hand come down on my shoulder. I turned to see the same officer that protected me earlier standing behind me. His nametag flashed in my eyes to show that his name was Weston, Officer Weston.

"Anna, this isn't the place to do this. Plus, I have a few people that have been waiting for you to come home," he stated to me, then turned to the officers and citizens behind him. "We can call off the search! Anna Cowles has returned home and her captor has been captured."

A loud roaring cheer echoed off the trees around us as everyone let out an excited scream. I felt one of the few genuine smiles that I've had over the past few months stretch across my face as I watched them cheer. Garrett took hold of my hand as we followed Officer Weston out of the woods. We were escorted to a police cruiser and for the first time I wasn't worried about the police working with Steve.

After all of this, I would never be able to look at police officers the same way. It had been their job to protect me, to keep me safe, but look what happened. I was torn; I couldn't truly blame them. I had been alone at the park, but what about the other parents? Maybe they knew Steve meant business and that's why they didn't step in, but then why did one dad choose to step in? Did he see something the others didn't? I was just in the wrong place at the wrong time; it could have been anyone. I shook my head lightly to get rid of those hopeful thoughts; it couldn't have been anyone else. He had been watching me, he had been waiting for me. He would have just found another way to kidnap me later.

I saved at least one other girl by escaping and having him caught. No other girl would have to suffer now; they were safe. I knew I wouldn't be able to live a normal life because I couldn't pretend that this didn't happen to me; although, I took solace in knowing that one life was spared torture by my actions.

The cruiser pulled in front of the police station as I felt Garrett lightly squeezed me hand.

"Are you ready, Anna?" Garrett asked as he stepped out of the car and took my hand again. "If you aren't, tell me and we can wait outside for a while, until you're ready," he said, giving me a soft kiss on the cheek as a form of comfort.

"I should do it now or I'll chicken out," I said honestly, as I looked at the looming building. He nodded and led me up the steps.

As we walked up the stairs to the police station doors, I noticed that each step was difficult for him. He tried to hide the pain that it caused him, but it didn't work. His movements gave him away as he limped slightly and his hand covered his ribs. I could hear him groan with each few steps and his breathing quickened far too soon for such little effort it should take to climb stairs.

"Are you sure you're okay? Maybe you should go back to the hospital," I suggested as I looked around for an officer to take him back.

"No, I'm fine. I'd rather be here with you. This is important, and I'll be here in case you need someone," he said, offering a gentle smile and a quick kiss on my forehead.

He opened the door for me against my opposition and let me go in front of him. I glanced around the police station and couldn't believe what I was seeing. There were posters of me everywhere asking where I was and if anyone had seen me. They were plastered to the wall, all over tables and desks of the officers, and filling up the recycling bins as they started to throw them out. Found posters were being printed off the big printer near the door; my face was everywhere.

Another loud cheer came into my ears as I came into view of all the people in the station. Garrett came from behind me and took my hand again as we were told to follow one of the officers. The throng of police officers and citizens slowly parted to make way for us. Creating a single path through them to the opposite side of the station. That's when I heard a loud screech that hurt my ears because of the sudden high pitch. The officer in front of us stepped into the side crowd to make way for my frantic mother to wrap me in a hug.

"I've missed you so much! We never gave up! We didn't know what was going on in other stations though. We didn't know they found you until James Sparks called us personally!" she stated loudly as she squeezed me into a hug.

"Mom, please let go. This hurts!" I said as the air slowly left my body.

"Sorry," she apologized sweetly as she set me down.

Kendall was on me the second my mother let go, my father came next, his hug wasn't as tight as Mom's, but it was still solid, and it wasn't as careful as Kendall's. I could tell that they had been worried and never gave up the fight to find me. It was all in their touch, my mom's was strong but tired, and Dad's was strong and relaxed. They had missed me and were exhausted from a year of searching. When he let me go, he offered a gentle smile to Garrett when he saw that Garrett's hand hadn't left mine during the exchange. It was as if he respected Garrett for his determination to be with me, even though pain was evident on his face from his beatings.

"Did you say that James called you?" I asked curiously.

"Yeah, Kendall had answered. They’re actually with a lovely little girl named-"

"Mommy! Daddy!" a familiar voice cut in before my mom could finish speaking. Garrett and I turned around to see Jessi running toward us with a big smile on her face. I hadn't seen her smile so genuinely since she heard we were having mac and cheese for dinner back at Steve's.

"Hey, little one!" Garrett said excitedly, kneeling down to hug Jessi when she came up to him.

"You came back!"

"Just like I promised you I would," Garrett stated, receiving awe from the crowd surrounding us. I felt a blush form onto my cheeks as everyone turned to stare at us. I knelt down with my makeshift family and hugged Jessi with Garrett.

"My other daddy came here too. He heard you escaped and got worried," Jessi stated, pointing James out in the crowd. He had a big smile running across his face when Jessi called him daddy. It must have hurt him to lose that connection with his daughter, but now he had it back. I'm sure he would do everything in his power to make sure he never lost it again.

"It's good to hear that someone cared, but I was worried about your mom. It was good news to learn that she was okay," Garrett said looking at me with a gentle smile.

"I also have good news," James said stepping forward. "I did some investigating with the officers in this county and found two cases of kidnapping that could be you Garrett. One boy was taken when he was five from Mississippi and one was taken when he was ten from New Jersey, but since you don't know your actual age, we're still going to have to investigate. We don't want to get the hopes of these parents up only for you not to be their son."

"I understand. That's great news. Thank you, Officer Sparks," Garrett stated with a genuine smile on his lips as he hugged Jessi just a little tighter.

I leaned down and kissed both Garrett and Jessi on the forehead. "I missed you guys so much. I'm glad to have you back again and that this is all over. I don't know what I would do if...” I was interrupted by a yell for someone to put down the gun.

There was a loud slam followed by four shots that sent some officers running into duty. I felt a body crash into mine and put me on the floor, I grabbed Jessi and put her next to me with her head under my arm. The shooting stopped, and the remaining officers that had stayed behind to protect the citizens were running toward the fight. When I looked up, there was an officer holding his side, blood covering his hand and trickling down through his shirt.

"He's escaped. He's killed four cops, wounding many others. He's escaped. Call a man hunt, don't let him get too far," the officer pleaded as he collapsed on the ground in exhaustion.

"Call a bus! We need an ambulance! Officers down!" James called to someone as he started to look over the body of the man that gave us the warning.

"Steve's escaped? You're kidding me, right? I thought the officers were good around here. Did no one check out these people to see if they worked with Steve?" I yelled in anger and disbelief. He always managed to get out of it because of his payments and promises to the officers he controlled. If the officer that was bringing him in was one of the guys he paid off, he would let him go to keep his family out of his way. Even if it meant letting Steve back into the world because he knew his family would be safe. That's all that mattered to them, and I couldn’t blame them. I would love to know the feeling of safety and security again.

"Wait, don't call a man hunt!" James called as the policemen and women started to scatter to their specified jobs.

Garrett and I stared at him in disbelief once the words left his mouth. Garrett put his hand on my shoulder to comfort me as anger flowed through me. He was kidding, right? He was just going to let Steve walk around like a free man when he deserved to be behind bars? James was supposed to catch him, this was supposed to be over.

"What are you thinking?" Officer Weston was shocked at the demand.

"I'm thinking, we have the perfect trap here. So, why call a man hunt when we can bring him to us?" James asked quizzically as he looked between Garrett and me, then even his own daughter, Jessi.

"What's the perfect trap you have in mind?" Officer Weston asked, seeing the gears turning in James mind and saw the pieces falling into place.

Chapter 31

I glared at James as he shut the door behind him, "Don't worry, we'll be right here in case he comes," he said as the door clicked shut.

"That's what the cops said last time they stuck me in a safe house," I said with an annoyed sigh as I plopped onto the sofa next to Garrett. Jessi was upstairs sleeping, in order to make it believable that we were staying here for the night and draw in Steve. The plan was to put us in my family's home and have my parents gone for the night. Personally I thought it was a dumb plan, but James was sure Steve would fall for it.

"You've been in a safe house before? What have I missed from your little escape artist act?" Garrett asked with a chuckle.

"You wouldn't believe what you've missed. I spent a week with Jessi's family, looking for you I might add. Only to stumble on to a dead cop that Steve killed, along with multiple rogue cops that would do anything to get me out of their hair. Then I ran through the woods for a while. When I finally found a town where the officers cared about me, they stuck me in a safe house. Steve found me, killing at least one officer and again chasing me in the woods."

"Wow, all I did was run through the woods. I somehow ended up in the wrong town, then got caught by Steve. I had to watch him rape you and then had surgery." 

"I'll trade you," I offered.

"No thank you! I don't want to experience your side of things! I did miss you though, Anna," Garrett said with a chuckle as he wrapped me up tight in a hug. 

"I miss you too, both of you actually. Do you think Jessi's okay by herself?" I asked, glancing nervously towards the stairs.

"You mean you think she's not safe in a bathroom, which has no windows and that she can lock from the inside? I'm pretty sure he isn't going to bust down the door to get to her. So there's no way he would even go for her, so I'm sure she's safe. Just relax."

"Relax? Seriously, Garrett, how can you say that after what we've been through?"

"It's a figure of speech I picked up in the hospital," he said with a small grin.

I groaned, making him chuckle. "Hospital humor is not something you want to have."

"I don't know, at least I got to spend some time with you before you ran out on me."

"Trust me, it wasn't because I wanted to. I could have done without the car crash and the dead officer." I shivered at the memory.

"What's wrong?" Garrett asked, his voice full of concern.

"How did we end up here, Garrett? We aren't supposed to be here together."

"Well, love conquers all, right?" he suggested with a kiss on my cheek.

"I meant in this house. Is it even going to work?" I asked, remembering how my parents had blown a gasket about this plan. They had yelled and screamed their opposition, but it went through. More people wanted Steve caught then for us to have a moment in our lives that wasn't filled with fear.

"I hope it will. When they catch Dad, maybe we can have a normal life. He can go to jail, hopefully never come back, and we can be together." 

"You want to stay with me?" I asked hopefully. I wanted to hear him say it, to know that he honestly wanted to stay with me. I would be heartbroken if he wanted to leave, but I would understand as well. Together we would remind each other of what we went through, but we would also be the only ones to understand each other.

"I would love to if you'd have me," Garrett stated with a small nervous smile played across his lips.

"I would." I gave him a small kiss on his lips that spread a smile across his face.

"Well, that was just touching," I heard a voice come from behind us. Both of us jumped up and spun around to see Steve behind us. There was dried blood on his pants leg from where he was shot, but he didn't seem to be in much pain. Too bad, I was hoping he would be crippled.

"How do you keep finding me?" I yelled in annoyance. Steve just stomped on the only happy moment I had experienced in the last few months, and he always found a way to get out of trouble, then come right back to me. He always managed to find me when I thought I was safe. Where was James? How had Steve managed to slip by him?

"I told you. You're mine, and what's mine I can find." He pulled out a phone and turned it to me so I could see. I was a little blinking dot on his screen. I had a homing device somewhere on my person, just another thing to get rid of if I lived through this. "Now, Anna, what were you thinking? I told you I'd never let anyone find out about what I did to you. I also said you belonged to no one else but me. And here you are making plans with my bastard son to live happily ever after."

"Maybe if you wouldn't take seventeen to eighteen year old girls they wouldn't like me better," Garrett mumbled under his breath.

"What did you say?" Steve yelled angrily pulling a gun from his waistband and aiming it at Garrett's head.

"Nothing. I said nothing," Garrett said with no emotion in his tone as he lied. I watched as Steve mentally debated on whether or not to shoot Garrett. I saw his facial features relax for a moment before Steve spoke again.

"I thought so. Now get over there!" Steve yelled angrily, pointing to the far corner of the room.

Garrett glanced at me with worry in his eyes before he got up from the couch. He took deliberately slow steps as he walked to the corner that Steve was pointing to. Steve took a few steps toward me once Garrett was where he was told to be. Steve's movements caused Garrett to step toward me out of instinct. Steve leveled his gun at Garrett, forcing him back to the corner.

"Now, Anna, say goodbye to Garrett. You'll never see him after this." 

"Why?" I asked with a shaking voice.

"We're going to run away together. Somewhere far away where you can't run off and cause trouble. I'm thinking an island in the middle of nowhere with just us. Where I can have you whenever I want, and you can enjoy the fruits of our labor by having many children," He put his free hand in between my legs and rubbed in an attempt to turn me on.

My mind flashed back to the multiple accounts of pain and torture, allowing the unbearable feeling of worthlessness to wash over me again. I couldn't live through a life like that again. I had to kill Steve, even if it killed me in the process. I glanced at Garrett and mouthed 'I'm sorry' as I elbowed Steve in the gut and reached for the gun. I spun on my heel as my fingers wrapped around the muzzle of the gun and aimed it at Steve. Steve was stunned for a moment, but then he started laughing.

"Are you going to shoot me, Anna? Well go ahead, shoot me!" he said as he outstretched his arms and didn't move any further. "Well?" he asked.

I glanced at Garrett, confused on Steve's sudden acceptance of death. Garrett took a few steps toward me, and Steve held up a hand to make him stop, but Garrett didn't listen. He continued to take steps toward me until he placed his hand on the gun.

"Let it go, Anna. This is exactly what he wants you to do. He wants to make you a murderer so you'll be trapped with him again," Garrett whispered as he tried to remove the gun from my hands.

"I took you, Anna. Killed that precious boyfriend of yours. Had you become my wife, and made love to you multiple times against your will. Then I showed you the evil in people, even those that are supposedly bound to protect you," he stated, listing everything that happened just to make me angry. 

"Anna, don't listen to him. The police will be here soon," Garrett said to me, making Steve laugh.

"I killed them, and your friend, Officer Sparks. If you don't shoot me, Anna, I'll kill your family—your father first, maybe make love to your mother, kill your brother Kendall, and then I'll kill Garrett," Steve spat, causing anger to flow through me as I tightened my finger on the trigger. "Shoot me, Anna, or I'll kill everyone you love, and I'll be the only one left for you!" There was a loud pop that rang out through the room as the gun went off. I glanced between him and the gun in confusion, nothing happened, and Steve started laughing harder than before.

"There aren't any bullets in there, Anna. I took them out before I got in here because I knew you would fight. I didn't think you'd actually try to shoot me, but now I know I'll have to watch you closer," Steve stated as he got to his feet. 

"You should have been watching your back closer," a voice said from the kitchen as officers filed into the room. James slowly moved out from behind the wall, and many more officers stormed into the house from other entrances. "You're under arrest for kidnapping, murder and the list goes on, Steve Bennett. Read him his rights, and do this by the book. I don't want him getting out on a technicality," James stated as he came toward us. "You guys all right?"

"What takes you so long?" I blurted out as I ran into Garrett's arms for comfort.

"We had to take him from inside, otherwise he would have grabbed you again. Would you have preferred that?" he asked with a smirk on his lips.

"No," I stated curtly.

"Come on. This is finally over," James said as another officer handed Jessi to him. She was still in a deep sleep, unaware of what had been happening downstairs while she slept.

***

It had been over five months of sitting in a courtroom, making testimonies, and answering questions for the case. Now, I sat with my family in the courtroom waiting for the jury to make a decision. I had no doubt they would find him guilty of kidnapping and murder at least, but I wanted to make sure he got the death penalty. I wanted this to be put to an end for good and for his name to die, never to return.

The police were still looking into Garrett's abduction to find his family. They couldn’t use DNA since they didn’t want to get the families hopes up yet until they had narrowed it down between families further. They had apparently acquired software used by the FBI in order to use the pictures from the files to see how the children would look around Garrett's age. By using the software they hoped to determine which child was Garrett at a young age, and then contacting the family. Until then, he stayed with my family, keeping me company while we recovered from our ordeal. 

We had been present for the burial for the officers that gave their lives in order to protect ours, the few good ones in Charleston, Springfield and Harrisonburg. The memorial was touching, but it was even better knowing that the police stations had been purged of those officers that had assisted Steve with the kidnappings.

Steve had named some of the officers that hadn't been found on the purge in order to get a deal. He wanted me to visit him; I agreed, but only to make sure the police were completely cleaned. I went to see him once, and he listed the names of everyone that ever worked with him, along with where he had buried the other girls. Now, the officers sat their own trials and waited for the jury's decision, and they were likely on their way to jail along with Steve.

Garrett and I had been together almost two years now. It was a strange relationship to explain to others. They couldn't wrap their heads around the fact we had found each other in a horrible situation and stayed together. Garrett helped when I had nightmares and memories of the rape; he was everything I needed. Now we sat holding hands, while everyone waited for the verdict. A female juror finally stood up and started talking.

"On thirteen accounts of kidnapping, we find the defendant, guilty." I breathed a sigh of relief, but it wasn't over yet. "On seven accounts of murder, we find the defendant, guilty. On one account of sexual abuse we find the defendant, guilty." 

The judge nodded his head once she was done speaking, signaling that the woman to sit down. "It has also been decided that the death penalty will be accepted in this case. Steve Bennett, you'll be held in a maximum-security prison until your execution date can be arranged. Court is adjourned."

I watched as Steve was lead out of the courtroom, before the door closed behind him he called out, "I'll be back for you, Anna!" 

I shivered as Garrett helped me from my seat and led me from the courtroom. People allowed us to leave first, giving us plenty of space, and giving us congratulations on winning our case, but winning didn't ease the pain or erase the memories. I would never be able to forget what he did to me or to the girls before me. He would always be a part of me, just like he wanted. 

Garrett opened the door for me and wrapped me in a hug once we were out of the courtroom. "It's over, Anna. We're free to live our lives." 

"It will take a while to block the memories of it, though." 

"Don't block it all, I don't want you to forget me," he said sweetly as he kissed my lips softly.

"I couldn't forget you if I tried, not that I would," I said with a smile.

"Excuse me. I'm sorry to interrupt, but I have wonderful news." I turned to see Officer Weston standing behind us. He seemed to have aged drastically within the yearlong period, because his hair had turned prematurely gray and there were bags under his eyes from lack of sleep. The trials he needed to be present for had taken a lot out of him and the department. 

"What is it?" Garrett asked, putting his hand around my hip to keep me close to him. He went back to the hospital after Steve was caught in my house last year. He had finally healed properly and now had no problems with moving around.