Chapter 21
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
The sun was low in the sky when the call of a single motor vehicle accident came over the two-way radio.
Everyone had convened at the Hunt VFD headquarters.
Julian had spoken to Cass one of his colleagues at Alliez Security, who was a computer whiz, to see if she could get any pings off Cerise’s phone.
Sheriff Searle had arranged for a welfare check at Poppy’s house in case she was involved.
The news had come in an hour ago they weren’t there, and Poppy had been found unconscious on her living room floor. She was currently being airlifted to a hospital in San Antonio. Brodie didn’t know the details of what happened, but he hoped she would be okay.
The rest of his team had been doing a walk around the festival area, as well as Hunt, to see if there was any trace of Cerise and Finn.
They’d found her purse on the side of the road, just beyond the town limits.
Her cell wasn’t in it and Brodie hoped somehow she had it with her.
Yet every time he called, it went straight to her voicemail.
The second the call came through about the accident, he knew. He didn’t know how or why, but he would bet his whole fortune that it was her and Finn.
“It’s her.” He voiced his thoughts out loud.
“You don’t know that, son,” Gene said quietly.
“I know it as surely as I knew something had happened to her. It’s the only thing that makes sense.”
“Richard’s on his way, and I’ve called in Chris and Dean to go to the scene. Once they get there, they can let us know if it’s her.”
As much as he respected Gene, there was no way he was going to sit here and wait for news. “Not happening, Gene. I’m going on that call. I’m a paramedic and you’ll need my skills.”
“It’s too personal for you.”
“Really? Do you think I’m going to sit back and do nothing? That is the woman I love. The boy I love too. I want to make a family with them. You’re not stopping me.”
He stared the other man down. No way was he going to back away from this. He was going to that accident site.
Gene dropped his gaze, but not before he saw the hint of admiration in his eyes at Brodie’s determination. “Fine, but you better make sure you keep yourself in check. You hear?”
“Yes, sir.”
He raced out of the common room and went to grab his gear. Chris and Dean were doing the same. “You okay, Dice?” Chris asked.
He hadn’t realized he’d been rolling his dice around in his hand. The action was a subconscious one, but he popped the plastic cubes back in his pocket. “I will be once I get there.”
Dean looked at him in his quiet, measured way. “If I need to, I’ll pull you away from the accident site and sit your ass in the truck.”
“You won’t have to.” He had no doubt that Dean would follow through with his words.
“Right. Let’s roll,” Chris said.
Together they hurried out to the rig, Dean behind the wheel, Chris in the passenger seat and Brodie sat in the back.
It was weird that the rest of the team wasn’t with them, but they were still searching on foot.
Brodie wanted to tell Gene that it wasn’t necessary, that Cerise had been found, but he knew he couldn’t do that. It wasn’t his place.
The drive seemed to take forever and the sun sunk lower in the west, spreading rays of orange and pink across the darkening sky. It was beautiful to look at, belying the dark cloud surrounding him.
“How much farther do we have to go?” he asked Dean.
“In about half a mile we’ll be at the scene.”
“Thanks.” He would use that time to attempt to drain all his emotions. He needed to go back to the paramedic he was before he quit. Get to the place in his mind where he was able to not feel anything when dealing with victims.
They rounded the corner and Dean slowed the rig. Brodie moved to the right to see out the front windshield. There were three police cars, but he couldn’t see the vehicle that had been involved in an accident. As they got closer his gaze narrowed in on the little boy wrapped in a blanket.
“Shit, that’s Finn.” His stomach dropped to his feet.
“Get ahold of yourself, Dice,” Dean cautioned.
“I’m good, Dean. I’m good.”
The second the rig stopped, he had the door open and he rushed over to where Finn stood, with a police officer close by.
The boy must have heard the pounding of footsteps because he looked up quickly.
When he saw it was Brodie, the relief on Finn’s face was palpable.
The boy dropped the blanket and closed the short distance between them.
Brodie squatted down and hauled him close. “Are you okay? Do you hurt anywhere? Where’s Cerise?” Looking over at the accident scene, there was no sign of Cerise.
“I’m okay. My chest hurts from the seatbelt, and I hit my leg on the door, but Cerise promised she’d keep me safe and she did.”
Brodie was glad that he was okay, but where the hell was Cerise?
“Dice, get your ass over here,” Chris called out, urgency lacing his tone.
Brodie took a few seconds to hug Finn again. “You stay with the officer. I’ll be back as soon as I can.”
“Help Cerise, Brodie. Please?” The boy’s face crumpled and tears ran down his cheeks. Brodie’s stomach dropped but he would push it all aside because Cerise needed him. And he would do everything in his power to save her.
Every bone in Cerise’s body ached. Even her eyelids hurt. She tried to shift to get into a more comfortable position but that only caused the pain to intensify to the point of being unbearable. She moaned, and hell, even that hurt.
A warm hand landed on her arm. “Hey, it’s Nadia. You’re okay, Cerise. A little banged up but you’re going to be fine.”
Hearing her friend’s voice, everything that happened floated into her mind. Being kidnapped.
Accident.
Finn.
“Finn, is he okay?” Again she moved, the need to get out of bed huge, but her body rebelled and screamed at her to keep still.
“Finn’s fine. He’s with Mitch’s parents. Brodie made sure he was looked after before he came back to be here with you. In fact, he only left moments ago to call and check to see how he’s doing.”
There was so much she wanted to ask Nadia, but the edges of her consciousness were becoming foggy, and she guessed that Nadia had given her a dose of pain relief.
“Love him,” she whispered.
“I know, and he loves you too.” They were the last words she heard before the fog engulfed her and dragged her down.
The next time she woke, she tentatively moved her legs, and the pain was a little more bearable.
Her mouth was dryer than the Texas panhandle in the middle of August. She didn’t think she’d made a sound but, the next second, an ice chip was being run over her lips.
Opening her eyes she connected with Brodie’s gorgeous blue eyes.
“You’re here,” she whispered.
“Always, Sparkles.” He dropped a kiss to her forehead before he sat down and clutched her hand, careful of her IV. “How are you feeling? Do you need more pain relief?”
“No.” She probably should but she wanted to talk to Brodie. She needed to find out if Finn was okay.
“Finn. Where is he?” Although she had a feeling, she should know this.
“He’s at the ranch with Mitch’s parents. He’s being well looked after.”
“What day is it?”
“Tuesday. You’ve been going in and out of consciousness for the last few days. You hit your head pretty hard when the car crashed.”
Cerise closed her eyes and the memories of the accident and what happened leading up to it, became clearer than they were when she’d first woken up with Nadia in the room. “What about Ed? What happened to him.”
“He died from his injuries. He’s not going to hurt you or Finn or Poppy again.” Brodie brushed his thumb across the top of her palm, the touch soothing and comforting. “Can you tell me what happened? At some stage the police will want to come in and talk to you about it as well.”
She let the memories wash over her and started talking. “Finn and I stopped at the tent where you could buy model airplanes, cars and trains. He wanted to make them with you.”
“He still has them, in case you’re wondering, and I can’t wait to build them with him.”
“That’s good. Anyway, we were walking to meet you when Ed stuck a gun into my side and made us follow him.
Finn was amazing. He stayed calm and did everything I told him to.
Ed took my purse and threw it out the window.
I don’t know where it landed.” She took a moment.
Talking was tiring her out, but she needed to get the story out to Brodie.
“We’ve got your purse. Someone found it just outside of Hunt. Finn told me you’d thrown your hat out the window as well, so before I took him to the ranch, we went searching for it. I was anxious to get back to you here, but he was adamant that we find your hat.”
“Is he really okay?” The fact he’d demanded that they search for her hat meant the world to her.
“He is. He’s eager to see you but I wouldn’t let him come while you’re hooked up to machines. I didn’t want to worry him unnecessarily.”
“Thank you for that.”
“What happened to cause the accident? The police weren’t sure if another car caused it, but they discarded that theory because they believed the other car would’ve stopped. Did a deer dart out onto the road? Did he swerve to avoid it?”
“No. I made him crash the car.”
“What?” He didn’t say the word excessively loud but, with the way her head was beginning to pound, he may have screeched it from the tallest building.
“I decided I would try and make him crash the car. I did everything I could to make sure Finn was safe. When I saw my chance, I took it and leaned over to the front of the car and yanked the wheel. I made sure that the driver’s side would get the impact of the collision.
” Her throat was drying up. She reached out for the small cup full of water, sitting next to the bowl of ice chips Brodie had used earlier, but her muscles protested the movement.