Page 27 of Stolen

A woman was lying near the front door, blood soaking the dress she was wearing. A wave of nausea stabbed him in the gut.

“Deep breath,” he breathed to himself. Covering his head, he rushed to her body and checked her neck. She had a pulse.

“Blossom!” SynTanner called out. He didn’t hear anything. Looking to the left, he spotted Blossom leaning against her desk, cowering with fear. She was looking directly at the fallen woman, tears steaking her face. She must have been terrified. SynTanner swallowed his own trauma and fear, knowing that someone less fragile than him needed his comfort. He rushed to Blossom’s side, falling in front of her.

“Baby,” he shook her gently, trying to force her out of her daze.

“Val—Valerie,” she whimpered.

“She’s still breathing, baby. I checked her.” Blossom looked at him. She gulped.

“What do we do?” she asked, her bottom lip trembling.

“Wait for the bullets to stop and for the cops to come,” he assured her. “There’s always a patrol car in this area, plus a bullet scanner. No doubt the scanner picked up the sound of the bullet and alerted the cops.” The window behind them shattered. Blossom screamed and thrust herself into SynTanner’s arms, burying her head in his chest. He just held her; all the fears of his past being outweighed by his need to protect the woman in front of him. The need to protect had his yearning to become one with her so that way he would always have her, and he would always protect her.

The last bullet pinged off a piece of metal, flying who knows where. SynTanner registered the loud shouts coming from outside of the building. Red, blue and white lights were flashing across their faces.

“Is it over?” Blossom asked.

“I think so. Come on.” SynTanner scooped her up. He carried her back to the front of the building and set her down. Tearing off his shirt, he kneeled next to Valerie and pressed his shirt into the source of her bullet wound. Since she was covered in blood, SynTanner could only see one wound but he knew there had to be more.

“Help me find where else she’s been shot!” SynTanner ordered. Blossom complied immediately. She ran her hands along Valerie’s body, painting her hands red. She found two more bullet wounds. She took off her own shirt and pressed it against the wound in her shoulder and used her hand to try and stop the blood from the wound in her thigh. When she looked up at SynTanner, his face was pulled into a deep frown. With his eyes closed, his facial expression was strained.

“Tanner are you okay?” Blossom asked worriedly. SynTanner slowly opened his eyes. He was breathing as if it hurt to gather air into his lungs.

“I’ll be okay,” he forced out.

Two paramedics rushed into the building. SynTanner and Blossom were freed from their jobs trying to stop the river of blood seeping from Valerie’s body.

“Her stomach, leg, and shoulder,” SynTanner informed them, telling them exactly where Valerie was shot. SynTanner pulled Blossom out of their way, letting them work quickly and efficiently. Another set of paramedics joined them, one of them branching off to look at Blossom.

“Were you shot?” she asked.

“No, no we’re both okay,” Blossom answered. She hugged herself, realizing that because she’d taken off her top, she was only in her bra. SynTanner put his arm around her, trying to help her cover herself.

“Come, let me just check your vitals. I’ll give you a blanket,” the paramedic turned and walked off, not giving them a chance to object. SynTanner knew it was best to follow so he led Blossom out of the building.

While Blossom was being tended to, he turned away from her, trying to gather himself. His head felt as if it was going to explode from the headache the images had given him. After he’d returned from an exclusive undercover case with the feds, SynTanner was a bundle of mixed emotions. The case had shown him things he never thought he would experience. It opened his eyes to a world where people only had two choices. Be a victim, or do whatever means necessary not to be victimized. Even if doing what they had to do was against the law. SynTanner wanted to help those people. Still, it was out of his hands.

Returning back to work for Greyson, and sitting at his desk, he felt so tiny. Greyson was a small town and outside of it were these grand scale crimes and people who were in desperate need for help. Those were the people he wanted to work for. He thought his emotions were in check despite all he had seen. Until the very day he heard the sound of a gun going off. He was crippled with visions of death and blood and not even the shouting of detectives in his ear could snap him out of it. The only thing SynTanner registered was carnage and then nothing. By the time he actually became aware of himself, he was in a hospital bed, attached to IV’s and being looked at by a psychiatrist. And so, his medical leave began. Since that day, his tolerance for the sound of bullets improved. Truthfully, SynTanner thought he was fine. Today however revealed his harsh reality. He was nowhere near being fine. At this rate, he had years before he could rejoin the force. Being a cop meant everything to him. Losing that part of himself hurt more than anything. If he wasn’t an officer of the law, then what was he? Just a man?

“Tanner?” Blossom’s soft voice, followed by the warm touch of her hands brought him out of his daze. SynTanner jumped and turned around to face her.

“Hey, you doing alright?” he asked, sliding her hair away from her face.

“Yea—Yes, I’m okay,” she whispered. She turned and looked to where the paramedics were carrying Valerie’s body on a stretcher, rushing to get her into the ambulance.

“I need her to make it out, okay,” Blossom said.

“We can go see her,” SynTanner said. He held the blanket around Blossom tightly. They could only watch as the ambulance took off, their sirens clearing the street in front of them.

“But first we have to deal with him,” Blossom groaned. SynTanner saw a black car pull up. Chief Preston hopped out of the car, wearing a bullet proof vest and scowling. An officer immediately rushed to him to give him details of what just occurred. When he spotted SynTanner and Blossom, he scowled even harder and marched towards them.

“What in the hell?!” he snapped.

“We can say the same thing!” Blossom fired back. SynTanner looked down at her, shocked that she was speaking to the chief with such fervor.

“This is all Chance’s doing! He always told me that if I did anything out of line the first person, he would target was Valerie! But instead of trying to figure this out with me, you kicked me to the curb! I could have DIED! And then what, chief? Huh?!”