After Shock (#2 - Semper Fi Series)

Boom!

With a mutual glance, they ran as fast as they could towards the park. Amanda was only a couple of paces behind Paul, and she blamed his longer legs for the fact that she couldn’t beat him. He was in good shape; really good shape. He had broad shoulders, and a nice running form.  “Amanda, this is so not the time to notice.” She murmured to herself right before she stood next to Paul and Alyssa.

“What just happened?” Amanda panted, catching her breath from the impromptu sprint through the apartment complex.

Alyssa tried not to crumble. “I received a package. It had a letter that only said, “BOOM!” The letter was wrapped around a photo of me and the kids playing here on the swings. Underneath that was a stopwatch with two minutes and thirty seconds on the clock. It wasn’t ticking down. It was just stopped at that time. After I hung up with you I put the kids in the stroller and yelled to the other parents to get their kids out of the park. I put it on a table far enough away from everyone. It blew after the allotted time. Why is this happening? I’ve never been malicious to anyone!” With that, and knowing they were safe, she crumbled and started to cry.

Paul explained, “I’m going to call the police. Amanda, take her back to our place. The local authorities will probably want to talk to her, but she needs to get away from here. I’m going to talk to the other parents here just to see if they saw anyone suspicious.”

Amanda managed to convince Alyssa to go with her to the new apartment. Once there, she left Alyssa and the kids and went to Alyssa’s apartment for a stash of baby things, and clothing for all three. After three trips across the parking lot, she had everything she could think to bring. Playpen, diapers, clothes, wipes, baby food, snacks, bottles, sippy cups, baby shampoo and soap, and the list seemed endless past there. She did grab a few teddy bears and some of Alyssa’s clothes.

Paul all but burst in through door, he came in so fast. “I saw a car driving away: black sedan, four doors. Two people were inside. Do you know anyone who drives a car like that?” Alyssa shook her head no. “Okay. The police are sending an officer here to talk to you shortly. They’re already at the scene with the bomb squad. From what I can figure out, it was remote detonated. Someone was watching you get that package, and knew after you opened it how long to wait before it went off. They weren’t trying to kill you, or they would’ve blown it up in your hands. That was a scare tactic.”

“Well, it worked. I’m scared, no, terrified. What if I had waited until we were home to open it? Then what? My kids could’ve been hurt. I’m ready to find this jerk and get him behind bars. It makes me so mad that they’d say I’m a bad parent and then send a bomb that could hurt my kids! The only reason they sent it is probably because they know my routine, and that I normally open the mail at the park. Now they’ve put I don’t know how many more children in danger!”

“We’re here to keep you and these sweet children safe. Do you want to stay here or go to the safe house we have ready?” Amanda reassured her.

“I’m not leaving. This idiot is not going scare me out of my life. Not happening!”

“Okay. Our next step, then, is to make sure your apartment is safe. We can have the police do that, or we can. We’re both trained to do so.” Paul more told Alyssa than asked her. “I want you and the kids to stay here for at least one night to make sure you’re safe. This person knows about us, I’m sure of it, but they don’t know who we are or that we’re here to help you. They just saw us out there with you before speeding off. The police should be here any moment.” As if on cue, there was a knock on the door.

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After the local police gathered the information they deemed important from Alyssa, she settled her children in their chairs for dinner and sat down on the couch, placing her face in her hands. She wasn’t crying, but weary of the situation and though not afraid for herself, she was concerned for the safety of her children. “I’ve been thinking I need to take the kids to my Mom until this is over. After we meet at the hotel, because I was threatened otherwise, I am going to fly her out here. Is that okay, Bubba?”