Risky Extraction

Chapter 28

“I’m telling you, these guys are fucking robots.” Aaron sat back on the chair.

Allyson listened while Aaron, Crash, Keith, Nick, and James discussed the men arrested at the warehouse. They’d had several charges placed against them, but not one asked for a lawyer or responded to any questions from the police.

“That guy they called Torch, we had him in the room for six hours, and all he did was stare at the wall.” Aaron went on.

“The other three are not much better. I’m starting to wonder if they speak English at all,” Nick interjected.

“They’re well trained. I remember Torch when I was in Alberta. He didn’t speak very much, but he does speak English.” Crash sighed.

He’d told Allyson that Emir had been the guy he bought the pills from back in Alberta, but he’d known him as Snapper. Evidently, the guy is good at hiding his accent or faking one. He was a Chameleon.

“Did you know any of the other guys?” James asked.

“I don’t think so, but I didn’t get a good look at the others. The only reason I remembered Torch was because of the scar.” Crash shifted in the chair and winced.

His face was bruised, but most of the swelling was gone. His body was still black and blue, and it would take a while for his ribs to heal completely. He’d slept in the recliner since he was released from the hospital because he said it was easier to get up and down. Allyson wished she could help him more, but he refused to take anything stronger than Advil.

“I wonder how he got that scar,” Keith said.

“He was definitely burned,” Allyson remembered the guy who glared at her.

“You saw him?” Crash didn’t look happy.

“They were taking him out when I was going in to help…” she stopped before saying Witt’s name.

She still couldn’t believe he was gone. The guy was an arrogant ass, but he didn’t deserve to die. She still didn’t know why he was there, but that was for the police to figure out. She shivered when she thought about what could’ve happened to Crash.

“I’m still not finished with you for letting her and Sidney come there,” Crash said, pointing a finger at Keith.

“Like I said, I had to take them or run them over. Would you rather I did that?” Keith smirked.

Crash glared at him, but Allyson knew he wasn’t mad at his boss. Neither she nor Sidney gave the man a choice, and Keith was not about to waste time trying to drag them out of the jeep.

“Did Felicity help at all?” Crash asked.

“She said he’d taken her to the warehouse and told her it would be turned into a place to help veterans. What a crock of shit he gave her. She did say he’d been looking at other property, too, but wasn’t sure where it was located. Other than that, she wasn’t much help.” Aaron sipped from the cup in his hand. “She did say she was surprised he’d come looking for Axel because, from what she knew, Axel hated Titus. Of course, she didn’t know he wasn’t Titus.”

“Axel hated the man. He and Dale were close,” Crash told them.

“How is he doing, by the way?” Nick asked.

“They’re releasing him tomorrow. He’s been quiet, but he knows Felicity wasn’t involved.” Crash had talked to him after she’d dropped in to see him.

“So, no chance of them reconnecting?” Allyson asked.

“Not a chance. As far as I know, she left this morning to go back to Nova Scotia.” Crash shifted in the chair.

“We should let you get some rest.” Keith stood up.

“I’m fine,” Crash said.

“Yeah. Sure.” James chuckled. “Broken ribs are not painful at all.”

Allyson was about to walk the men out of the bunkhouse, but her phone rang. She didn’t recognize the number but answered it anyway since she was still waiting for some calls about transferring her insurance to the clinic.

“Hello,” Allyson answered.

“Hi, Allyson. It’s Julian Burgess. How are you?”

“I’m good. How have you been?” Allyson walked into the bedroom because the men were getting louder as they left.

“Great,but I haven’t seen you around the hospital lately. One of the nurses said you’re going into private practice,” Julian said.

“Yes, here in Hopedale. I’m taking over for Sean O’Connor because he’s retiring,” Allyson explained.

“Wonderful. I’m calling to talk to you about that. I wanted to get you some samples to put in your clinic. Could we meet somewhere?”

Allyson wasn’t in the mood to deal with his energy, but she’d never sat down with him to talk about what he sold. Usually, if she had questions on different drugs, she’d call her sister, but maybe going into private practice would give her a heads-up on new medications coming out.

“I’m actually not available right now, but let me take your number and get back to you. I’ve got some personal things going on,” Allyson explained.

“Oh, no. Nothing serious, I hope,” Julian said.

“Nothing I want to discuss right now, but let me get your number.”

Allyson walked back into the living room, grabbed a notepad from her purse, and wrote down his name and number.

“Give me a couple of days, and I’ll call you.” Allyson dropped the pad and pen on the table.

“I’ll look forward to it. Don’t forget now, but if I don’t hear from you in a few days, I’ll touch base with you again,” Julian pushed.

Allyson rolled her eyes—typical salesman.

“Sure,” Allyson said.

When she ended the call, she turned. Crash sat on the edge of the recliner, trying to use the coffee table to get to his feet. He was trying to push himself so the kids could come back to the bunkhouse with him, but his family insisted he get well before he tried to take care of two babies.

“Caleb called me earlier,” Crash told her as she sat down on the couch.

“What did he say?” Allyson reached across to hold his hand.

“He wanted to make sure I didn’t go to heaven,” Crash shook his head. “Said he missed me.”

“I’m sure he does. Maybe we can get them to come over for a little while tomorrow. At least he can see you are okay,” Allyson suggested.

“I don’t want to scare him with all this.” Crash pointed to his injuries.

“We can explain it’s just a booboo.” Allyson linked her fingers with his.

That night, Allyson tossed and turned. She couldn’t get her mind to shut off because she kept going back to the day she’d gotten home, and her patio door was open. It had been weeks ago, but it had to be connected. When she finally drifted off to sleep, she was woken by shouting.

“She’s got to know about this.” Aaron’s voice drifted in from the living room.

“I’ll tell her, for Christ’s sake, but I’m not waking her,” Crash returned.

“Too late.” Allyson stepped into the room.

“Shit. I’m sorry.” Both men looked apologetic.

Allyson crossed her arms over her chest as she waited for one of them to fill her in on what was so vital. They glanced at each other, and each one motioned for the other to say something.

“I don’t care which one it is. Tell me.” Allyson sighed.

“Allyson, your house is on fire,” Aaron told her.

“What?” She gasped and grabbed the wall to steady herself.

“I got the call, and I came right over here.” Aaron stepped closer to her. “It’s pretty bad.”

“Why wouldn’t you wake me right away?” Allyson looked around her brother-in-law to lock eyes with Crash.

“Because I heard you tossing and turning all night and know you didn’t sleep much. The fire department is there, and there’s nothing you can do until the fire is out.” Crash pulled out a chair for her.

Allyson eased into the seat and tried to slow her heart. Everything she owned was in that house, not to mention things from her and Bethany’s childhood. There were things she couldn’t replace. Her mother’s homemade quilts and the things she’d kept for Cameron that belonged to Trent were irreplaceable.

“I want to go see it,” Allyson rasped as she stood up.

“There’s really…” Aaron began, but she held up her hand.

“I need to see if anything will be salvageable.”

She didn’t wait for an answer as she made her way to the bedroom to get dressed. Now, she was convinced everything going on with Crash and the patio door incident were connected.

Her entire street was blocked off from one end to the other. Thankfully, the houses were not close together, so there was less danger to the other residences. Allyson covered her gasp with her hand when she saw the black soot rising from the place where her house was. Flames flicked out of windows, and streams of water from the firehoses caused heavy steam to fill the air.

“They aren’t going to save anything, are they?” Allyson whispered as Crash wrapped his arm around her.

“I don’t know, sweetheart.” He kissed the top of her head.

“You shouldn’t be here. You’re still…” she began, but he pressed his finger to her lips.

“I wouldn’t be anywhere else,” he replied.

“Mom,” Cameron shouted from the other side of the street.

He ran toward her, his eyes huge as he watched his childhood home burn. Allyson wrapped her arms around him and tried to hold back the tears.

“What happened?” Cameron asked.

“We don’t know.” Crash glanced around.

Something in the way he was scanning the spectators told her he was looking for something suspicious. She didn’t know what it was, but he seemed to think it was all related as well.

For over an hour, the firefighters fought to douse the flames and make sure to extinguish the fire completely. By the time it was out, her house was gone. A shell of the former dwelling remained, steam still swirling from inside as firefighters sprayed water over what Crash called the hot spots.

“It’s all gone,” she sobbed.

“It’s only stuff, Mom. Nobody was hurt. That’s what’s important.” Cameron wrapped her in another hug.

“He’s right, sweetheart. It could’ve been so much worse.” Crash ran his hand up and down her back.

“I know you’re right, but there are things I’ll never be able to replace. My mom’s quilts and pictures and that stupid bat were valuable to me,” Allyson said with a snort.

“Mom, I have one of Nanny’s quilts, and I’m sure there are copies of pictures with Aunt Bethany and Pop. Hell, Uncle Oliver probably has a ton.”

Leave it to her son to always find the silver lining. He was right, though. It was just a house and things. She could replace it all, but the people she loved could never be.

Crash and Cameron finally convinced her to head back to the compound. It was getting close to supper time, but she couldn’t feel any less hungry. The only thing she could smell was smoke, and she was desperate to shower away the smell. Cameron headed to the other bunkhouse to get cleaned up while everyone else headed home.

She stood and let the hot spray flow over her. Her body shook as the sobbing began, and when the shower door opened, she was on the floor with her arms wrapped around her legs.

“Baby, come here.” Crash helped her to her feet.

The slight wince made her feel worse because he was still injured, but he simply turned her away from him. At first, she didn’t know what he was doing until she felt his hands in her hair, and the scent of her shampoo filled the enclosure.

Crash gently massaged her scalp as he washed her hair. Allyson closed her eyes and let her mind try to shut out the past week’s events. It was all too much, Crash’s abduction and the fire, not to mention still having to worry about some psycho who wanted Crash dead because he couldn’t get his hands on Sidney.

Crash rinsed and conditioned her hair and then washed her from head to toe. When she tried to stop him, he pushed her hands away and continued to clean away the horrible day.

When he finished, he quickly washed himself, and then they stepped out, and he wrapped a towel around her. Allyson found Crash in the kitchen, smiling when she finished dressing. Two plates sat on the table covered with stainless steel domes.

“Isabelle dropped off supper for us and Cameron. Cam took his food with him,” Crash explained.

Isabelle O’Connor-Young was Keith’s cousin and owned A Taste of Hopedale, one of the top fine-dining restaurants in the province. The food was incredible, and since the diner had been closed for a few days, she’d taken over sending the food to the compound. According to the O’Connors, if someone needed to be there, they shouldn’t have to worry about cooking, even though there was a fully functional kitchen in each bunkhouse.

“That family is so wonderful.” Allyson sat down at the table.

She wasn’t hungry, but when Crash lifted the lids, the smell of the food made her stomach suddenly decided food was a good thing. The plate contained fresh steamed vegetables with pan-fried cod fish covered with a special sauce known as drawn butter.

“You’re not wrong.”

Crash poured them both a glass of wine from the bottle Isabelle had obviously left. It was chilled and opened so they could drink it with their meal. Chardonnay was one of her favorites, but that probably wasn’t the reason she chose it. Isabelle prided herself on pairing the proper wine with a meal.

“That food was amazing,” Allyson said when she finished.

“So was the company.” Crash smiled.

“The company was exceptional.” She reached across the table and placed her hand in his.

“I wish I could take you in that room and end the night making love to you,” Crash whispered.

“I’d be happy being in your arms. I know you’re still having pain.” Allyson lifted his fingers to her lips.

“That I can do.” He stood up and tugged her to her feet.

“Are you sure you can lay flat now?”

She didn’t want him to be uncomfortable because of her, but he nodded and shut off the lights. He was careful with the way he crawled into the bed, but once settled, he motioned for her to come closer. They lay in silence, and she let out a contented sigh.

“I shouldn’t feel this relaxed after losing everything,” she whispered.

“You still have me.” He kissed her temple.

“That”s better than anything in that house.” Allyson placed a kiss on his cheek.