See Tom Run (29 page)

It would only take a second for them to discover
where he was.

Just then, Tom heard the sound of tires screeching
below him and saw a blast of light bathe the roof where he stood
holding Tracy’s limp body.

It was the cops! Tom glanced over and saw one of the
abductors appear in the window. It was the one who had dumped off
the black girl in the alley. He glanced over at Tom then spotted
the cruiser on the street, its spotlight trained on the window. The
man spun around and was out of sight in an instant.

Tom heard sirens as another cruiser sped up to the
house, followed by a fire truck. One of the cops had gotten out and
was pointing a gun at him.

“Hold it right where you are!” he commanded.

“They are going to escape out the back!” Tom shouted.
“Three men—they have a gun!”

Tom heard more sirens and saw the paramedics pull up
in front of the police cruisers. A second officer got out, drew his
gun and headed toward the rear of the house. The first policeman
continued pointing his gun at Tom. A pair of firemen jumped from
the fire truck and began uncoiling fire hose.

Tom suddenly heard two gunshots ring out from the
rear of the house. A third police officer hopped out of one of the
cruisers and hustled back toward the action. The first officer
still had his gun pointed cleanly on Tom.

“Remain where you are and don’t make any sudden
moves!” the cop warned.

Tom’s arms were numb from holding Tracy’s body. “I
have an unconscious woman here who needs medical attention—she’s
been drugged and is barely breathing!”

The cop called the paramedics over and spoke to them.
A moment later, he said: “Hold on to her and we’ll get someone up
there as soon as the scene is cleared.”

“Okay, but please hurry!”

Tom saw the three men appear from around the side of
the house, followed by the cops. The men were handcuffed.

“Is that everybody?” the cop holding the gun asked
the other officers.

“Yeah, I’m pretty sure. Except for the two on the
roof,” Tom heard a cop reply. “The fire is spreading pretty
quick.”

On cue, the firemen began moving toward the rear of
the house, followed by the paramedics and one of the officers. The
cop motioned toward Tom.

“We’ll be up to get you in a moment.”

Tom watched as the three men were escorted over to
the cruisers, frisked and then placed into the rear of the cars. A
small crowd had gathered and was looking on curiously.

A cop suddenly stuck his head out the window and
aimed his flashlight directly into Tom’s eyes.

“Hold it right there and don’t make any sudden
moves,” he commanded.

“Okay,” Tom replied.

“Do you have any weapons on you?”

“No, sir.”

The cop trained his light on Tracy’s face, frowned,
then disappeared. A moment later, one of the firemen stuck his head
out and surveyed the situation.

“We’re going to get a ladder up to you, mister,” he
called to Tom. “A medic is coming out to take a look at the
woman.”

Tom nodded. The cop appeared again and managed to
climb nimbly out onto the eave, despite his large size. He had his
gun drawn and kept his flashlight on Tom as he made his way over.
The officer gave him a quick pat-down for weapons then focused his
attention on the unconscious Tracy Adams.

“What happened to her?”

“Those bastards drugged her. They gave her some kind
of date rape drug.”

“And what was your part in all of this?” he asked
accusingly.

“I had no part at all in this—I came here to try to
save her!”

“We’ll continue this interrogation once we get you
off this roof,” the cop said. He shone his light on Tracy’s face.
“She doesn’t look very good.”

The officer stepped over to the window.

“You can come out now,” he said to the paramedic on
the other side of the window.

Tom watched as the medic climbed out onto the roof
then came over and knelt down beside Tracy. He opened each of her
eyelids and shone a light into each eye, checked her pulse and took
her blood pressure.

“Do you know how long ago she was given the drug?” he
asked Tom.

“I’d say about a twenty minutes ago.”

“Do you have any idea what drug it was?”

“I heard them say GHB, but there were other drugs
too, I think. He said that there was an anti-nausea drug added
in.”

Tom suddenly heard a clatter and saw the top of a
ladder appear at the edge of the roof several feet away. A moment
later, a fireman came into view.

The medic said, “I’ll hold onto the woman while you
go down with the fireman. We’re going to have to get her back
inside and onto a gurney.”

Tom nodded and let the medic take hold of Tracy’s
arms. The fireman climbed onto the roof, went over to Tom then
helped him onto the ladder.

“Is she going to be okay?” Tom asked the medic.

“I think so. She probably just needs to sleep it
off.”

Relieved, Tom began his descent down the ladder. He
glanced down and spotted that the policeman who had kept his gun on
him all this time standing there awaiting him.

CHAPTER 25

A week later, Tom climbed the stairs up to Tracy’s
apartment, wondering how this was going to go. The last time he had
seen her was when she had been loaded into the ambulance and
transported to Riverside Hospital on that horrendous night when the
shit had royally hit the fan.

He stood at her door and knocked. A moment later, the
door opened and Tracy stood there with a mixture of joy and anxiety
on her lovely face.

“Hello, Tom. It’s so good to see you.”

“Hi Tracy. Nice seeing you, too.”

Tom followed her inside.

“You want a beer?” she asked.

“That would be great,” he replied. He sat down on the
sofa and stared at her as she went into the kitchen. She looked as
beautiful as always in her tight jeans and oversized blue Capital
State sweatshirt. Every time he saw her, he was reminded of why he
had taken the monumental risk of cheating on his wife.

She returned with a Michelob Ultra and an Ice
Mountain for herself.

“Thanks,” Tom said as she handed him the beer. “Have
you missed the booze any?”

She sat down on the sofa a few feet from him and took
a swig of her water. “Not really. I tried one of those
non-alcoholic beers a couple of days ago but it wasn’t quite the
same as the real thing. I’m just thankful that all of those drugs
they gave me didn’t hurt my baby any. My doctor has given us both a
clean bill of health and I plan on keeping it that way.”

“That’s really great to hear, Tracy,” Tom said. He
paused a moment and then said, “Surprised to see me?”

“I wasn’t too awfully surprised when you called me,
but I have to admit I was a little shocked when you said you wanted
to come over tonight,” she replied. “Where did you tell your wife
you were going?”

Tom took a huge slug of Ultra, feeling a welcome jolt
as the cold brew flowed down his palate. He stared over at Tracy
and shook his head slowly from side to side.

“I’m going to
level with you, Tracy—I’ve had more than my share of avoiding
confrontations and beating around the bush with
everybody.”

Tracy gazed at him inquisitively. “What do you mean
by that?”

“I mean that I’ve learned a whole lot about a lot of
things lately. I’ve learned why some things are not better left
unsaid and that there is a price to pay when you turn your head and
look in the other direction when things aren’t going quite the way
you want them to go.”

“Okay, now I’m really confused. What in the world are
you talking about, Tom?”

He took another slug, trying to get his courage up,
grasping for the right words to say.

“Peg and I have split up.”

Tracy was unable to hide her
disbelief. “You
what?”

“We split up. That shouldn’t really come as any real
surprise to you, taking into account all that has happened.”

“Jesus, Tom! I knew she would be pissed at you, but
you always told me that you were madly in love with each other and
that nothing would ever tear you two apart. Did you try to reason
with her?”

“Ha, now that’s a laugh! Tracy, there isn’t anything
reasonable about what has happened—not a damn thing! I’ve been
living a lie with my wife ever since you and I went out on our
first date. Now that she knows about us, she has done exactly what
I knew she would do. I’m not surprised in the least.”

“Oh God, Tom—I’m so sorry! I know how much you love
her and the kids. I never wanted this to happen!”

“It’s not the end of the world—so don’t be too hard
on yourself. If I had to sum up the biggest lesson I’ve learned, it
would be ‘you can’t have your cake and eat it, too.’ You can try
like hell, but it just doesn’t happen.”

“But I can’t believe that she wants to end your
marriage! I mean, it doesn’t have to be the end of the world when a
partner strays in a marriage. She should at least give you a second
chance! You did ask her for a second chance didn’t you?”

Tom snickered. “Oh yeah, I was literally down on my
knees begging her. But it’s one thing having an affair with
somebody and another thing making a baby with that somebody.”

Tracy gaped at him, aghast. “What do you mean by
that? You didn’t tell her—”

“Yes, I did. I told her you were pregnant.”

“Christ, Tom,
why?
You didn’t have to!”

“Yes, I did. I told you I’m sick and tired of living
lies all the time. I wanted to tell her the truth, so that’s what I
did.”

Tracy was speechless. She looked away a moment, took
a drink of her water and stood up. She went over to the window,
parted the blinds and stared outside. Then she turned around and
faced him.

“I can’t believe this! I know what all I said to you
awhile back about this, but now I’m not sure what to say. I mean, I
told you that I wanted you to be the child’s father and to accept
responsibility, but I didn’t really realize what I was asking you
to do at the time. Now I do …”

Tom stood up and went over to her. He held her in his
arms and looked directly into her eyes.

“Listen, Tracy. The last thing I want now is for you
to feel bad about any of this. What you wanted me to do when this
first came up was completely fair and reasonable. We went out
together, had some great times and in the process you got pregnant.
You wanted to keep the baby and you wanted me to accept
responsibility and do the right think by being a father to the
child. And that is exactly what I intend to do.”

Tracy pulled back.
“What?”

Tom smiled. “I’m going to be a father to our
child.”

Tears welled up in her eyes. “God, Tom—don’t do this
if you don’t really mean it. I mean, I can’t take another—”

Tom kissed her lightly on the lips. “Believe me, I
mean it.”

He took by the hand and led her over to the sofa.
They sat down and Tom faced her.

“I’m going to let you in on something that may help
you understand why I have changed my mind about this. But first, I
want you to know that I do indeed love my wife and my kids. And I
want nothing more than for my family to stay together. In fact, if
Peg walked through that door right now and told me to come home,
that she forgave me, I’d go with her in a heartbeat.

“But I really don’t think that’s
going to happen. And if she can’t ever forgive me, then I guess
that’s just the way it will have to be. I’ll get by—I’ll
have
to get by. And I
will always be a part of my kids’ lives in either case—Peg would
never try to alienate them from me; I’ll give her that.

“But the bottom line is that I have to—no, I want to
be a father to this child. I have finally realized that I owe both
of you at least that much.”

As she listened, Tracy’s face wore a range of
expressions. And right now she looked confounded.

“I’m speechless, Tom.”

“I can see why you might be. A lot has happened in
the last week or so that you need to know about. And when I’m done
telling you, I think you’ll understand why I feel the way I
do.”

Tom proceeded to tell Tracy about the dream from
beginning to end, and all of the events leading up to his meeting
with Mindy Conkel. It was during his account of that meeting that
Tom became uncharacteristically emotional.

“In a nutshell, I visited her and learned that she
had two kids, a young boy and a girl. Both were too young to have
been the child she had been pregnant with. So I just came right out
and asked her what had ever happened to the child that had
supposedly been mine. She told me she had aborted it.”

Tom realized that his voice had trailed off and he
had to force himself to maintain his composure. It wasn’t easy.

“Oh, Tom—” Tracy said. “That is so sad.”

“Well, I won’t sit here and pretend that this news
didn’t hurt. Not only did it mean that I would never know my child,
but I realized that I was the reason she had an abortion. I hadn’t
made any effort to hear her out, or to even consider the
possibility that this was my flesh and blood we were talking about.
Nope, instead I just basically told her too bad, so sad and went on
my merry way. And look what happened. That baby never had a
chance.”

Tracy placed a hand on Tom’s shoulder. “God, Tom.
This is horrible. But you can’t totally blame yourself for this.
She made the decision not to keep the child, not you.”

“No, I helped her make the decision by default. By
not giving a shit or even acting like I gave a shit. That’s what
iced it.”

They both fell silent. Tom took a drink of beer and
shifted uncomfortably on the sofa. Tracy stared at the window, lost
in thought. A few moments later, Tom spoke.