Careful, Chapter 6
Author's Note: Thank you x 1000 to everyone at Maple Street..your inspiration and encouragement is the reason this even exists. I can't tell you how much it means to me. Much love also to Kellen, for helping me through this chapter G, and Jordan, because she rocks.
A branch scraped her cheek, its mark an angry red line that she would notice only much later, because right now her focus was solely the path in front of her and the parking lot emerging slowly into view. Samantha was running, long strides leaving the dark woods behind as she finally made contact with concrete. Jack was only a few paces behind, as were the uniforms, adrenaline allowing them to move faster than usual. The agents slid into their vehicle and, as Jack gunned the engine, Samantha pulled out her phone.
"Vivian, it's Samantha. Tim Matheson's the perp..he sent us after his brother to cover for himself. There's no cabin anywhere out here. We need his address. Danny and Martin, too..they're probably the closest if they're watching Ray's house."
"I'll call as soon as I find it," Vivian promised.
It was hardly a minute later when Samantha's phone rang shrilly, cutting through the tense silence in the car. Vivian didn't bother with a greeting; she merely rattled off Tim Matheson's address to Samantha, who relayed it to Jack.
"Thanks, Viv. Jack says to get yourself and an ambulance to Tim's house as soon as possible."
"Okay. See you there."
As soon as they hung up, Samantha punched Danny's number into her phone.
"Danny? It's Samantha."
"What's up?" Danny spoke quickly, alarmed by the frantic tone of Samantha's voice.
"Ray Matheson isn't our guy..it's his brother, Tim. He gave us the wrong information when he thought we were onto him. You two are probably closer to Tim's house than we are.." she repeated the address for Danny.
"Jesus, he sold out his own brother?" Danny's voice was filled with disgust. "Okay, we're on our way."
"See you there."
Jack drove aggressively, and Samantha was thankful that the neighborhood they were flying through was almost completely deserted. She was tense, poised on the edge of her seat, her right hand resting lightly on the door. The vehicle crackled with unbridled and unchanneled adrenaline, and Jack looked as taut and on-edge as she felt. She recalled their conversation with Tim Matheson, mentally berating herself for not picking up on the clues in his demeanor; nervous fidgeting, the brief look of intense worry in his eyes after he mentioned Darien's name..Samantha then wondered if the spots on his shirt originally thought to be mud had really been something else.
She berated herself, and then pushed that train of thought to the back of her mind. It would do Darien no good to have anything less than Samantha's full attention.
The car screamed around a turn, then slammed to a halt. As it happened, Samantha and Jack had arrived at the same time as Martin and Danny, both vehicles parked in front of an unremarkable tan house, which was, at least from the outside, built exactly like the houses surrounding it. From her seat in the car, Samantha could see only a thin line of trees in the house's backyard. She and Jack left the vehicle quietly, as Martin and Danny did the same.
"I'd wait for Vivian, but I don't think Darien has much time," Jack spoke tensely, and the others nodded. They made their way up the front walk to the door, but before anyone could speak, a door slammed, calling their attention to the back of the house.
"Martin, Danny, go around that way," Jack quietly directed them around the left side, and motioned for Samantha to follow him to the right. He signaled an alert to the uniforms, before he and Samantha made their way cautiously around to the back of the house.
Time seemed to race ahead and slow down all at once. Darien Blessing was on her knees, head bent forward, hands and ankles bound by coarse brown rope. Blood covered her face and hair, and Tim Matheson stood behind her, gun trained firmly on the back of her head. Darien registered their presence before Tim, lifting her head slightly. Dull brown eyes met Samantha's own, as tears began to again stream down the girl's stained cheeks. Samantha held her gaze for what felt like hours, but it was merely a few seconds before Jack raised his weapon.
"Drop the gun! FBI!" His strong voice carried across the overgrown yard, and Tim's head jerked up in surprise. A moment of indecision, then, with no expression at all, he cocked the hammer.
Gone was the nervous, fretful façade they had seen at the construction site, replaced instead by cold, calculating apathy. Samantha didn't think, didn't hesitate. The shot was clear and before Tim had a chance to move, her weapon was in her hands and she was firing, sending a bullet spinning into his shoulder like she had done so many times on the practice field, except this wasn't a sheet of target paper, it was real, and now he was falling backwards, dropping his own gun as he clutched his injured shoulder. In a flash, Danny had picked it up. Within a few seconds, the paramedics entered the back yard, led by Vivian and two of the uniforms.
Samantha reholstered her weapon, giving Jack a shaky smile when he touched her shoulder. The paramedics had untied Darien, and were gently lifting her onto a stretcher. Jack pulled out his phone, and Samantha made her way across the yard to where the girl lay on her back, the crimson of her face and arms stark against the stretcher's pristine white cloth.
"Mrs. Blessing? This is Jack Malone of the FBI..yes, we found her. She looks pretty beat up, but she's going to be okay.." Jack's voice faded as Samantha stepped up next to Darien. She picked up the girl's bloodstained hand, surprised when she felt it close around her own.
"Thank you." Darien's voice was less than a whisper, but she looked earnestly at Samantha, the dullness gone from her large brown eyes.
"No problem." Samantha smiled to hide the tears that were gathering in her own eyes. "Your mom will be here soon," she promised, and Darien nodded.
"I didn't even know him," Darien spoke again, and Samantha's chest tightened with sympathy for the girl in front of her. "I was just walking, and there he was, and then everything was so dark.." she trailed off as a faint smile crept onto her face. "I remember now. It was after open gym," she said decisively, looking at Samantha for confirmation. "Before, I couldn't remember anything; it was so scary." Pale, thin and shaking, she looked so much younger than her sixteen years, but her eyes held the evidence of all she had experienced and endured.
A moment later, a blur of red streaked through the yard, and Grace was hugging Darien, laughing and crying at the same time.
"God, Chicago, we were so scared.." the redhead flitted beside her friend, unable to keep still as the tears flowed freely from her green eyes.
Behind her, Mrs. Blessing ran into the yard. She was gripping Mara Jennings' hand, and Samantha idly assumed everything had been forgiven on that front. She slowed to almost a stop when her eyes landed on Darien and then, choking back a sob, raced to her daughter's side.
With a final squeeze, Samantha dropped Darien's hand, giving the girl a parting smile as she wandered over to Tim Matheson's back stoop, sitting down on the hard surface.
"I hope you don't think this is going to get you out of preseason.." Samantha heard Grace's voice and Darien's weak but mirthful laughter, and a smile crept across her face. This case had been so emotionally draining, but every moment had been worth it because the end was so precious. It was worth it, to see Mrs. Blessing hug Darien, then Mara, then Grace, then Danny, Martin, and Vivian, then Jack, then the paramedics..it was worth it, to see Grace laughing with Darien, to see the guilt disappear from Grace's eyes along with the pain from Darien's..and it was worth it, when Jack returned her tired smile with one of his own and made his way over to where she sat. Her heart had just returned to its normal pace, but picked up again as he sat next to her and, heedless of who was watching, touched her cheek gently where the branch had scraped the skin.
"Looks like that hurt," his low voice resonated through her, and she felt some of her exhaustion slip away. In response, she shrugged and grinned.
"It was worth it," she replied, and he nodded in understanding.
"It's gonna be hard," Jack's gaze had shifted to Darien, who was being loaded into an ambulance.
"She'll be okay." Samantha spoke with conviction. "There's something about her..she's a tough kid."
"I think you're right," Jack replied. A light breeze played across the yard, and Samantha could almost forget that a girl had come close to losing her life here, come close to dying at the hand of a cold, emotionless man, a man who was, at the moment, being treated by the paramedics and loaded into his own ambulance.
She could almost forget, but she never would.
Jack's hand on her arm was her anchor, keeping her steady, holding her back from the dangerous places to where she occasionally couldn't help but drift.
Her grateful smile erased some of the concern from his eyes, and she stood, extending a hand to help him off the stoop.
"C'mon, I'm sure we have a few weeks' worth of paperwork to fill out," she spoke, as they left the backyard behind.
Everyone was so gentle, and the soft stretcher was a far cry from the hard floor she'd been subjected to for what felt like an eternity. Through the small glass window of the ambulance, she saw her mother, Mara and Grace quickly leaving the backyard for the drive to the hospital. Beyond them, sitting on a concrete stoop, was her savior; the blonde woman had appeared out of nowhere, she remembered. Appeared out of nowhere and given her back what she'd been about to lose forever; life. A man approached the woman, touching her gently as he sat down beside her. She smiled; no one should be alone, but especially not this woman, who held such compassion and a world of depth in her eyes. She finally allowed her own eyes to close, but kept the image of love she had just seen close to her. Beautiful and pure, it would help restore her faith in a world that could be so dark and lonely.
[end]