Page 48 of Sam to the Rescue
I need to calm down. Uncle Vinny left two men parked by the door. Dad sent a police cruiser, and Slate has one of his best men sitting on my street. I trust these people. My son is safe. He has to be.
With the old Impala edging closer to Sebastian’s bumper, I roll down the driver’s side glass, take aim, and fire.
Holy shit! My bullet hits its mark, the tire explodes, and the black Cadillac spins out. Speeding forward, I shoot again, this time at the white van in front of theirs. Overly confident, I miss once, and again.
Dammit. My nerves are frayed and my arm, heavy. Taking a deep breath, I focus, pray, and pull the trigger.
Blam. Rubber hits my windshield as the van topples on its side, metal screeching pavement.
“Shit!” I stop my car in the middle of the road, jump out, and race toward him. What if he’s hurt?
Oh God.When I arrive, I tug on the sky facing door handle but it won’t budge.Think, think, think.I run back to the Impala, open the trunk, and grab a tire iron as well as a rifle. With the long weapon’s strap around my back, I return, bash in the van’s side window, and place an index finger to his neck. His pulse is strong. He’s alive.
I tap his cheeks. “Suds, baby. Wake up. We need to move you out of here.”
Glassy eyes open. “Lucky? Pal? That you?”
Chapter 33
Suds
The enemy surrounds me but something is off. As usual, my nightmare starts with an explosion and my vehicle flies through the air but why wasn’t I thrown clear?
A woman taps my hand. “Tough guy, are you with me?”
A female. How does she know my name? Clearly their intel is better than we ever guessed.
“Sebastian, it’s me, Sam. You need to wake up.” Her voice sounds familiar but it’s a trick. The only thing between me and the gunfire is the metal making up the vehicle.
“Dammit.” Her soft hand cups my face. “Lucky sent me. Insurgents surround us. Climb out of the vehicle now, soldier.”
She releases my seatbelt and I fall to the other side of the front seat. “Please. I can’t do this without your help.”
Small fingers grasp at my bicep as I work to regain focus but reality is too far away. Old friends’ lifeless eyes blame me and one mouths at me, “Not fair.”
Another had a fiancé and she speaks through him. “You were brothers. You were supposed to protect each other.”
“I tried, believe me. The IED. There was no way of knowing.”
The female narrator in my dream slaps my face. “Baby, snap out of it. I am not leaving without you. Who will raise Mikey?”
The fog lifts, another reality shimmers beyond the surface of my dream, and I remember my son. “Fangs said he’d take him apart, a piece at a time.”
Searching the seat, I find the burner phone and stuff it in my pocket. After handing me a weapon, she fires at the oncoming Taliban. “Go, go, go!”
“Copy that.” I crawl out and run with her down the asphalt.
Chapter 34
Sam
Did I save my husband only to lose my son?As we run back toward my idling Chevy, a shot deafens my right ear. At the same time, pebbles break off the pavement and sting my legs.
“Take cover.” He tackles me into the gully beside the highway, his body shielding mine.
The three from the black Caddy fire their automatic weapons, tearing up the dirt behind us. One hundred feet away, Nonna’s car idles but it might as well be miles.
“Stay down, sugar.” Suds’ large hand pushes on my head and he hands me a flip phone. “Call home. Find out if our baby is okay.”