Chapter 8: The Storm is Moving.
Frank POV
Light begins to fill the dark room from phones and torches. I bark orders for a few officers to get the generators running. I push Dov towards my office as I use my torch to guide us there.
'When the computer is back up, I want that location and then we move. If Andy is speaking on the radio, it means she is with the car.'
Minutes tick by and I can't help but pace my office, I have gone through this one to many times and I can't do another funeral, I can't bury another one of my officers. The lights above me flicker and then power is restored to the division. Dov taps away on the computer, 'I've got it sir, she is located 3 miles from the start of the logging road, sir.'
'Alright lets rally the team and move out your with Chris, Gail and Smithy. Let's move out.'
We all make a jog toward our car, but a voice stops me in my tracks, I turn to find Tommy standing in the door way of Nash's office. His face is full of anxiety and fear.
'We're going to find her Tommy, we'll bring her home to you.'
'Please Frank, find her and bring her back safe. I can't bury my daughter,' Tommy chokes out.
I nod to him, knowing I can't make a promise. We all sprint to our cars to escape the wild wind and rain. Nick slams the door of the passenger. He looks to me and says, 'Let's get my partner back!'
I pull out of the parking lot, the flood waters splashing on the side of the car as we push through the waters flooding the streets. When we reach the highway, we light up and we move fast pushing past the speed limit, desperate to find our McNally. SRU comes over the radio, 'We have had radio static coming from TAC 3A. Officer McNally is still calling for help, she is reporting of shots being fired. We are another forty-five minutes out, lets pick up speed and get to our officer faster. Other officers are clearing the road ahead for us.'
More precious minutes tick pass and SRU informs us that the GPS has on the SUV come to a stop and there is radio silence, there is no response. I can hear over the sound of the engine Nick's foot bouncing rapidly on the passenger side floor, I look to him and I tell him, 'We'll find her, she's going to be fine.'
'We're losing whatever light we have left, what if she is on the side of the road dead. What if she's rolled the car, what if-,' I stop Nick mumbling with a glare.
'She has to be fine, she is a McNally. Tommy has taught her how to handle herself and she does.'
There is still nothing new and no response from McNally, it's been more than thirty minutes and I feel a tightening in my chest, I'm starting to worry about her. I can't tell Tommy that his only daughter is dead.
The radio crackles and SRU respond, 'We have a rolled over vehicle up ahead.'
Both Nick and I stop breathing for a moment and then they say, 'TAC 3A is with the vehicle upright, gunshots are throughout the car. Approach with caution.'
Our speed drops and our sirens stop but we keep our lights flashing as they drape across the scene in front of us. It looks like the SUV has taken a massive beating, I can't see my officer. I can't see McNally.
Nick is out of the car before we even come to a full stop, he is sprinting toward TAC 3A. When I step out of the car I feel like I'm about to walk up to a murder scene, I don't want to go. I don't want to see this again. But I can't stop, Nick's voice in ringing through my ears, yelling for Andy not caring for SRU's orders.
More officers pile out of their cars and SRU sweep the area around the two cars and when they reach the back of the SUV, I hear the four words that make me breathe easier, 'We need a medic!'
I walk towards where SRU have crowded at the side door. I am met with the face I was not expecting. Matthew Quest is sitting in the back of the car, hand cuffs and zipped tied.
I scan the area around me and yell, 'Where the hell is my officer?!'
Lightning and thunder rumble around me and I'm lost. I have found my suspect, but McNally is not here. Then a loud voice booms around the scene, 'I've found her, sir.'
I rush over to where Nick is crouched over a body among the leaves and mud on the ground. I look up to where Sam is standing nearby with his hand over his mouth and I look down. I can barely recognise her, her face is so bruised. Her arm and leg are wrapped in bandages and her shirt is in tatters.
'Get a helicopter here; she needs to get out of here now. Nick help me pick her up; let's get her in the back of our SUV. Sam, Luke get some blankets, her lips are turning blue. We need to get her warmed.'
As Nick and I pull Andy off the ground Chris removes his rain jackets and shields her face from the heavy cold rain. When we reach my truck I get Nick to sit in the back and keep her head up in his lap. Sam tucks heavy blankets around her body, gripping her boot tightly before he goes back to help SRU with suspect. I turn the heat up fully in the car and look to Nick in the back seat; he is wiping away the mud and leaves from her hair. He looks up to me and asks, 'She's so cold and there is so much blood from her thigh. She's not waking up. I…I don't know what to do.'
'Helicopter is five minutes out, the storm is weakening, but it's getting dark.'
