Scarlett and the Feds by S.L. Baker Read Free Book Online Page A

number is in my cell phone.”
    He nodded, walked over to the Honda, and spoke to two state troopers inspecting my car. I closed my eyes when I saw how mangled my Honda was. I felt like I was going to puke. Scar was nowhere to be found and then I saw her on top of the fire truck modeling one of the fireman jackets like it was a fur from Saks. She was smiling as she looked in the side mirror when she put the fire helmet on with the number 16, her favorite number. I shook my head annoyed that she was amusing herself and I was lying on a stretcher. The EMT returned with my phone and told me that my boyfriend was en-route with an ETA of ten minutes.
    “She is going to the hospital for further evaluation,” the stocky EMT said, and the female EMT took my blood pressure again. They hoisted the stretcher up and lifted me into the ambulance.
    “What hospital?” one of the troopers asked.
    “Mercy.” I heard the stocky EMT reply as he shut the door to the ambulance.
    Scarlett darted through the door just before it shut. She was wearing one of those plastic firefighter pins they give to little kids. The other EMT was still taking my vitals and shined the light to check my pupils. Scarlett was rifling through the ambulance hoping to find something useful, you never know when you might need something like valium or morphine.
    “I’m fine,” I said. I don’t need to go to the hospital.”
    “It’s protocol, when a vehicle has sustained as much damaged as yours has. Could be internal injuries,” the EMT replied.
    “Okay.” I sighed.
    I closed my eyes and my thoughts drifted back to my last trip in the ambulance. I could smell the mixture of gas, smoke, mangled metal, and death. It was a smell that never leaves you. It had taken the firefighters thirty minutes to get me out of the van. I’d drifted in and out of consciousness. The yelling and frantic chaos of people running back and forth. The screaming of the two mothers of the teenage boys in the car that hit us. Both killed instantly. I’d seen the body of one of the boys lying on the pavement covered with a white sheet. The EMT had kept talking to me and telling me to hang on. My eyes would close and he would gently shake my arm. “Sweetheart, stay with us. Open your eyes.”
    I hadn’t wanted to open my eyes. I’d wanted to wake up and have it all be just a bad dream. It had never happened.
    I felt Scarlett dab the tears that were flowing down my cheeks as the ambulance door flew open. Before the stocky EMT even grabbed the bottom of the stretcher, I could hear Victor’s voice. He rushed to my side, and the EMT shot him an annoyed look.
    “Are you ok?” he said grabbing my hand.
    “I’ll be fine. Just some scrapes and bruises.”
    Victor looked at the EMT’s for validation that I was going to be okay.
    “We transported her in for evaluation,” the stocky EMT who was in charge replied.
    We pulled into the ER bay and the two EMT’s unloaded me from the ambulance, pushing Victor out of way as they wheeled me into the ER. A nurse blocked Victor. He wasn’t going any further.
    I heard him curse at her, “Son of a Bitch.”
    Scarlett stayed with Victor. She hated hospitals as much as I did. The next few hours were a series of x-rays, cat scans and MRI’s.  The doctor determined that I had suffered a severe bruise to my leg and some cuts on my arm and head. I would be fine in a few days. I needed rest, but could go home.
    Victor helped me into the Escalade like he had when we first met. One hand on my arm the other on my ass as I climbed in the back. I snuggled next to him, his arm resting on my hip.
    “Mr. Hawke, does Nicole know about the wreck?” I asked.
    “No.” He shook his head.
    “Good. Let me tell her.”
    “Yes, ma’am,” he replied.
    “What happened?” Victor asked, the cold serious side emerging as it did when he was stressed or angry.
    “I was about ten minutes from the station and this black SUV ran me off the road.”
    “Did you see