Drive (19 page)

             
Jordan was coming up on the edge of town. She veered the car right where she was met with yet another set of police cars blocking her way. She didn’t care. She was ready. And so, she purposely drove the car straight over a spike strip, slowing it down drastically.

             
Naturally, Mortison was able to take an alternate route, avoiding flat tires and catching up to her quickly. He and his partner were the first ones beside her when the Camaro came to a standstill in the middle of the road. Prepared to turn herself in, Jordan started to get out of the car when she heard Mortison yell, “GUN!”

             
The next thing Jordan heard was gunfire. Then, everything went black.

***

Sawyer and Fish caught up to the scene just as Mortison was coming up on Jordan.  Sawyer was running toward them on foot when he saw the detective raise his gun and fire it.

             
“NOOOOOO!” Sawyer watched as Jordan’s body tumbled to the ground. He barely registered that the shots continued as the police men and women surrounding them opened fire on an unsuspecting Mortison.

             
Sawyer fell to his knees beside Jordan’s lifeless body pressing his hand to her chest to try and stop the blood flow.

             
“Jordan! Jordan, look at me. You have to open your eyes and look at me. I have to know that you can hear me!” he pleaded with her. “Damn it Jordan! If you’re face to face with your goddamn welcome committee right now being ushered over to the other side, you tell them to fuck off! You’re not ready! I’m not ready! You hear me? You can’t just accept death…because I can’t accept life without you in it.”

He leaned down and kissed Jordan softly on the forehead, tears falling from his chin and dripping onto her closed lids, but there was no reaction from her.

It had been nearly twenty hours since Travis and Lewis had rushed Jordan to the ER. Once there, she had been taken straight to surgery where they managed to repair most of the damage. Thankfully the bullet had merely grazed her heart before going straight through her. The blood loss had been extensive, but thanks to Travis’s fast action, she had made it through surgery still clinging to her life.

             
In the hours that had passed since she had been brought into the ICU, Sawyer hadn’t left her side. Waves of people had flowed in and out of the room, ranging from the medical staff at the hospital to the troves of paramedics that came in to see for themselves how Jordan was doing. It wasn’t until Jordan’s mother and brother had shown up, that Sawyer suddenly felt as though he belonged outside in the waiting room alongside Fish and Travis.

             
Still holding on to Jordan’s limp hand, Sawyer stood from his chair beside her bed, attempting to leave when her mother reached out her hand to stop him.

“Please, stay. Travis told me…My God, everything that has happened…I know I don’t know you, but I know my daughter and she would want you here, otherwise she wouldn’t be.” Her words were barely audible towards the end, as the emotions overtook her. She had to cling to the side railing of her daughter’s bed to steady
herself and her son quickly rushed to her side and helped her to her seat opposite Sawyer’s.  The trio remained by Jordan’s side until late into the next night. The nurses finally convinced Jordan’s mother and brother to lie down in a separate room down the hall, but Sawyer refused their repeated offers for a cot of his own.

              “It’s time to wake up now Jordan,” he whispered into her ear. “There’s something I need to tell you.” Sawyer watched in anticipation, but nothing happened. Exhausted and discouraged, he draped his head over his arm, resting himself on the edge of her mattress. He closed his eyes, unable to ward off sleep any longer. Sawyer was just drifting off when he heard, “What?”

Jordan’s voice was raspy from dehydration. “What do you need to tell me?” she asked, trying to swallow repeatedly to soothe her dry throat.

              Sawyer had expected a jolt of enthusiasm big enough to skyrocket him into the ceiling the moment Jordan woke up, but instead, he sat completely still, afraid to move a muscle, terrified it would tempt fate if he made any sudden movements. Gently squeezing her hand in his, he felt a faint pressure returned by her palm and the floodgates opened. Relief washed over him, immersing him in his emotions and making it hard to breathe, let alone speak.

             
“I need to tell you…that I love you,” he said at last.

             
Jordan smiled weakly. “I already knew that.”

             
Sawyer laughed, breaking through the intensity of the moment. He stood up and bent over to pepper her face with a million grateful kisses.  He didn’t think he’d ever get enough of her even if they both lived to be a hundred.

             
It wasn’t until the nurse came in to check Jordan’s vitals that Sawyer was able to tear himself away from Jordan’s side to grant her access. The nurse assured both of them that everything was looking good. Just to be sure, she alerted the doctor to Jordan’s regaining consciousness and he in turn checked in on her as well. When they left again, Sawyer returned right to his spot sitting beside her and holding her hand.

             
“So, I guess my plan didn’t work out exactly the way I had envisioned it,” Jordan said quietly.

             
“Not exactly, but you were able to clear my name and put an end to Mortison.”

             
Jordan’s face, while still showing the strain of her trauma, lit up at the news.

             
“Thank God. I was really getting sick of him,” she said, rolling her eyes dramatically.              Sawyer had no choice but to smile. He wondered if she’d always have the power to do that for him. He sincerely hoped that she would.

             
“Now that you mention it, can I expect your reckless behavior to come down a notch or two after everything that’s happened?”

             
“I wouldn’t” Jordan shrugged. She was already closing her eyes again.

             
“Yeah, I didn’t think so,” Sawyer said as he leaned in to kiss her one more time.

As she dozed off she whispered, “Oh, and I love you, too.”

SIX MONTHS LATER

             
Sawyer was sitting at his desk reviewing a case. It had been strange transitioning from undercover work to being a detective with the Narcotics Division, but he was starting to enjoy the change of pace. In the end, all of his work regarding his investigation against the Espositos had been thrown out. Given Mortison’s involvement, every shred of evidence had been compromised. The D.A. had apologized to Sawyer profusely, sympathizing with all the years he had spent on the case only for it to have been in vain.  The truth was, Sawyer was relieved. In the end, going after Gino was the last thing he had wanted to do. Realizing that he felt that way had been all the reason he needed to move on from doing undercover work to something where he would be far less involved with the people he was targeting.

             
“Lazzaro. We caught a case. Meth lab exploded over on Brinkmen. It’s a big mess.”

             
Sawyer looked up from the file he had been reading. His new partner, David Rochester was staring at him impatiently.

             
“Coming.”

             
Sawyer rolled his chair out from his desk and stood up to follow Rochester, who was already headed for the door.

              They arrived at the scene just in time to see one last explosion blast the roof off of the back corner of the house. Flames were everywhere, devouring the small structure faster than the firefighters could put them out.

             
Along the curb, several men and women covered in ash and soot had been lined up to sit on the pavement while a couple of police men stood guard.

             
“This everyone then?” Sawyer asked the officer closest to him.

             
“No,” the young man replied, shaking his head. He had a bewildered look in his eye as he glanced back at the burning house. “Paramedics got here first and pulled everyone out of the house, but there was a baby sleeping in one of the back bedrooms. As far as I know, one of them went back in to get her. Happened before I got here, sir. And I haven’t seen a sign of either of them since. Firefighters won’t go in while the explosions are still happening…” the officer’s voice trailed off as he realized that Sawyer was no longer listening and was now running toward the house himself.

             
Two firemen tried to grab him, but he fought them off and was about to reach the door when he spotted movement on the side of the house. Fighting her way through a thick cloud of black smoke was Jordan and in her arms she held the baby.

             
Her new partner Tony was barely out of school and was visibly shaken from everything that had happened. He was struggling just trying to set one foot in front of the other as he came to meet Jordan and the baby, and she shot him a dirty look when she noticed. Sawyer forced down the lump that had formed in his throat the moment he learned Jordan was still in the building and grinned. The new kid was gonna have to toughen up if he was going to make it around her. Hell, there were days Sawyer questioned whether or not he was cut out for it, but then the alternative really hadn’t ever been an option.

             
Jordan met his gaze as she hurried past him to get the baby to their rig and in an instant a wave of emotions washed back and forth between the two of them. Sawyer followed them to the ambulance and watched as Jordan prepared the baby for travel before handing her care over to Tony so she could climb into the driver’s seat.

             
Jordan leaned out through her open window as she turned the key in the ignition and said, “I’m fine. You don’t have to worry. I promise, I’m not going anywhere!”

             
“Try to remember that the next time you run into a burning building, would ya?” said Sawyer.

             
He watched as her ambulance pulled back into traffic, sirens blaring. Then he pulled his phone out of his pocket and made a call.

***

              Fish was sitting at his desk in his brand new loft in the city. Somehow, going back home had seemed less appealing knowing a shoot-out had taken place there. So, he had searched high and low for a place that had a pet policy lenient enough to accommodate Jet. Eventually he had found the loft, along with a loop hole in the lease agreement large enough to fit a leopard, as well as a beautiful rooftop terrace Fish had managed to turn into Jet’s own private jungle.

             
He was doing his best to keep his business relatively legal and was busy working on a new project when his phone rang.

             
“What can I do ye for, mate?”

             
“I need a favor,” said Sawyer on the other end.

             
“Yes, I had worked that part out for myself. What do you need?”  Fish replied as he swiveled around in his chair to reach his laptop on the other end of the desk.

             
“Jordan’s on the road with a baby she pulled out of a burning meth lab. She already cheated death once in the last five minutes, anything you can do to make her trip a little safer would be greatly appreciated.”

             
Fish chuckled, “Alright mate, but you know she’s going to know that it’s me and then she’s probably going to be pissed at you for calling me in the first place.”

             
Sawyer sighed loudly. “Yeah, I know. Which is why I’m going to tell her that I did it for the sake of the baby.”

             
“Cool. I’m on it.”

             
Fish set down his phone and went straight to work, typing at high speeds until he achieved the desired results. Then he sat back in his chair, satisfied with the outcome.

***

Jordan was coming straight through the center of town. Rush hour would be setting in by now making her drive all the more challenging. She thought back at the baby struggling to breathe in the back of the rig and contemplated which route would be best. She was about to take a turn away from the traffic up ahead, when she noticed that light after light as far as she could see was turning green.

             
“Fish.” She shook her head and laughed as she pressed her foot down on the gas and rode the green lights all the way to the hospital.

THE END

Although Karina Gioertz has been writing for most of her life, it never quite registered with her as something out of the ordinary or worth pursuing, because it was so closely connected to who she was. It wasn’t until she became a stay at home mom and finally took the time to write an entire book from beginning to end, that she understood what all of those ideas she had been jotting down all those years were really for. Since then, she has written several books, including Country Girls, Lucky In Love and Blood Bound.

While writing and motherhood have become her main focus over the years, she also enjoys many other creative activities such as painting and photography. Most sunny days she can be found in her courtyard working feverishly at painting and refurbishing old furniture…that is, of course, only if it wasn’t a suitable day to spend at the beach. ;-)

Karina resides in sunny Florida with her family and two dogs/ She loves to hear from readers and can be contacted via
Facebook
,
Twitter
as well as her
website
.