Stolen Innocents (The Shadow Series Book 2) (41 page)

Jenna laughed loudly, “O’Mara is taken care of.”

Liam breathed a sigh of relief.

“What happened?” Adam demanded to know.

“Cole shot her in the head, and a shot to the heart courtesy of yours truly,” said Jenna.

“Cole!” choked Adam in amusement. “You serious?!”

“Oh, thank God. It’s over,” said Liam with a sigh of relief.

“Not quite, bud. We still have to get you guys out of there,” said Tristan

“Are you guys hanging in there okay?” yelled DiNolfo, trying to keep the worry out of her voice.

“Liam needs to get to the hospital.”

“I’m fine! Just get us out of here in one piece.”

“Alright, hang in there, guys…”

“Hey DiNolfo…” Adam called.

“Yeah?”

“Did she confess to Tiffany’s murder?”

DiNolfo looked to Tristan, who had heard her relentless monologue.

“She confessed to every single one of the murders. And I found the site of the murders.”

Adam breathed a sigh of relief as his brother Liam smiled despite his pain.

“We’ll discuss it all in detail when this is over.”

“Uh, DiNolfo…” said Liam.

“Yes?”

“After this case is wrapped up….”

“Yeah?”

“I’m going to need a vacation and a raise!”

“How does a promotion and two weeks off sound?”

“A promotion?” asked Adam.

“Yeah. I have no Deputies. If you want the position, it’s yours. You did a hell of a job on this case.”

“Let’s get out of here first,” said Adam as he casted his brother a worried glance.

“You got it Deputy Morrow,” DiNolfo joked, trying to lighten the air. There was still a very real threat, but they would be able to more easily tackle the task at hand with a lighter heart.

Jack leaned in to Jenna and whispered to her, “Isn’t there a test involved in that?”

Jenna nodded in denial.

“Nobody wants the job. I have a police force of seventeen and they are the only two I would trust in that position. They are the exact opposite of Amos and Earl. It’s what this town needs.”

Jack couldn’t agree more.

***

Shane steered his father’s pick-up truck nervously down Mountain Road until they were outside of the Elkhart Police Station. Blake ran into the police station and spewed out everything he knew to the officer that was sitting at the front desk. Before Blake had even exited the building police cruiser E3 was barreling down Mountain Road, towards the entrance of the mines. Sirens filled the warm night air as all available officers were dispatched to the mines to help.

***

Tristan climbed on the hood of the police car as she continued moving rock and debris. Cole and Frank were directly behind her moving larger pieces of rock. Bridgette was on the ground next to Natalie assessing her wounds, which weren’t nearly as bad as her own. She determined that Natalie had some rope burns around her neck and wrists, a bruise on her head, and a nasty scrape on her leg, but as far as severity went, Bridgette, Tommy and Liam certainly took the cake.

“Sit down, Bridgette!” yelled Jack. “You’ve been shot. You need to sit down and take it easy.”

Bridgette grumbled, contemplating whether she should take her own bullet out, so that people would stop telling her to sit down. She wasn’t thinking clearly as she pulled up her shirt sleeve.

“Jenna! Stop her!” yelled Jack as he gawked at his sister with wide eyes.

“What the hell are you doing?!” asked Jenna as she pulled Bridgette’s hand from her sleeve.

“I’m a nurse. I know what I’m doing!” Bridgette insisted as the last of the color faded from her face.

Suddenly, the sounds of approaching sirens filled the mine.

“That sounds like an ambulance!” Joe exclaimed with hope in his voice.

“Sergeant DiNolfo?!” yelled a voice from the surface.

“Down here!”

“Are there any injured down there?!”

“Yes. We have a rope. They can be pulled up. There is no other way in!”

“Bring them to the access point and we’ll get them out!”

“Bridgette, Tommy and Natalie, let’s go!”

“I can help!” insisted Bridgette.

“You already have. You’ve done so much. Now we need you to get that shoulder looked at.”

“I’m fine!”

“Bridgette!” Frank yelled from the rubble. “Go with the paramedics!”

“Let’s go…” Jack said, as he ushered his strong willed sister to the heart of the mine where the paramedics were waiting for her. Tommy was the first to be lifted out of the mine on a stretcher. He was promptly loaded in the back of the ambulance and was en-route to Grier Mountain Medical Center. Natalie followed behind without a single complaint. She wanted nothing more than to put this experience behind her. As Bridgette was being pulled up to the surface, she glanced back at the body that lay on the ground. A small sparrow was pecking at Angie’s skin.

***

“1…2…3…!” said Cole, Jack, Joe and Frank in unison as they began to move a particularly large rock. Dust began to billow, and Tristan’s eyes went wide.

“Stop!” Tristan screamed as she saw a large slab of cement start to shift loose. “Get out of the way!”

The slab of cement was sliding from the top of the wreck and was heading right for the spot where Jack and Cole stood. Tristan knocked them out of the way as they watched the slab crash into the black van. The sheer weight of the concrete cut right through the van’s bumper, and knocked it clear off.

“You need to be very careful!” yelled Tristan as she climbed back up to the top of the wreckage.

She continued moving smaller rocks and dirt with her bare hands until finally, she saw something that looked familiar. Under the thin layer of dirt, the cracked windshield and the smaller fragments of rock, Liam’s exhausted face peered out in shock. 

***

“They’re in there?!” said Officer Rutledge as he looked at the crippled mine in shock.

“That’s what the kid said!” replied Officer Cruz.

“The whole entrance has collapsed! We aren’t getting in there…”

“There has to be another way.”

“What about…” began Officer Cruz, but he was interrupted by an earth shattering sound.

It sounded as if the mountain was collapsing through the very earth it stood upon.

“C’mon! Hurry! I know another way!” shouted Rutledge as he ran back to squad car E3.

***

Cole and Tristan stood on the hood of the car now, removing as much debris as humanly possible. They were so close to freeing Adam and Liam. They couldn’t stop now. There were still rocks on both sides of the car, so Adam couldn’t open his door, but now, thanks to Tristan and Cole, he could push through the windshield.

“Watch out!” Adam yelled as he prepared to kick the windshield out.

“Liam! Cover your face!”

Adam’s size thirteen boot kicked through the windshield, shattering the glass into tiny shards. Cole shielded Tristan from the shower of glass that poured down over them. Adam cleared the window frame of any sharp edges. Liam didn’t have the strength to get out himself, so Adam was going to have to lift him. He didn’t want him to suffer any further injuries. Liam was in bad enough shape as it was.

“Dad, we’ve got them!”

Jack ran from the opposite side of the fiery wreck with a worried but relieved look on his face. He took one look at Liam and he just about lost all his resolve. Liam was paper white and had lost a lot of blood. Adam’s police shirt was soaked with his brother’s blood and Liam was too weak to move himself.

“Frank!” Jack called, not realizing that Frank was already by his side.

“I am going to help lift him,” explained Adam, “I need you two to pull him out.”

Jack stood on the hood of the car ready to pull his son out by his good arm, but before he could Frank was leaning his large frame into the car, grabbing Liam around the waist.

“I need you to push up. Do you understand?” Frank asked Liam, looking him square in the eye.

“You’re a big guy, so I can’t do this all myself,” said Frank.

Though Frank was strong, he wasn’t invincible. Liam stood at six feet, three inches tall and weighed over two hundred pounds. He wasn’t a lightweight by any stretch of the imagination. His stocky build and tall frame made this task even more challenging. Liam shook his head in understanding. Frank pulled as Liam pushed, but he could not get him out of the car.

“Adam, get out,” Frank urged. “Jack get on the hood of the car.”  Frank slipped into Adam’s seat as he got a better grip of his nephew.

“Jack, put your arms around his chest. Don’t touch that shoulder at all.”

Jack did as he was told as Frank gave Liam a firm boost. Liam screamed in pain as he was moved. Jack pulled his son out of the car, keeping a firm hold on him. Liam was absolute dead weight. He had lost so much blood that he had absolutely no physical energy left.

Jenna took one look at Liam and ran for the paramedics. If they didn’t get him to the hospital soon, they would lose him for sure.

“Come quick! You need a stretcher!” barked Jenna at the paramedics.

As Jack and Liam stepped off of the hood of the car, a horrible rumble echoed through the mine.

“Get him to the stretcher now!” yelled Adam.

Joe and Adam carried Liam quickly to the heart of the mine where the stretcher was waiting for him. Paramedics strapped him down and he was immediately lifted out of the mine and loaded into the back of the ambulance that waited on the surface.  Nick, one of the paramedics, now focused his attention on Jenna.

“Sergeant, we have to get you out of here!”

“No! Not until everyone else is out!”

“I insist!”

Nick put the rope in Jenna’s hand as he yelled to the top.

“Pull her up!”

“C’mon! We have to go!” yelled Cole at Tristan as she jumped over the rubble in the mine.

The tunnel that Liam and Adam were trapped in had caved in. The ceiling of the mine collapsed upon the beleaguered police cruiser and flattened it like a bug. Tunnel after tunnel began to disappear, becoming nothing more than rubble on the mine floor. The access point that led to Harrow’s General Store was blocked by several tons of debris. The only way out was up. Everyone ran to the heart of the mine as they choked on the billowing dust that swarmed around them. Cole grabbed Tristan’s hand and refused to let go. She tripped over a large slab of rock and slammed her head hard onto the concrete surface. As blood streamed from her head, Tristan felt Cole pick her up into his arms.

“Go, go! Get her up there!” yelled Jack at Cole as he carried Tristan from the collapsing mine. He passed her off to the paramedic who laid her down on a stretcher.