Chapter 17 - THE WEIGHT OF BLOOD
Brianna's full weight jerked my arms downward, pulling my chest hard against the sharp rocks at the quarry's edge.
The air was violently knocked out of my lungs, spots dancing across my vision.
"Hold on!" I screamed through gritted teeth, my shoulders burning with blinding agony.
"I can't... I'm slipping!" Brianna cried, swinging wildly over the black void of the quarry.
The mud on her wrist was like grease, her skin sliding millimeter by millimeter through my grip.
"Don't you dare let go!" I yelled at her, digging my bare toes into the wet clay behind me.
A second pair of heavy hands clamped down over mine, locking around Brianna’s forearm like iron bands.
It was the second police officer, his boots braced securely against a sturdy oak tree trunk.
"On three!" the officer shouted into my ear. "One, two, three, pull!"
With a synchronized heave of sheer adrenaline, we dragged Brianna’s upper body up over the rocky crest.
Brianna collapsed onto the safety of the muddy embankment, hyperventilating and clutching her swollen stomach.
The officer immediately threw his weight onto her back, clicking heavy steel handcuffs around her wrists.
"Brianna Vance, you are under arrest for kidnapping, burglary, and violation of a court order," he recited mechanically.
Brianna didn't fight back; she lay curled in the fetal position, weeping hysterically into the wet pine needles.
"My stomach," she moaned between sobs. "It hurts... god, it hurts..."
I pushed myself up onto my trembling knees, my hands raw, bleeding, and caked with black dirt.
Ryan emerged from the woods, his face pale with horror, Lucas clutched against his shoulder.
He saw Sophie wrapped in the first officer’s heavy police jacket, safe and uninjured.
A broken, ragged sob tore out of Ryan's chest as he fell to his knees in the mud beside them.
He pulled Sophie into his arms, burying his face in her dark hair, whispering frantic prayers of thanks.
Sophie reached out a tiny, muddy hand toward me. "Mama," she whimpered softly.
I crawled to them, wrapping my arms around all three of them, our tears mingling in the cold night air.
Paramedics swarmed the clearing minutes later, their red and blue lights painting the trees in surreal flashes.
Two EMTs lifted Brianna onto a rigid backboard, securing straps across her shaking chest.
"She's in active labor," one paramedic called out urgently to his partner. "We need transport to County General immediately!"
As the gurney was wheeled past our huddled family, Brianna turned her head toward us.
Her face was pale as chalk, her eyes glazed with agony and exhaustion.
"Nora," she whispered, her voice barely audible over the hum of the ambulance engine.
I didn't answer; I only held my children tighter against my chest.
May you like
"She set me up," Brianna choked out before the oxygen mask was strapped over her face. "Evelyn... she unlocked the gate."
***
