Crash // Decyfer Down

Head throbbing, I jump into The Kid's car with him and Katie—of fucking course I can't leave her alone. I don't have time to wait for Mara to come get her, which I'll pay for later I'm sure. But for now, the safest place for Katie is with me. I don't take this shit lightly and Mara knows that. But if this costs me later, it's the price I'm willing to pay to keep both my girls safe in the heat of the moment.

Frank is currently using his contacts to get information on the rental car and putting the PD on notice to keep a look out for it. I finally got my fucking head on straight and talked with my tech people who are able to ping Colleen's phone for a location. I'd forgotten they had that ability, must be the hit on the head I took.

Two of them.

I do feel off, the pressure in my head is building, but I'm keeping it to myself. I know I'll need medical attention. It's not the first time I've suffered through an injury to do my job, however. I'm good at this. I can handle a little headache. But The Kid keeps side eyeing me. Especially when I have to concentrate on not slurring my words. Side effect from a probable concussion. I know the risk I'm taking. All of them. But if anyone tries to stop me...

They won't.

"I have her coordinates linked to my GPS, boss. We're ten minutes from her location."

Ten minutes too far. I need to be there ten minutes ago. To keep my sanity, I question Katie more about the unfolding events.

"Give it to me in order, bug. Tell me everything from the second I stepped out back." I grip the dashboard as I ask, an effort to keep myself steady which hopefully comes off as hyper-focus on our task, instead.

Katie starts talking, the animation in her voice grabbing my attention. "The lights came on, but you didn't come back in right away. There was a knock at her front door a few minutes later. I could hear Colleen saying, 'what are you doing here?' to the guy. He stood at the door and peered around. I remember his black hair sticking up, looked kind of greasy, TBH. Skinny, too. You could totally take him. He had on dark jeans and a black hoodie. I got a weird vibe from him."

"What kind of vibe? What did he do?"

"I don't know, Dad. Sometimes people just give you the ick and you've got to go with it. Stalker core, I guess, if you need a reason."

"Did Colleen get a vibe?"

"Dunno, but she kept looking over her shoulder to the back door. I'm guessing she didn't want him to meet you. Maybe she figured you'd get the ick too. Anyway, that's why I checked his make and model when she suggested they go get dinner."

"She suggested?" I asked, shocked at the revelation.

"She didn't sound excited about it. She kind of sounded like Mom when there's something inappropriate on T.V."

"What do you mean?"

"Mom talks real loud and walks me into the other room so I can't see or hear what's going on. I think Colleen was trying to get her friend to go into the other room. Only, the other room was her taking him to dinner."

Katie pauses long enough that I glance back at her.

"I think you were the inappropriate T.V. show." She says it with a pop of her brow.

My jaw drops for a second. "What?"

She rolls her eyes. "Dad, you are kind of scary sometimes. You know, when you're in protection mode."

"I am? Do I scare you?"

"No. Because, duh, I'm not the bad guy. But if this guy gave me the ick, he'd give you the ick and then you'd be scary. Obv." She says the abbreviation instead of the word. My head pounds with the realization that my kid is getting older. Her insight is beyond her years.

Was Colleen protecting Ross from me? Or me from beating the hell out of him? Did she know he'd already hit me?

My head continues to pound and the questions swirling in there makes it worse.

"Boss, I don't think-" The Kid starts but I cut him off.

"Later." I know he doesn't want Katie tagging along the entire way, but what choice do I have? "We need to get to her."

"But, the kid..." Saying the words under his breath, he glances toward Katie sitting in the back seat. I see her bouncing as she looks out her window, watching as the buildings pass by and looking like a kid on her way to Disney. She isn't fazed in the least.

"She'll be fine. You can stay in the car with her."

"You know I can't let you go after him without backup. We already know how that goes." His words are pointed.

"He caught me off guard."

"You knew he was there. That's why you were rushing back to her house in the first place."

This argument is making my headache worse, but I'm not backing down. I may have a concussion—actually, I'm pretty damn sure I do—but I also feel like I could lift a truck off a toddler so my adrenaline will more than make up for my weakness.

"Keep driving."

We continue following Colleen's cell signal to a location which turns out to be a cheap fast food place. Crowded. Very public. It's brightly lit, fully packed, and a line of cars wraps the place for the drive through. A surge of pride rushes through me for my quick-thinking girl. Moving to a second location is never the best plan but she used it to her advantage. He can't do anything with so many eyes on him.

The second we pull up to the white and red bricked building I jump out and yell back to Katie and The Kid to stay put. Pushing past the mounting headache I can feel everywhere, I make it to the door in three steps. I hear my partner grumble something, but I surge through doors before I can make sense of his words.

Ross stands next to Colleen near the front counter, his hand on her neck in a hold that has me seeing red. It's possessive. Intimidating. Painful. I make out the indentations on her neck as I get closer, half of my brain wondering why I can't move faster than I am. But my feet feel like I'm running in mud.

When I'm close enough, I hear a slight whimper in her voice as Colleen speaks in a hushed whisper.

"Please let go,"

And I can't hold back anymore. I press forward, tackling Ross to the ground with a crash. I'm vaguely aware of people in the vicinity. Screams ring out around us, along with a shout of my name. But it's all muffled as my vision goes blurry and I can't figure out which way to turn. I'm completely disoriented even though I sense I'm lying on the ground with Ross under me.

He tries to wiggle free. Thankfully my adrenaline surges, giving me the power to punch him in the shoulder. It's hard enough to do the job and the fucker howls while grabbing at his pain.

"You psycho!" He grits between his teeth.

"Shouldn't have poked the bear," I say. Or attempt to say. The words feel like cotton in my mouth. I still have a death grip on the guy, picturing Colleen wincing when he had her by the neck.

"Are you drunk? Help! I'm being attacked!"

I hear Ross crying out as the room spins around me. I feel sick, like I might puke any second. This concussion is worse than I realized. I don't want Katie to see me like this.

I slump further on top of Ross, hoping my dead weight is enough to keep him from getting away. I think I hear Colleen calling my name in the distance, but I can't concentrate enough to tell.

Next thing I know, The Kid is rolling me to my back, his mouth at my ear. "We got him, boss. Colleen's safe. You can back down now."

Fucking pure relief hits me and the drive to protect my family rushes away along with the adrenaline that had me pushing past my pain.

And I pass out again.

I wake up to Colleen leaning over me, her hands on my face. The panic on her face rouses me to my surroundings. My head still pounds. I still feel like I'm about to barf. But she's okay. Looking down on me. Her hands on my skin. Worried about me.

"Clinton, he hurt you. Are you okay?"

"Me? No sweetheart, not me. Are you okay?" I lift a hand to cover hers. "He had you."

"He thought he did." She shakes her head. "I was trying to keep Katie safe. I knew you'd come after me, but I didn't trust Ross when he showed up minutes after the lights came on." Colleen looks away. It's now that I notice I'm not on the floor of the fast food joint. The walls around me are close, full of medical equipment and bright lights that hurt my eyes.

I'm in an ambulance on a gurney.

"You did good." I force the words out. But I have to close my eyes when the nausea hits again.

"I should have waited for you. I panicked when I opened the door and he was standing there. I knew immediately that you were right about him. And I was so wrong. I've always been wrong about him."

"Shh. It's okay. You want to believe the best about people. It's one of the things I love about you."

"I'm so sorry." I hear the hitch in her voice when she speaks, and it breaks my heart.

"Don't apologize for your good soul."

"But it got you hurt. And I was so mad at you when you were just trying to take care of me."

I start to shake my head, but the motion does awful things to the rest of my body, so I stop.

"I'll always take care of you." The words are harder to say as my head pounds further. The paramedic closes the back of the ambulance before I can try saying anything else. Saying all of the words on my heart.

"Shh." She says it this time. "We'll talk later. First, you need to get taken care of."

"Katie?" I manage to mumble.

"She's fine. With Javier who's taking her to Mara."

I must moan at the mention of Katie's mom because Colleen brushes her fingers gently against my forehead, soothing the worry away.

"I told her everything. She understands."

We'll see. I'm alert enough to realize that Mara will give me hell later. But for now, I let it go. I have to. I can't even sit up.

"En route. ETA five minutes," I hear the paramedic say.

I let the rest go for now, knowing it will be waiting for me. Knowing that Colleen is by my side and Katie is with her mom. Safe. That's enough for now.

I'm baaaaaack! Which means (fingers crossed) I'll be completing this book within the week. As it is, we're pretty much at the end. One more regular chapter and then an epilogue or two. Possibly a teaser for Javier's book? Or maybe one for Sunlight, the next book in the Salt Creek series.

But now it's time to kick revisions for Diva into high gear! I'm about half way through them, but I'm adding content as well so that takes a bit longer.

Anyway, I had an amazing 32 days abroad, most of them in southern Germany. And now I'm wiped out! Travel is exciting and adventurous, but not relaxing. I'll need another month to recover!

Crash was the natural title after I decided on the song, a high energy 90's/00's nu metal thrasher by Decyfer Down. I like the energy and the vibes of the heavy guitars without suffering through the scream/singing so common in this genre. Clinton crashed his way back to Colleen in order to keep her safe and this song is his soundtrack.

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Just about 30 days left to read Diva on Wattpad, then she'll be off to the editor for the October 28th debut on Amazon. 💕