Frost (12 page)

"Who?"
 

She pointed past me to the door. "The guy with the missing hand."
 

-14-

Brian Bishop stood in the door to the room, my gun in his remaining hand, pointed at Amelia and I. "Nice to see you again, Detective Frost. You and I have some unfinished business." He brought his other arm up, his right one, the stump swathed in bandages. I doubted he went to any reputable doctor or physician to get it bandaged. "You're going to tell me how you did this. But first, we're going to get out of here and you're my ticket."
 

The cop part of me already had a visual in my mind of the exits. Besides the one Bishop stood in front of, another door faced it behind me. That door lead out into the corridor and was visible from the nurse's station. Other than that—the only other exits were the windows. And there was no way Amelia was going to be able to run out of any of them.
 

It was up to me to reason with this twat and then somehow kick his ass in my less than limber state.

Sweat beaded up on Bishop's face and his hair stuck to his forehead. My vision blurred for a second and I blinked to refocus. I was very aware I wasn't sweating as much as I should.
 

And that was bad.
 

"I don't know what you mean," I prompted. Maybe I could keep him talking and someone could come in. There was the fifty fifty chance that someone would get shot, unless I tackled him myself and drew his attention to me.
 

He took two more steps toward us and held up his stump. "
You
did this. I took that hand to a doctor and he said it was frozen all the way through like it'd been in the deep freeze for weeks. All you did was touch it."
 

"You saying I froze your hand? You know you sound really crazy, don't you?"

"Maybe. But that doesn't change the fact you did it. That's not right, Frost. It ain't natural. So I figure you gotta be unnatural."
 

"Bishop—whatever beef you have with me, it doesn't involve her. So let her roll out of here so you and I can talk."
 

He laughed. And it wasn't a good laugh. "I need her here to keep you in line, Frost. Think about it. I considered using Dr. Heine, but I figured out that it wouldn't have the same impact if I killed her. But, if you failed to do what I want, killing this frail little sick kid would hurt you the most, wouldn't it?"
 

I felt I should be relieved that he hadn't targeted Sarah, not with our child growing inside of her. I figured he didn't know she was pregnant and thanked whatever powers there might be she wasn't showing.
 

"Jack," Amelia's voice was barely a whisper behind me. "Is he going to kill you too?"
 

"Not till he gives me what I want," Bishop said and stopped two feet in front of us, his gun still aimed at my chest. I could see the sweat on his brow, rolling down his neck and staining his shirt. "Now, Detective. You're going to pick her up and take her where I tell you."
 

I started toward him and he shifted its barrel from me to Amelia. "Don't. I've been practicing since yesterday. And at this distance, I can't miss. Pick her up."
 

Turning back to Amelia I winked at her as I bent over and scooped her out of the chair and into my good arm. She weighed next to nothing and the sudden movement sent her into a coughing fit. I spotted blood on my sleeve and leaned my head to her as she wrapped her arms around my neck. "Use my sleeve if you need to."
 

She looked at me with luminous eyes, the blue of her hat accenting the blue in her eyes. "Can you do it? Did you freeze his hand?"

I didn't want to lie and I didn't want to tell her the truth because the last thing I wanted to do was feed this man's delusions. I'd noticed his sort of erratic movements and assumed he was on some pretty power if not illegal drugs to stop the pain from his missing hand. So I didn't answer. But I was pretty sure Amelia figured it out.
 

"Good boy. Now, go around me and know I've got the gun on her face. Go back through the door I came in and turn right."
 

I did as he said and once in the hall I turned right. No one stood around because they'd vacated to other floors. He pressed the gun into my back. "Forward until I say stop."
 

Bishop led us down the hall to the stairs. Amelia turned the door knob for me as I shifted and pushed the door open with my hips. I assumed he wanted to go down. So when he said to press the button for the top floor I felt an even greater pang of panic.
 

"Jack," Amelia whispered. "You look awful. And your skin's all hot. Are you okay?"
 

I wasn't. But I had to hold on long enough to keep her safe. I had to make sure Amelia wasn't harmed by this asshole. If I passed out now she'd fall and possibly break her neck. And if she didn't, she'd be at the mercy of Brian Bishop. I'd read the report and knew what'd he done to his own daughter.
 

It was unacceptable.
 

The building was four stories and once we got to the roof he had me push it open. He'd already unlocked it. The heat from the sun reflecting off the roof was too much and I stumbled. Dizziness took me down to my knees and I could feel the heat through my jeans, imagining it searing the cotton fibers.
 

"Jack!" Amelia screamed as her bare foot hit that searing hot tar. I pushed her up on top of my shoulders as I clung to consciousness.
 

Abruptly she wasn't in my arms anymore. I tried to grab her but couldn't. Bishop had her, his handless arm tucked under her arms. The way he held her like a football pissed me off. And I used that rage to push through the exhaustion, through the pain lancing up and down my left arm and side, through the ache in my heart, and stood up. He was backing up with her in his arm, the gun pressed into her neck.
 

"No closer, Frost! You tell me how you did it. If you don't, I shoot her. And even if you kill me," Bishop sidestepped a piece of wood and moved closer to the edge of the roof. "It won't matter. 'Cause she'll be dead."
 

"Bishop," Even to me my voice sounded hollow and tired. "It's not what you think it is—"
 

"YOU FROZE MY HAND OFF!" He bellowed this and his voice echoed off the taller buildings around us just as a helicopter came flying up and around from the hospital's heli-pad. The police must've figured out what was happening.

The helicopter hovered over us and I caught sight of a man sitting outside of the vehicle's door, strapped to the landing rails. A shooter. Oh God no…if they shot him he'd drop her over the edge of the building for sure. And even if he didn't, what if the bullet hit Amelia? It might have been they didn't care—she was a terminal patient—and Bishop was wanted for the murder of Donna Blankenship.
 

 
Either way it was enough of a distraction to give me a head-start as I took off at the clumsiest run I'd ever made. Don't let anyone ever tell you it's easy to run with one arm tied behind your back. Or at your side. Because it's not.
 

"Don't shoot!" I screamed.
 

Bishop looked at me but aimed the gun at the helicopter. No! That bastard knew if the shooter saw the gun he'd fire! "You know what I want, Frost. Tell me how you did it!"
 

A crack reverberated around us as the shooter in the helicopter fired. Bishop swung to his left and I thought I saw the spray of blood, flesh and bone. Whether or not the officer knew the specifics of what was happening, he'd aimed for a non lethal part of him, and they aimed away from Amelia.
 

But even believing these things, I knew he was going over the side. I knew it from the second he got so close. Because it was fate, wasn't it? That all things come around to right the void Nature abhors.
 

Even as they fell together I was in the air. I didn't remember jumping, or running, or even leaping. But I was airborne and hurdling down as fast as I could toward the screaming little girl in that bastard's arms. My right hand wasn't bandaged anymore, and my left arm was no longer bound in a sling as I reached out to her. Our fingers touched before I grabbed her wrist, twisted around and pulled her from his arms. The faster I moved, the colder the world around me became.
 

Power infused my fall and I realized too late I'd made my choice.
 

-15-

I WILL NOT LET HER DIE!

The sound of Amelia screaming my name echoed around me as I fell. She was in my arms now and I held on to her as I closed my eyes. The comforting, cool crisp air enveloped me from all sides as I pulled Amelia into me with the intent of taking as much of the fall as I could. I didn't want her to feel pain.
 

And then…

We weren't falling anymore.
 

I felt her warmth against my cool chest and opened one eye. We were on the ground beside the building. Rusted cans, a broken toilet, discarded styrofoam food cartons littered the ground. I knew we were in the woods behind the back of the wing. Trees hid us from view overhead, trees alive with a thick canopy of foliage I knew shouldn't be there. Those trees should be bare and the ground cold.

"You...you can land now." Amelia said in a soft voice.
 

I looked down and gasped. I wasn't standing on the ground but hovering inches above it. That's when I caught a glimpse of the pale white skin of my elbows, my wrists.
 

Tiny hands touched my cheeks and pulled my attention to her. Brilliant blue eyes smiled up at me as I looked into Amelia's smiling face. "Now you look more like you should." A frown crossed her brow. "But not quite. It's like you're still just halfway there."
 

That's when my feet touched the ground and I bent a little at my knees with the impact. Amelia gasped. I thought it was because I stumbled a little, but she pinched my cheek and put a hand to my hair. "You changed back!"
 

Changed back?
 

Changed back from what?
 

"Amelia!"
 

"Frost!"
 

"Detective Frost!"
 

People were beating their way through the woods. The helicopter pilot probably saw where we went down. I panicked—how was I going to explain what happened to them? We fell four stories and just—landed safe and sound?
 

"Jack!"
 

I turned to see Crow making his way through the small forest. I stared as he approached—a bit winded in the heat—and reached out to take both of us into one of his bear hugs.
 

Amelia squealed and I grunted until he let go and stood back. He reached out and put a hand on my shoulder. "You saved her, Jack. You did it."
 

"But—" I looked down at Amelia. She was watching us, wide eyed. "Did I—was this the moment—"
 

Was I changed now? Was I what my brother had been?

When he shook his head I nearly fell over. He took Amelia into his own arms and then I did fall over because my hand and my shoulder lit on fire. A group of uniforms and medical personal came through the trees at that moment. Amelia started protesting, wanting to know if I was going to be okay. Not once did she tell them what I'd done.
 

What I'd become for the briefest of moments.
 

"It's okay, little one," Crow said in a soft voice as a man in a white coat took her from him and another checked her pulse. "Jack's going to be fine. He just has a few boo boos."

Boo boos?
 

As they started taking my vitals Rucker showed up. The woman was everywhere!
 

"Detective Frost," she said as she came to stand beside Crow and glared down at me. "I see you didn't follow my orders."
 

"Ma'am, there was a little hiccup this morning with Brian Bishop—"
 

Her hand came up and I stopped talking. "I know, detective. I just saw his body. He took the same first step you did—and with the little girl in his arms, so says the shooter in the helicopter—and yet where his head's bent backwards, yours and the little girl's are still in tact. Why is that?"
 

I really had no answer to give her.
 

"I think he got caught in the trees," Crow had his hands on his hips, looking up at the canopy that protected us from the sun. "See there? And there where the branches are broken? And I think that over there is a piece of Amelia's blanket." He looked down at her. "I'm thinking they're lucky they didn't get skewered by a tree branch."
 

The look she gave him read like
you're full of shit
but I got nothing else to believe
. Either way, she smirked at me before she turned to leave.
 

"Captain?"
 

She stopped and looked back.

"You still want me to take time?"
 

"Until your doctor clears you. And winter decides to show up. For now, get out of here and go get married." With that, and a wink, she stalked off through the trees.
 

"I think she likes you, Jack."
 

* * *

When the doctors were sure I didn't have any life threatening injuries, other than the ones that miraculously disappeared and then unfortunately reappeared, Crow escorted me down to see Amelia. She was tucked into a bed in the same room Jason had used. I didn't know if she knew that, and I didn't mention it. She looked sleepy but relieved to see me.
 

Crow stepped out, telling me he'd be in the hall when I was ready. Amelia put her hand on mine. "How come you changed back? Is that how it works? Did Jason do that?"
 

"I don't know how Jason did it. I'm not even sure I did change."
 

Her eyes widened. "Oh no, I saw it. Your skin got so pale, and your hair was white!" Excitement clouded her expression and she squeezed my hand. "Maybe Jason's promise will come true?"