A Rose Dipped in Blood

Chapter Ten: Return of the FBI

            Hawk awoke amidst chaos. Rings of fire spread along large distances, cars lay torn apart everywhere and people littered the floor. The wall of dust hampered his vision, but the groaning of people let him know they were still living. Sirens could be heard in the distance and flashing lights flashed dimly against the blanket of dust.

            He managed to turn over onto his back. If he squinted, the sun became slightly visible through the dust. It was a relaxing sight. As he lay there, unable to move, his mind filed through every possible scenario. How had it come to this? Hadn’t they caught the culprit? When or who could have planted a bomb in a police vehicle?

            The questions swirled in his mind but their answers eluded him, just as the culprit had. The facts told him that Nancy couldn’t be the killer. Not after this. On the other hand his instincts argued that the facts did not say anything definite. With the lack of information, the best he could come up with was either that was the real Nancy or a clone. He refused to accept that it might have actually been her.

            Clone. No, that was impossible. Hawk rambled on inside his head, thinking along the lines of clone. Twin? Not unless she had a twin sister who magically vanished from all records.

            “Hawk?” A slim arm burst through the dense dust cloud to grip his bicep. “Hey, hey! Stay with me, Alex,” she screamed, slapping his face. He wanted to tell her he wasn’t going anywhere but the strength wasn’t in him. Rest was what he needed at this point.

            “Sidney?” Another female voice.

            “Isabella, I’m over here. I found Hawk.” Sidney stroked his hair. “Don’t die, Alex. Kayla still needs you.” Her eyes flickered over to Isabella who was rushing over to them with three firemen by her side. “She needs you to.”

            “Stop your whining,” he groaned, pain poking needles in his side. “I’m not going anywhere until the bitch is in prison.”

            “Alex.” Isabella dropped to her knees by his head. “Nancy is dead.” The look she gave him was full of ignorant and naïve pity.

            “No she’s not.” The firemen helped him to his feet and basically carried him through the field of dust. His vision was too small to see much. All he could see was straight ahead. A large black van was parked directly in their way, the back doors open. The world seemed to spin on its axis, almost knocking him over.

            “Here’s your choice.” Sidney wrapped her thin fingers around his wrist. “You can help us solve this if you get in. Or you can forget about it and-” Hawk stopped listening after that and pushed his way into the back of the van. He noticed a large gash on his forearm, but chose to ignore it.

            “Get me the Hell out of here,” he said, leaning against the side of the van. Sidney’s lips spread into an all knowing smile as Isabella hopped in next to him, looking much less injured than he imagined himself to appear. Then the back doors closed and they were illuminated by a single light bulb dangling loosely above their heads. It cast shadows on the walls and floors which seemed to move as the van shifted gears. Isabella laid her head against his shoulder and soon after he could hear her soft breathing telling him she was asleep. Hawk gently let his head fall on hers and closed his eyes as well.

            The van came to a gentle stop, surprising Hawk with the weird destination. Although there were no windows in the back, he was able to deduce their location based on the bumps on the road and the noises heard as they drove through New York City.