Shielding the tiny targe.., p.6
Shielding the Tiny Target, page 6
“When is he going to stop being so stubborn and give in and use the walker?”
Serena shrugged. “Who knows?”
Ava knocked twice then pushed the door the rest of the way open and walked in.
“Hi, Mr. Jenkins,” Serena yelled, since his hearing aids were sitting on the tray beside his bed. “Look, you have a visitor, and she brought flowers.”
“Hi.” Missy ran across the room and thrust the flowers toward Mr. Jenkins.
“Well, thank you. Aren’t you a sweetheart?” He brought the bouquet to his nose and inhaled deeply. “Nothing like flowers to perk a man up.”
Ava put the box down on the counter, took the bouquet from him and filled a cup with water. It almost slipped from her grasp, but she fumbled and caught it. She was going to miss this. “How are you feeling?”
“Eh, been better, been worse.” He waved off her concern with a frail hand.
She put the flowers in the makeshift vase, breaking the bottom half of the stems off the broken ones and tucking what remained into the water. “Where’s Mrs. Jenkins today?”
His eyes lit with the smile that curved his mouth. “I made her go home and rest for a little while. Been married sixty-five years, now, and that woman has never left my side.”
“You’re quite blessed.”
“Yes, I am.” He shot her a mischievous grin. “But then again, Mrs. Jenkins is blessed too.”
“Yes, she is.” Ava laughed. What would it be like to have someone to share your life with for sixty-five years? She tamped down the longing. Thoughts like that would only lead to heartbreak. She put the flowers on the nightstand and fussed with them for another minute, needing the time to collect herself.
“She promised she’d bring back some of her tuna casserole later on.” He shook his head and laughed. “You’d think after sixty-five years, I’d have found a way to tell her I can’t stand tuna casserole. Never could.”
A genuine smile touched Ava. Mrs. Jenkins really was blessed. “Come on, Missy. We still have a lot of flowers to deliver.”
She handed Missy another bouquet, hefted the box up and waved to Mr. Jenkins. “Feel better, Mr. Jenkins.”
“Thank you. And thank you for the flowers, young lady.”
Missy beamed. “You welcome.”
Serena walked beside Ava. “She’s getting so big.”
Missy danced in the middle of the hallway to some imagined tune only she could hear, holding up the bouquet of lilies, spinning around, ending with a curtsy.
“I know.” Though every new experience, every phase and every moment with Missy thrilled her, Ava couldn’t help being a little sad she was growing up so quickly.
She knocked twice before pushing open the next door. “Mrs. Romano?”
“Come in, dear.”
“Look who came to see you.”
Missy darted into the room, flowers held high. “Hi.”
“Hello, little one. Are those for me?”
“Uh-huh.”
“Well, aren’t you sweet. Thank you. They’re beautiful. Did you come to read with me today?”
Missy shot a hopeful glance at Ava.
Tick, tock, tick, tock. Sweat pooled at the base of her spine as she glanced at the clock. Run now, or give it a little longer? What would her attacker expect? “Sure, honey. We have time for a story.”
“Yay.” Missy clapped her hands together, wildly waving the bouquet as she did. “Can we read Pooh?”
“Winnie the Pooh it is.” Mrs. Romano propped the back of the bed up higher and slid over a little.
Serena lifted Missy onto the bed beside the older woman and handed her the book from the nightstand.
Ava and Missy often visited Mrs. Romano and a few of the other patients from church when they were in the hospital. Mostly elderly patients whose families didn’t live nearby or weren’t able to visit often for some reason. Unfortunately, Mrs. Romano was battling cancer and spent a lot of time in the hospital. Her son lived in Georgia but came up at least one weekend a month, and volunteers from the church helped the rest of the time.
While Mrs. Romano read to Missy, Ava busied herself with the flowers.
Serena’s cell phone chimed and she excused herself and ducked out of the room.
Hopefully, it would be something to drag her away so Ava could make her escape. She needed to get out of there soon, without stopping to answer questions.
“Oh, dear.”
Pulled from her introspection by Mrs. Romano’s small cry of alarm, Ava whirled toward the bed.
The bottom of the bed rose higher and higher, pushing Mrs. Romano’s legs up.
“Oh, no.” Ava searched frantically for the remote. She pulled Missy up, yanked back the covers, and sure enough, it was wedged beneath her. She pulled it out and pressed the button to lower her legs. “I’m sorry, Mrs. Romano. Are you all right?”
“I’m fine. I was just afraid Missy would fall off.” She laughed as she pressed a hand to her chest and leaned back. “Ready to finish?”
Missy frowned and nodded. “Sorry.”
“No worries, dear. Everything is fine.” She set the book back in her lap and pointed to the picture. “Now, let’s see what Pooh and Piglet are up to.”
Serena came back into the room. “Sorry, guys, but I have to run. Duty calls.”
Ava kissed her cheek and resisted the urge to hug her tightly and say goodbye. No sense pinging her radar. With four kids, one of whom had been as big a handful as Missy growing up, Serena could sense trouble a mile away. As much as she wished she could confide in Serena, to share some of the burden of her past, she couldn’t. All Serena knew was that her husband was a firefighter who’d been killed in the line of duty. Any more knowledge than that might put her in danger, even if Ava did want to tell her the truth.
Ava bit back tears as she watched Serena walk away. “Come on, Missy, it’s time for us to get going too.”
She said goodbye to Mrs. Romano and wished her well. Now for the hard part. She’d googled a satellite image of the hospital while Missy had slept earlier, and she was confident she could find her way to a side entrance that led to a small courtyard behind the parking lot. From there, they’d have to climb over a low stone wall, cross the highway and cut through the back of an abandoned gas station. All without drawing attention to herself and Missy. And if they could make it that far, there was a bus station one block over.
She’d left the box of flowers in Mrs. Romano’s room, taking only the diaper bag with Liam’s flight bag inside it. She clutched Missy’s hand tightly, praying she wouldn’t slip away or cause a fuss in the hospital. “I have a fun idea.”
Missy frowned and looked around as they hurried down a stairwell at the back of the hospital. “I wanna push the buttons.”
“We can’t take the elevator this time, honey. Maybe next time.”
“But I like pushing the buttons.”
“You can push the buttons later. For now, how’d you like to go on an adventure?”
Missy perked right up. “Yay.”
When they reached the bottom of the stairwell, Ava paused. She sucked in a few deep breaths, searched for calm, prayed she was doing the right thing and shoved open the door. She poked her head out and looked around. No one nearby. “See that wall over there?”
Missy nodded.
“We’re going to climb over that, okay?”
“But you always tell me don’t climb on walls.”
She counted to ten in her head as they crossed the courtyard. “I know, but this is different because it’s part of the game. Okay?”
“Uhh...”
They reached the wall. Almost home free. She dropped Missy to the other side and kept a firm grip on her hand as she climbed after her. All that was left was to cross the street and disappear behind the gas station. So close.
She scooped Missy into her arms and fought the urge to run. Almost there. She looked both ways down the deserted street and started across.
The black SUV fishtailed around the corner and skidded to an abrupt stop, blocking her way. He must have been circling the hospital since she went in. She should have thought of that.
A man jumped out of the driver’s side, pulling a ski mask down over his face.
Ava ran. She’d never make it back to the hospital, but if she could make it to the woods, she could disappear. But the bulky diaper bag swinging against her and Missy in her arms slowed her down.
The man tackled her to the ground.
She shielded Missy’s head as she fell, contorting to keep from landing on her, and instead landed hard on her elbow and shoulder. Pain tore through her, even though the diaper bag cushioned some of her fall.
The man stumbled over her but regained his footing and grabbed Missy’s arm. He kicked Ava and yanked Missy out of her embrace. “Maybe now you’ll take me more seriously.”
“No, please. I’m telling you I don’t have what you’re looking for.”
The same cold eyes from the night before pinned her from beneath the black ski mask.
“Then I suggest you find out who does.” He tucked Missy under his arm, turned and fled toward the car.
“No!” Ava lurched to her feet and ran after him. She’d chosen this spot to run because of its isolation, but surely someone would pass by if she could just hold him off.
“Mama!” Missy screamed and reached for her.
The man stopped to open the back passenger side door, and Ava plowed into him.
He backhanded her and shoved her aside.
She hit the car, rebounded and landed a solid kick to the side of his knee.
He went down, his hold on Missy loosening.
Missy squirmed away and ran.
Oh, please, God, don’t let her run into the street. Please don’t let her stay here, because I can’t fight him off alone. Please, help me.
The man circled an arm around Ava’s neck, pressed his other hand against the back of her head. His hold tightened, cutting off her airway, blocking her from screaming for help.
Blackness encroached, tunneling her vision. She clawed at his arm, searched for Missy and found her sitting on the side of the road sobbing. She tried to call out but couldn’t past the arm blocking her throat. Oh, baby, run. Please run.
“Mama! Mama!” Missy’s screams pursued her toward oblivion.
* * *
Jack unlocked the car door in the hospital parking lot and held it open for his mother.
“Thank you, dear.” She took her time climbing into the car, and he wondered if she’d been injured worse than he’d thought.
“Are you okay?”
She paused halfway into the car, cocked her head to the side. “Do you hear that?”
“Hear what?”
She straightened and pointed toward the back of the parking lot just as the child’s screams reached him.
“You stay right there, Mom. Please.” He pocketed the keys, praying she’d stay where she was, and ran toward the screams. When he reached the back corner of the parking lot, he hopped the chain-link fence and crossed a small courtyard.
The child’s screams intensified.
He hurdled a low stone wall at full speed. The instant he rounded a row of hedges bordering the road, the little girl came into view. She sat on the side of the road, sobbing and screaming for her mother. “Missy!”
She paused a moment, turned her attention to him and started to cry harder.
But Jack’s attention had already turned to the man choking Ava. Wild rage tore through him as he ran toward them.
The man looked up, saw Jack coming, and loosened his hold from around Ava’s neck.
Jack never even slowed down. With the full force of his weight, propelled by his speed, he plowed a fist into the attacker’s jaw.
The man released his grip and staggered back against the car.
Ava’s knees collapsed, and Jack caught her as she fell, still watching the man who’d attacked her.
The man’s foot connected with Jack’s stomach before he could block it, forcing him to double over as he tried to keep Ava from smacking her head against the ground.
Before he could straighten, the man slid over the hood of the SUV and jumped in. The tires spun, kicking up chunks of dirt and grass as he hit the gas.
Jack shoved Ava aside, a lot less gently than he’d have liked, and dove for Missy. He scooped her up and tumbled into a narrow drainage ditch with her cradled in his arms just as the SUV lurched forward toward her.
“Are you hurt, Missy?” Keeping a tight hold on her, Jack shot to his feet and started after the retreating vehicle. Mud smeared across the license plate covered the numbers, so he couldn’t get anything, but there was no mistaking the colors of the Florida plate.
“Mama! Mama!” Missy screamed over and over.
Jack stopped short. This was foolish. He couldn’t catch the man on foot. Missy was distraught and possibly injured, Ava was most definitely injured and in need of medical attention, and he could only pray his mother had stayed put when he’d asked her to. He had to let the attacker go.
He took a deep breath and struggled to rein in his anger. He would be of no help to anyone in his current condition. Panting hard, he prayed for patience, for the strength to take care of those who needed him and, perhaps selfishly, for the opportunity to come up against whomever had done this at another moment, when he would be more capable of defending those in need of protection.
“All right. Okay.” He shifted Missy so he could look into her eyes, desperate to get to Ava, but knowing her first concern would be for her daughter. “Missy, honey, are you hurt? Mischief?”
“Mama!”
He smoothed her curls back out of her face and looked into her eyes. Pupils looked good, no visible signs of injury. “I know, baby. I’m going to help your mama, but I need to know if you’re hurt first.”
She looked into his eyes for the first time and frowned. “Fireman Jack?”
“Yes, honey, it’s me. It’s Fireman Jack.”
She sniffed, and her sobs tapered off. He held out her arm and rubbed it. “The bad man pulled my arm.”
No swelling, no bruising, but a red handprint circled her forearm where the man must have grabbed her. The anger surged again, a blazing inferno of rage. “Okay, we can fix that. Did you hit your head at all?”
She shook her head, her blond curls bouncing back into her eyes.
“All right, we’re going to check on Mama now, okay? You stay right next to me.” He crouched beside Ava with Missy clutching tightly to his leg. At least he knew she was there while he examined Ava. His mother, on the other hand, could be anywhere. He had to get help and get back to her. “Ava?”
She lifted her head and scooted up to sit, then gripped her head in both hands.
“Just hold on a sec. The dizziness should pass. You probably just moved too quickly.” He kept a hand on Ava’s shoulder, paid careful attention to Missy’s weight against him, and scanned the area. An abandoned gas station was the only business in sight on the deserted stretch of highway. What were they even doing out there?
“Hey,” a man yelled.
Jack whirled toward the voice as he tucked Missy next to her mother and slid in front of them.
Two men ran toward them from the direction of the hospital. One had a makeshift bandage pressed against his head.
The man in the lead, a burly guy in jeans and a black T-shirt, pointed toward him. “What’s going on over there? Step away from the woman. Now.”
Jack stood and put his hands out to the sides where they could clearly be seen but made no attempt to move from between the newcomers and Ava. “A woman and a child were attacked. I chased off the attacker, but I couldn’t go after him and leave them alone.”
The guy reached them and stopped, his breath coming in harsh gasps from running. He wiped the sweat beading his forehead with his wrist and peered around Jack to study Missy and Ava. “Are they all right?”
“I think so, but someone needs to call 911.”
“Someone already did. We were just arriving to bring my buddy Ron here to the emergency room—” he gestured toward his friend with the bloody bandage against his head “—when an elderly woman came running across the parking lot yelling that a child was screaming and her boy went to help.”
“Did you see where my mother went?” He had to get to her, but he couldn’t leave Ava and Missy with strangers, even though the two newcomers, one obviously injured, were probably telling the truth.
“Don’t worry about her. Ron’s girlfriend had just met up with us, and she stayed back with your mom and called the police.” The man crouched in front of Missy. “Are you okay, hon? Is this man telling the truth?”
She nodded. “Fireman Jack save me from the bad man.”
“All right, sweetie. Don’t you worry. The police are on their way, and we’ll stay with you until they get here.” He patted her head and stood to face Jack. “Sorry, man, but I had to be sure.”
“No problem.” Jack extended a hand, which the other man shook. “I’d have done the same thing.”
A police cruiser pulled to the side of the road, with an ambulance not far behind.
Missy sat curled in Ava’s lap as Ava told the officers what happened and the paramedics examined them.
Ron’s girlfriend pulled up behind the police car, and she and Jack’s mom got out and hurried to them.
Relief poured through him. “Are you all right, Mom?”
She nodded and slid into his arms.
Jack rested his chin on her head and watched Ava as the police questioned her. As he had the night before, he once again got the impression there was something she was hiding. She’d clearly been terrified last night, and his gut had told him it was more than someone breaking into the house.
He was pretty sure whatever happened the night before held the answers he sought. Burglars didn’t typically stick around to take random sniper shots, and why risk hanging around a crime scene with cops swarming all over the place just to shoot a firefighter to prove a point? Unless he’d meant to kill him.
