Chapter One
The rust-smelling blood destructed Garth from driving. He kept glancing at Anna with an anxious look on his face. She was knocked out, unconscious of what was happening in her surroundings. Blood stains covered her face and it seemed that she must have had a major concussion because of the massive wound she received on her forehead. Her hair was soaked with her own blood. Her face obtained lots of scratches and her neck had a red hand mark from being strangled. She should have called for backups, but decided to take the matter into her own hands, oblivious that those she’d encountered were the most wanted criminals in the country.
Garth stopped at the traffic light. The pedestrian lights turned green and the people crossed the road. The clock was ticking. He turned to Anna to see how she was doing and by the looks of it, she wasn’t doing very well. He could barely hear her breathing and her lips were turning purple. He suspected she must have had an internal bleeding or broken bones. She looked very much in pain and it sucked that he couldn’t do anything to make the situation any better. Looking at the time on the pedestrian light made him bang his head on the steering wheel. The horn beeped and scared the people, but he couldn’t care less. He’d already committed so many offenses today and his driver license’s demerit points were more than enough to get his license suspended. But he was a police officer so he had all the valid reasons to prove his case… but right now he couldn’t think anything but Anna, her partner in crime and best buddy he’d ever had, though deep inside him he viewed her as more than a friend.
He looked at her again, but there wasn’t any sign of hope. She was in deep sleep and there was no sign that she was aware of what was going on. Despite the loud horn, she remained unconscious, heedless of the fact that someone was dying to see her open her eyes.
“Anna, wake up.” Garth tapped her gently, but she remained quiet. Again, he tapped her for a couple of more times and even smacked her on the cheek lightly in the hopes of making her conscious, but it was of no use.
Anna was an experienced and highly intelligent police officer. She was tough and fearless and hated being rescued and helped. She would rather go in a battle on her own, left alone to defend herself. But no matter how one flipped the world upside down, no one could take the fact that she was still a woman, a strong one to be exact. Her strength could not match a male’s strength and that was what she was so pissed off about. She wasn’t physically strong enough to fight the culprits hand on hand.
The stop light turned green and without wasting a second, he sped up, over taking those vehicles before him. His feet switched from the clutch and accelerator as his left hand changed gears from one to another. He stepped on the accelerator and the speedo needle went up to 100kph. At this speed, they could be flying off the cliff and send them both to their graves prematurely. He needed to slow down and think straight. Allowing his adrenaline rush to cloud his judgment of the danger could further worsen the situation. But no worries though, Garth used to be a popular car racer back in his teen years so he was very adept at driving fast vehicles. Every turn was calculated with precise accuracy, taking into consideration the law of Physics and using it to base his speed.
He glanced at the GPS. “We’re almost there. Hang on tight,” he murmured to himself as the speed went up by 10kph, more than the maximum limit to drive in a crowded city. His tires must have been worn out from so much drifting and speeding up on the road, chasing criminals and offenders. Thieves and drug addicts were the most common ones around this area so his team was always on the run.
He turned the steering wheel left toward George street. This was the nearest shortcut to the hospital; however, this was a residential area so he couldn’t just speed up and take off. Children played on the street and students walked to school. Either the long or the short cut way, the time that would take him to take her to the hospital would still be same. Time was against them. And he was freaking out whether he would make it on time. He couldn’t afford to let her down after all she’d done for him.
He remembered the first day they’d met. It was around this time of the year. Anna was a fresh graduate back then, but she acted as if she was a veteran. Her skills surpassed those who’d been in the service for a long time, her accuracy at pointing a gun on the target was on point, it was precisely calculated. Her determination and courage inspired her colleagues to follow her step and take the initiative to become better police officials, serving the country to the best of their ability.
But he thought, this time she’d gone too far. Risking her life for the sake of other people was unnecessary, though it was part of their job – to become a hero which no one really paid much attention to. Police officials were often seen as harsh and cruel. The media had portrayed them that way and he couldn’t blame them so, some of the police officials overused their authority and take advantage of people, harassing them beyond reasonable means, being racist and picking on certain ethnicities. But one could not represent all. Not all in the police department regardless of the rank were cruel and harsh.
Garth blamed those ignorant fools for spitting on their image, holding them accountable for what had happened to Anna. She’d once promised that she would bring back the former glory of the police department and prove the media wrong that they weren’t the badass they were portrayed on television and social media.
He took another turn to the right, and then around the roundabout before taking the final turn to the left. The hospital’s name and logo came into view. Hope had arrived and washed his agitation away. He could now breathe with ease, knowing Anna would soon be in a safer and much comfortable place to regain her strength and recover from such incident. He promised that once she recovered, he would hunt those culprits down and make them pay hundredfold for what they’d done to her.
Out of nowhere, he heard a moaning – a painful and agonizing moaning. He turned his head to Anna and his countenance brightened up. His smile stretched to his ears and the glow in his eyes sparkled.
“You’re awake,” he said with a great excitement in his voice.
Anna’s vision was still blurry so she couldn’t see Garth that well. She had bruises on her face and her left eye was badly damaged. She had a black eye and it hurt so bad she just wanted to die for a moment until the pain was gone, or at least diminished.
“Where am I?” she asked, drawling her words out. Her mouth was full of dried blood and her lower lip was popped. Wounds covered her entire face and it looked so painful that Garth almost cried out of sympathy for her. His determination to find those felons rose to a greater degree that if he’d found them, he would torture and give them the hell they deserved. His blood boiled and he couldn’t help but curse them under his breath.
Tears trickled down his cheeks, seeing her in this pitiful condition softened his heart, reminding him that although she acted tough and unbreakable, she was still a simple person who could get hurt and abused. His snort dripped down his nose and sniffed it back up as he breathed through his mouth quietly. He did not want her to see him crying like a little boy. He needed to stay strong. He needed to be a real man, at least just for once.
“Where the hell am I?” Anna raised her voice as she regained her consciousness.
He took a deep breath. “Don’t worry, you’re now safe. We’re almost at the hospital.”
“Garth, is it you?”
“Yes, it’s me.”
Anna smiled and a sense of hope overshadowed her. A look of relief had registered across her face.
“Thank God!” she said. She tried to sit up properly, but her side ached. Her face grimaced at the pain but she ignored it and brought her gaze out the window.
“How did you find me?”
“I tracked down the patrol car you were using.”
“Smart guy.” She looked down and saw her arms full of scratches and wounds. Her feet were hurting and she remembered she stripped over during the operation. She must have sprained her left foot but not to the extent that she broke it. She could still move it alright and the pain was mainly on her ankle. Lifting her pants up, a swollen part of her foot made her grasp for air. It was so disturbing that it made her stomach churn with disgust. How could this have happened, she thought to herself.
Garth noticed her frustration and quickly forced a smile to brighten the mood. “You look fine. I guess I don’t have to bring you to the hospital,” he said with his gaze fixed on the road. He couldn’t bear to look at her in the eyes.
“Even a cow needs a vet to look at it and how much more do I need it right now. I know I act like a man, but that doesn’t mean I have supernatural powers to heal myself,” she said in an almost growling manner that lifted his spirit up. The Anna he’d known was back to normal.
He let a loud laugh. “Man, I thought I was gonna lose you. You scared the hell out of me.”
“Isn’t that my job, to scare the hell out of you? I mean, come on, you know I’m better than you.”
“From my initial observation, I think bringing you to the hospital would bring back your memory because you’re talking nonsense right now. We all know I’m much better and good looking than anyone in our department, and I know you have an eye for me, don’t you?” He looked at her with that cunning look on his face.
Anna rolled her eyes and a look of disgust had registered across her face. She let a rather insulting sound of a laugh.
“You wish!” she said, taking the hairnet off her hair as she let her hair down. The wind drifted the smell of the lavender scent. It traveled up through his nostrils, making him bring his gaze to her.
“What are you looking at?” she asked demandingly.
“Nothing.” Quickly, he shifted his gaze back to the road as his grip on the steering wheel tightened. His dick was stiffening up at the image of her breasts. Her blouse’s button was ripped off so her bra could be seen through. She had no idea about it, and he wouldn’t sing a word.
Anna had a minor in psychology so she could determine whether a person was lying or not. She knew Garth was hiding something. “Don’t choke the steering wheel!” she barked.
“I’m not.”
“Yes, you were. If I were that poor thing and you were choking me like that, I would’ve strangled you hundred times.”
Garth grinned. “Stop bullying me! You should be thankful that I came to save you from those felons.”
Her face grimaced. “Speaking of the devil, did you manage to get hold of those culprits?”
He took a wee while to respond, which was enough for her to know that he failed to capture them. “You lost them, didn’t you?”
“Not exactly. When we came to the scene they’d already left, but we’ve gathered all the evidence against them and the team had already gone out to track them down. They should fall in our hands any minute now.”
She sensed the uncertainty in his voice. She knew those felons were out there, not far from the neighborhood, mingling with innocent people whom they could victimize. Drugs in the United States had ruined many families and killed millions of teens, and knowing that those drug pushers were out and about made her feel uneasy. Finding no words to express her emotion, she decided to keep her mouth shut. She knew it was her fault after all; had she called for backup sooner, this would have never happened. They should’ve never been able to escape and beat the hell out of her.
She stared at the floor, contemplating about the consequences of her action. The picture of her colleagues blaming her for such mishap gave her headache. Things should have played on their side.