“I don’t need a damn doctor. What I need is a car!” Jason said for the tenth time. When the men in the van had grabbed Katie, he’d jumped into a small truck, that someone was unloading supplies from a few feet away, and he had tried to follow the van. The short chase ended up with the larger vehicle ramming his into the front of the building.
“Just settle back, Jason,” Rodrick said, pushing him back onto the leather couch in Damiano’s large private office. “Ric and Dante took off after the van right after you crashed into the building. They’re keeping us posted on my phone.”
Rodrick turned to a very Italian man in a suit who’d been pacing the floor. “Damiano, just how long is it going to take for those police to get here?”
Jason looked at the man and realized this was Katie’s BD, as she called him. He could instantly see the heritage. The man looked upset and scared, making Jason realize that he could scratch him off his suspect list. No way the man’s nerves were faked. Whatever happened, Damiano had no part in what was happening to his daughter.
Just then, the man’s cell phone rang. Jason was getting agitated, his head hurt, and he wanted desperately to be out there helping look for Katie.
“Hello – where? – Yes, I’ll call them and tell them.” Damiano hung up the phone and turned to them, “They just found her. I’m calling the police now.”
Jason pushed up from the couch and started to pace. His shoulder hurt and he was sure his neck muscles would be screaming at him later for the jolt he’d received earlier. He was a little more relaxed hearing that they knew where she was, until the next call came in less than four minutes later. Upon hearing that news, he sprinted from the room, just in front of Rodrick. They rode the elevator down to the lobby, and Jason ran out of the building quickly, knowing that the other man was tight on his heels. He knew it was up to him to save the woman he loved, and he knew just where she was heading.
Katie stood outside on the corner of the street she’d been at just yesterday with Jason. Her bank stood before her and she thought of how to get away from the two men. Looking around at the crowded street, she felt the pressure of the knife at her side and wondered how she was going to get out of this.
She’d imagined her whole life that she would have kids someday, and grow old with the man she loved. Jason’s face crossed her mind and she knew, just like she’d always known, that he was the one she pictured having that family with. He’d always been the one she had pictured spending her life with: kids, house, dogs, everything. Realizing she had never gotten the chance to tell him how she really felt, she almost panicked. She had to escape this, just had to, so she could tell him how she felt now, and had always felt.
She didn’t know what was going to happen to her when these men found out that the daily limit on her card was five thousand and not the enormous amount they were demanding? She knew one thing, she needed to make sure she didn’t get back in the van with them. Even if it meant doing something drastic.
She was standing at the ATM, knife to her back, her hands shaking, when all of a sudden the large man was yanked away from her side. Turning, she watched Jason swinging at the man, as the other man swung his arm towards him, the knife clutched in his hand. She must have screamed, because everyone stopped and stared in horror. She watched Jason deflect the blow, using the man’s weight to send him reeling off balance against the stone wall. The man recovered quickly and inched his way towards her. She backed up several feet and watched as Jason stepped between them, blocking the man’s path to her.
“Get back, Katie,” he yelled over his shoulder.
Just then the other man, Raul, jumped from the van a few feet away and started running towards her, a gun held in his hand. As he ran to her, his eyes kept darting to his partner, watching him fight with Jason.
Katie didn’t look at the fight, she couldn’t. She needed to do something quickly to help herself, before the man used the gun on her, or worse, Jason. She looked around frantically for a weapon when she noticed a large flower pot sitting next to her foot. She bent down and picked it up, and used all her strength to throw it at the man. The clay pot shattered against the side of his skull, sending him flying to the ground in a large, unconscious heap. The gun skidded across the sidewalk and under the van, out of sight.
Now she just needed to get the other two men apart before Jason got hurt. When she got closer to them, she noticed blood all over Jason’s face and arms and saw in horror that his hands were covered as well.
She started freaking out! Where had it all come from? Had he been cut? Her breath was coming in quick bursts and she was shaking uncontrollable. She rushed over and stood back, looking for any way to stop them. She needed to get them apart but there wasn’t anything else that could help her. Then she heard a shout and looked over to see her father running towards them.
“Hurry, Dad! He has a knife and Jason’s hurt!” she yelled in his direction.
Hearing that help was on the way, the other man let down his guard momentarily, and Jason’s fist slammed into the side of his head, landing a blow that took the man to his knees. She’d seen him use his Judo in practice several times, and she’d been very impressed. But none of it compared to the street fighting skills she’d just witnessed.
Her father skid to a halt and grabbed the knife from the unconscious man’s hands as Katie threw herself into Jason’s arms and held on to him, enjoying the feel of him holding her back.