Boomtown (26 page)

  I tried to curl my arms protectively around my stomach but they stopped with a snap, and I realized that they were secured to the bed post with zip ties.  He eyes were scanning my body and finally settled on my stomach.  The floor dropped out from under me and I prayed that the babies would be alright. 

  “Do you know who I am?” the man asked.

  I shook my head and willed myself not to cry.

  “Malcolm ring any bells?” he asked me, staring me straight in the eyes.

  My breath caught in my throat.  Oh shit.  Oh fuck.  I had a feeling, but having it confirmed made my situation seem all the more horrible.

  “Y-yes.” I stammered out.

  “Good.  So you know what happened to Sam’s other girl?” Malcolm asked me.

  “Yes.” I whispered.

   He nodded and then walked over to the table where the medical supplies were sitting.  He picked up a scalpel and then came to me, standing over me.

  “The last one wasn’t alive when I did this.  You better not move too much or your baby might get hurt.” He said to me.

  Pure terror enveloped me.  I panicked.  I had to get him to talk.  I had to stall for time.  Sam had to know where I was.  I was still wearing my tennis shoes, and Sam told me that he’d planted a tracking device in three pairs of my shoes, which is why I only ever wore my tennis shoes out anymore.  I only had to wait a little bit longer and Sam would be here.

  “Why are you doing this?” I said, trying to sound strong, but the quiver in my voice betrayed how truly scared I was.

  He gave me a reproachful look and reached for the shirt that covered my belly.  I could feel the babies moving, and for sure Malcolm was able to see them moving too. 

  “He doesn’t deserve to be happy.  I’m not.  I spent four years of my life in prison because of them.” He said.  “Now I’m going to take away everything that means something to them.”

  He sat down on the edge of the bed and placed his hand on my stomach, feeling them move.  I flinched when his palm rested against the skin of my belly.  Never had I had someone touched me on my tummy that I didn’t want to.  It felt wrong in all ways.  His hand felt sweaty, and I recoiled.  He caressed my belly like Sam did, and bile rose into my throat.  When Sam did it it, it felt beautiful, and now here Malcolm was doing the same thing, tainting the wonderful memory. 

  He sat like this for a few minutes, almost like he was in a trance.                                                                                                                       

  He placed the sharp blade against my skin on my left lower belly and let the scalpel run lightly over my belly.  I didn’t realize that he had actually cut me until blood started welling up into a line exactly where the scalpel had run.  It didn’t take long until an excruciating burn followed and I screamed.

  “None of that now.” Malcolm said, placing his hand over my mouth.

  I was breathing heavily, trying to control myself.  It wasn’t a deep cut, but my brain didn’t understand that.  All I could think about were those precious faces that I just saw on the ultrasound.  My sweet girls.  Oh please Sam, please hurry. 

  “I’ll let the baby live, I’ll place it right beside you just out of your reach so you can’t touch while you bleed out.  Then I’ll come back for the baby so Sam will know what he has before he loses it again.” Malcolm said hollowly.

  “The baby won’t survive if you take her out this early.  She is too small.  There is still three more months to go!” I cried out desperately. 

   “You are as big as that other woman of Sam’s and she was full term.” He said to me.

  “It’s twins.” I whispered.

  He grinned evilly and stared at my eyes for long moments.  Mine were pleading with him to wait.

  Malcolm seemed to come to a decision and jumped up off the bed and reached into his pocket.  He looked at the screen, punched a few things in and nodded.  He threw the scalpel down on the floor and lifted the blanket so it covered my stomach. 

  “I’ll be seeing you later.” He said to me, and then walked calmly out of the room.

  I closed my eyes and breathed a sigh of relief.  Thank you Jesus.  I prayed that he wouldn’t come back to finish it, and if he did that Sam would finally be here.  I felt the blood trickle down the side of my stomach on a warm glide that felt like a tear, and then my eyes started welling with their own tears and slipping over.  Never would I have thought I would have to experience something so terrifying.  If I hadn’t been pregnant I would have fought, but since I had two other lives to think about now, I played the calm rational person, but I was anything but that.  I was freaking out.  What kind of monster was he?

SAM

  My brows furrowed as I saw that Max was calling me.  I hope nothing went wrong with Cheyenne’s appointment.  Cheyenne was normally the one who called me after the appointments, to tell me how they went.   

  “Yeah?” I answered.

  “Chey’s gone.  Her purse and a few pictures were on the floor outside of the office door.  Get Jack to pull up her GPS unit.” Max wasted no time in telling me what the situation was.

  I put the phone onto speaker and yelled for Jack.  He burst into the office at a run at the sound of my tortured yell for him. 

  I quickly explained, and he had her GPS pulled up in a matter of seconds.  This felt like forever though.  Every second that I didn’t know where she was, it felt like a little something was breaking off inside of me.  I watched Jack work, and her GPS showed that she was located at a motel about ten minutes away.

  Jack stayed in the office in case we needed more info, but Gabe and Elliott were able to come with me.  James was at a meeting with our former CO about the Malcolm situation.   

  None of our resources had panned out.  Even my father had struck out.  We were trying everything we could to try and find him, but he was like a ghost.  His family had the money and resources to keep him hidden for as long as he wanted.  It also helped him do anything he damn well pleased.  His luck would run out eventually. 

  Unfortunately he had gotten to Cheyenne before we could get to him. My heart was burning up in my chest.  A rage was burning so hot I felt that I could explode from it at any minute.  A terror that I had never felt before was coursing through my body, something that I had never experienced, not even when my father beat my mother and me.  I prayed that we would be able to get to her in time.  I was making a deal with God that if he could spare her, I would do anything.  I’ve never been much of a religious person, my childhood showed me that life wasn’t fair, that you couldn’t depend on just God, but I was praying anyway.  Anything that could give her a chance to survive this, I would do.

  We made it to the hotel in less than five minutes, all of us weaving through traffic, running red lights, and disobeying every traffic law ever written.  We passed a cop, but we were going so fast he would never catch us.  When a motorcycle was running top speed, no one would be able to catch it. 

  I took the stairs three steps at a time until I made it to the fourth floor, boots pounding behind me.  The elevator just wasn’t quick enough.  The desk clerk said a pregnant woman and a man were checked in room 409 after only a small amount of persuasion, mainly in the form of muscle from Gabe.

  I burst into the hallway, and noticed the stairwell door at the end of the hall just closing.  I reached behind my back and took my .40 caliber Glock from the pancake holster at the small of my back, coming up to the door, about to barrel through it when they took a hold of either arm and stopped me. 

  “Calm down and think, man.” Gabe said to me.  “You won’t help her if you’re dead.”

  I nodded and took a few extra breaths, trying to calm my breathing and brain down so I could think.  I succeeded in gaining a small amount of control, and nodded my head, indicating that I wouldn’t lose it. 

  Gabe took up the other side and Elliott stood in the middle.  Elliott raised his foot and used the bottom of his boot and planted a solid kick right beside the door jamb.  The door slammed open and struck the wall, imbedding itself in the drywall behind the door.   

  I glanced around, saw Cheyenne on the bed, and nobody else in the room.  I nodded for Gabe to check the bathroom, and headed straight for the bed, Glock still in my hand.

  She had her big green eyes on me and followed me with her eyes as I crossed the room to her.  I sat on the side of the bed, and took her in.

  “Are you okay?”  I asked her.

  “M-my stomach.  He cut me.  I d-don’t think it’s too bad, but h-he was going to cut them out of me, but I argued and told him they wouldn’t survive if he took them now.”  She stammered out to me. 

  I reached for the blanket and yanked it down exposing her big belly and a straight line that went from hip bone to hip bone was exposed.  It was slowly oozing blood.  I hissed through my teeth.  Rage was like a big ball in the pit of my stomach, and it was growing bigger and bigger the longer I sat here.  I took a deep breath and then let it out.  I quickly pulled the comforter back up, putting pressure over the cut with my whole arm.  The babies were kicking up a storm, and I took comfort in that as I turned to Gabe and took the towel that he holding out to me.  Elliott was busy untying her hands from the bed rail. 

  “Ambulance is on the way.  Maybe five more minutes.” He said to me.

   I nodded, and replaced the comforter with the white towel, and placed my hand on her cheek. 

  “It’s not very bad, baby.”  I said to her.  “Like a scratch.”

  She smiled a watery smile, and let out a small laugh.  

  “You are a terrible liar.  I know it’s not just a scratch, but it’s also not very bad, just superficial.  I think he intended to cut them out of me though.  You surprised him.  Thank God you thought to put that in my shoe.” She said while lifting up her shoe and wriggling it.

  The paramedics made it up to the room then, motioning me out of the way and taking over.  They agreed that the cut was only superficial but thought it best to take her to the hospital just in case.  I rode in the front of the ambulance while the guys followed behind on their bikes, mine being left behind until someone could fetch it for me. 

  I called James to let him know that his sister was alright, and that she was being taken to the hospital.  We argued on whether he needed to come or not, but I explained to him that it was likely we wouldn’t be there for much more than a quick check.  James told me he would pick the girls up and that they would be staying with him at the compound, where he recently took up living since his mother took a semi-permanent job in Florida on the coast. 

  I thanked him, and sat back letting my head rest against the head rest.  I absently twirled the ring on my left ring finger.  It brought me comfort, calmed me down, and reminded me of what I now had in my life.  Marrying Cheyenne was the second best thing that ever happened to me, the first being the babies.  I still could tell you every single second of what happened at the wedding. 

Chapter 19

  Cheyenne decided that we should move the wedding date up, and we had it the weekend following her accident.  Her mother, Daina, was home for another week, and my mother flew in with her husband Jonathan.  My mother, Daina, Ember and Cheyenne spent the next week planning the wedding down to the very last detail.  

  The night before the wedding she slept over at Blaine and Elliott’s house.  Blaine, Ember, and Cheyenne spent the entire night gorging on junk food and caffeine while Elliott stayed out of the way, trying not to pull his hair out.

  I was told to arrive at Whispering Lodge at Eighteen hundred hours, and to not forget my nice boots.  The previous venue was booked, so the women found the next best thing, or so they said.   Personally I would have been happy with a Justice of the Peace and a meal at Ihop, but that would not do for Cheyenne. 

  I arrived at the Lodge twenty minutes ahead of time in the new Suburban that I had purchased just that morning.  Luckily business was doing well, so I didn’t have to wait for the insurance to issue a check.  I parked towards the corner of the lot so we could have easy access to the exit when we were ready to leave.  I got out, and walked into the building keeping an eye out to my surroundings just in case.

   Gabriel had the privilege of hanging with the women this morning, and I am sure he was having a super time.  I received texts hourly on how awful it was, but everyone else was busy with other things.  Plus he had a thing for Ember, and probably wouldn’t trust anyone else to take care of her.  James had stopped by with the girls, but it was easier to get things done when they weren’t there to undo everything.  James was actually supposed to be here any minute.

  I walked into the Lodge and smiled when I saw my mom running busily to and from this and that giving orders.  I missed the hell out of her, and I was lucky that she was able to get here on such short notice. 

  I called her the day after finding out about the twins.  The conversation was still fresh on my mind since it had surprised me so much.  She had answered the phone warily, since the last time I had called her was to tell her that I had spoken with my father.

  “Hello?”  My mom said.

  “Hey, Ma.  How are you doing?”  I asked her.

  “I’m doing okay.  How are you?” she asked back, going along with the nice conversational tone I had set.

  “I’m going to be a father.” I just came right out and said it.

  The phone fell and landed on the floor with a crash, and I could hear my mother screaming and yelling, and Jon in the background asking what the fuck she was carrying on about.  I just smiled and waited for her to get it together.  It had taken quite a while, and Jon picked up the phone to ask me if I knew what the fuck was going on.

  “I told her I was going to be a father.” I said.

  “Well I’ll be damned.  Is it that chick that you met at the bar?” he asked.

  “Yea, it’s that chick.” I said laughingly.