Page 65 of In Her Wake
Jenna kept her eyes locked on the white van, its erratic movements betraying the driver’s desperation.Jake braced himself against the dashboard as she matched Greenwich’s turns.Spelling’s SUV maintained its position on the van’s opposite flank.
The van lurched violently—not from any outside pressure but from within.Something was happening inside the vehicle.The van veered sharply right, then left, then suddenly careened off the road entirely, striking a fire hydrant before flipping onto its side with a screech of tearing metal that set Jenna’s teeth on edge.
“Sarah,” she breathed, slamming the cruiser to a halt and throwing open her door.
Water erupted from the broken hydrant, arcing high into the air before raining down on the overturned van.The hiss of steam rose from the crumpled hood as Jenna raced toward the wreckage, her service weapon drawn but pointed downward.Jake was right behind her, radio already in hand, calling for ambulances and fire crew support.
“Get the rear doors!”Spelling shouted, already at the van’s cab, trying to wrench open the driver’s side door that now faced skyward.
Jenna splashed through the growing puddle beneath the hydrant’s spray, circling to the back of the van where the doors had burst partially open on impact.She holstered her weapon and grabbed the edge of one door, Jake taking the other.Together they pulled, metal groaning in protest until the opening was wide enough to see inside.
A young woman lay sprawled against what had been the side wall of the van, now the floor.Blood trickled from a cut on her forehead, but her eyes were open and alert.Beside her, a mannequin with the same woman’s face stared upward with hollow eyes, its limbs askew like a discarded doll.
“Sarah Fleming?”Jenna called, reaching into the van.“I’m Sheriff Graves.We’re going to get you out.”
The woman nodded, wincing as she moved.“He’s—I think he’s unconscious,” she said, her voice raspy but steady.“I jumped him from behind.The wheel—”
“Colonel Spelling is handling the driver,” Jake assured her, climbing halfway into the van to help Sarah toward the exit.“Let’s focus on getting you to safety.”
Jenna provided support as Jake guided Sarah through the warped doorframe and out into the waterlogged street.
“My legs are still weak,” Sarah explained, clutching Jenna’s arm for balance.“He injected me with something, but I think he dropped the syringe before—before it was empty.”
“Muscle relaxant,” Jenna said, leading her toward the cruiser where she could sit.
Behind them, Spelling called out, “I need help here!”
Jake immediately turned back toward the van while Jenna settled Sarah on the cruiser’s back seat.The cut on her forehead had already stopped bleeding, revealing itself to be superficial.
“Stay here,” Jenna told her.“Paramedics are on their way.”
She jogged back to the van where Spelling and Jake were struggling with Greenwich’s limp form.The driver’s side door had been wrenched open, and they were trying to extract him without causing further injury.Greenwich’s head lolled to one side, blood matting his hair where it had struck the window during the crash.They left him in place.Better he be moved by emergency personnel.They could hear the sirens approaching now.
Within minutes, the scene transformed into controlled chaos.Fire trucks blocked off the intersection while firefighters worked to cap the still-gushing hydrant.Two ambulances arrived in quick succession, EMTs swarming around both Greenwich and Sarah, checking vitals and applying preliminary first aid.
Jenna stood back, giving the medical professionals room to work.Sarah sat upright now on a gurney, an emergency blanket draped over her shoulders as a paramedic cleaned the cut on her forehead.Greenwich lay strapped to a backboard, still unconscious but with stable vitals according to the EMT monitoring him.
Jenna returned to Sarah who reported, “They said I’m okay.Just minor cuts and bruises, and some lingering effects from whatever drug he used.”
“You were very brave,” Jenna said.“Fighting back the way you did.”
“I had to do something,” Sarah replied.“When I started to regain control of my muscles, I saw my chance.I grabbed his neck, pulled him backward.The weird thing is...”She paused, her brow furrowing.“He didn’t really fight back.Not like I expected. He just...let go of the wheel.”
Jenna glanced toward Greenwich, understanding dawning.“Because hurting you wasn’t part of his plan.”
“What?”
“He believed he was preserving people at their peak moment of happiness,” Jenna explained.“He saw himself as merciful, delivering a painless death that would spare you from future disappointments or failures.”
“That’s so twisted.”
A commotion near the second ambulance drew their attention.Greenwich was regaining consciousness, his hands flexing against the restraints as a paramedic spoke soothingly to him.Jenna excused herself from Sarah and walked over to him.
His eyes fully opened, Greenwich was blinking in confusion.Focusing on Jenna’s face, he whispered, “She’s alive?”
“Yes,” Jenna confirmed, studying the man who had terrorized the area.In person, without the frenetic energy of the chase, he appeared almost ordinary—thin, scholarly, with hands that could craft likenesses or take lives with equal skill.
“Good,” he said, closing his eyes briefly.“It wouldn’t have been right.Not like that.”
