"How long?" Ryan asked impatiently, raising his voice to be heard over the roar of the helicopter.
"Less than an hour," said the policeman beside him. "Thirty minutes if we're lucky."
"What about the Texas police?" Ryan asked. "Shouldn't they be able to get there now?"
"Loving County is a small place. The population's like 60," said the officer. "We'll probably get there sooner than they do."
Ryan sighed. He let his face drop into his hands. He pictured himself bursting through the door of some abandoned shack and strangling Terry McDermott with his bare hands. Then he would kick down the locked door of a closet and Emma would run into his open arms, safe and sound.
"Hey, Jesse, any word on Annie?" Scott asked, surprised to see that Jesse Hubbard would show up at his door if this wasn't about the kidnapping. Suddenly, Adam raced into the foyer – the only time he left his spot at the phone was to check who was at the door.
"Is it Annie?! Did you find her?! Please tell me you found her!" Adam breathed.
"We may have," Jesse said.
"Oh, thank God," Adam sighed happily.
"Where is she?" Scott asked urgently. "She was kidnapped, right?"
"Yes, she and Emma were apparently taken…you'd never guess who."
"What bastard took my wife?! He's a dead man!"
"You're closer to the culprit than you thought," Jesse said with a frown. "Terry McDermott took them. He's alive. That's Ryan's word, though, he was the one who got the call."
"From Terry?" Scott asked.
"From Annie and Emma," Jesse corrected. "Annie got to her cell phone somehow."
"Why would she call them and not us?!" Adam boomed. Jesse shrugged.
"Ask her that if we get her back home."
"If?" Scott said. Jesse shrugged again.
"Just being realistic. Kidnapping is crazy business."
"Jesse…you get my wife home," Adam said, partially angered with an underlying sadness and urgency. Jesse nodded.
"I figured you guys would want to come down to the station. If we find them, that's where we'll take them first."
"After all they've been through, you're going to interrogate them before they even get a chance to breathe?"
"It's procedure, Scott," Jesse sighed. "Now are you two coming down to the station or not?"
Scott and Adam both grabbed their coats and followed Jesse out the door.
"I said…let her go…" Annie gasped as she came to. Her head spun and she felt her throat slowly closing up.
"Mommy has asthma!" Emma said urgently. She ran over to Annie.
"No!" Terry yelled. He grabbed Emma's hand but she slithered out of his grasp and ran outside.
"Help! Somebody, help me!" Emma screamed.
Suddenly, she heard a distant roaring. A large white helicopter quickly approached. She waved her arms wildly.
"We're here!" Emma screamed, jumping up and down. Terry ran after her and suddenly froze at the sight of the landing helicopter. He grabbed Emma around the waist and ran inside. They heard a policeman talking over a loudspeaker.
"This is the Pine Valley police!" he echoed in a commanding voice. "You're surrounded! Unhand your hostages and come outside with your hands up!"
Annie's rapid breathing prevented her from letting out a sigh of relief. She didn't even have the energy to protest when Terry stood by the door with his a small handgun in hand, holding it up to Emma's head.
Ryan was about to jump out of the helicopter when he saw Terry McDermott pull his daughter into the warehouse like that. Finally, the helicopter reached the ground. He jumped out immediately, along with the other police officers. Sirens could be heard in the distance as the Texas police began to arrive and surrounded the perimeter of the small warehouse. Their guns ready, six policemen and Ryan burst through the door.
Ryan's heart jumped into his throat at the sight of a gun held to his daughter's head at the hands of Terry McDermott.
"Daddy!" Emma cried, absolutely terrified. Annie was further behind them, drowned in a horrible asthma attack. Her face was pale as a sheet of paper and sweat poured from her forehead.
"What's wrong with the woman behind you? Is she poisoned?" one of the policeman asked. His aim not faltering, Terry shrugged with a slight smile.
"She has asthma," Ryan said urgently. "She could die if we don't get to her." He turned to Terry. "Let them go! Especially Emma…she's only eight years old!" Ryan was nearly crying. "Please, just let her go!"
"Sir, if you don't put down your gun, I will be forced to –"
Suddenly, a gunshot went off and Terry slumped to the floor. After the shock of it all, every eye in the room had turned to Annie, who was now lying lifelessly on the floor with a black gun in her hand, still smoking from the shot.
"Daddy!" Emma screamed, jumping into her father's arms. He had never hugged his little girl tighter. "Daddy, you have to help mommy!" Not letting go of his daughter, Ryan and the officers ran over to Annie.
"No pulse," one of them said. Ryan immediately pushed through the officers.
Ryan quickly lifted her head and tilted it back, trying to clear her airway. Emma got up and pulled Annie's inhaler out of her purse. She speechlessly handed it to Ryan.
"Come on, Annie," he whispered. "Don't do this to Emma…" He lifted the inhaler to her mouth and released the medicine twice. He waited for a moment then shook it and gave her two more doses. "Come on, Annie…"
"Daddy, she's alive, right?" Emma asked, crying.
"She's going to be fine." Ryan positioned himself on his knees and began CPR. There seemed to be no change. The six police officers watched and waited sadly, all of them knowing there was no use for what Ryan was doing. She was gone.
Despite their beliefs, Annie suddenly took in a short breath of life. Her eyes snapped open, surprised to see Ryan in front of her. For a minute, she thought it was 2007 again. They were happily in love, they got married, and they had a beautiful daughter. The pain in her foot startled her back to reality.
"Emma…" Annie whispered. "Where's Emma?" A bawling Emma pushed through the officers and bent down to hug her mother.
"Mommy…you saved me…" the little girl cried.
"I love you," Annie said. "I love you so much." She looked up at Ryan and mouthed a thank you. Ryan shook his head.
"No, thank you."