Chapter 34
CHAPTER
JUST AS COLLEEN was making her way toward the duffel bag, Madison appeared from the hallway.
“How’s our patient?”
Colleen jumped, startled. “Oh! I’m sorry, Miss Clark. You surprised me.” The nurse held her hand to her chest to calm herself.
Madison’s eyes flashed. “That’s Mrs. Hunter.” Her eyes combed the bed, and me, checking that everything was as it should be. “She’s not giving you any trouble, is she? She’s cooperating?”
Colleen cleared her throat, returning to her professional voice. “Yes, she’s progressing nicely. I’d say another hour or so, and we should be about ready to push.”
“Good.” Madison shot me an expression of pity and disdain. “You’re almost done. Then this will all be over, and you’ll never have to see me or Max again.”
I glared back at her.
Madison looked around the room, as if she were itching for something constructive to do. “Maybe I should start loading up the car, then, Mother?” She walked out.
“Get the gun,” I whispered. “Quickly!”
But before Colleen could even take a step, Nora and Madison appeared again with a load of supplies.
Max was still in the back room. Colleen’s and my eyes met; we were both getting anxious.
What if they moved the bag, and we couldn’t get to the gun?
How would we protect ourselves as we tried to escape?
Before I had a moment to think it over, a bad contraction hit.
I tried to breathe my way through it, with Colleen gripping my hand for support.
All of a sudden, I felt a strange sensation in the pit of my belly, similar to when the baby would kick me, but more like a pop, followed by a wetness between my legs.
“Oh my God—what’s happening? What was that?”
Colleen grabbed a pair of latex gloves and snapped them on. Running her hands along the insides of my thighs, she looked up at me and said, “Your water broke.”
My head flopped back as I sighed with relief. “That’s normal, right?”
“Yes … but it also means things are probably going to start progressing a lot more quickly now,” she said, a note of caution in her voice.
Nora and Madison walked back in the front door. Madison made her way to another stack of diaper boxes as Nora looked over at the two of us. “Colleen, how are we doing?”
“Her waters just broke,” she reported.
“That’s excellent news!” Nora gave Madison a satisfied smirk; she smiled back greedily. “How far dilated is she?”
I whimpered as Colleen’s fingers explored me again.
“Um, about eight centimeters now. Getting very close.” Her eyes flickered toward mine. They looked full of regret—and defeat.
Max emerged from the back room, rubbing his eyes.
“Oh, good, sweetie, you’re awake. Savannah’s waters just broke. We’re getting close!” Madison clapped her hands like an excited child.
“That’s great news, babe.” He put his arm around his wife’s shoulders and kissed the top of her head.
“Sweetheart, have you decided which outfit you want to take the baby home in?” Nora asked her daughter.
“Oh, yes! Wait till you see!” She moved the black leather duffel to the kitchen table.
As she was about to unzip it, another contraction hit me.
I felt as if every organ inside of me was being squeezed within an inch of its life as white-hot pain exploded from within.
I let out another huge scream. Just before my eyes shut tight, I saw Madison roll her eyes and gesture for her mother and Max to follow her into a back room, where they could ooh and aww over baby outfits in peace.
She took the suitcase with her—and the duffel bag too.
Dammit!
A few minutes later, Nora and Madison were back. I panted, trying to catch my breath.
“But I don’t want you to go, Mother. Can’t you stay?” Madison whined.
“I wish I could, sweetheart—but you know the plan. I have to establish our alibi. I’m going to the hotel in the city and I’m going to check in on social media and post the picture you and I took there last week. It’s very important.”
Madison sighed. “You’re right.”
“You have the burner phone, right? And I have mine. All you have to do is call me if you need me.”
“Okay.”
“I can’t wait to see my baby with little Charlie the fourth, at last. We’ll all be together soon.”
“I love you, Mom.”
Nora kissed her daughter’s cheek and exited the cabin. A minute later I heard her car pulling away, just as my next contraction hit. I screamed as loud as I could, successfully driving Madison back into the bedroom with Max.
As it passed, I looked at Colleen again, my face stricken. Our plan to take the gun was ruined—the bag was now in the back bedroom with Madison and Max.
“Time is running out, Savannah. If we don’t get you out of here soon, we won’t be able to stop the baby from coming. What are we going to do?”
“Do you have a phone?” I whispered.
“I do—but when I got close to the park I started losing my signal. We’re pretty far out here. I can try and get a message out though.”
I nodded.
Colleen grabbed a worn blue backpack from the kitchenette counter. She retrieved her phone from a side pocket, and I faked more screaming while she tried to get a signal.
A moment or two later, she looked up, her features pinched. “I’m on the park’s WiFi and I’m trying to send my sister a message through social media, but the signal is very weak. The circle just keeps spinning when I press send.”
My next contraction hit, hard. I screamed. Colleen coached me through the breathing again. As the pain eased up, we heard yelling in the background.
“Max!”
We heard scuffling and thumping, and then a loud crash.
“What did you do to Max?”
Colleen’s and my eyes met, wide with alarm. What was happening back there?
Then—of course.
Jenna.
The chloroform had worn off. She was awake—and fighting.
My eyes met Colleen’s again. “This is our chance, Colleen. Untie me. Now.”
The noise created by the fight in the back bedrooms masked the sound as Colleen ripped the Velcro straps off my ankles, then started unthreading the straps that held my upper body down.
“Where are your car keys?” I asked, panicked.
Colleen ran over to her backpack and unzipped another pocket, pulling out her car keys. She dropped them into the pocket of her scrubs and rushed back to the bed.
Not a second later, we heard a loud scuffle, and Madison screamed, “You bitch! I’ll kill you!”
Suddenly the fight burst out of the back bedroom and into the hallway, where Colleen and I could see some of what was happening from the bed.
We watched with wide eyes; Madison had Jenna by the hair on the top of her head.
Jenna’s hands were flailing around desperately and finally connected with Madison’s throat.
I saw the veins in Madison’s face puff out and turn purple as Jenna squeezed.
Without taking her eyes off Madison, Jenna yelled, “Savannah! Get out of here! Get help!”
Colleen’s and my eyes met again, and though we didn’t speak, our message to each other was clear.
Now or never—it’s go-time.