After the Sunset Read online

  “I don’t think you’re crazy,” I said. “I just-” My eyes widened. “What the hell?”

  “What is it?” Lilith said, following my line of sight.

  “It’s nothing.” I said. “It’s just, I thought that was the turn for the hospital. I guess the EMTs must know a shortcut.”

  “Perhaps,” Lilith said, though I could hear the apprehension in her voice. “Maybe they-”

  Her voice stopped short, and I knew why. The ambulance slammed on brakes in front of us. I followed suit, stopping right before I ran into the back of the emergency vehicle.

  “What the hell is going on?” I asked, reaching for my door handle. As I did, the front driver’s side door of the ambulance flung open.

  A man wearing an EMT uniform stepped down, his hands raised high. He looked at me, his eyes wide and afraid. I knew the look immediately. It was the look of a man in immediate and extreme danger.

  “Oh my God,” I muttered.

  As the words left my mouth, shots rang out. They hit the EMT. He fell to the rain-soaked ground, and then the ambulance sped off.

  With a start, I realized what was happening. They missed the turn on purpose. They had no intention of going to the emergency room. The ambulance had been taken over and, if I wasn’t mistaken, they were kidnapping Joel Mayberry.

  Chapter 6

  Rain poured down on me as I flung the door of Lilith’s fancy car open. The night was warm, filled with the sort of heat that almost demands a thunderstorm around these parts. In fact, as I stood up, breathing heavy, a clap of thunder shook the night sky.

  “What are you doing?” Lilith asked, pulling off her seatbelt and sliding across the seat toward me.

  “Stay in the car,” I said, staring as the ambulance started to pull off. Taking note of the tag number, I rushed toward the injured man. He lay flat on his back, looking up at the storm filled sky as blood poured out of him, mixing with the rain to form a diluted red puddle under him.

  “What are you doing?’ Lilith asked, running out into the rain herself after obviously ignoring my order.

  I hit my knees, rain beating down so hard now that I could barely hear the woman’s cries above it.

  The man was wide awake, his eyes wide and his body shaking as I looked down at him.

  “Pressure,” he said, his voice cracking and weak.

  “Save your energy,” I said. “Just focus on-”

  “You have to put pressure on the wound,” he interrupted me, reaching up at his chest weakly as though he could apply the pressure himself.

  I moved his hands quickly and whipped my jacket off. Balling it up, I pressed it against his chest, remembering that- although he was hurt- he was trained in dealing with trauma and likely knew what he was talking about.

  “Focus on staying awake,” I said. “Help is on the way.”

  Spitting out water and with my hand pressed firmly against the man’s chest, I turned to Lilith. “Call 911. We need an ambulance.” I looked down at the EMT on the ground. “Another one.”

  “We can call on the way,” she answered, screaming to be heard over the clapping rain.

  “On the way where?” I asked. “I’m not going anywhere. This man is hurt.”

  “My son is hurt!” she said. “And he’s in the back of that ambulance. You promised me you would get to the bottom of this. You said you would help. If that ambulance gets away, we might never find it again.”

  “I know I promised you,” I said, glaring at the woman, at the pained mother. “But I can’t leave my post. I can’t abandon this man here. He’ll bleed out.”

  “To hell with you then!” she shot back, turning tail and running back toward the car.

  “No!” I yelled, realizing what she was going to do. “Lilith, don’t you dare! You have no idea what’s going on. You have no idea what you’re up against. The only thing I can promise you is that this is dangerous, more dangerous than you’re prepared for.”

  “Does it look like I give a damn about danger, Dillon Storm?” she asked, her hands balling into fists at her sides. “I’m a mother. I’d face down Hell itself for my son. I’d stand in the line of fire. I’d stare down a lion if it meant I could keep him safe. I’d-”

  “Get yourself killed is what you’ll do,” I said, my hands pressed firmly against the chest of a man I was pretty sure had seen his last sunrise. “And what good will that do anyone? It sure as hell won’t help your son. The people who have him are obviously armed. If you don’t believe me, just look at the poor bastard bleeding out underfoot.”

  I looked down at the man, a sense of guilt building in me like a wave on the Gulf. If he was going to die tonight, he deserved at least the courtesy of not talking about him like he wasn’t there, of not using him as a point of contention. I didn’t have that luxury right now though. Lilith Mayberry would tear into the night after the people who had her son and, in doing so, would only compound the problem I now faced. I’d have to convince her it wasn’t in her best interest, even if I had to use this EMT’s misfortune to do it.

  “You’ll end up like this, Lilith,” I said, looking up at her, at the way the beating rain made her hair lay flat and plastered against her head. “You’ll end up in a pool of blood on the floor, with only a stranger to help you keep the things that are supposed to be on the inside in place.” I blinked at her. “And that’s if you’re lucky. If not, you’ll die all alone. You’ll never see your son again. Now please, for the love of all that’s holy, stand back and let me do my job.”

  She stared at me for a second, but just for a second. I could tell instantly that I hadn’t gotten through to her, that I would perhaps never be able to get through to her.

  The man under me choked something out, maybe a cry for help or a pained moan. I would be with him in a second. I would tend to him as well as I could, given his circumstance and my rather obvious limitations when it came to this matter.

  “Let me do my job, Lilith,” I said, swallowing hard and repeating myself, hoping against hope that I might get through to her.

  “Because you did such a good job of it the first time,” she scoffed, snuffing out any hope I might have she could see the light. “I’m doing what I should have done the first time. I’m taking things into my own hands.”

  “Don’t you dare!” I snarled, deciding to switch gears. If I couldn’t reason with the woman in an attempt to save her life and well-being, then I’d threaten her in order to do it. “You get into that car, and that’s obstruction of justice. It’s reckless endangerment, and probably half a dozen other charges I can throw at you later, assuming you survive. It’ll make a felon out of you, Lilith. It’ll tank your husband’s campaign.”

  “If you think I give a damn about that campaign, about your threats, or about anything other than the fact that my child is speeding away from me against his will, then I sincerely hope I’m right about you and Rebecca’s marriage ending before it starts. She deserves better than a world class idiot like you.”

  The man under me moaned again. Guilt and sympathy pooled in my chest.

  “Make a felon out of me if you want, Dillon Storm,” Lilith said, throwing herself into her car. “At least I’ll know I did everything I could to save the person I love most in the world. Can you say that?”

  She slammed the door and drove off, her taillights disappearing into the long stretch of black road and the torrents of rain pouring down from the open heavens.

  “Baaa…” the man moaned again from under me.

  Finally, I looked down at him. “Save your breath,” I said, pulling my phone from my pocket. “I’m calling 911. Everything is going to be okay. I promi-”

  The man grabbed my hand with more strength than he should have had. “You’re not listening,” he said, his voice low and muddled. “They said they have it with them. They said they were going to detonate it.”

  “Detonate it?” I asked. “What are you talking about?”

  “He’s crazy,” the man said. “Duncan used
to tell me he was going to build one someday, but I never really believed him. He was just some stupid guy. I never thought he would ever- I never thought he could ever-”

  “What?” I asked. “What are you talking about?”

  “I think he built it,” the man stammered. “I think it’s onboard.” He swallowed hard, his eyes closing. “I think there’s a bomb on the ambulance.”

  Chapter 7

  My heart leapt up into my throat as I stared at the man. As soon as the words left his mouth, he passed out, the blood loss proving too much for him.

  With widened eyes and sweating palms, I dialed the number for emergency services. Identifying myself, I calmly reported to the lady on the other end of the line what had just happened; how there was a man bleeding to death in the rain in the middle of the street, and how an ambulance had just been hijacked, carrying an injured man and very possibly an explosive device with it.

  To the lady’s credit, though she seemed a little surprised by the bomb admission, she didn’t let it deter her from her job. Without missing a beat, she told me she was going to send another ambulance (hopefully without kidnappers or bomb builders in it this time) as well as the bomb squad.

  I thanked her as she tried to talk me through the methods of trying to care for the injured man in the seemingly endless expanse of time between the moment we were in now and the time the new ambulance might arrive.

  I knew it wouldn’t be endless though. We had left the hospital not too long ago. We were a few miles away at most. Help would be here shortly; help for the injured man unconscious in front of me, help for Joel, help for Lilith and- if there really was a bomb on that ambulance- hopefully help for the whole of Naples.

  I thanked her, telling her that-as an officer of the law- I was trained in this sort of rudimentary trauma stuff. I read to her the license plate of the stolen ambulance, a number I had memorized as it sped away.

  As she hung up, I wished my fiancé was here. Though I wanted her as far away from gunfire, explosions, and crazy people willing to hijack emergency vehicles as possible, there was no denying she would have been more help here than I was. Rebecca was a star when it came to fixing what was broken about a person. Hell, she was a star at most things, but she would have really shone tonight, and this guy would have likely been the better for it.

  He might die now and, as much as that was on the sonofabitch who short him (whoever that may be) it was also on me a little. I was useless right here, my hands still firmly pressed against his chest. I felt like a petulant child, helpless and screaming for an adult to come and save me. I hated that feeling almost as much as I hated the idea of this man’s blood on my hands.

  I couldn’t think like that though. It wasn’t true. Though I had always been the type to lay blame for the world’s problems squarely on my shoulders, that wouldn’t do me any good in this situation. I wasn’t at fault here, not really. Though I wouldn’t be able to save this man, he wouldn’t need saving if not for the bullets some idiot had lodged into his chest.

  I blinked, thinking of the family he must have had. Did he have a fiancé like Rebecca? Did he have a mother like Lilith, who would lose her mind when she realized something had happened to her son?

  I thought about Lilith. I had omitted her from the account that I gave the 911 dispatcher. Though I had threatened her with a felony charge, the truth was I just wanted to get her back here safely.

  What could I do though? Even if my sense of morality hadn’t told me it would be reprehensible to leave this man before some sort of help got here, there was no way for me to leave. I was on foot, again helpless. All I could do was wait and hope no one died, wait and hope I didn’t hear anything exploding.

  I was so lost in that thought, so lost in my anger, frustration, and sympathy, that I almost didn’t notice the lights or hear the car as it screeched to a stop in front of me.

  “Dear Lord!” a lady’s voice cried. I looked up into the shining low beams, which were in my direct line of sight.

  A woman rushed toward me, her hand stretched over blonde hair in an effort to keep the rain off of it.

  “What happened here?” she asked, her voice frantic and her face pale.

  “There was a shooting,” I said. “This man is-”

  “I-I’m a nurse,” she said, still nervous. “I mean, I don’t know if that matters or not, but I am. If you need me to-”

  “Get over here!” I said, looking up at her and motioning with everything but my hands for her to move quickly.

  “Oh,” she said, gulping. “Okay then.”

  She hit her knees and, in front of me, I could tell she was a gorgeous, if young, thing.

  “I’m Emma,” she said, looking at the EMT on the ground. “He’s lost a lot of blood.”

  “He has,” I said. “And he’s going to lose a lot more if we don’t do something.”

  “He doesn’t have much more to lose,” she answered. “And I can’t do anything right now, not without proper equipment.” She blinked at me and, in the light her car was producing, she suddenly looked like a lot more than some young blonde thing. She might have been barely twenty and nervous as a cat in a kennel, but she was the person in charge here. She had to be.

  “I have a fist aid kit in the backseat,” she said. “Move your hands,” she said, motioning for me to finally let go of the bleeding man’s chest. “It’s okay,” she assured me. “I’ve got this. Now go!”

  I jumped up and rushed to the car. Opening the backseat, I grabbed the first aid kit and handed it to Emma.

  “Thank you,” she said. “Now, I’m going to do what I can for him, but I’m going to need you to stand back.”

  “I’m afraid I’m going to have to do more than that,” I said, pulling a flashlight from my back pocket, lighting it, and placing it on a spot on the ground where it would be most helpful for Emma.

  “What’s that for?” she asked.

  “To replace the headlights,” I said. “I’m afraid that, with this man in good hands until the ambulance comes, I’m going to have to commandeer this vehicle.”

  “You’re taking my car?” she asked, her eyes narrowing. “But I only have three payments left on it.”

  “You’ll get it back,” I said, adding the word ‘hopefully’ under my breath. “I’m afraid I don’t have a choice though. Turns out we’re both pulling overtime tonight.”

  “You do your job and I’ll do mine,” Emma said, nodding at me and training her attention on the EMT on the ground. She sighed. “I know this man. I’ve seen him bringing patients into the hospital. I think his name is Archer. I mean, I don’t know that for sure, but I do know he always seemed like a good man.” She smiled. “He gave me his coffee once.” Her face stoned over. “I don’t know what’s going on here,” she said, her eyes moving to my badge. “Whatever it is, take care of it. I won’t let Archer die. You make sure no one else does.”

  “Yes, ma’am,” I said, standing and rushing toward the car of a woman I had to admit I was pretty impressed with.

  Throwing the car in drive, I tore down the street in what I was sure would be a fruitless attempt to catch Lilith and the stolen ambulance. They had too much of a head start. There was no way I’d be able to catch them.

  Or so I thought.

  No sooner had I cleared the hill then I saw them. Lilith’s car was stretched across both lanes of traffic, stopped dead behind the ambulance.

  I floored it.

  They were spots in the distance but, at the rate I was going, I would be there in seconds.

  Seconds wouldn’t be fast enough though. The ambulance started moving.

  “No, you don’t,” I said, somehow willing Emma’s little punch bug car to go even faster.

  I roared closer to them, wondering if Lilith had gone and gotten herself killed like I’d warned her might happen. I hoped not. She was a good woman, it seemed; frantic, but there was a good reason for that.

  I didn’t want anyone’s blood on my hands tonight, especially
not that of the innocent.

  As I neared her car, the ambulance darting off into the distance, I saw she wasn’t dead.

  She was standing here in the middle of the street. My heart dropped as I took her in. Her hands were behind her back, her face was twisted into a mask of horror and- strapped across her chest- was a ticking clock that signified the fact that Lilith Mayberry was wearing a bomb.

  Chapter 8

  I skidded to a stop, the tires on Emma’s punch bug squealing for mercy. I pulled hard to the right, careful not to hit Lilith and the explosive device she was wearing. My eyes never left hers as I got out of the car, moving carefully and circling her like a deer during hunting season.

  “Lilith,” I said, raining beating down on my face as I held my hands out toward her. “What happened?”

  Before she answered, I looked down at her chest, at the bulky black mass of wires and buttons which adorned it. The clock in the middle ticked down, reading 3:41 seconds at the moment, and moving quickly.

  “They stopped,” she said, shaking her head and sounding like her mind was a million miles away. “I thought I was going to have to chase them clear out into the Gulf, but they just pulled over.” She blinked hard, and I couldn’t help but notice she was backing away from me. “I got out of the car screaming, ready to give them a piece of my mind and get my son back.” She slumped against her car, the very car I’d begged her not to drive away in only a few moments ago. “They didn’t care though. They didn’t even listen. They grabbed me by both arms and slammed me hard against the car. They put this damn thing on me and they just drove off.” Tears filled her eyes. “I didn’t even see him. All that and I didn’t even get to see Joel. I don’t know if he’s even still alive.” She wiped spilled tears from her cheek. “I guess I should have listened to you.”