Drive (2 page)

             
Minutes later, Evaline was strapped down in the back of the ambulance and being rushed to the hospital, while Travis continued to work on her as best he could, given the circumstances. Jordan was racing through the streets, sirens blaring this time around. Traffic had already started to pick up again and Jordan was busy weaving in and out of cars and doing her best to keep them out of any situations that would require them to need an ambulance themselves. 

             
Completely in her element, Jordan zoomed past oncoming traffic, dodged construction cones and skillfully whipped through the intersections regardless of what the cars around her chose to do. It wasn’t long before the rig was pulling up in front of the ER and being greeted by several men and women dressed in scrubs and ready to take Evaline inside where she would receive the care she so desperately needed.

              No longer in a hurry, Jordan and Travis were still parked outside the hospital, busily restocking their van and making sure they were ready to go when the next call came in. As usual, Travis was already starving and left Jordan to finish up while he went in search of some food from the cafeteria.

             
He came back ten minutes later with a plain turkey on wheat and a scowl Jordan was quite sure had nothing to do with the pathetic looking sandwich he had in his hands.

             
“What’s wrong?”

             
“Boss just pulled up. They brought the kids in. He’s inside right now…wants to talk to you.” Travis wouldn’t even look at her as he shuffled past her and went to sit up in the cab.

             
“You’re not going to tell me what he said to you?” Jordan called back, but there was no answer. Frustrated, she dropped the fresh packets of gauze she was holding back down onto the gurney and marched herself up to the hospital doors.

             
The ER was busy like it was most nights. The sounds of children crying and people yelling and coughing filled the air, but Jordan barely took note of any of it. She stood still amongst the chaos for a moment and glanced around the open room. Finally, she spotted Brenson standing near the nurse’s station. It’s not like he was hard to find at 6’4” with his flaming red hair. Brenson had trained Jordan himself in her early days. Back then, she had spent many a ride wishing with all her might their lights would give out just so she could suggest he simply stick his head out the window to alert the surrounding traffic of their arrival, therefore guaranteeing them a safe passage. However, that day never came. Now that he was not only her superior, but the ultimate man in charge preparing to scold her for her unruly behavior, she didn’t find the sight of him, or his hair, nearly as amusing.

             
“Boss?” she said in an effort to get his attention.

             
Brenson looked up from the paperwork he was doing. He frowned the moment he saw her.

             
“In here,” he said as he led the way into a small room off to the side. Jordan followed and watched as he closed the door behind them. That was never a good sign.

             
“What the hell were you thinking?” he demanded the second the door clicked into place.

             
“I was thinking that we might save that woman’s life, sir,” Jordan replied.

             
“That’s wonderful, but did you also think that maybe
you
could get yourself killed in the process? Who would that have helped? And what about the children? What if your reckless antics had gotten them injured, or worse?” Brenson was really laying into her now, but she could tell that he was only getting started. Taking advantage of the fact that he had stopped to inhale, Jordan jumped to her own defense, “I was fully aware of the danger I was in, and if I had gotten killed it really wouldn’t have changed the outcome any since Travis would have been there. And the children, the children would have likely been dead before we even made it inside if I had followed protocol!”

             
Brenson placed both hands on his hips, demonstrating his disapproval.

             
“Is that so? And what, pray tell, brought you to this conclusion?”

             
Jordan sighed knowing full well she was fighting a battle she would never win. Ah well, one victory would have to do for the night.

             
“I was in the room when the perp first heard the approaching sirens. He was prepared to shoot the children then and there before the police ever got there. If I hadn’t been there to stop him, those kids would have been lying on the carpet, bleeding out right alongside their mother.”

             
Brenson dropped his hands to his sides and slowly began to pace the room. After a long moment of contemplation, he finally spoke again. This time the anger had subsided and a much calmer tone had set in.

             
“Look Jordan, I get what you’re saying. And I don’t doubt for a moment that you saved that woman’s life tonight, maybe even the lives of her children, but the fact of the matter is that you broke protocol to do it. Those rules are in place for a reason. They are meant to keep you safe, as well as the people we are there to help. When you break those rules, you leave things to chance. You take risks that you can’t be responsible for. More importantly that the department
won’t
be responsible for,” he paused, “I’m going to have to suspend you.”

             
Jordan’s head shot straight up at the sound of those words.

             
“What?! Come on, boss, you said it yourself – that woman would have died!”

             
Brenson just shook his head.              “Three days, no pay. Go clean up your rig and drop it at the station.”

             
Furious, Jordan stormed from the room without saying another word. When she got back to their ambulance, Travis had finished eating his sandwich and was busy finishing the tasks she had been doing before getting called in by Brenson.

             
“I’m really sorry, Travis.”

             
He stopped what he was doing and turned to face her.

             
“Don’t be. I know we did the right thing…it’s just, I have a family Jordan and I can’t afford to miss three days of work. Cammy is going to blow a gasket when she finds out.”

             
Jordan hung her head in shame. She hadn’t even considered how the consequences of her actions would affect him.

             
“I asked Brenson for a new partner.”

             
The words hit Jordan like a slap in the face.

             
“Are you serious?”

             
Travis looked down at the pack of syringes in his hands and nodded.

             
“Travis, we’ve been riding together for almost four years!” Exasperated, Jordan slumped down and sat on the bumper.

             
“I know. Believe me, I’m not taking this lightly! You think I want to ride with someone new? I don’t! But this isn’t the first time this has happened Jordan…and the only way I’m going to appease Cammy after this one is if I promise her that I’ve found a new partner who’s more fond of following protocol than you are.”

              Defeated, Jordan leaned her head back against the cool metal of their ambulance and closed her eyes. Travis had seen her cry plenty of times in the past, but now that he was no longer her partner, she had no intentions of letting him witness her tears. It would only add insult to injury and she felt wounded enough as it was.

              Having no desire to make the ride back to the station sitting in miserable silence together, Travis hadn’t hesitated when Jordan suggested that she could make the drop off alone. Now that she was making the drive by herself, she stared blankly ahead, making the trip completely on autopilot. It was the first time in a long time she had consciously checked herself out while driving. She loved driving. Loved the rush of the high speeds and the challenge of evading the obstacles that piled up in her path. It was like playing a 3D game of Tetris on fast forward, only with higher risks and usually far greater rewards.

             
When she eventually shifted into park and glanced around, she found that the lot was almost completely abandoned. Everyone else was out on different calls or loitering around the hospital. Most of her co-workers were guys who never seemed to pass up an opportunity to hit on the local nurses. Jordan’s hand was still resting on her keys, preparing to take them from the ignition when the passenger side door flew open and a man climbed into the seat. He wasn’t much older than her, with blond slicked back hair and two days’ worth of scruff collecting on his chin and jawline. His piercing blue eyes glared at her as he lifted the barrel of his gun until it was even with her head and shouted, “Drive!” He briefly lowered the weapon to use its handle to smash the radio before pointing it directly at her temple again.

             
Jordan bit down on her lip as she considered the predicament she had suddenly found herself in. Given her reckless tendencies, being at the wrong end of a weapon was a place she was not surprisingly
not
unaccustomed to. To say she was entirely comfortable there would have been a stretch, but it didn’t send her into a panic which was more than most people could say. Of course, even by her standards, having a gun pointed at her twice in one day was borderline ridiculous.

             
Feeling particularly defiant after her meeting with Brenson, Jordan gripped the keys and turned them, bringing the engine back to life.

             
She looked over at the gun toting stranger and nodded, “You got it.” Then she pushed her foot down on the gas and peeled out of her parking spot, knocking the guy back into his seat with a thud. He cried out in pain and reached for his shoulder. When he did so, his leather jacket slipped up just far enough for Jordan to see his blood stained shirt underneath. From the looks of it, she guessed he had been shot himself. Dealing with this asshole was going to be easier than she had anticipated.

             
With her eyes locked onto the road, Jordan’s mind began to focus on the game again. She took in every detail of her surroundings as she led the ambulance down the busy nighttime streets of the city. She didn’t even bother to ask the guy where he wanted to go. She had her own destination in mind. Just in case he had started to think she was driving aimlessly, Jordan pressed down on the gas harder, gaining speed with every second.

             
“What the hell are you doing? Slow down!” the guy demanded, the tip of his gun brushing against her skin. It was cold and wet, probably from his own blood. Out of the corner of her eye, Jordan could see that the deep red stain on his shirt was expanding. This guy was losing more blood by the minute. Deciding that he really wasn’t in any position to shoot her just then, Jordan ignored his demands and floored it. The highway ahead was wide open and there wasn’t a soul in sight to stop them.

             
“I mean it! Stop this fucking ambulance now!”

             
Without looking up, Jordan said, “Fine.”

             
She slammed on the break and jerked the steering wheel as far left as it would go, sending the ambulance spinning. By the time it stopped moving, Jordan’s entire body was shaking from the adrenaline, while her passenger had been thrown pretty unceremoniously. He landed head first in the windshield before getting pushed back into his seat from the momentum of their vehicle spiraling out of control.

             
Jordan unbuckled her seatbelt and moved out of her seat to get a better look at the man’s injuries. He had a pretty decent gash on his forehead now to go with the already gushing gunshot wound right below his shoulder. Still pretty dazed from the impact, the guy was in no condition to move very much, let alone threaten her again anytime soon.

             
Jordan picked up his gun from where it had fallen to the floor and shoved it into the glove compartment. Then she shifted back into drive and made her way toward the next exit, leaving the guy still slumped half on the floor while she drove. She didn’t intend to go very far.

             
A few minutes later the ambulance was pulling into the back parking lot of a strip mall. At this time of night there would be no one around to ask questions.

             
Jordan climbed into the back of her rig and collected the items she would need to tend to her passenger. After a moment she was hovering over him and putting pressure on his chest. The pain of her pressing down on his wound brought him to instantly.

             
“What the hell happened?” he asked trying to get up. He didn’t get very far before he gave up again.

             
“You hit your head. You know, you should really wear a seatbelt. Even in a car heist it’s important to put safety first.” The sarcasm in her tone brought a faint smirk to the man’s lips, but he didn’t say anything. So, Jordan continued, “Maybe you should tell me what’s going on. You’ve obviously been shot, but based on the way you went about getting a ride, I’m guessing you weren’t wanting me to take you to the hospital.”

             
The guy shook his head, “No. No, hospital.”

             
Jordan looked up from what she was doing. She couldn’t get a read on this guy. In spite of everything, she wasn’t afraid of him although she knew she probably should have been.

             
“Relax, I’m not taking you in. I’m off duty anyway.”

             
“You’re being pretty cavalier about this whole thing. This sort of stuff happen to you often?”