“Lucy, my name is . . . Hunter. I won’t hurt you, but I do want you to trust me, okay? I’m not going to let you get hurt, but you have to do as I say.”
A woman on the other side of the stands launches up, screaming and throwing herself over the front railing, running towards the silent players standing in the middle of the field. A gunshot sounds out and she just falls mid-stride, dropping to the ground, her face in the dirt. A pained cry is ripped from my throat. Hunter squeezes my hand.
“Lucy,” he says, his voice so calm. “Look to me.”
I look over at him, my eyes wide, tears running down my cheeks. “Do you trust me?”
I nod.
“Good. Sit quiet and don’t say a word, okay? We’re going to get out of here, I promise you that, but it could be a while. You need to stay strong until then.”
I nod again, forcing back my sobs but unable to control the tears.
A dull pain stabs low in my belly. My hand slides down and presses against it and a cold fear rushes to my heart. My baby. Not my baby.
Hunter’s eyes follow the path of my hand. “What’s wrong?”
“I . . . I . . . I’m pregnant.”
His jaw tics. “Why are you holding on like that?”
“I have a pain,” I whisper.
He meets my eyes again. “It’s probably just fear. I want you to try and calm yourself down. Take a few deep breaths for me.”
I try to take a few deep breaths but the yells from a man in another row followed by more gunshots has my breathing turning into frantic sobs. Why is this happening? I don’t understand. I just want to go home.
“Lucy, close your eyes,” Hunter says, putting an arm around my shoulder and bringing me close to him, tucking me into his body that’s so big it makes me feel as if I’m in a safe cocoon where nobody can hurt me. He’s so warm. “Now breathe for me.”
I close my eyes and I breathe.
The pain doesn’t subside and panic sets in.
“It’s not working,” I whimper into his chest.
“The more you panic, the worse the pain will get. Keep breathing and I’m going to distract you.”
“H-h-h-how?”
“I put my phone back in my left pocket, but they’re looking our way right now so I can’t just pull it out. I want you to move in like you’re hugging me and pull it out. Can you do that for me, Lucy?”
I nod.
“All right, honey.”
This man—I don’t know him but he’s so calm, like a still rock amongst an intense storm. I press my face to his chest and twist my body, putting my arm around his stomach as if I’m hugging him. I reach into his pocket and curl my fingers around his phone, pulling it out and sliding my hand over the screen, tucking it between my chest and his.
“Now, I want you to unlock it using the code seven-oh-seven-three.”
I shift my body just slightly so I can see the phone, and I press the middle button to light up the screen. I punch in the code and then nod softly.
“Find the messages and read me what’s being said. Can you do that?”
I nod.
“Good girl.”
I go to the messages and pull up the one that’s unread. It’s from a private source and makes zero sense to me, but I relay it to him anyway.
“I-I-I-it says ‘Control in place. Wait for further command.’”
“Okay, Lucy, can you keep that with you? We’ll be needing it again.”
“Are you a cop?” I whisper.
“No.”
Then who the hell is he?
And can he really get us out of here alive?
***
It’s been easily five hours. It’s late afternoon, and the cold has set in as night prepares to fall. My pains have gone from mild to intense, and my entire body hurts from lack of movement. I’m still tucked into Hunter’s side, and he’s bringing me comfort in my desperate time of need. He has me relaying messages through his phone, messages that don’t make sense to me but obviously mean something to him.
He isn’t a cop, or so he tells me, but he’s obviously working with some very powerful people. Either way, he’s keeping me afloat right now, and I honestly don’t know if that would be happening if he wasn’t here. The shrill sounds of sirens outside have been invading the silence for the last few hours. Nobody has come in. Nobody has even tried. I don’t know why that is.
I don’t even know what these men want. Why would you pick a baseball stadium? Is it numbers? Fear because they could do so much damage? I don’t understand.