Cheryl Tardif - Submerged

She took slow, even breaths as she moved. Her hand vibrated as she raised the stick over the passenger seat and then aimed it at her son.

“That’s good, Mom.” Colton grabbed the phone and peeled it from the tape.

“Give the phone to me.”

She stretched out as far as possible, and Colton did the same. Her fingers just grazed the cell phone in his hand, and she bit her bottom lip when it bumped her swollen fingers. “Got it.”

As soon as the phone was in her hand, she flipped it open, praying it wasn’t damaged in the crash. The screen lit up as a surge of dizziness sizzled through her body. Transferring the cell phone to her good hand, she thumb-dialed 911.

“Nine one one,” a warm male voice said. “Do you need Fire, Ambulance or Police?”

Rebecca opened her mouth to answer and gasped in agony.

Then she blacked out .

Marcus was deep into the eBook on somniphobia when the phone rang. “Nine one one,” he said. “Do you need Fire, Police or Ambulance?”

A pitter-patter medley was followed by a soft whimper. Then the line went dead. What the hell?

“We’ve got a dead line,” he called to Leo, giving him the cell phone number.

Leo immediately went into action, activating the number search and tracking. “It’s a cell phone registered to a… Rebecca Kingston, 1832-12th Street, Edmonton. I’m calling the house number now.” Pause. “No answer.”

Marcus called the cell phone. “No answer on her cell either.”

“The home address is registered to a Mr. and Mrs. Wesley Kingston,” Leo said. “Wait! Here we are. A tower outside Edson picked up her last call.”

“Not a very nice night for travelling.” Marcus tried the number again. “She’s not picking up, and I don’t think this is a crank call. Dispatch police and EMS to the tower area. Maybe they’ll see her vehicle. I’ll keep trying her cell phone.”

“Done.”

Marcus swallowed hard. These were the calls he hated. Someone out there needed help, but without a location everyone was blind. He prayed Rebecca Kingston needed minor assistance.

He called the cell phone again. No one picked up.

“Marcus, we have another problem.” Leo’s voice was grim.

“What?”

“Police are sending a squad car to the highway, but EMS and Fire have no available vehicles. They’re still working that apartment fire in Hinton.”

“Shit.”

“Maybe the Kingston lady ran out of gas.”

“Let’s hope.”

He dialed again. One ring… two rings… three—

“Hello?” a woman said in a faint voice.

Marcus stood up and snapped his fingers at Leo. “Mrs. Kingston? Rebecca Kingston? This is 911. You called us a few minutes—”

“Car accident,” came the reply.

“Where are you?”

“I’m not sure exactly.” The woman started crying.

“Okay, Mrs. Kingston, take a breath. We’re going to help you.”

“Rebecca,” she said. “Call me Rebecca.”

“Okay, Rebecca. Here’s what I need. I need you to tell me how many people are in your vehicle.”

“Three. Me and my son and daughter.”

“Is everyone okay?”

He heard another sob. “No. Colton’s leg is trapped. I don’t know if it’s broken. He says he’s not in pain. He’s in the back seat. Ella too. She’s unconscious and won’t wake up. She has asthma.”

“We have police heading to your area, so hold on. Can you or your son get out of the car?”

“No. My door won’t open. And Colton has the door that sticks in the back.”

“Were you hit on your side of the car?”

“I don’t think so. I recall hearing a grinding sound though. Like my door had crashed against something. I think that’s why I can’t open it.”

“Can you get to the passenger door?”

“No. I’m pinned between my seat and the steering wheel.” She lowered her voice. “I have two broken fingers on my right hand and I think a couple of my ribs are broken.”

Marcus swore beneath his breath. Broken ribs could lead to a punctured lung. “Can you move the seat back?”

“No. I can’t reach the lever. And the one on the side is broken, so I can’t tip the seat back.”

“Did the airbags inflate?”

“No. We were hit from behind.”

“What kind of vehicle do you have?”

“A red Hyundai Accent.”

“Four-door sedan?”

“Yes.”

“Power door locks and windows?”

“Yes.”

He took down all the information and relayed it to police dispatch.

“I want you to take small breaths and don’t drop the phone. Do you have an inhaler for your daughter?”

“Yes, Colton gave it to her, but she’s still not moving, not waking up. I don’t know what to do.”

“It’s important you remain as composed as possible, Rebecca. You need to stay calm for your children. Okay?”

“Okay.”

“I need more information. Can you tell me where you were heading?”

“Cadomin. I needed a vacation.”

He could hear self-recrimination in her voice. “I’m sure this isn’t the vacation you planned. Now how close to Cadomin were you before the car accident.”

“I don’t know. It’s all a blur.”

He shook his head. They had one tower to go by. That left a lot of ground to cover.

“Were any other vehicles involved in the accident?”

“It wasn’t an accident,” Rebecca whispered.

Marcus flinched. “What do you mean?”

“We were intentionally run off the road. By someone in a truck.”

A chill swept down his spine. “You sure he didn’t hit you by accident?”

“I’m sure.” There was a long pause. “He was behind us for at least twenty minutes. Right on my bumper. There was lots of room for him to pass, but he didn’t.” Sob. “I don’t understand why he did this to us.”

“Is he gone?”

“I think so. I can’t see anything outside. It’s raining hard, but I can’t see his lights.”

Marcus motioned to Leo. “Hit and run.” To Rebecca he said, “Can you give me a description of the truck?”

“It was a dark color and had lights on the top of the roof. Really bright ones.”

“Hunters’ spotlights? On top of the cab?”

“Yes, I think so.”

“How many lights?”

“I don’t know. It was so bright I couldn’t tell.”

He heard a child call out, “Mom, Ella feels cold.”

“Is she wearing her jacket?” Rebecca asked, the terror in her voice apparent.

“No. It’s on the floor in front of her and I can’t reach it,” came the boy’s reply. “I’ll give her mine.”

“It’s important you keep Ella warm,” Marcus said. The girl could be going into shock. “Turn the heat on and your headlights and emergency lights. And whatever you do, try to get Ella’s temperature up.”

“I understand. Colton, if you can reach your backpack, tuck your jersey around Ella.”

“Good,” Marcus said. “We have police looking for your vehicle. It shouldn’t take them long to search Highway 47 between the towers.”

Another sob. “But we’re not on the highway.”

Marcus’s pulse raced. “I thought you said you were heading to Cadomin.”

“We were. But when the guy in the truck started following too close, I pulled off onto a side road. I thought he’d drive past us. Then we could get back on the highway. But he didn’t. He turned down the same road. Initially I thought it was just sheer bad luck, that he was the property owner. But then he hit us—a bump at first. Then he hit us hard.” She lowered her voice. “That’s when I knew he wanted to hurt us.”