A/n: Thank you to everyone who's continued to read and review, I love that you're all enjoying the story. The Next few chapters are going to be pretty drama filled so I'm going to try to update regularly. Enjoy the new chapter X
Haunted
Chapter 10 – Bad News
When Becker woke up the next morning there was no sign that Jess had come home the night before. However, he refused to worry, after all, it wouldn't be the first time that Jess had stayed at work all night, trying to rectify whatever problem had occurred.
Yesterday Becker had arrived home, arms filled with groceries, intending to cook Jess's favourite meal for dinner. She had seemed stressed for the last few days and Becker wanted to do something to lift her spirits. Only, when he had finally made it inside the house, he saw there was no sign of his wife anywhere. But before he had a chance to panic, Bianca reassured him that Jess was fine and had simply been called back to work.
'Something about a problem with the main frame,' Bianca had told him.
Becker had found it strange that he wasn't made aware of the problem, but pushed the feeling aside—surely if it became a threat to security he would be called—and begun preparing dinner.
Later he went to bed unworried about the fact that he hadn't heard from Jess. She was safe in the ARC, surrounded by trained soldiers, and would call when she got the chance. Making sure his phone's volume was all the way up—so he wouldn't miss it when Jess was able to call—Becker tried to get some sleep.
But that had been over eight hours ago, and still there wasn't so much as a text message from Jess.
Trying not to worry—something he wasn't particularly good at when it came to the people he cared about—Becker set about getting the girls ready for school. There had to be a perfectly good explanation for why Jess hadn't got in touch with him. Her phone could've died. Or she could've been so caught up in her work that she didn't realise how much time had passed, it wouldn't be the first time that had happened. Or maybe she had finished late at night and been too tired to drive home, so she slept at work, that wouldn't be a first time occurrence either.
That had to be it. She was still at the ARC, either having worked through the night or gone to sleep in the infirmary.
Becker checked the time; 7:30am, if he hurried he could stop by the café Jess liked on the way to work and bring her something for breakfast. Lacing up his shoes, he grabbed his keys and wallet and went in search of Maddie.
The teenager was sitting in the living room, reading while she ate a bowl of cereal.
'Mads, I need you to help Lil get to school today,' he told his daughter.
'That's gonna add fifteen minutes onto my trip,' Maddie whined.
'I know, and I'm sorry. But I have to leave early today so I have time to check in on Jess.'
'Did she work through the night?' Maddie asked, concern displayed on her face.
'Looks that way.'
'Dad you gotta make Mum promise not to do that again, it's not good for the…' Maddie began, managing to catch herself before she let slip the news about the baby. As far as she knew, Jess still hadn't told Becker. 'For the… the state of her health.'
Becker raised an eyebrow at her, not buying the excuse. 'Right. Well, you don't need to worry about that, Jess is perfectly healthy. But I'll talk to her, I don't like her out all night either.'
Leaning down, Becker kissed Maddie on her forehead, said goodbye to Lily, and then was out the door and jogging to his car.
Pulling out of the driveway he headed off in the direction of the ARC.
The first thing Becker did upon arriving at the ARC was stop in at the infirmary, thinking it would be the most likely place for him to find Jess. However, he checked every room and there was no sign of her.
Becker sighed. She must have spent the night working.
Leaving the med bay, he marched to the Operations Centre, expecting to find Jess sitting at the ADD working, that is, if she hadn't fallen asleep at her desk. People were moving out of his way as Becker stormed down the corridor. They all knew better than to get in the captain's way when he had that look of determination on his face.
Stepping into the Ops Centre, Becker stopped short. Again, there was no sign of Jess. Becker was starting to panic now. Where could she be? He prayed nothing had happened to her.
Seeing his friends at the other end of the room, Becker crossed the space to join them. Surely Matt would know where Jess was.
'Have any of you seen Jess?' he asked, interrupting whatever conversation was taking place.
'No. Did you not coming in together this morning?' Emily asked, confused as to why Becker would think they knew where Jess was.
'She got called back into work last night before I got home, apparently there was some tech problem she had to fix. But she must have worked through the night, I haven't seen her since yesterday afternoon.'
'There haven't been any problems since the one Jess and I fixed a couple days ago,' Connor said, frowning. 'If there had been I would have been called in as well.'
'Then where the hell is she!' Becker exclaimed, panic gripping at his chest.
'Relax,' Matt said, gripping Becker's shoulder. 'It was probably just a minor problem and that's why Connor wasn't called in.'
'Then why did it take all night?' Becker said, not accepting Matt's explanation.
'Maybe she was just too tired to drive home and went to sleep in the med bay. She's done that before,' Matt reasoned.
'You think I didn't check there already! She's not there! And she's not at her desk either, before you go giving me another obvious place to check.'
'Easy mate, I'm just trying to help.' Matt kept his voice calm and raised his hands as he spoke, not wanting to provoke Becker any further.
'Perhaps she is in your office,' Emily offered. 'You have a couch in there, don't you Captain?'
'Yeah.' Becker turned to go check his office, but his phone rang before he had taken a single step away from the group.
What now?
Pulling the phone out of his pocket, Becker saw that the call was from an unknown number. Hoping it didn't have anything to do with Lily or Maddie, he answered; 'Becker.'
'Hello, is this Captain Hilary Becker?' asked the woman on the other end of the line.
'It is.'
'Are you the husband of a Ms Jessica Parker?'
'Yes.' Becker's heart skipped a beat at Jess's name.
'Captain, I'm calling from St Mary's Hospital. I'm sorry to inform you that your wife was involved in a car accident last night between 6 and 7pm.'
'What! Is she okay? Why am I only being informed now?' Becker could see the curiosity and concern on his friends' faces, but at the moment all he cared about was Jess.
'Unfortunately it was a large accident, with multiple cars involved. Your wife wasn't found with identification at the scene and has yet to regain consciousness, as a result we had to go through different channels to identify her. You see how this would have taken some time.'
'Fine, but how is she.'
'As I said, she is still in a state of unconsciousness and doctors have been working around the clock to determine the extent of her injuries. As such, she has been emitted as a patient here and because of this we need you to come in and finalise some paper work.'
'I understand,' Becker said, his voice had gone quiet as the fight drained out of him. 'I'll be right there.'
'Thank you, and again, my deepest sympathies.'
Becker hung up the call and finally acknowledged the people around him. Connor, Matt and Emily all looked at him with varying degrees of worry and concern on their faces. They may not have been able to hear what was being discussed, but they could tell from Becker's reaction that it wasn't good news.
'That was… St Mary's Hospital. Jess was in a car accident. I… I have to go.' Turning away from them Becker went to leave the room, only thinking about how he had to get to Jess.
'Oh no you don't,' Matt said as he caught up to Becker. 'You're not going on your own. Emily and I will come with you. I'll drive. Connor, you tell Lester what's happened and that you can reach me and Emily at the hospital if there's an anomaly. Becker's off duty, his second-in-command will handle any security issues.'
Connor nodded and took off in the direction of Lester's office, while Matt, Emily and Becker made a b-line for the carpark.