Chapter 59

The road ahead was dark. She drove on through the desert cursing the slow moving car. It had been so long since she last drove an automatic she had no idea how slow they were, but with her left leg strapped into a walking cast there was no other choice. Distance separated her from him and no matter how hard she pushed the pedal the car wouldn't go any faster.

The sun was breaking over the horizon when she finally reached her destination. Once inside the Los Angeles county line she pulled off the highway and found a pay phone. She dialed Hector's number.

"Who the hell is calling at this hour?" Hector was annoyed to be awakened only hours after getting to bed.

"Hector I only have a few minutes. I need to know where Leon's at. What hospital do they have him at?"

"Girl you need to stay out of L.A. Shit's too hot right now."

"It's too late Hector. I'm already here. Where is he?"

"He's at County, ICU."

"Thanks Hector, take care of yourself."

"You do the same girl."

Sky placed the phone back on the receiver and hobbled back to her car. She sat in the car staring at the road ahead of her. There was no way to know what she would find when she arrived at the hospital. Just thinking of Leon lying in a hospital bed brought tears to her eyes. She wiped her eyes and headed to the hospital.

"We got one of them." The detective waved over his commander to the call center set up to monitor Hector and Harry's phone lines.

Bilkens took the headphones from the detective and listened in on the conversation between Hector and Sky. "One of the prime targets is back in the Los Angeles area. I need officers at the ICU to intercept her. Make sure nothing looks suspicious or she'll bolt. We need this one to crack the case."

Sky slipped out of the car and grabbed the crutches out of the backseat. She took a look around at her surroundings searching for anything out of place. Nothing caught her attention. The automatic doors slid open as she approached. Cool air greeted her. The lobby was crowded allowing her to slip unnoticed into the elevator and up to the seventh floor.

"May I help you?" The receptionist asked without looking up at Sky.

"Yes, I need to see Leon Davison."

"Are you a family member?"

"Of course, why else would I be here to see him? Can you stop reading your Cosmo for two seconds and do you job for a change?"

The receptionist looked up and rolled her eyes at Sky, "Yeah. Go through the doors and he's in the second room on the right." She went back to her magazine without waiting for a reply.

With hesitation Sky turned the corner into his room. What she saw terrified her. Leon lie still on the bed with a tube running from his mouth attached to a ventilator. She watched the machine breathe for him. She moved closer and saw the tubes coming from his chest and abdomen. She reached out for his hand. It felt cold in her hand. She searched for any sign of life from him, but found nothing. He was just a shell of his former self. "Leon baby come back to me. You are my life and without you I can't go on. Baby please hear me." He made no response.

Two hands grabbed her from behind, "Skylar Thomas you are under arrest. You have the right to remain silent. If you give up this right any thing you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to an attorney. Do you understand these rights as I have read them to you?"

"What the fuck? Let go of me. You can't take me away from here." Sky struggled against the grip of the officer. "Let me fucking go." She screamed.

"Don't make this harder than it has to be. We will use force if it is necessary."

"Let me go now. I'm not leaving this room." She bit the officer's hand trying to free her self.

"That's it you asked for it. Jeter help me wrestle her down." The officer's partner came up from behind Sky and took her legs out from under her knocking her to the ground. They pounced on Sky and handcuffed her. They dragged her out of the room screaming and kicking the whole way.

The gray room had no windows just a large mirrored wall. She knew that on the other side was another room where cops could listen in to the interrogation. They had handcuffed her hands behind her back and sat her in a chair facing the mirrored wall. The overhead light gave the room eerie shading. She sat quietly staring at the mirror waiting for the cops to question her.

In walked an officer that had worked with Brian on the case, "Are you comfortable Miss Thomas?"

"Of course not, let's get this over with so I can get back to the hospital."

"Right," he said with a hint of sarcasm. "First off I'd like to introduce myself. My name is Detective Hughes. I'll be handling your questioning. Can I get you anything before we start?"

"No thanks."

He sat down at the table and switched on the tape recorder, "This is Detective Hughes interviewing Skylar Thomas on case number 7589440. This is part of an ongoing investigation into the hijacking of transport trucks. Please state your full name and birth date."

"There's no way I'm talking to you. I want my lawyer." Sky leaned back in her chair and stared Hughes down.

He clicked the recorder off, "So you want to do this the hard way. I'll be glad to oblige you." He stood up out of his chair and walked over to where Sky was sitting. "You're going to tell me what I want to know."

"Yeah right, I don't have to answer shit unless my lawyer's present. So get out of my face and go call my lawyer."

"Tell me what I want to know or I will get it out of you my way."

"The whole bad ass cop routine is a bit tired don't you think. Your buddies on the other side of the glass must be dying laughing."

His guttural laugh filled the room, "There's no one on the other side of the glass. It's just you and me. Anything that happens in this room will be your word against mine." His open fist struck her across the face knocking her from the chair to the ground. "That's just a taste of what I'm going to do to you. Now you're going to tell me who was involved in the hijackings."

Sky spit blood from her cut lip in his direction, "Fuck you."

"Need a little more encouragement to cooperate," he landed a kick to her abdomen. "Now answer my question."

"Go to hell."

"You don't like that one huh? How about where is the missing truck driver from the last heist?"

"I have no idea what you're talking about."

"Don't play with me little girl. Where is the driver?"

"Look asshole I have no idea what you're talking about. We can do this all day and you'll get the same answer."

"Will I?" Hughes grabbed hold of Sky's broken leg and undid the Velcro straps to her cast. "This should be fun." He slipped the cast off and threw it to the other side of the room. "Tell me where he is."

"Ooh I am so scared of you," she sarcastically taunted him.

"You should be." He gripped hard on the spot of the break in her leg and pressed down with all his body weight. She let out a blood curdling scream. This only made him push harder on the injury. "I can keep this up. How long can you handle the pain?" She tried to wiggle away from his grip to no avail. "Where is the driver?"

"Help." Sky screamed out hoping her cries would be heard by anyone. "Somebody help me."

"No such a hard ass now are we? Cry for me I like it." He continued to put pressure on her leg, but she wouldn't break. He strapped her cast back on and called for a female officer to return Sky to her cell.

She was dragged back to her cell and thrown inside. The officer released her from the cuffs and left the cell. At the sound of the locking of the cell Sky let the tears fall from her eyes.

/Guess you might be wondering about the rest of the crew and Leon's brothers. They'll all be in the next chapter that I'm currently working on./