Total pages in book: 98
Estimated words: 114647 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 573(@200wpm)___ 459(@250wpm)___ 382(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 114647 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 573(@200wpm)___ 459(@250wpm)___ 382(@300wpm)
Then horror struck me as I saw the baby in the corner. She was sleeping curled up in a ball, chained to the goddamn wall like an animal.
My brain raced as I came up with, then immediately omitted ways of how to extract myself from this situation alive. I knew one thing for sure- there was no way in hell I was leaving the children here on their own. They were coming with me. No matter what.
“Sit down in the corner by the baby.” Mr. Newman, I assumed, ordered.
I followed his directions, and maneuvered myself to where the baby was behind my body, just in case.
“Frank!” An older woman’s voice screeched from the room beyond this one. “Who was at the door?”
“CPS bitch!” He yelled back.
“What?” She screeched again.
“CPS bitch!” He yelled back again.
“What’d she want?” She continued.
“Nothing.” He answered.
“Okay.” She confirmed. “What’ja want for supper?”
“Got any of that sausage shit?”
“Yeah.”
“That.”
“Okay.”
The yelling finally stopped when a child’s voice yelled from the same direction. “Gram, I gotta pee. Let me out.”
“Frank!”
The name was a demand, and the old man looked studied me, before yelling back. “I’m busy. Get off ya’ fat ass and open the closet yourself.”
Oh, my God. The five year old was in a closet? What kind of fucked up place was this?
My mind circled around scenario after scenario, and not one single idea came to mind. That is until the phone in my pocket started pulsating like a heartbeat, indicating that James was calling.
Discreetly lifting my hand up to the hands free device on my ear, I pressed the button and let my hands fall back into my lap. Frank didn’t move, nor show any suspiciousness, so I continued to stay still, and listened.
“Shiloh?” James asked.
Waiting a few beats, he tried again.
“Hello? Shiloh? Are you there?” He asked, anxiousness becoming quite apparent in his voice.
With still no answer, he withdrew the phone away from him, if the sound of static and fumbling sounds were anything to go by.
“She not there?” A man asked on the other end.
It took me a few moments, but I finally placed the owner of the voice. Downy. James must be at work. Good.
“It says I’m connected. Hang on.” He requested.
“Mr. Newman, what are you going to do to me?” I asked, trying my hardest to hide the quiver of fear in my voice.
***
James
“Who’re you calling?” Downy asked from the desk next to mine.
It was my first day back at work in two weeks, and it showed. My eyes were heavy from what little sleep I managed to catch before being called out for a SWAT run at 3 AM. My leg throbbed when I moved quickly, but I was happy to be back. In the short time I’d worked with Luke and Downy, I realized how much I missed the team camaraderie.
Sure, I had the same team aspect while working at Free, but I didn’t get that adrenaline rush when working on a bike that I got when I was running a call. When my body was behind that scope. When my finger pulled the trigger. Free would forever be my home, but I had another team now that I trusted almost as much as my old team.
“Shiloh. I need her to go pick up Janie for her doctor’s appointment this afternoon.” I said while punching in the numbers on my desk phone.
The phone rang once before she picked up, but she never said hello.
“Hello?” I said into the phone.
No answer.
“Hello? Shiloh? Are you there?” I tried again.
Still no answer.
“She not there?” Downy asked.
Moving the phone away from my face, I looked at the handset to make sure I was connected. I was. Putting the headset back up to my face.
“It says it’s connected.” I said, apprehension, and a lifetime of training, started to make me aware of the odd nuances. Like the fact that if I listened really close, I could just make out the sound of a clock ticking in the background of the phone. The ding ding of a game show on a television.
“It says I’m connected. Hang on.” I said, holding up my finger.
That was when I heard Shiloh speak.
“Mr. Newman, what are you going to do to me?” Her voice quivered in fear.
“Anything I want to, girl. Now shut up and let me think. Don’t even think about moving either, or I’ll blow that pretty little face of yours off.” A man growled.
My hands were moving before I even contemplated my actions. Downy watched as I signaled to him that there was an unknown hostage situation. He confirmed he understood with a nod, and started making the appropriate calls.
The next ten minutes sailed by in a flurry of action. In less than four minutes, the entire SWAT team was in my office. Gear on. Guns loaded. The phone was now on speakerphone, and we listened as Shiloh gave everything she could think of to us.
“Mr. Newman, isn’t there a homeowner’s agreement for the mobile home park of Shady Lane that says all firearms have to be stored properly in a fireproof container?” Shiloh asked, sounding bored.
“Sure. Not that I really give a shit about any homeowner’s association. They already make me mow my freakin lawn, and keep it at a regulation one-inch height. They can suck my hairy ball sack if they think they can control what I do with my guns.”
With that information, we were on the move. I left the speakerphone where it was, and our information specialist, John Atoms, took over where I left off.
Downy handed me my rifle case as we walked out of the room and to the truck. The truck was a ton and a half pound beast that could carry nine men and their gear safely. It was an armored vehicle on steroids that could hold its own. Even against a fucking tank. It had the motor of a Mack truck, and ran up to speeds near one hundred and fifty miles an hour, without even red lining it.
Terror started to course through my veins. She’d said guns. Not that one wasn’t enough to accomplish the act of killing, but multiple meant he could potentially hold a siege, and never stop until he ran out of ammo. That could take weeks. Shiloh didn’t have weeks. She was living on borrowed time already.