Chapter Twenty-Five—Accelerate
I heard Emmett curse on the line as I switched the call to the vehicle's Bluetooth. "I thought something was up when your brake lights suddenly stopped working," he said, his tone serious. "Which means it was remote triggered."
I looked around us at the typical traffic for a Friday afternoon. Any of the vehicles could've remotely triggered the brakes to stop working. My heart stopped as Bella weaved through the three lanes of traffic.
"Emmett," she hissed, her eyes darting downward. "What do I do?" Her gaze moved up from the navigation screen to the road, her fingers tightening around the wheel.
I snapped out of my initial shock. "We're about to hit an intersection and there's a curve not meant to be taken at this speed several miles ahead."
Bella removed her foot off the gas. "It's not letting me slow down or speed up. It says my current speed says sixty-five, but—"
"You're going faster than sixty-five, you're about eighty-five now," Emmett indicated, making me curse again. Traveling at our current speed in weekend traffic was a disaster waiting to happen. "We need to test the emergency brake."
Bella shook her head. "We can't do it with this much—" she cursed suddenly, almost hitting the back of a delivery truck, ignoring the driver's horn and barely passing him safely on the left. "Fuck, I can't go to the right because there's a drop, and on the left there's too many cars."
"All right, let's see if we can slow you down," Emmett said, from how he cut in and out of our call, I could tell he had us on mute sometimes. "See the divider between the north and south bound lanes?"
"Yeah," Bella breathed and slipped in front of van with a family the second she saw the opening. The divider was made of up cement curbing with sloped mounds of grass between them, and a line of maples and oaks. The engine revved as it took the curb, and she cried out from feeling the car tip too much to my side.
"Pull back!" Emmett repeated several times. "Fucking thing almost flipped." Bella successfully pulled us back on the road, though horns and plenty of middle fingers erupted around us. We ignored it when we noticed a chance to pull off the main highway.
"Can we take it?" I asked Emmett.
"Don't take it, you have to stay on the highway. The road leads to residential areas."
"Fuck!" My voice was rough, as I held onto the bar above my window. Bella weaved hard to avoid a car.
"You have a section of straight road coming up and traffic is thinning, use it to test the brake!"
Bella and I saw the area coming up.
"You can do it," I stated, though what I wanted most was to hold her, touch her, but I wouldn't dare distract her.
Bella nodded, her eyes on the road, as Emmett added, "Edward, you may need to help her with the wheel, to keep the vehicle straight, unless you run out of road."
I removed my jacket and tie, hoping to ease the tension in my body as I tightened my seat belt and Bella's, too.
The stretch of road was ahead. "Now!"
Bella slammed on the emergency brake, crying out when nothing happened. Fuck.
"I knew there was a chance they would've cut it," Emmett indicated a moment later.
"Can you shoot a tire?" I asked, grabbing hold of the dashboard as Bella had to swerve to avoid a damn Porsche cutting in front of her.
"Not with those kind of tires, they self-inflate in seconds. It would take more than one bullet and with how fast…I'm sorry, boss. There's no way, I could shoot one of you."
"Damn it," I hissed, running a hand through my hair. "A safety feature is going to fucking kill us."
"I have police setting up a road block and some traffic is being diverted ahead," Emmett indicated. As he said this, we heard sirens behind us. In the rear view mirror, I saw several police cars closing in on us and Emmett's truck.
Bella screamed, almost side-swiping another truck. "Get us out of this!" I demanded, my hand automatically reaching to tighten Bella's seat belt further.
"Working on it," Emmett replied.
Several lights on the dashboard lit up. "Oh God," she cried. "It says there's an air bag malfunction!"
Emmett's cursing ended abruptly, confirming my earlier thought. He was on another call, trying to find a solution.
"Emmett, can you tell Logan—" Bella started, but I cut her off.
I grabbed her thigh gently. "No, Bella. Don't you dare." I tried to ignore the tears filling her eyes. "We're walking away from this. You hear me?" She took in a shuddering breath, blinking away her tears as she kept her eyes on the road. The traffic had thinned considerably.
"Emmett, the fucking curve is coming up," I stated as calmly as possible. I didn't want to alarm Bella further, but she needed to prepare. "There's no way we can make it at our current speed."
"There's a road block in place, they're laying down several strips of spikes on the road. It should slow the car enough for you to jump out before the curve."
"Oh God, the section ahead has the drop on my side," Bella whispered. It was almost as if she was afraid to speak louder. Sweat beaded across her brow, her fingers white from the strain. I swore I'd hunt down the people behind this myself for doing this to her.
"Edward," Emmett said. "Right under the steering wheel is a panel. Rip it off and tear out all the wires and fuses. Do it now."
I didn't question it as I removed my seat belt, stretching over the console and Bella's knee to reach. I grunted as I gutted the area, a multitude of colored wires dangled uselessly over her feet.
"You should be able to reverse now," Emmett said, as I relayed I was done. "Do you see the road block?"
"We see it," I said just as Bella did, too. "Tell us what to do."
Emmett stated the instructions as clearly as possible, we realized we only had a few moments to act.
"I love you," I said to Bella, feeling my heart in my throat.
She sobbed softly, but didn't look at me. "I love you, too."
I held on as all four tires popped within seconds, sending sparks as one of the rims hit the asphalt, a tremendous grinding noise filled the air, as we continued to propel further ahead.
"Now!"
Bella slammed the gear shift into reverse, instantly jerking us forward and then back. Since one tire was worse than the rest, the car swerved, sending us careening toward the drop off. I punched Bella's seat belt button.
"Jump!" As she reached for her door, I did the same slamming myself against it and looked back long enough to see Bella was already gone. I hit the ground hard, rolling several times. Adrenaline kept the pain at bay, even as I felt the side of my face scrape against the asphalt. The moment I gained control, I scrambled to my hands and knees, scanning the area.
I watched in horror as the car finally tipped over and rolled, the barrier unable to hold it as it careened over the drop.
"Bella!" I called out, looking in every direction. "Bella!" My eyes hurt as grit and tears stung in them. "Damn it, answer me!" Police cars and trucks surrounded me immediately, my gaze finally landing on Emmett, hovering over Bella's prone form. "Bella!" I ran, or half-limped, I could barely tell, toward them, immediately dropping to my knees again at her side.
"She has a nasty bump on her head, but everything else looks good," Emmett said as I tried to move her, but he stopped me. "Can't move her, okay?" He cursed as he waved over some paramedics. "These guys are going to look after you two."
My eyes felt heavy as Bella moaned, and she called out my name. She was talking and moving, I told myself as the darkness finally closed in on me.
.
.
.
The voices were distant, slightly muffled as awareness crept in from all sides.
"He has two broken ribs, a sprained ankle and wrist. His right shoulder was dislocated, along with all the scrapes and bruises, he'll have to stay overnight for observation due to the concussion. He was very lucky, Commissioner, Ms. Swan."
"Thank you, doctor," I heard Bella say at the same time as another deeper voice. I immediately tried to reach for her but my arms felt weighed down. I couldn't open my eyes either. Her name was hard to form on my lips, but I tried anyway. "Jesus, why is he strapped down?"
I felt her then, her fingers touching my arm and wrists.
"He fought against my staff to get to you, Ms. Swan."
"Help me, Emmett. Dad."
"You're welcome to stay with your fiancé, miss," the doctor said.
"As if you had a choice," she hissed as her fingers moved over my forehead and into my hair. Another pair of hands worked on my restraints. "Edward. Can you hear me?" I nodded and turned toward her voice on my right. "Open your eyes, babe."
My throat felt bone dry and my whole body ached, but I did as she asked. My vision was blurry, her face taking too long to clear. I tried to reach for her again, but felt resistance in my left hand, my right one in her palm.
"Bella," I said hoarsely, coughing. She moved away to grab a cup of water with a straw. I took several swallows, moving away when I had enough. "Are you okay?" The words hurt to get out, even with my thirst partially quenched.
I felt her fingers in my hair again, as she answered, "I'm fine."
My vision cleared a little more and took in her features. Her hair was a mess of curls tumbling all over, loose on her shoulders. One side of her face had small cuts and her bottom lip was split off center.
"Your beautiful face," I said, again trying to reach her. Fuck. I was disorientated and kept forgetting I had in IV in place. "What happened?"
"The car was totaled," she whispered. "Besides some bruises and cuts everywhere, I have a headache." She tried to remove the railing, but Charlie did it for her.
"You sure?" I asked. She nodded and then crawled onto the bed to join me. "Thank you," I whispered, kissing her cheek softly. "You were too far away."
"We're glad to see you're okay," Charlie stated, looking at Emmett who stood at the foot of the bed. "I have to go find out what's happening with the investigation."
I had questions in need of answers, but at the moment, all I wanted to do was hold Bella. She said a soft goodbye as Charlie bent his head to press a kiss to her forehead, running a hand over her hair.
"Be safe, sweetheart," he said before leaving. Bella closed the distance between us, nuzzling my chest. I was sore but thankfully she was not on the side of my bruised ribs.
If she had been, I'd bear the pain anyway.
"I'll leave you two alone," Emmett said, but when I glared at him as best as I could under the influence of pain medication, he added, "I'll be right outside. I have two others joining me, sir. They're from the agency I used to work for."
In other words, men like him. Trained killers. I nodded and watched as he left.
"I'm sorry," I whispered to Bella, feeling the heaviness of my eyes again and cursing the damn medication.
"Not your fault." Her hand clutched at the hospital gown I wore.
It was my fault, but fuck if I was going to walk away. I was selfish. I needed to destroy our enemies for her. I would do it with her by my side if need be.
"Edward," she whispered.
"Yes?"
"Do whatever you have to do to keep us safe. With Logan coming home…" She didn't have to finish for me to know his safety would be her number one concern.
"I will."
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Emmett
I blew out a harsh breath as I left the hospital room. Fucking hell, every muscle in my body was tight with tension. The need for retribution was keeping me from relaxing. Since I was given my new assignment from Edward, Bella had become a friend.
Fuck if I was going to let some little shit like Alec Williams hurt her again.
Sam and Jacob were stationed on each side of the door leading to Edward's hospital room. We served in the same branch and unit for more than five years so I trusted them with my life. Each stood at over six feet in height and intimidated most people with their dark features and looks.
Charlie's men, his own protection detail, were stationed at each end of the hallway. Thanks to Bella's father, the police had responded to my demand for help hours earlier and were quick to comply. If it hadn't been for them, Bella and Edward would've hit the curve at over eighty miles per hours and slammed into the trees and ravine below. There was a chance they would've survived if the air bags were working, but according to Bella, they gauges read they had malfunctioned.
It made little sense.
What caused Edward's enemy to take such a drastic measure? Was it due to the reveal date of Oasis coming sooner?
"I'm leaving," I stated to Sam. His dark eyebrow rose in question, but didn't ask any. He knew better. "I'll be back within in the hour, if he asks for me, call me."
Edward wouldn't, he was too preoccupied with Bella and on some strong meds, which meant this would be my only chance.
I slipped out of the hospital undetected. It wasn't an easy feat with all the media roaming around outside. Fifteen minutes later, I had reached my destination. I parked my truck further down the street, using the shadows to reach the building.
The security was top-notch for the apartment building, but I was able to get inside within a few minutes undetected. Sweat coated my skin, the tension still thick in my blood.
Retribution.
I wanted Aro's head on a fucking platter, but the asshole was in New York, leaving one other person to talk to. I watched as he filled a glass tumbler with whiskey from inside a small bar area, taking a healthy drink before refilling it.
The asshole sat on a brown leather chair, loosening his tie, I stepped out from the dark. His eyes widened in alarm, and he scrambled to his feet. I sent him back with a swift kick to his chest.
"Sit the fuck down, Alec."