The Pain of Silence
Chapter 16
Morgan broke down as she and Vanessa ran to the door when they heard tires screech down the street.
"What are we going to do!? Where would he take her?" Morgan screamed frantically.
"Mrs. Tyler, calm down. It'll be okay. We'll get her back!" Vanessa said, as the Hardys' van came racing down the street.
As Frank pulled into the driveway, both Joe and Tony jumped out before he came to a stop.
"What's wrong?" Tony asked as he dashed up to the girls, noticing their distraught expressions.
"Joe!" Vanessa ran over to him, seeing dried blood on his arm.
"I'll be fine! It's just a graze."
"She was kidnapped! Brooke was kidnapped!" Morgan cried, and everyone became silent.
"What? How?" Tony asked as Frank came up beside him.
"Just now! He came here and—" Morgan looked at Vanessa for help.
"He found me hiding and threatened me with a gun. Brooke came out and tried to help—"
"Tried? Is she okay?" Frank asked.
"I don't know. She hit her head and wasn't conscious when he took her—"
That was all Frank and Tony needed to hear. Both boys raced back to the van and Joe followed.
"Joe, stay here with the girls! You need medical attention!" Frank instructed him.
"But—""No buts! Stay here! This could be dangerous and they need someone with them in case he comes back," Frank ordered.
"Fine!" Joe rejoined the women, as sirens sounded in the distance.
Frank and Tony pulled out, heading towards the highway.
"She'll be fine," Frank said reassuringly.
"I hope so. How do we even know he's going to the highway, Frank?"
"He can't stay in Bayport. He's a wanted man. He'll want to get as far away as he can."
"Yeah, he's wanted all right. I want to kick his ass, personally," Tony spat out.
Scott drove as fast as he could without drawing any unwanted attention. He glanced over at Brooke, who was leaning against the window, still unconscious.
'You could have killed her. Why'd you do that?!'
He shook his head, trying to clear his thoughts.
'I had no choice. I had to take her with me and she wouldn't have just walked out that door.'
He looked at her again.
'Look at her! She's bleeding! She needs to go to the hospital!'
Scott slammed his fist against the steering wheel in frustration and the horn blared
'No, I can't do that! Then they'll catch me. I must keep going!'
'Her death will be on your shoulders. What kind of father are you?'
'Father!'
Her peered back over at his daughter and suddenly felt ashamed, guilty and angry.
'What should I do?' he thought.
'Keep going…don't stop.'
Brooke's head pounded in pain. Her eyelids slowly opened and she looked around. 'I'm in a…truck?' she thought, confused and slowly turned her head to see her father driving. 'Oh no! What happened!? I have to get out of here!'
"Good, you're awake," a gruff voice said.
"No thanks to you," she replied coldly. She tried to sit up, but her head pounded and she let out a small cry. "Dad, I need to go to—" she never got the chance to finish.
"You can't! We have to leave. We are not staying here!"
She grabbed her seatbelt and fastened it. 'Jerk! You can't even put it on for me.' "Dad, my head hurts." She brought a hand to her forehead and winced. Being scared and in pain brought tears to her eyes. "Please. They don't have to know what happened. I just…" she leaned back, dizzy. She tried blinking and her vision blurred. She felt sick. 'Nerves. It's gotta be nerves. Oh God, what am I gonna do?!' She saw a sign that led to the highway and got scared. 'I've go to do something.'
"No, we can't. They'll be looking for you. Just stay still and DON'T MOVE!" he commanded.
A few minutes went by and she wasn't feeling any better. She looked in her side mirror, hoping someone would find them. She looked around for anything that could be used against him. In between them was a small lunch cooler, CD's, the stick shift, and on the floor was some trash. She looked at the speedometer and saw he was only going fifty-five miles per hour. 'Hmm, maybe if he slows down enough I can get him to go off the road?' she thought and frowned. 'I must be insane! But, what else can I do? It's worth a shot.'
Brooke gave herself a couple minutes to make sure there weren't many cars on the road around them. She got her lucky break when the only vehicle was in the distance far behind them and he had slowed down near fifty miles per hour. 'God, please let this work.'
She moved as fast as she could, reaching past the stick shift and his mess in between them, for the steering wheel, grabbing it, fighting for control. He pushed her away with his elbow, and she swung out, punching him on the side of the face. She grabbed the wheel once more, turning it as fast as she could, veering off the road, and skidded. He slammed on the brakes.
She felt a hard push on her chest, just before her forehead hit the dashboard. She fought to stay conscious as pain seared through her. The truck had turned too fast, causing it to overturn onto its side.
Scott's airbag deployed, but she wasn't as lucky. Hers never went off.
Brooke fell sideways, hitting her head on the window and lay there, clutching her chest. She was in too much pain to pass out, as blood trickled down her face once more.
"Where are they?!" Tony grumbled, impatiently.
"We can't be far behind," Frank said as he sped down the highway.
"There!" Tony pointed to a truck. "Is that them?"
Frank sped up even more. "It must be. Thank God! What the—" he gasped in horror as the truck ahead went off the road.
"Oh no…" was all Tony could manage to get out as they saw the truck flip onto its side. "NO!"
When they reached the accident scene, Frank pulled over and Tony jumped from the van, running towards the truck, which was now off the road in the breakdown lane."Tony!" Frank chased after him, coming to an abrupt halt as the door that was uppermost opened and Scott attempted to climb out. All he managed to do was fall to the ground, his face bloody from having smashed into the steering wheel when they crashed. He tried to scramble to his feet but Tony wouldn't allow it.
"You son of a—"
"Tony! Stop!" Frank yelled.
Tony pushed Scott back to the ground as he tried to get up. "How could you do this?! How could you hurt her?!" He wanted to punch the man, but he could tell from his bloody nose and how he was holding his arm, he wasn't going far.
Frank looked down and blood was gushing from Scott's nose. 'You deserve far worse, you bastard.' "Stop it! He's done! We got him!" Frank yelled and Tony unwillingly released Scott, who was in too much pain to pay attention to what they were saying.
"If he wasn't hurt, I'd…UGH!" Tony let out a yell of frustration.
"We have rope in the van. Stay right here. Don't let him move! We'll tie him up until the cops arrive," Frank said and ran to the van.
Tony stayed where he was, glaring at Scott. He wanted to leave him there and check on Brooke, but knew the man would try and get away, the moment he was alone.
Frank came back and handed Tony some rope. "Get his feet. I'll get his hands."
Scott yelled when Frank grabbed his wrist. "Don't move and this won't hurt!" Frank said coldly. Scott did as he was told and within a minute he was tied up. Other cars were starting to slow down and people looked, but no one stopped.
Once Scott was secured, they stood up to look inside the truck. The front windshield was almost completely shattered.
"Brooke?!" Tony yelled and sucked in his breath when he saw her lying on the bottom of the truck. "Brooke, can you hear me?"
Frank called the police with his cell phone, to make sure emergency personnel were on their way. He explained the situation to the emergency operator.
"Tony?" came a weak voice from the truck interior.
"Brooke, can you hear me?" he asked and peered inside the truck. He switched on the interior light so they could see Brooke. When he saw her face, Tony's eyes filled with tears. He reached for her hand. "Brooke?"
They heard small gasps of breath. "Tony…" she let out a small gasp. "Don't…"Frank crouched beside him. "Brooke, what's wrong? Can you move? Are you hurt?" He noticed a nasty bump on her forehead that was bleeding and he also spotted blood underneath her head as she lay there.
"Breathe…"Tony looked at Frank who shook his head. "I can't hear her," Frank said, as the noise of the sirens approaching drowned out Brooke's voice.
"Arm…hurts…. Can't…breathe…."
"She can't breathe?" Tony looked at Frank.
"Don't let her move!" Frank instructed. "Her arm could be broken."
"Brooke, listen to me. You'll be fine. They're almost here! Stay with us…" Tony said softly.
"Don't…leave…""I won't. I'll be here with you. I won't leave you." Tony let his tears trickle down his cheeks. 'God, I beg you. Please let her be all right.' He closed his eyes, praying as help arrived.
When the paramedics showed up, they had the boys move aside so they could work on stabilizing Brooke and extricating her from the wreck.
Frank stood by his best friend, and silently prayed. 'You can't take her away a second time. He'll be devastated. Everyone will…' A yell interrupted his thoughts and he saw Scott being placed in the backseat of a police cruiser.