Authors: Ann Vaughn
“McCanton!
What the hell?” Gibson cried. “What did you just do?”
Shane’s
eyes shifted to Crownover cuffing Paul Helton’s wrists behind his back as he
and Gibson rushed over to Tessa and Nathaniel who were now in a tangled heap on
the ground. Shane pulled Tessa away from Nathaniel, allowing Gibson to
slap cuffs on him. He cradled Tessa’s head and shoulders in his lap,
gently stroking her face.
“Shane?”
she whispered when he shifted to apply pressure to her bleeding shoulder.
“You came.”
“Shh,
yeah, I’m here, baby,” he said, taking a blanket from Bruce to cover her.
“You
remembered...about Wildcat.”
“Yeah,
I did. Don’t talk now, OK? Just rest. What’s the ETA on an
ambulance?” he asked the room at large.
“Five
minutes,” Crownover replied.
Shane
nodded, his eyes locked on Tessa’s swollen face. She’d been severely
beaten. Before covering her, he noted every inch of her body was bloodied
and bruised, including a large amount of blood between her thighs. He
also noted that the Helton brothers were both wearing some sort of ceremonial
robes and when Nathaniel went down, his opened to reveal he was nude beneath
it. Shane prayed all of that didn’t add up to what it looked like had
happened.
Tessa
had passed out but her pulse was strong. The gunshot had done exactly as
he’d hoped, gone clean thru the muscle of her shoulder and lodged in Helton’s
body, minimal damage to Tessa.
He
stepped back when the medics came and surrounded her, letting them do their
jobs. Gibson charged him, grabbing him by his Kevlar.
“You
wanna tell me what the hell just happened?” Gibson growled at him.
“Ever
seen the movie Speed? Shoot the hostage? Dennis Hopper’s
character called Sandra Bullock’s character “Wildcat”. Tessa was telling
me to shoot her to get to him.”
Gibson
swore viciously under his breath. “You meant to shoot her,” he stated
flatly. “What if you’d seriously injured her? What if...”
“The
boy is the best shot in our division, likely in the whole state,” Bruce cut
in. “He would hit what he aimed for and she knew it.”
Gibson
snarled at him and then released him, turning his attention to Bruce. Shane
shut them out, listening to the medics assess her wounds; there were several,
too numerous to count. She was covered in blood and Shane hoped that more
of it was Helton’s than just from the gunshot wound. He hadn’t been able
to see if there were any scrapes or scratches on him, but he prayed that Tessa
had wounded him.
He
saw her beginning to move and pushed his way thru the medics to her, taking her
hand in his. Her eyes opened and locked on him, a tear falling down her
cheek.
“Hey,
baby, there you are,” he said, wiping her tears away with his thumb.
“We
need to load her up,” one of the medics said.
Shane
nodded and leaned down to kiss her brow.
“I
love you, Tess,” he told her, then stepped back so they could roll her thru the
building to the waiting ambulance.
“Do
you have her mother’s contact information?” Gibson asked from behind him, “I
need to call her.”
“Let
me,” Shane replied, “I know her. She should hear this from me.”
“I’m
Tessa’s supervisor, I should-”
Shane
put his hand on Gibson’s shoulder. “I’ve known Mrs. Kelly all my
life. Let me call.”
Gibson
nodded. “All right, perhaps it should be you.”
Shane
took his cell from his pocket and dialed Mary’s number.
“Mrs.
Kelly, it’s Shane.”
He
heard her laugh. “Honey, after all these years, you can call me Mary,
it’s OK.”
“Yes,
ma’am...listen, you need to come to Austin, and you need to hurry.
Tessa’s been...injured...on the job. She’s en route to the
hospital. I’m going to call Bob Potter. He can fly you here.”
“Is
it bad?”
“She’s
been shot and beaten...I think she will be OK, but you should be here.
I’ll have someone come pick you up and take you to Bob at the airfield.”
“OK.
Shane?”
“Yes,
ma’am?”
“You
tell her I love her.”
“Yes,
ma’am.”
He
made arrangements for Mary to be brought there, then rode with Gibson to follow
the ambulance to the hospital, leaving Bruce and the team to see to the
situation at the compound. Tessa was taken immediately into surgery so
Shane and Gibson settled into the waiting room.
“Tessa
never talked much about her family,” Gibson said. “I know the basics,
that her father was abusive and her mother finally tossed him out when he
turned his fists on Tessa.”
Shane
nodded, sitting with his forearms braced on his knees. “Her mother, Mary,
was afraid she couldn’t make it on her own, but when he hit Tessa, she finally
found the strength to throw him out and press charges. She opened a
wedding and party planning service and made a real success of it.”
“Is
Tessa not close to her mother? I’ve never met her, and I’ve met most of
my staff’s parents or spouses at one point or another.”
“Mary
wanted Tessa to stay and help her run the shop. There was some tension
there.”
“She
never came to visit.”
“Tess
probably didn’t want her to. She was a little...weird about being in the
Army around everyone from home. She didn’t even tell anyone she was
considering joining, just up and did it...then didn’t tell anyone she’d left
the Army for the FBI.”
“Didn’t
tell anyone, or didn’t tell you?” Gibson asked pointedly. “She mentioned
you, when she got that tattoo.”
Shane
let his head drop, feeling the weight of the world had settled on his
shoulders.
“We
had just been together for the first time in four years when she got
that. It was right after I’d graduated college and finished the Academy.
She went into the Army. We talked some. Texts. Emails.
Video chats. She told me she got it to keep the guys at bay.”
Gibson
nodded, a faint smile touching his lips. “It was a problem for a while,
Tessa being...well, Tessa. The guys hit on her all the time. After
the tat, they backed off some. And there were three she was close to, Colt,
Coop and Whit. They helped keep the others away from her. Anyway,
we were working late one night, just the two of us. So I asked her, all
the years she worked for me, why had she never dated...and she proceeds to tell
me this long story about a little boy back home whom she made life a living
hell daily for years, then ended up falling head over heels for.”
“Dammit,”
Shane muttered, raking his hands through his hair.
“Shane?”
Mary asked, coming into the waiting room. He stood and she gasped, seeing
the blood on his jeans. He’d forgotten he was covered in Tessa’s
blood. “Oh my God!” she cried.
He
embraced her, assuring her once again that Tessa would be all right.
“Why
didn’t you call me? I would have met you...” he began but she cut him off.
“I
didn’t want you to leave in case anything happened. Any updates?”
“None
yet. Mary, this is Tessa’s supervisor, Glen Gibson,” he said, gesturing
to Gibson.
“The
infamous Gib,” Mary said, extending her hand to him. “Tessa has spoken of
you often.”
“She
is an amazing young woman, Mrs. Kelly.”
“Mary,”
she corrected, “and thank you.” She looked back to Shane. “What happened?
I thought you were home with your dad.”
They
gave her an edited overview of events, as much as they could without
jeopardizing crucial case information. Mary grabbed onto Shane’s hand
while they spoke, leaning on his strength.
“Tessa
Kelly,” a doctor said, walking into the room.
“I’m
her mother,” Mary spoke up.
“Tessa’s
in recovery right now. Damage to her shoulder was minimal. She has
four broken ribs. Her right cheekbone and orbital bone are
fractured. She’s lost two teeth. Her back where the whip cut into
her may need a skin graft or two to repair damage. We just don’t know at
this point how bad the scarring will be. We performed a DNC and...”
The
temperature in the room dropped as Shane’s head snapped up.
“I’m
sorry...a DNC?” Mary asked.
“The
sexual assaults resulted in miscarriage.”
“Sexual...she
was raped?” Mary cried.
“She
was pregnant?” Shane asked hoarsely.
“Less
than six weeks. I doubt she even knew, possibly was just beginning to
suspect. The biggest concern at this time is the tearing to the
uterus. The brutality of the assaults combined with scarring from a
previous injury resulted in severe damage to the uterine wall. At this
point, it is uncertain whether she will ever be able to carry a child.”
“Oh
no!” Mary gasped.
Shane
was trembling and finding it hard to breathe. Pregnant. Tessa had
been pregnant...so, not only had the Helton’s assaulted his woman...they’d
killed his child. His...Tessa had been carrying his child.
“Doctor...if
Tessa doesn’t ask about...about a baby, please, don’t tell her,” Mary said, her
hand on Shane’s shoulder. “She will have enough to deal with.
Please. She doesn’t need to know that.”
“Agreed...we
will be keeping her drugged for the next two days at least. Her pain will
be off the charts and she needs several hours of uninterrupted sleep. At
this time, I would ask that visits be kept to a minimum.”
Gibson
cleared his throat, speaking for the first time since the doctor’s
arrival. “You said sexual assaults...with an S?”
“We
are running a rape kit...but there were at least four different sperm samples
so far.”
An
anguished cry roared through the room as Shane exploded, turning and grabbing
Gibson by the shirt with one hand, the other drawn back as if to pummel him.
“How
the hell could you let this happen?!?!?!?! I trusted you!! You were
supposed to keep her safe!!”
“I
wasn’t there this morning, Shane. Things had fallen into such a routine,
we left Joe and Pete on watch.”
“They
lost contact for over three hours!”
“What
would you have done? Stormed in within the first hour? She was taking a
shower. They didn’t want to invade her privacy and they didn’t want to
overreact.”
“I
would have-”
“Gentlemen!”
Mary snapped, cutting Shane off, “Second guessing yourselves won’t change anything.”
“She...our
baby...my...Tessa.” Shane lost it then. He released Gibson and then
his legs just gave out from under him and he slid to his knees. Mary went
down with him, holding his head to her shoulder while they both cried, clinging
to one another for support. In the background, Gibson spoke quietly to
the doctor, finding out room information and thanking him for his care of
Tessa. After several long moments, Shane felt Gibson’s hand on his
shoulder. He took several deep, shuddering breaths to help pull himself
together. He knew he had to be strong for Tessa. The days and weeks
ahead were going to be difficult for her; she’d need his strength now more than
ever.
Mary
stroked her hand over his cheek when he pulled back from her shoulder. “My
Tessa is lucky to have you,” she told him, her voice soft. “I’m so sorry
about your baby.”
He
drew a deep, cleansing breath and another, then scrubbed the tears from his
face.
“Have
they moved her to a room yet?” he asked Gibson, his voice raw.
“They
were preparing to. Let’s go check.”
Shane
stood and helped Mary to her feet and together they followed Gibson to a nurses’
station. The nurse gave them directions to Tessa’s room and they arrived
just as Tessa was being wheeled in. When they were cleared to enter, all
three stood around her bed, taking in her damaged form. She was placed on her
stomach in concession to the injuries to her back. Bandages and tubes
were everywhere. What little could be seen of her face was swollen.
Shane’s
whole body was tight. He wished he’d have killed that son-of-a-bitch...both
of them...all of them for what they did to Tessa! And he couldn’t wait to
get his hands on Joe and Pete and rip them a new one. Three hours before
he was notified. An hour for him to get there. God, what she went
through. Just the thought of it all...