Highway Don't Care (Freebirds) (21 page)

  Hiding a smirk, I regarded Luke and Sam.

  “I told her to hold off cell communication until it was
absolutely necessary, or if she thought her life was in danger.  Here’s a
map of the hallways.  I have eyes on the inside; I just have to get Jack
to pull the feed up on his phone.  The only place I don’t have them is the
restrooms.”  I said to them both.

  Sensing his need, or maybe just overhearing, Jack
materialized at my right side.  He handed over his cell phone that had the
video feed on it and nodded briskly at Sam and Luke.  There was no
movement in any of the rooms.  Not one single person was milling around,
which meant that they’d moved them into either the girl’s or the boy’s locker
room, which is what I thought they would do.

  The locker rooms had no windows, it was large enough to
fit a large group in, and there were two exits if needed.  Obviously, the
shooters did their homework.  James appeared at the end of one hallway in
clear view of the camera that he knew was there.  He held up three
fingers, flashed them down low, showed a fist, and then disappeared in the next
instant.

  “There are three shooters.  Boy’s locker room. 
Multiple hostages.”  Sam informed Luke.

  Luke nodded, not arguing or questioning how Sam knew
since we’d all seen the same sign.  Luke may not have been able to
decipher it, but since he was a smart fellow, he knew that we could.  We
spent the next fifteen minutes discussing how we would go into the
building.  Luckily, Elliott remembered to bring the earpieces, because now
we would be able to hear and communicate what was going on once we entered.

  “Alright boys, you know what to do.”  Sam said.

  We spread out to different entrances and entered the
building soundlessly.  Jack was my partner, and would help me clear each
room, as well as watch my back, as we made our way to the boy’s locker room.

 With our guns in hand, we set out.  The first hall we
came to was the one that led to the gym.  Once in the gym, Jack went low
and I went high.  With the bleachers stacked against the wall, the gym was
one big open area, and it was immediately apparent that it was empty.  If
the bleachers were out this would have been a different ballgame.

  “Lock it.”  I said to Jack.

  He immediately used the lock on the top of the door,
turned the key, and then slid the key into his pocket once he was done. 
Hugging the wall, we made our way to the other door at the far side of the
gym.  Once there, we opened the door slowly.  Lucky for us it swung
in instead of out. 

  “You’re clear for the next hallway, Gabe.”  Luke
said into our ears.

  “Copy.”  I whispered.

  Easing cautiously into the hall, we locked the gym door
behind us too.  The reason we were locking the doors behind us was that we
didn’t want to lose the shooters in the maze of rooms in the athletic
wing.  With the gates closed off that connected the athletic department
from the rest of the school, we made it to where the shooters only had one-way
out.  If the shooters did run, we wanted to make it to where they couldn’t
escape.

  “Alright, boys.  Still no movement on any
camera.  I can see the boy’s room crack open every now and then, but
nothing besides that.”  Luke said into my ear.

  “Copy.”  Sam said.

  “Copy.”  I said.

  “Copy.”  Elliott said.

  “I’ve got James coming up to your right, Sam.  Try
not to shoot him.  Looks like he’s waiting for you.”  Luke voice
broke the silence.

  “Got him.”  Sam said.

  We continued to make our way down the maze of hallways
and finally stopped once we were at the training room door.  Planting
myself in front of the door, I watched the hallway as Jack entered the room
using the key I’d had made when all the gang business started.  Not that
I’d thought I would be using it for this. 

  “Clear.”  Jack said. 

  Easing into the room, I closed and relocked the door and
headed for the supply closet.  Lowering my weapon, I unlocked the closet
door and swung it open while Jack covered my back.  I wasn’t sure of what
I would find, but never in a million years did this possibility cross my mind.

  I honestly thought that Ember would be just fine.  I
thought I’d get in here, and she would jump in my arms when she saw me. 
Seeing this young girl with the wide brown eyes standing behind Ember with a
knife to her throat was the last thing I would have expected.

  “She fell for it perfectly.  I was told if I came in
here acting hurt, that I could be backup in case the others couldn’t get to
her.  Looks like they were smart to have a plan B, huh?”  The little
girl said.

  “Mari.  You don’t have to do this.  Drop the
knife; I don’t want you to get hurt.”  Ember’s voice quivered in fear.

  The little girl looked like she was standing on her tippy
toes to see over Ember’s shoulder.  She looked barely old enough to
graduate high school, let alone be in college.

  “What about your kids?”  Ember asked.  “Don’t
you want them to have a mommy in the morning?”

  “Shut up, bitch.  I’ll be there for them in the
morning, but you won’t be.”  The girl snarled.

  “You’ve got about two seconds to get that knife away from
her throat or I’m going to put a bullet in your brain.  I don’t care how
old you are, or how many kids you have.”  I said calmly.

   I felt anything but calm though.  Here I was
watching while the woman I love has a knife up to her throat. 

  The other kids that were in the closet huddled in on
themselves.  Each had their head down with their ankles and hands tied
together with tape.  How this girl managed to do this by herself and hold
Ember hostage was nearly impossible. 

  I also wasn’t stupid. 

  “Sleeper.”  I said to Jack.

  He must have been under the same frame of mind though
because his eyes were already moving over the rest of the group. 

  “Let the hostages go.  You can keep me.  Just
don’t hurt my June bug.”  Ember said pleadingly.

  June’s head snapped up and her eyes furrowed.  She
looked completely confused.  I wasn’t though.  She was saying bug
because of the girl who was sporting a ladybug tattoo on her foot.  Jack
and I knew each other so well that when I shifted my gun from the one who had
the knife on Ember to the ladybug girl, he never even questioned.

  Ladybug tattoo girl’s eyes went glacial once she realized
we were on to her.

  The next instant was a complete blur.  Knife girl
went low with the knife.  Ladybug lunged forward gun in hand, and two
things happened at once.  Jack’s weapon and my weapon discharged simultaneously.

  Two barks of our firearms discharging split the still
air.  One went into the heart of ladybug girl.  The other went into
the left side of knife girls head.  Ember went down with startled cry, and
everything returned to real time.

  Jack kept his weapon trained on knife girl who was still
moving, and I went to Ember and lifted her up into my arms.  One glance
and I knew she was in pain.  Standing her on her feet, I scanned her body
and found the knife protruding from her left side just to the right of her
kidney.

  “Stay still, baby.  I know it hurts.  It’s
gotta stay there though, I don’t want to risk pulling it out without knowing if
it hit anything vital.”  I said to her.

  “Locker room cleared.  Looks like the boys cut a
fucking hole in the fucking ceiling and went out that way.”  James said
into our earpieces. 

  “Need a couple of ambulances.  Ember has a knife
wound to the left side, I think it’s just in some fat, but I won’t be able to
tell until someone can bring me a kit in.”  I relayed.

  “Copy.”  Luke said.

  “I don’t have any fat.  You’re a butthead.” 
Ember said weakly.

  “That was weak, my dear.”  I whispered into her
hair. 

  “Gabe, I have to tell you something.  Don’t freak
out.  Okay?”

  Conversations that started with ‘don’t freak out’
normally didn’t turn out good.  For Ember’s sake, I would try not to freak
out though.

  “What, baby.”

  “I’m premmmmt.”  She mumbled into my shirt.

  “What?”  I asked confused.

  She lifted her face from my chest before whispering
“Pregnant.”

  Seconds passed before it finally sank in with what she
said. 

  Sweet Jesus.

  “Did you just say what I think you said?”  I asked.

  “Yes.”

  “How do you know this?”

  Before she could answer, the door opened and the boys
filed in, along with the rest of the Kilgore PD, two firefighters, four
paramedics, and Ember’s boss.  One set of medics came to Ember, and
another went to the girl on the ground.  The other girl was most
definitely dead.  They only glanced at her.  No other reason to
stop.  Her blood was lying in a pool under her body.  It was slowly
spreading outward, creeping bigger and bigger by the second.

  “No casualties.  I don’t know what the fuck the show
was for, but I’d kill to find out.  I feel like we’re missing something
here.”  James said.

  “We probably are.”  I said to James.

  “If that one lives.”  Jack gestured to the girl
writhing on the floor under the care of the medics.  “She’ll know more.”

  Ember’s boss, Mr. Dean, chose that minute to come up to
Ember and see how she was feeling.

  “Ember, are you all right?” 

  “Yes.  It’s only a knife wound.  I’m sure it’s
not that bad.  I think it only went in three or four inches.”  Ember
said with sarcasm dripping from every word.

  Mr. Dean was oblivious though.  He gave Ember
another once over and then said what he needed to say.

  “I hate to be the one to do this, but you are a liability
at this moment in time.  Until this is no longer a problem, you’ll be on
unpaid administrative leave effective immediately.  Your job will be held
open for six months.  Please get this figured out and come back as soon as
you can, I really don’t want to lose you.”

  “I understand, Mr. Dean.”  Ember whispered pain
clear in her voice.

   Tightening my arms around her, I let the day’s
events start to seep through, the ones that I have been holding in check since
I’d first gotten Ember’s call. 

  I felt tired.  Tired of my soon to be wife and
mother of my child being in danger.  Tired of all the drama.  Tired
of the shittiness in the world as a whole.  Just plain tired.  I
needed a break.

  Sadly, that was not in the cards for me right now. 
I needed to grow a pair and get my shit together.  It was going to stop
soon.  I would make sure of it.

  Ω

 
Ember

  “He hasn’t said a word to me, Chey Chey.”  I said
nearly crying.

  “Honey, just give him a few minutes.  Being held at
knifepoint by a psycho bitch all the while he watched is a little nerve
wracking.  I think he’s allowed to be a little scared.”  Cheyenne
said comfortingly.

  “What the fuck do they do around here, grow them
virile?”  Payton asked.

  Payton was a friend of Cheyenne’s she met during
clinicals nearly three years ago.  She was a little ball of spunk.  She
had a larger than life personality, which made up for her four foot and eleven
inch frame.  Her brown hair was a riot of jagged edges that hung to just
below her shoulders in the longest spots.  Every few pieces she had
highlighted it with neon pink and jet blue.  She was solid muscle despite
her midgetness.

  Payton and Cheyenne still ended up being in the same
graduating class, even though both of them took a year off.  Cheyenne’s
excuse was because of the twins.  Payton’s was a lot more in depth.

  Payton was on a date with her boyfriend when a couple of
men attacked them.  Said boyfriend took off leaving the attacker there to
do what he wished with Payton.  It took her nearly a year to come back
from the attack physical attack.  Mentally was a different story.

  “Must be something in the air.”  I said blandly.

  “Yeah, y’alls legs.”  Payton quipped.

  I burst out laughing, and then sobered when I started
thinking about why I was here again.

  Both Payton and Cheyenne were on shift on the OB floor,
which was where I was.  Once in the ER a doctor removed the knife that was
luckily only through the fat of my back, just as Gabe predicted.  They
transferred me to the OB floor for monitoring since learning I was pregnant.

  This is where I met Cheyenne and Payton.  Cheyenne
was furious that I hadn’t called her, but really what did she expect?  Me
to say “Oh hey Cheyenne, I’m on my way to the hospital with a knife wound, I
was held hostage, shooters shot up the college, and oh by the way I got put on
administrative leave until I got my ‘Situation’ sorted out?”

  “I can’t believe I’m pregnant again.”  Cheyenne said
miserably.

  Fortunately, Cheyenne got over it quickly, and then we
went about monitoring the baby.  Gabe followed me up here but left soon
after without a word.  This was the point we were at now.  Two hours
later and still no Gabe.