The blood rush in his ears pounded him into a trancelike state.
He found himself looking into the woman’s terrified eyes.
He swelled with pleasure, his ears rang and an ancient, familiar, evil erupted inside him.
Let her die.
I hold this woman’s life, and that of her child, in my hands, the power over life and death, the power to rise above everything on earth.
Go ahead and plead.
I love it.
I am the beginning and I am the end.
I’m going to let you die. Your baby, too. I’ll watch you die.
“I’m sorry,” Bowen said. “I can’t reach you. I’m sorry.”
Her eyes bulged. Her fear excited him, pushing his sensual gratification to a new level.
“Please!” she gasped.
Keep begging. Beg me for your life.
She coughed. Her voice was fading.
“Please, I beg you, please! God, someone, please save us!”
The break in her voice connected with Bowen, telling him he could not let this happen. He closed his eyes, battling himself for control as the woman’s cries slowly pulled him out of his trance and back into the chaos.
“Okay,” Bowen said. “Okay, ma’am, I’m going to get you out.”
He maneuvered his upper body deeper into the car and, while on his knees, reached up, feeling for and finding the woman’s seat belt buckle.
“Can you get your arms around my neck?” he said.
He felt her lock her arms around him, felt her trembling, she smelled of soap and sweat and was nearly choking him as he tried to depress the button to release the belt. The woman’s full downward weight had created pressure and the button refused to depress.
Bowen tried but it wouldn’t move.
Panicked motorists were shouting.
“Get out now!”
“It’s going to go up-get out!”
He glimpsed the flames horribly large and nearing the gas pools that patched their way to the car. He reached deep into himself and with every bit of strength he had in him he lifted the woman’s weight upward, taking pressure off of the belt while depressing the button with every fiber of strength he had until he heard: click.
The belt released.
The woman slid down onto him and he immediately dragged her out of the car where helping hands seized both of them.
“My baby!”
Bowen shook off the people pulling him to safety and crawled back into the car for the child.
“No, don’t do it!” Someone shouted. “It’s too late!”
The fire had now grown large enough for Bowen to hear its roar as he scrambled inside to the baby’s seat. He shifted his body, relieved to hear the child crying. He reached up, fumbled for the buckle and button, and lifted the child to ease weight from the buckle.
Click.
He got it.
Taking a deep breath, he disentangled the baby from the car seat. He started snaking backward with the child at his chest. He’d just gotten his legs out the window when someone screamed-
“Oh, my God!”
He turned to see the flames lapping the gasoline pools, felt the air spasm as the pools ignited in a chain reaction creating a blinding, churning wall of fire that swallowed them.
7
Los Angeles, California
Claire Bowen was unsure her feet even touched the ground as she left the building and got into her car. She cupped her hands to her face.
I have to tell Robert.
Glancing at the time, she reached for her cell phone and read his response to her earlier text to him.
Good landing. Good trip. Good luck with doc-any word?
Great, he’s back, she thought, her fingers blurring as she texted him.
Can you call me now!!!
As the minutes passed, she scanned the literature about ovulation. Not much there she didn’t already know. She glanced at her phone. Unless Robert was stuck in traffic or couldn’t pull over, he was usually pretty quick at getting back to her. Two minutes passed, then three.
While waiting, Claire revisited a small concern. Over the past few weeks he seemed to have become a little withdrawn, as if wrestling with something. Whenever she’d asked him about it, he’d tell her that he was merely lost in his thoughts, leaving her to wonder if everything really was okay with him.
Claire checked the time. Too excited to wait, she pressed her cell’s keypad for his number. The phone rang twice before a woman answered.
“I’m sorry,” Claire said. “I’ve misdialed.”
“This is Robert Bowen’s phone,” a woman said. “Who’s calling?”
What the heck?
“I’m Claire Bowen, his wife. And who are you?”
“Mrs. Bowen, I’m a nurse at Pacific Breeze Memorial Hospital. I just called your office. Your husband’s just been brought in-”
“Brought in? What for? What happened?”
“He’s been involved in a car accident-he’s-”
“A car accident? Is he hurt? Can you put him on the phone now, please?”
Claire could hear the hospital’s loudspeaker system echoing in the background.
“I can’t. He’s with the E.R. doctor, Mrs. Bowen-” Claire fished out her keys and turned the ignition as the nurse continued. “All I can tell you at this point is that he does not appear to have any serious injuries.”
“You’ve seen him? You’re certain?”
“Yes, I’m in the E.R. He’s been brought in for observation. It’s just happened now. We’ve got a number of trauma patients.”
Claire keyed the hospital’s name into her GPS. She could be there in twenty-five minutes, less if the traffic was good.
“Please tell him I’m on my way.”
“Certainly, Mrs. Bowen.”
“Wait, what’s your name?”
“Lilly Springer.”
“I’ll ask for you at the desk.”
When Claire ended the call, her phone rang.
“Claire, it’s Alice.” Alarm sounded in her voice. “The Pacific Breeze hospital just called about Robert and a car accident.”
“I know. I just spoke with the E.R. nurse. She said he’s okay.”
“Oh, thank heaven.”
“I’m on my way to the hospital.”
“Okay, want me to clear your schedule for the rest of the day? You have a couple of hours until your next patient.”
“Don’t move anything yet. I’ll have a better idea after I get to the hospital. I’ll call.”
Driving through the city, Claire took a few deep breaths to keep calm, never letting go of the nurse’s assurance that Robert was not hurt. But it ran counter to human nature not to worry and Claire would not be assured until she saw him, until she held him.
She thought of their last moment together a few days ago and remembered his cologne, the rustle of his crisp shirt and the brush of his lips on hers. She was still in bed and he’d bent down, lifted her hair and kissed her goodbye in the early morning before he’d left for this trip.
“I love you,” he’d whispered.
And now this.
This reminder of how life can change in an instant.
The web of our existence is a fragile thing.
Claire knew that too well from her own life and the lives of her patients-how dreams could be taken away or shattered. We’re on the threshold of becoming parents-a dream they had long been denied.
Arriving at the hospital, Claire saw four ambulances at the emergency entrance. Nearby she saw a number of police vehicles and TV news trucks. She hurried through the automatic doors. Half a dozen media people had gathered around a hospital official at one side of the lobby and were pressing her for information. Claire continued to the woman seated at the reception window. Behind her, two staff members stood as they worked at computer terminals.