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BELLA IS SITTING LIKE a good dog in the front seat of my truck as I pump the gas as a car pulls away from the pump across from us. The pump dings and I pull the nozzle out of the tank and place it back into the pump. I’m finishing the transaction on the display screen when a BMW pulls up on the other side of the pump I’m using.
I hear the driver say, “Stay.” So I look around the pump to see what kind of dog he has when I make eye contact with a red head sitting in the front seat of the car. She looks remarkably familiar, but I can’t place her. I search the rest of the car, looking for the dog, when the driver steps into my view.
“Can I help you with something?” He asks me.
“Oh. Sorry. I thought you may have a dog in your car. I was just trying to get a look.” I tell him. Alarm bells are going off in my head and the hair on the back of my neck is standing up straight. Something’s off with this guy. I just don’t know what it is yet.
“It’d be best if you mind your own business.” He angrily pulls at the nozzle for his pump when the passenger side door of his car opens up and the red head takes off across the parking lot of the gas station. We both watch her run across the six-lane highway and climb onto a bus that’s just pulling away from a stop.
I turn to him with my hand on my Glock when he drops the pump, jumps into his car, and takes off. The attendant comes running out and I tell him to call 911 and report a kidnapping. He looks towards the BMW and then runs back into the station. I jump into my truck and take off behind the BMW.
We swerve around cars and industrial trucks eastbound. I hit a button on my steering wheel. “Call Otto.”
“Dialing.” My truck answers.
“Yo.” Otto says in answering the call.
“I need you to find a red head that just got on the number fifteen bus, eastbound on Royal Palm Boulevard. Find her.”
“On it.” He disconnects.
I hit the same button. “Call Gabriel.”
“Dialing.”
“You’re late for work.” Gabriel answers.
“I’m chasing a copper BMW M5, plate Alpha, Tango, Foxtrot, zero. ATF zero. Eastbound on Royal Palm Boulevard. Possible attempted kidnapping at Lou’s Stop and Shop gas station. Otto’s finding the girl that escaped.”
“Got it. Calling Palm Beach Sheriff’s office.” Gabriel hangs up.
“Hold on Bella.” I grab her by her collar to prevent her from sliding around the truck and follow the BMW around a semi-tractor trailer pulling out of a parking lot. The BMW is much faster than my truck and I’m cursing that I’m not on my motorcycle right now.
The BMW gets to an empty section of the road and it’s like he hit a turbo button. The BMW takes off and goes over an overpass ahead. I speed up and by the time I make it over the overpass; the BMW is nowhere in sight. I slam my palm against the steering wheel and pull the truck over.
Bella is scared and looking at me for comfort. “Come here, Bella. It’s okay. I’m not mad at you.” I stroke her ears and scratch under her chin. She crawls over the center console and into my lap. She’s trembling and I feel like an ass for scaring her.
As I pet her to calm her down, I hit the button on my steering wheel. “Call Otto.”
“Dialing.”
“I’ve got her. She got off the bus at the second stop from where she got on. She’s currently hiding behind a hedge outside of a business called It’s A Party. I can see her from the traffic cam, but if she goes back any further, I’ll lose sight of her.”
“Got it. Let me know if she moves.”
“Will do.”
“Thanks.” I hang up and turn my truck around. “I promise to drive better, sweetie.” I tell Bella as I place her back in the passenger seat.
I drive back the way I came, looking for the business Otto mentioned when my phone rings.
“Hughes.” I answer.
“It’s me. The sheriff’s office is on their way to the gas station. Did you find the BMW?”
“No. I lost him.”
“What about the girl?”
“Otto found her and told me where to look. I’m heading that way now. When I find her, I’ll bring her to the gas station.”
“Okay. Let me know if you need anything.”
“Hey Gabriel. Have Erick run point on the gem show thing. I have a feeling about this.”
“Will do. Watch your six.” Gabriel disconnects just as I’m pulling into the parking lot of the closed It’s A Party business.”
I park the truck and put my ear piece in and dial Otto’s number again. “She still there?”
“Yeah.”
“Okay. Stay with me.”
I get out of my truck with Bella on her leash. “Hello? Ma’am? I’m here to help you.” There’s no answer.
“I chased that guy, but he got away. I assure you that you’re safe now. You’re safe with me. I won’t hurt you. I just want to help you.” Otto is talking in my ear as I call out again.
“She’s behind those bushes right in front of you.”
“I know you’re behind the bushes. Can you come out? Are you hurt?” I call out again, but she doesn’t move. I move closer to the hedge and then stop, letting her get more comfortable with me being closer to her.
“I think I recognized you. You look a lot like someone I helped a while back. She was running from someone, too. I can help you if you’ll let me.”
“How do I know you’re not with him?” I hear a soft voice call out.
“Well... I wouldn’t have a puppy with me if I were with him. Would I? Her name is Bella. You can hold her if you come out.” I’m at a loss for what else to do at this point, so I’m using my dog. Just as I say Bella’s name, she barks her cute little bark. That seems to be the trick because I see a mound of red hair come above the hedge.
She stares at me as I stare at her. She looks so familiar to me and I can’t seem to place her. Where the fuck do I know her from? Bella pulls on her leash and I let her go to the woman.
She bends down and winces. “Are you okay?”
She ignores my question, but picks up Bella and snuggles her. “She’s a Great Dane, isn’t she?”
“She is.”
“I’ve always wanted a Great Dane.”
“What’s your name? Mine is Owen Hughes.”
Her eyes shot up at me, and the look of recognition on her face is undeniable. “Owen Hughes?”
Great. She recognizes me, but I don’t recognize her. “Yes. What’s your name?” I take a step closer and that’s when I see the bruises forming on both of her cheeks.
And that’s when it hits me. This is the girl I helped the night Ethan’s friend called me for help. She had been beaten to a pulp and ended up with a broken arm. I took her to the woman’s shelter that night. It looks like she went back to the asshole. Fuck me.
“You’re Mallory, aren’t you?” I ask, and she nods her head. “Was that a new asshole or the same one?” She doesn’t answer me, but instead she looks off into the distance. “I want to help you either way. I’m not judging you.”
She turns to look at me. “Will you take me to the police?” She has resolve in her face that wasn’t there the night I helped her. That’s a good sign.
I nod, “They’re already at the gas station. I’ll take you there.” I point to my truck.
I watch her slowly walk towards my truck with my dog in her arms. I open the passenger side door and watch her climb in; the whole time wincing. “Do you need an ambulance?”
She shakes her head. “No. I’ll heal.” Bella sits next to her in the passenger seat.
I close the door to the truck. “Otto, you still there?”
“I’m here and I’m already looking into him. I’ll get back to you when I know something.” He tells me in my ear.
“Find him.” I hang up and walk around to the driver’s side of my truck the whole time cursing that I couldn’t catch up to that BMW.
Not now, but soon, he’ll be mine.