Chapter 14
Holly laid on the forest floor. She moaned a little as pain ached throughout her head. She grumbled a bit and staggered to her feet. Someone had clubbed her over the head hard. She was alone, she yanked out her gun from her ankle holster, her eyes firing around. It was quiet. She glanced up through the trees, she had been heading away from the sun during the search. She glanced at her watch, and now she had to head away from it again.
She
turned and made her way as quickly as possible back to her car.
She finally
found it and headed back to the station. She wondered who had
clubbed her.
She’d gone out by herself after the cops from the department had
already got
out.
She
saw all the squad cars had left, they weren’t trying very hard
unless they
found something and had to go back.
She
pulled into the parking lot and headed in. She felt a little dizzy
from the
bump on her head, but it could have been worse. As she rushed
inside, she saw a
group of men and women standing, drinking cups of coffee from
their Styrofoam
cups.
She
turned when she heard the door open. In came Justin, holding
tightly
to ‘her.’ Holly rushed forward, “Justin,” she collapsed
into his
warm, muscular body. “Oh, Justin, someone attacked me.” She began
to sob.
Justin
let go of the other girl and gripped Holly’s arms, but he pushed
her back from
him, “What happened?”
“I
don’t know, I was out looking with the others, and then I remember
waking up
just a little bit ago after someone hit me in the head.” She began
to cry
again.
Bree
moved back from Justin and the other woman. He had known her
longer, of course,
he’d be there for the other woman. She obviously needed someone.
She stepped
back a little further and ran into someone.
“One
six nine,” the voice behind her whispered.
Her
eyes grew wide. No, no, no. She spun, and staring her right in the
face was
Burly. She scrambled away from him quickly, tripping over her
feet, and landing
hard on the floor. She tried to scream, willed herself to scream,
but it
wouldn’t come.
He
pulled her to her feet and pulled her into an embrace, “Oh my,
dear daughter,
I’ve been so worried about you, I’m so glad you’re safe.” He
rubbed her back
gently.
She
stiffened, this wasn’t her father, she knew what her father looked
like now,
and this huge, evil man was not him.
“Hey!”
a loud voice shouted. “Let go of her!”
Burly
glared at the voice that came behind her, “And who are you?
Thinking you can
tell me to let go of my daughter, her mother and I were so worried
about her.”
Bree
struggled now, “You’re not my father, and my mother is dead.” She
pulled away
from the man.
“No,
that’s not true, sweetheart.”
Her
stomach rolled as she moved further away, “You’re a liar!” she
yelled.
She
felt an arm wrap in front of her, which pulled her back more from
Burly then
the soothing voice, “Easy, baby, stay with me.”
“But,
he’s lying. He gave me most of these bruises, Justin.”
Justin’s
gaze turned to steal as he glared at the man in front of them. She
moved
closer, clutching the side of Justin’s shirt tightly.
“I’d
be careful what you do with my daughter, mister, she is only
sixteen,” Burly
warned, glaring back with his own hard, evil gaze.
Another
male voice interrupted, “What is going on here?”
Bree’s
gaze flicked to the side of her and Justin to the heavy, bald,
older man.
Justin
began to explain, “This man is claiming that the girl I found is
his daughter,
she’s telling me he’s the man that gave her most of her bruises
and held her
captive.”
The
old man sized Burly up, “And just exactly who are you?”
“Sal
Thompson, I just want my daughter.”
“Oh,
if you’re her father, maybe you can help us out, what’s her name?”
Chief
Michaels asked.
“Jodi
Thompson.”
Bree
glared at the man but moved closer to Justin. She wasn’t a Jodi,
that name
sounded all sorts of wrong.
“The
way we can solve this is by DNA.” Justin demanded.
Burly
gave an evil grin, “By all means, run it.”
Oh
no, what if he was telling the truth, what if she didn’t remember,
she tensed
and let out a little whimper as memory swished before her.
She
was yanked forward hard along a concrete sidewalk, toward a black
SUV. She
struggled to get away. Burly was the one trying to take her. She
caught a
glimpse of his tattoos along his arms. There were three of them,
two trying to
get her into the SUV, one driving. She screamed again when she
heard the
gunshot when someone tried to pull her back.
Pain
swallowed her when she felt a blow to the head, and she was
swallowed by
darkness.
Justin
placed his arm beneath his darlin’s legs and back and pulled her
up against him
as her body became like a rag doll. He wondered if she had
remembered something
else. Her yell sounded like pain or terrified.
Justin
motioned at the chief, “You heard him, run the DNA, I’m not
letting her go with
him until we know for sure.” He held her like she was nothing, and
quite
honestly, she pretty much was. She was more bones than anything
else. “Take
three swabs,” Justin ordered.
The
chief got someone to do the three swabs Justin wanted. When they
were done,
Justin took two of the swabs. He didn’t trust these cops worth a
damn. He would
send out his own request to match this Sal Thompson’s DNA with his
precious
woman’s.
Justin
stared at the chief as he held onto his darlin’, “Was that the
only reason you
wanted her down here?”
“No,
we had a few more questions, come with me,” the chief motioned for
him to
follow.
He
pulled his darlin’ closer to him and began to follow the chief
further down the
hall. When Michaels stopped outside a door, Justin did too.
“There’s
a cot in there you can lay her on, see if you can get her to wake
up,” Michaels
instructed and left.
Justin
headed into the small room that looked like a breakroom. It was a
light green
color with white appliances. He spotted the ugly dark green cot.
He laid his
darlin’ on to it slowly. He sat down beside her on the black floor
and laid his
forehead against the cot. He let out a sigh as he pinched the
bridge of his
nose, he was getting a headache.
He
tilted his head back up, “Baby, I need you to wake up for me,” he
whispered,
reaching out a hand and brushed his knuckles against her bruised
cheek.
“Wow,
Cierra was right.” The male voice said roughly from the doorway.
Justin
turned to find Ben Tambird, his eyes met Ben’s hazel ones, “About
what?”
“About
you with her,” Ben crossed his arms over his chest tightly. “Do
you think all
of this is a good idea?”
“Well,
what do you suggest I do?”