Empath's Angel - M J Marlow (easy readers .TXT) 📗

Jay,” Emilia said as the ambulance pulled away from the garage. “They kept calling him by some other name.” She looked increasingly worried. “What if they took the wrong man? They would have no reason not to hurt him.” “Your father is going to be all right, Emilia,” Jason told her. He patted her hand and felt her relax slightly. “We’re going to find himand…” “Is something wrong, Jay?” Emilia asked, her eyes showing fear once more. “They’re not taking us to the hospital, Emi,” Jason whispered into her ear. “We should have been there by now.” “You don’t think…” Emilia went pale as the thought that the kidnappers had them Crossed her mind at his warning. “Jason, we have to get out of here.” “I’ll take care of you, Emi,” Jason nodded. He looked up towards the two men in frontand then went to the back doors. He opened themand there was a rush of air. Jason nearly fell outand Emilia barely controlled the cry of alarm the sight of him hanging on the door illicited. “It’s all right,” Jason smiled as he got his footing. He held his hand out to her. “We’re going to have to jump for it,” he said as Emilia came to his side. He saw her hesitationand squeezed her had. “You can do it, Emi. Dropand roll; just like one of the moves I showed you in training.” As they jumped, the ambulance suddenly squealed to a halt. Emilia hit the pavementand heard the screech of tiresand the blare of horns as the car behind the ambulance swerved to avoid hitting them. Jason was on his feet. Emilia was lying a few feet away, stunned by what he had just made her do. He pulled her to her feetand they ran as quickly as they could, given the fact that her head was throbbing in pain, into the trees. Jason looked around for some place for them to hideand smiled as he saw the old mine. Heand his brothers,and several of the other neighborhood boys, used to bike up here when they were younger to explore. He knew the tunnels like his own backyard. “Where are we going, Jay?” Emilia asked as he pulled her insideand guided her along the darkening tunnels. “We’ll get lost in there.” “There’s a way out the back,” Jason told her. “By the time they catch up, we’ll be back in Glenville.” “You’ve been here before,” Emilia realized. Images of himselfand his siblingsand friends playing in the dark tunnels flooded into her mind. “Did your Mama know you were playing around in a place like this?” “If she had,” Jason smiled at her as he took another left, “I wouldn’t be here saving your neck.” He saw the anguish on her faceand hugged her. “We’ll find him, Emilia. Your father is going to be just fine.” He cupped her chin in his hand and locked eyes with her. “We’re going to be fine.” Emilia nodded, relieved that he was with her. She followed him deeper into the mine, glad he was so confident. If she had been alone, she would be completely lost now. The thought of wandering these tunnels until she died of hunger or thirst sent a chill up her spine. Jason squeezed her hand reassuringlyand she relaxed. There was the sound of falling rockand then a curse. Jason frowned as he realized how close their pursuers had to be. Heand Emily weren’t going to make it out of the mines before their pursuers caught up with them. He saw a side tunneland went halfway down it until it joined another. “They’re right on our tail, Emi,” he said as he pushed her down the second tunnel. “You stay here until I come back for you.” “Jason,” Emilia frowned as he turnedand ran off, “please don’t leave…” “Do as I say, Emi!” Jason broke in over her plea. “If they catch us now, there’s no telling what they’ll do to us.” Emilia sank down on the groundand hugged her legs to her chest. She put her chin on her kneesand waited. She knew he was risking his neck for her,and it bothered her. Surely he knew by now that she could look out for herself? Hadn’t he been one of her teachers when Dominik had decided to teach her how to defend herself? A surge of shame filled her as she remembered how ineffectual her skills had been against the men who had taken her father. She heard a gunshot echoing through the tunnelsand bit her lip. She couldn’t just sit here when he was playing decoy to protect her. She got up on her feetand headed back the way he’d brought her. There were two more gunshotsand then the cry of someone in a great deal of pain. “Jason!” Emilia cried out in dismay as she arrived at the entrance to the minesand saw him lying on the ground. Blood was spreading out from the wound on his arm. She sank to her knees beside himand began to draw his pain from him. His eyes shot openand he looked at her, dazed. “Oh Jason!” she sobbed as she saw that he had been hit at least once more. “You’re hurt!” “Why didn’t you stay where I hid you, Emi?” Jason asked her as he heard the men moving in. He shoved her back into the mine. “Run, girl! Run!” Emilia didn’t hesitate. She had seen his warning. The men who had taken them were closeand they meant to retrieve her. She ran down the main tunnel to the first turningand froze as a tall, black-skinned man stepped out of a side tunnel to cut her escape off. She backed away from him, shaking her head. She ran down another tunneland ducked as a tall Hispanic man tried to grab her. A second later, she was crying out in alarm as her feet slippedand she fell to the ground, banging her kneesand scraping her handsand lower arms. Pain surged through her as she tried to get on her feet. She had hurt her ankle in the fall as well, Emilia realized. She was in tears as she tried to get moving again. The second man caught herand held her arms to her sides so she could not fight. “You didn’t need to hurt him,” Emilia cried as the dark-skinned man approached. “You Przestępca!” “He shouldn’t have gotten involved,” Bravo’s cold voice replied. He grabbed Emilia by the hairand yanked her back down the tunnel. “We’ve wasted enough time here.” He frowned as he realized her stumbling was only partly due to struggle. He picked her up in his armsand nodded to his companion. “Let’s go!” “You can’t leave him here like that,” Emilia protested as they went past Jason, who had passed out from the pain. “He’ll bleed to death if he doesn’t get help.” “We didn’t hurt him that badly, girl,” the man told her. “He’ll find his way to help.” She glared at him coldlyand he laughed. “You behave yourselfand no one else has to get hurt. Understand?” Emilia noddedand he smiled. “Good girl.” They hurried back to the ambulanceand Bravo sat her down on the gurney. He had strapped her down before she could even think to move. She was in so much pain now that her eyes were blurring. She watched the man go to the supply cabinetand pull out a syringe. He pressed its needle into a drug vialand began to draw out the liquid. “What are you doing?” Emily asked, her voice quavering with pain,and more than a bit of fear. “I’m just going to give you a little something to help you sleep,” Bravo answered. “and take the edge off the pain you’re in.” “No,” Emilia cried out in protest as she felt a needle prick her arm. “Please let me go!” “You don’t need to be frightened, girl,” the dark-skinned man told her gently. He wondered why he felt compelled to tell her this. “No one is going to hurt you.” Emilia wasn’t at all certain that was true. For the past several hours she had been in nothing but pain because these strangers had come for her father. What did they want with him?And why had they taken her? It all had something to do with her father’s life before she had ever come into it, so what use could she possibly be to these people? Were they planning on using her to force him to do as they told him? Her mind was spinning with questions as she slowly sunk into the darkness. “Sir,” the man said into his cell once Emilia was asleep. “We have Sobieski’s daughter. What do you want me to do with her?” He frowned as he got the answer. “Very well, sir.” “What?” the driver, a tall, dark eyed Hispanic man asked as the man joined him up front. “He wants the girl delivered to Stephen Winslow,” Bravo told his companion. “She’s just a child, Romeo. She shouldn’t be involved in this.” “Not our call, Bravo,” Romeo shrugged. He saw the man’s expressionand frowned. “It’s a shame, yes. But we have worked too hard getting into a position to move on the Professor to take any chances at this stage.” He looked at the girl. “She knows we shot that officer, Bravo.” “She won’t remember it,” Bravo told him as he readied another syringe. He injected the drug into her vein. “This will remove the last hour from her mind.” “Do you ever miss a step, Bravo?” Romeo asked as he eyed his partner with respect. “Not if I can help it,” Bravo replied. He looked upand his expression darkened. “Oh hell!” He nodded towards the open door. “We’ve got company, bro.” Sammy drove up in her squad car with Officer Mitchell’s squad directly behind. She parked directly in front of the ambulanceand got out, her ice blue eyes cold as she quickly approached the ambulance. Bravo toyed with the idea of running for it, but something in the woman’s eyes told him that would not be a good idea. He admired the woman’s lean frame as she glided towards them; not one motion was wasted. A woman like him, he found himself thinking as he got out of the ambulance with Romeo beside him. Mitchell got out of his car, which he had parked behind the ambulance,and saw Emilia. “Emi is here,” Mitchell reported tightly as he undid the catch on his holster, “but Jason is missing.” He glared at the men. “What happened to our officer, gentlemen?” “We don’t know,” Bravo lied easily. “We were headed to the hospital when a car pulled in front of us. We had to pull off the road to avoid hitting it.” He looked at the manand saw he was not entirely convinced. Looking at the woman was like staring into an iceberg. There was no telling how much of his lie she was going to believe. “The car went down that side roadand the Officer followed. Told us to stay put until he got back.” “Only thing down there is the abandoned mine,” Mitchell told Sammy. “Jasonand his brothers; meand mine; we used to play in there.” He eyed the men closely. “No one has any business going down there.” “We’ll have to check it out,” Sammy nodded. She suddenly did not like the idea of leaving Emilia with these men. There was something altogether too off about the pair. They didn’t belong in an ambulance, she found herself thinking. They belonged on the battlefield. She locked eyes with Bravo. “I’ll take Emilia with me,” she told him. “Please put her in the squad car.” Bravoand Romeo exchanged one quick glanceand then he shrugged. He knew that messing with the authorities to this extent was not wise. He got Emiliaand put her in the back of the squad car. Sammy noddedand turned to her partner, who had been watching the men quite