How to Save a Life (28 page)

Grasping my stomach, I pulled away from his hold and began coughing and trying to catch my breath, taking deep gasps.

“That’s so you don’t try anything. You will clean up your mess that you made with your own clothing, then we will go on about our merry way." He turned on his heel and walked a few feet away from me.

I finally caught my breath enough to where I could stand upright once again, but not without pain. I was surprised that Pate took it so easy on me, but then again after I get his precious car cleaned up that might be a different story.

My hair had now come out of my twist that was secured on my neck due to his unnecessary roughness, but everything to Pate was justified.

Before I slid back into the backseat of his car, I looked around the vacant parking lot to see if I could tell where we were. Nothing caught my eye because there was literally nothing around. We must have been on the outskirts of Brown County. No trees or shrubbery in sight so my first idea of making a run for it was nixed. There was no place for me to run to so it would have made it less than difficult for Pate to quickly catch up with me especially since I would’ve been on foot and him in a car.

I untied my apron from around my waist so I could begin cleaning up the mess, no telling how long he would give me. I very carefully glanced his way to only find him on his cell phone. Good, so he wasn’t paying close attention to me.

I reached for my purse taking out my cell phone and first dialed Tessa’s number. I couldn’t hold the phone to my ear in case he turned to check on me, so I laid it in the seat and hoped that after waiting a few seconds she would have picked up.

I knew that I couldn’t talk long or too much, so I kept it very brief and to the point. “Tessa, help me!" I said at almost a whisper then hung up the call. I didn’t know if anything would come of it, but at least someone would know that I was in trouble.

Sliding my phone back into my purse, the knife that I took from The Diner was staring me back in the face. I looked back to make sure Pate was still on the phone, in which he was. I contemplated if I wanted to be that person, to take matters into my own hands. I was fearful for my life and for my son’s life. It would be worth it in the end to not have to constantly live in fear or worry about Pate lurking in the shadows for his perfect chance.

Who knew what would happen to me if I didn’t take this chance. I had made my decision, I just hoped that it would be the right one.

I finished cleaning what I could of my sickness and slid back out of the car the same way I came in. I slowly and meticulously moved towards Pate, who still had his back to me and his phone to his ear. He never could live without his phone being attached to his hand and at this time I was purely thankful for it.

I pulled the knife out of the pocket to my uniform dress and I continued creeping as quietly as I could. I prayed that he wouldn’t take this moment to turn around and check on me, if so I would have to react much more quickly than I intended to.

I dug deep down and tried to remember all the times Pate hurt me, either by forcing me to have sex with him or literally beating me. I brought all of those feelings that I felt and what I was going through to the surface and went with it.

I wasn’t going to be the victim anymore. If there was any one thing that I had learned from my time being with Mike and being away from Pate, it’s that I was brave. I was a brave woman fighting for her freedom and to keep myself, but most importantly my son safe.

Drawing the knife up, I was ready to strike, but at the very last moment Pate started turning around. But he had no idea that I was right behind him, ready for that element of surprise.

Mike

It had already been one hell of a shift and I finally had my first moment of the day to rest. I took what time I could to lay outstretched on my cot with my arms folded behind my head just looking at the ceiling. I had never really noticed all the cracks that were apparent, but then again this building was pretty old.

In Brown County, all of the emergency services were housed in one building in a centralized location in town. That meant that the Sheriff and Fire Departments, the Ambulatory services and dispatch were altogether. It made sense to have it together and being each service had different floors for their rec rooms and cots, it worked out. I hardly ever had to deal with Ethan Bradley and when I did I just made sure to keep my distance.

Still staring at the ceiling, I thought back over the last few weeks without Sheridan in my life. It was back to being dull and lifeless as it was before she came into my life. I hadn’t even really seen her since that night at Emmy Lou’s. I had heard through Brock that Ben was now living with her and that his wife and mother had been taking turns watching him.

It was hard to hear Brock go on and on about how well Ben and Blake played together. Being so close in age, I supposed that it was good that they each had someone to play with.

I was happy for Sheridan even if the feeling of jealousy outweighed that happiness. Don’t get me wrong, I was glad that she finally had her son with her, but it should be me with her and not Ethan.

The intercom came on and signaled that we had a call but that both ambulances were needed.
Great,
I thought to myself as I hopped up off of the cot, another bad wreck was the first thing that ran through my mind. I hustled down the stairs to the bay where the ambulances were kept and climbed in the passenger seat where Todd was already ready and waiting in the driver’s seat.

“I guess it’s bad enough that we need both buses, huh?" I asked Todd as I pulled the seatbelt across my lap and latched it securely.

“Yeah, but the location doesn’t make sense. It’s just outside of Brown County, where there is basically nothing left. Remember when they tore down those empty buildings a few years ago because of the squatters? That’s where it is. There is really only empty parking lots."

As we bypassed the town, I was beginning to feel more and more uneasy about all of this. Something was niggling in the back of my mind that I wasn’t going to like what was going on.

My phone rang on my hip and it was Sheriff Hennings so I didn’t hesitate in answering it. Sometimes he called us ahead of time to relay what the situation entailed.

“Jameson," I answered into the phone.

“Mike, its Charlie. I just wanted to give you a heads up on the scene that you will be coming upon." I heard him take an audible swallow.

“It’s Sheridan…"

A million different thoughts raced through my mind and in the end every single one had the same outcome. I couldn’t lose her. I had already lost Hannah, I couldn’t lose Sheridan too.

“Todd, you’ve gotta step on it. It’s Sheridan, you’ve gotta
move
!"

There was no way in hell that it would take us those twelve minutes to get to her. Even with it being a little farther than the runs that we were used to, there was no way in hell that I would let it take us that long.

I had my medical kit ready and waiting on my lap and my seatbelt unbuckled before Todd skidded the bus to a stop in front of the scene.

Both of the Sheriff’s Department vehicles were in attendance, which included Charlie’s Camaro since he wouldn’t use the standard issued vehicle that was provided to him.

The other ambulance came up moments behind us as they followed the entire way, even speeding up when we did.

Since I was the head paramedic on duty I directed them to the other victim and I ran straight to Sheridan.

Of course Deputy Bradley was in my way and I didn’t hold my displeasure of him being so close to her.

“Back up Bradley so I can assess the situation." I tried to keep it professional but really I just wanted him away from her.

He quickly moved out of my view and I saw Sheridan sitting up on the asphalt with tears streaming down her face, wielding a cloth covering her arm.

She held her arm close to her body, so when I crouched down to her level and reached out for it the first thing she did was look at me with those piercing green eyes and then the dam broke loose letting the obvious tears she had been holding back run free.

Before I took a look at her arm, I had to breathe a sigh of relief. She was here, she was breathing. I knew she would be alright.

I had to hold myself back from enveloping her in my embrace. I needed to remember that she wasn’t mine.

I gently took the cloth off of the wound and began looking at the injury. My head snapped up to her, “This is a knife wound." I could tell by the depth and the placement of the cut that it was from a knife.

I wanted to get up to see who the other person was, but I couldn’t be away from Sheridan. Although I had my suspicions, Sheridan confirmed them for me just a few moments later.

“Mike, I’m alright." The worried expression on her face told me that she wanted to get through to me that she was indeed fine. “It was Pate," she insecurely lowered her head to where she was looking at the ground.

My blood began to boil and I had to control my urge to go over there and finish off Pate myself. But there was no need to.

“He’s dead." Those two words were the next to escape through her lips and she almost sounded as relieved as I immediately felt.

I couldn’t hide the smile that was starting to form on my mouth as I asked her, “Did you..."

She shook her head, “no," quickly banishing that notion from my thoughts. It didn’t really matter at the time, she was safe and she was right in front of me.

Deputy Bradley crouched down beside us but was ignoring me as he spoke only to her, “We are going to have to get your statement."

“Not in my bus you aren’t. She has to get to the hospital for stitches and to make sure that no tendons were injured. You want a statement on the way to the hospital, you get Charlie to do it." Quickly chiming in, whether my opinion was warranted or not. It was
my
watch,
my
bus, he followed
my
rules.

He let out another sigh of displeasure as he returned to his full height, “Jameson, we need to talk…
now!"

“Later, I’m busy." I was working on wrapping up her arm so it would stop the bleeding so she could take the trip to the hospital, with me.

“Fine, you don’t want to listen to me Sheridan you can burst his bubble on the way."

She creased her brow and quickly tried to shake off his request, but it was too late, Ethan had already walked away.

I didn’t want to try to think of what she would say that would burst my bubble so I tried focusing on getting her arm in transporting condition.

Getting to my feet, I helped Sheridan up and noticed she was limping, I didn’t even take a look at the rest of her. I tried to stop her on the way to the ambulance, but she refused and climbed in sitting on the stretcher still holding her arm in front of her.

She wouldn’t even look at me now. But her defiance let me peruse the rest of her body and I saw that she had some cuts and abrasions on her left knee. It even looked to the extent of a few rocks had embedded their way into her skin.

Whatever happened out there she didn’t go down without a fight. I couldn’t have been more proud of her.

Right before Todd closed the back doors to the bus, Charlie quickly slipped inside complete with his statement clipboard.

So it looked as if we were going to get to the bottom of what happened on the way.

Since Sheridan’s injuries weren’t life threatening we didn’t have to speed or turn on the sirens, so we had plenty of time during our ride.

“So, Sheridan, I’m going to tell you what I know, then I want you to fill in the gaps." Sheriff Hennings started.

He was in complete professional mode, but the sadness lurking behind his eyes showed to me that he cared above and beyond his line of duty.

“I tell you what, I feel like I’ve been on a constant adrenaline rush ever since I received the call from Tessa." He sat back slumping in his seat, trying to relax a bit.

I didn’t understand what he meant, why would Tessa know anything?

“Ok, here is what I know. Tessa called me directly stating that she got a call from you on your cellphone and all you said was ‘Help Me.’ She called me right after you hung up the line. I’ll have to commend her for her quick work and she did so without a quirky comment too." He grinned which in turn made Sheridan grin. It was then I noticed the little cut near the crease of her mouth.
That bastard
.

“She told me that you were supposed to be at work so that was my first call. When Archie told me that you had left sometime earlier and he thought, you seemed a little strange but just shrugged it off. I’m sure he’ll ream your ass later for not saying anything to him." Then he gave her a little wink. “Anyways, I called my FBI contact and good friend Hunter Severin to see if he could trace your cell phone. Smart thinking for you to keep it on so it could be traced and for not getting caught using it. Your bravery was the key to me finding you." Elation soared deep within my chest, she was so brave for what she went through.

“But I’m not brave. I thought I was. But in the end I couldn’t kill him. I had changed in a way to where I knew that I wasn’t going to go down without a fight as I had in the past, but I also couldn’t bring myself to his level. I’m not a bad person and I wasn’t going to have that on my conscious. But if you hadn’t shown up when you did Charlie, then I don’t know what would’ve happened. Maybe something in me would’ve snapped and I would’ve went ahead with it, but now I’ll never know. But I’ll also never have to live my life in fear ever again." Sheridan went on to tell us exactly what all happened, from her throwing up in his car because she knew he wouldn’t be able to stand it so he would cut her free. He fucking tied her up using zip ties as if she were an animal. The way I was feeling if he weren’t dead, I would’ve finished the job myself.