Chapter 9:
Jack arrived at the accident first, and was relieved to find that it didn't look overly serious. He recognized Sue's car that had seemed to have been bumped from behind, as and then pushed into a nearby lamp post. The impact couldn't have been extreme because the front of her car was barely dented and the post was still upright. He got out of his car and flashed his badge at the cops surrounding the 2 vehicles. He saw what must have been the passengers of the other car but couldn't see Sue.
"Excuse me. I'm Agent Jack Hudson of the FBI. I'm looking for a Sue Thomas. She works for my unit. She must have been the driver of the other vehicle." Please say she's not hurt, Jack hoped.
"Oh yes," the officer replied, "pretty blond lady. She was pretty shaken up. Claimed she had no injuries except a nice cut on her forehead, and probably a bad headache. Accident wasn't her fault but I could tell she felt awful about it. She was over there a few minutes ago," as he pointed to Jack someone sitting on the pavement a little whiles away. Jack recognized her instantly. She just sat there in shock, on the curb, barely moving, just staring ahead into nothing. His heart broke as he walked over. She was unnaturally pale. All his thoughts about Greg and the drug bust were gone, he was just thankful she seemed unharmed.
He bent down beside her and gently touched her arm. She winced and backed off, but turned to see Jack.
"I'm sorry," was all she could get out. He sat down beside her.
"Are you okay, are you hurt?" She shook her head, but as he looked down, he noticed a bruise on her wrist. Her eyes followed his and she stared at the bruises on her wrist. "You are hurt. I want you to get checked out by a doctor, come on."
"No Jack. I'm fine. We need to get back to work; we have a case to work on." Thankfully he saw Bobby's car pull up. He knew how stubborn Sue could be and that she needed medical attention. Bobby raced over.
"Sue, are you okay?" he asked with concern. "We were so worried about you, why did you run off?" Jack snapped back into reality about why she had been in the accident in the first place. She went to stand up, and Jack followed suit, but after a step he felt Sue grab onto his arm. She paused for a moment. Bobby and Jack both looked at her quickly, as she then collapsed to the ground.
"WE NEED AN AMBULANCE HERE STAT" Bobby yelled, as Jack bent over Sue.
"She's burning up…" he whispered with panic as he felt her forehead.
"It's over a hundred degrees and she's still in that long sleeved coat." They both moved her gently to get the coat off as they waited for the ambulance, wondering what was taking so long. Jack stood up pacing, listening desperately for any hint of a siren.
"Jack," Bobby said almost inaudibly as he glanced at his best friend. "Look at her arms." Not only we're her wrists bruised, but she had bruises and cuts all up her arms, not randomly but intentionally inflicted.
"I don't think those are from the accident." Jack said quietly, begging Sue to gain consciousness and cursing at whoever did this to her.