Chapter 36
"That's so good to hear," Ava said relieved as tears fell down her face. She couldn't stop them as she was so relieved to hear Cruz was ok. She wanted to race down to the hospital but couldn't give up the responsibility of caring for the children. Even if she had back up in the form of Kara, Alisha, Kat and Val. She knew it was best to wait and Cruz wasn't going to be awake for a while. So she told herself he'd want her here.
"You ok over there?" Maria asked her as the twins booed Val for not playing whatever game they were doing properly. Val who just didn't understand that children were illogical at the best of times tried to argue that she was just playing it like them. So she was being informed of the double standards of playing with kids.
"Yeah, we have more adults here than children here. We're good, just keep us updated." Ava said, she wiped the tears from her face and blew out a breath of relief at knowing Cruz was alive.
"Will do. It's going to be ok, Ava. I know it will be." Maria said before they said their goodbyes and hung up. Ava placed her phone on the bench taking a moment.
"That the pizza guy?" Val asked her as she came into the kitchen to grab a drink. She left the twins to be wrapped in an episode of Curious George on the TV. Kat was on one of the lounges playing on Val's computer, while Kara was holding Clara and Alisha followed Mateo who was crawling all over the floor with no direction whatsoever.
"No, it was Maria. Cruz is going to be fine. He's in recovery." Ava said, Alisha and Kara looked relieved at the news even though there was still an underlying tension of Miller's disappearance. "How long will the search take for Miller?" she asked Kara.
"I don't know. They are following Bobbie as his Father called her from Miller's phone. He has Miller." Kara said, she only knew what was going on thanks to her fiancé texting her at random intervals to keep them updated.
"What?" Val asked in annoyed disbelief.
"Miller's Dad is evil-" Alisha started but Val cut her off with a wave of her hand.
"I knew that, you said he called her from Miller's phone." Val said to Kara, asking for clarification.
"Yes." Kara said as she believed them all to be on the same page but obviously they weren't.
"Why didn't anyone tell me?" Val asked incredulously. She pointed at Kara "Give the baby over to her." she told her pointing to Ava. "Kat, I need my computer. Now." Val ordered, Kara and Kat did as they were told.
Ava took Clara and kissed the girl's cheek. "Daddy is going to be ok." She whispered to her as she rocked on her feet. Clara relaxed against her shoulder and Ava watched as Kat brought over the laptop to Val.
"Call whoever is in charge. I can track Miller's phone to it's location." Val told Kara, the other woman pulled out her mobile and made the call.
"How?" Kara asked her with the phone to her ear.
"Smart phones have GPS and some dude before the pandemic released an app that allowed you to find your mobile. It remotely turns it on and uses satellites to track its location in real time. It was removed quickly due to privacy issues and the creator using it to stalk his ex and murder her. But let's not get into that." Val said with a roll of her eyes as she typed quickly on her laptop. "The beauty of the internet is that nothing is ever lost or truly deleted. You just have to use your ingenuity to find it." Val said with a satisfied smile as she found what she was looking for.
"Well?" Alisha asked Val.
"Be patient, it's doing its thing." Val said gesturing to the screen. It was a garbled mess of computer code that to anyone who didn't have a background in Computer Science wouldn't comprehend. Kat, Alisha, Kara and Val hovered around the screen waiting. A ping noise sounded from the laptop, and a map came up on the screen.
"Sir, I have a location." Kara said to whoever was on the end of her phone call.
"At least we have confirmation Miller's phone is in the building." Mike said wryly as he, Jeter, Burk, Danny and five police officers stood around a table trying to formulate a plan to take care of Rob and his goons without making Miller and Bobbie collateral.
They were dressed to the teeth for a battle but the police made it clear they didn't want anyone killed so they were armed with bean bag shot guns and stun guns. It felt like a joke but they did make the compromise of one side arm in a last resort. If it were up to the Navy, they'd go in and neutralised all the bad guys. But the local P.D. and Mayor wanted to make a news piece out of it. They recapture escaped prisoners as a message that the others out there were on borrowed time.
"We have it now, and we can't be sure if it's where Miller is being held." Danny said as he still had Kara on the line. This was incredibly unorthodox from their usual S.O.P. but then they didn't have plan for this scenario.
"There are over forty floors on that building." Tex said wincing as he and Wolf came back from doing surveillance of the building from a far. "But it's the place. Bobbie and her escort went inside." He added.
"Kara says Val can't give us a better read than what she has." Danny pulled the phone from his ear and winced as Val's voice came through loud and clear even though the phone wasn't on speaker. "Don't shout." He spoke into the phone. He switched it speaker.
"You guys are such...Bananas in pyjamas." Val grouched, her language was obviously tempered due to the children playing in the background. but it didn't stop the people at the table exchanging looks of slight confusion and amusement.
"Just repeat what you said. You're on speaker." Danny told her as he switched to speaker not that it was needed given how Val was yelling at him.
"The building was finished but never got to the grand opening or habitation stage. So if I were an evil person I'd be living in the display apartment. Now, I used the same app with a few tweaks and I count 7 other mobile phone signals in that building. I can't tell you what floor they are on. But I can call them all at the same time, The app will turn the ring tones on to their highest setting. Will that help you to locate them better on the ground?" Val asked them, her tone was a little patronising but the men let it slide given it was helpful.
"Yes, give us five minutes and we'll call you back." Danny said as he hung up the phone. He looked to the other men as they didn't have much time to formulate a plan and implement it.
"Bobbie, how nice of you to join us." Rob drawled mockingly as Bobbie walked into the room. She tried to rush over to her son but the man who escorted her up grabbed her arm. He pulled her back hard that she slightly lost her footing, but stayed upright. She gritted her teeth as the hold on her arm was bruising her to the point tears pricked her eyes, Rob smiled at her obvious pain.
"She's unarmed, I tossed her mobile and no one followed us." His friend told him.
"Mom?" Miller rasped in a pained voice, his face was swollen and bleeding as he hung limply from the ceiling. He had blood trailing down the front of his t-shirt and it looked like he was struggling to breathe.
"Oh Eric," She whispered feeling his pain in every fibre of her being. He looked so broken seeing her here. She wanted to comfort him, she wanted to assure him that everything was going to be alright but she didn't know. She only had her faith in his friends.
"Bobbie, don't look sad. You have to break things down before you build them back up." Rob said as he closed the distance between them.
"I'm here, just let him go Rob. Please, just let him go." Bobbie begged Rob.
"No," Rob said, Bobbie's heart sank while bile rose in her throat. "You took my life from me, do you really think I'd give you any kindness for that?" he asked her, before she had a chance to say a word, he grabbed her by her hair and pulled her close; tugging hard.
"I'm going to break you Bobbie, slowly just like I broke in prison and when we're done, I'm going to kill him in front of you. Then I'll leave you alive. So you know what it feels like to have all your happiness ripped from your life. Now let's make up for lost time." He told her. He pulled on her hair to the point she cried out in pain as hairs ripped out of her scalp. But he didn't show mercy as he pulled her away from the living area towards the bedrooms.
Danny looked to the others behind him, they had managed to get to main floor where Rob and his friends were hanging out. They'd taken his spotters on the street out of play. They'd slowly made their way up the building to the floor where the display apartment was. So far, they had six people in custody. It left four more on this floor. Down the hallway, they had two guys guarding the door way.
They hadn't used Val's idea for a distraction yet, but now was the time. Danny clicked his radio twice, a second later phones starting ringing. Taking point and advantage of the distraction Danny and his team raced down the hallway.
Miller felt like he was going to vomit as he watched his Mom being dragged away. Rob left behind two guys to watch him, they just smiled as if this were amusing. He closed his eyes and tried to slow breathing but it was so hard as his body screamed in pain. But he pushed through it as he heard his Mom cry out in pain and the sound of something break from the room. He wrapped his hands around the chains attaching him to the ceiling. He grounded his teeth as he pulled his legs up and over his head.
"Hey, what you doing?" one of the guy asked as his phone started to ring. But Miller ignored him as he used his feet to push against the beam while he pulled with his hands. Using all his strength and gravity; the bolt slowly but surely pulled free. Once it popped out, he fell to the ground on his back with a hard thud.
He groaned as pain radiated through his body, just as he turned on his side; a flash bang rolled across the floor. He barely registered the noise of the rolling object but found himself incapacitated when it went off. The loud bang and flash of light filled the room. Through blurry eyes and ringing ears; he saw as soldiers came into the room and took out the two guys who'd been watching him to the ground with tasers and the other was shot but blood didn't spray from the wound. But the man fell to the ground groaning in agony.
"Miller! stay down!" a familiar voice of Tex's called to him over the noise. There was a flurry of activity, he barely could keep up as the sounds of gunshots kept sounding as well as men shouting.
"Mom," he murmured as he tried to get up. But a hand pressed him back down and rolled him onto his back. Miller winced and groaned in pain. He lashed out but his vision cleared enough for him to see Burk above him.
"I got you buddy. Just stay down," he told him.
Danny had kicked down the first bedroom door, Wolf went in first ready for anything but the sight before him was surprising. Rob was laying on the floor, bullet wound to his chest, blood starting to pool under him as he gasped for air.
Bobbie stood to the other side of the room with gun in hand, ghostly pale with her skin marred with bruises and scratches; her clothing torn and bloody, she had what looked like a large piece of broken vase sticking out of her right arm. She swung the gun around at them, Wolf stowed his gun over his shoulder and held his hands up in surrender.
"Bobbie, it's ok. It's over." Wolf said as he carefully moved towards her, she seemed trapped in her fear and Adrenalin of firing a weapon. She was shaking so violently he was afraid she might accidentally pull the trigger. Tears streamed down her pale face. He came close enough that he gently pushed her gun hand to the floor. He maintained eye contact with her the entire time. "Building is secure. Paramedics are coming up now. I'm going to take the gun now." he told her, he wrapped his hand around the barrel, her grip slackened just enough that he pulled the weapon free.
He took out the bullets and cleared the chamber before placing the gun on the bed. He tucked the ammo into his vest before he rested a hand on her uninjured arm. He was afraid of wrapping his arms around her in fear of hurting her.
"Bobbie?" he said, her eyes wide as she looked at him. He was about to ask if she was ok but she bent over and vomited right on his boots. He winced for her misery than the mess on his boots. "It's ok." he said as he pulled her hair out of her face; she dry retched. He looked to Danny who was thankfully a little too distracted in keeping Rob alive to comment.
"My son?" she rasped between gulping air as her throat and stomach were still trying to make her throw up even though she was empty.
"He's ok," Wolf assured her as he tried not to touch her too much. She was a mess and he wasn't sure where her wounds are and he didn't want to dislodge the porcelain sticking out of her skin for fear of doing more damage than good.
"Get me out of here." She pleaded in a low whisper. It tugged at Wolf's heart and urged his nature to protect and comfort to kick in. He looked to Danny who had been joined by Burk in helping him deal with Rob. He looked to Bobbie and gave a nod. He wrapped an arm around her waist and guided her out of the room.
Cruz slowly woke up, his head was swimming and the oxygen blasting through the nasal cannula was freezing his nose to the point he wanted to sneeze. The cannula in his arm ached, soon other aches made themselves known. He winced as he opened his eyes, not liking the room he was in.
Yeah, he remembered what happened and that he'd woken up before. It had felt like a bad dream. Miller and he being attacked, then him waking in the hospital. His sister crying as she punched him the arm. The doctors talking but their words were all a blur. Speaking to an officer but once again, he couldn't remember what he said.
But the view improved as Ava appeared before him. She looked like she had been crying, man that made him feel bad. She was holding a sleeping Clara in her arms. Damn if that was a beautiful sight for him.
"Hey," Ava said softly, he really liked how that voice pleasantly washed over him like how a hot shower felt like after a long day.
"Hey," he murmured, his voice a little thick from disuse. He nearly smacked his right hand in his face but stopped as he remembered the cast. Broken bones were a pain in the ass. So was being shot in the leg. His R&R was now going to be extending into medical leave.
"Do you need the nurse or something?" she asked, he pulled the nasal cannula out of his face and shook his head. "You kind of need the oxygen to stay awake." Ava told him, clearly worried for him.
"I don't need it. I just need you and Clara." He said as he patted the bed, Ava sat down on the space careful not to jostle him as she passed Clara into his uninjured arm. Clara barely stirred as she snuggled into his side. Blissfully aware of the world and what was going on.
"You really scared me." Ava told him in a hushed tone, tears welled in her eyes.
"I'm ok, just a little busted up." He said with a weak smile. He would've reached out to touch her but broken arm, cracked ribs and a sleeping baby impeded him. She gave nod before she looked at him. Her expression filled with so many emotions it was hard to distinguish one from the other.
"You're never running with Miller again." she told him with a smile, he chuckled as knew she was just kidding not laying down the law. It was just a reaction to what had happened. He'd been lucky, something he wasn't taking for granted.
"Well, it was either run or wake you up." Cruz told her, her eyes darkened and smile turned sly as the meaning of his words were not lost on either of them.
"Next time wake me up, I love you and I can't handle you running off and getting shot doing something as innocuous as a morning run." She told him.
"You love me?" he asked her, he gave him a dark look which made him laugh and wince.
"Yes, you nong." She said, she looked like she was going to hit him but held back probably because he had Clara and was busted up.
"I love you too." He replied as hearing those words said aloud made what he felt for her all that more pronounced and perfect. They both smiled and she gently slid her fingers into his, they soaked up the moment where it was just them, and Clara. Imperfectly perfect.