4
Little Toy Bikers and a Woman on the Run
Chapter 182 Faster
From an early age, Scarlett's father taught her that if something didn't make sense, there must be another explanation. It didn't make sense that Elliot Oswald would let a carnival clown take his daughter into the woods.
What made sense was the man was bringing Tristen into the woods to sexually assault her. Worst case, she was wrong and would embarrass herself. She could live with that.
She couldn't live with not doing anything to help the little girl. Scarlett waved at Tristen, but she wasn't sure if she saw her. She wanted her to know that she was going to get her help.
They were about 100 yards away. She would never get to them in time. Even if she could get to Tristen, she didn't have any weapons and her back injury made it impossible for her to fight. She had to find help for Tristen, but there weren't many people around at this part of the carnival. She remembered seeing David Hale over by a hot dog cart that wasn't too far away.
She willed her body to move faster. She took small steps because it hurt less than when she took big steps, but she couldn't worry about that now. She took big steps and ignored the hot jarring pain that went all the way up her spine. The only thing that mattered was getting help to Tristen.
"David," Scarlett shouted when she was about thirty feet away. He had his back to her. She kept walking taking big steps and calling Hale.
Finally he turned around and caught sight of her. He quickly closed the distance between them.
"I saw a clown walking Tristen Oswald into the woods," Scarlett said and pointed. Just then, they saw four more carnival workers head into the woods in the same direction as the clown and Tristen.
"I'm going after her. Tell Jax, I need him and SAMCRO to back me up."
Scarlett nodded.
Hale began running, while Scarlett walked as fast as physically possible for her. Jax and the guys had just gotten off the roller coaster and were joking about who was the most scared Tig or Bobby.
"Jax," she called when she was about ten feet away.
"What's wrong?" he asked as he walked up to her.
She quickly explained the situation to Jax and added that Hale needed Jax and the MC to back him up.
Jax completely changed. When she thought there was a team coming to take her when they were at the lake house, that same change had come over him just before he'd gotten the AK from the kitchen closet's secret panel.
MC Jax was tough with a streak of ruthlessness. He'd get Tristen to safety, but the clown and the other carnival workers could expect an ass kicking at the very least.
Scarlett found this taking care of business side to Jax incredibly sexy. After her father, he was the only man she ever felt would protect her.
Jax quickly brought the MC together and explained the situation. The guys began running for the woods led by Jax. Bobby tried, but it was more of a fast walk.
For a moment her mind went blank until she realized there was one more thing she had to do; she needed to find Elliot Oswald.
When she discovered what was happening to Tristen, she never thought about finding Elliot first to tell him. She had reacted instinctively by going to Hale. Tristen might be his daughter, but Hale, Jax and SAMCRO would be more effective at rescuing her.
She walked around the carnival looking for Elliot. She had slowed her pace to reduce some of the pain. Finding Oswald wasn't as urgent as finding help for Tristen. Finally, she heard Elliot calling for Tristen.
"Scarlett, have you seen Tristen?"
He told her that Tristen insisted she was old enough to go to the snow cone cart alone and he thought it would be OK. When it took too long for her to return, he began looking for her. He hoped that she was looking at some of the carnival merchandise. She had only been out of his sight for a few minutes.
When Scarlett told him about the clown leading his little girl into the woods, the color drained from his face. She told him about the team that had gone into the woods to get her back.
They walked back to the woods quickly. Once again, Scarlett was forcing herself to take excruciatingly big steps to keep up with Elliot.
When her phone rang, it startled her and she jumped.
"It's Jax," Scarlett told Elliot before answering the call.