The Biker's Fate Chapter 247

I swore. It was late, and there were a few winding stretches of that freeway with deep embankments, but the only guardrails you could go "through" were on the exits… everything else was concrete. It was doubtful that she could have gone off the road without a single witness.

"Please don't hang up," Poppy whispered. "I'm so scared."

Fuck!

"I'm right here, yeah? I'm coming."

"Don't hang up, Hatch. Please don't hang up."

I sped out of the driveway and toward Portland. "I'm here, baby girl."

"I'm really tired."

"I need you to stay awake, Poppy, can you do that?"

My phone beeped, and I glanced at the screen. Booker had hacked into the Mercedes mbrace system and sent me the exact location of Maisie's car… right along Highway 26.

"Poppy?" She didn't respond, so I bellowed, "Poppy!"

"I'm here," she said.

I heard sirens in the background and my heart calmed a little. "Do you hear that? The ambulance is close now."

"Yeah," she whispered.

"Stay awake," I ordered.

"I'm just resting my eyes like Mum does sometimes."

I had a feeling if she closed her eyes, she'd be out cold in minutes. "The paramedics will have questions about your mom they'll need you to answer. You have to stay awake, so you can help her, okay?"

"Okay, Hatch."

"I mean it, Poppy. They'll need to know if she has any allergies or anything. She needs you to talk to them when they get there. I'm close. I'll be there soon."

"They're here now. I'm gonna hang up."

"No! Don't hang up, Poppy. You can put the phone down, but don't hang up."

"Mummy's really hurt," Poppy said to whoever had just arrived. "Please help her. I can't wake her up. She's allergic to grass and a couple of trees. I don't remember their names."

"Any medicines?" a female voice asked.

"No. Just grass and trees."

"We've got her, honey, but I need you to come with me."

"Hatch?" Poppy asked.

"Still here, baby girl," I assured her.

"Can you tell him where you're taking Mummy, please?" Poppy asked.

"Hello?" the woman said.

"Hey."

"Sir, this is Mary Walls, we're taking them to OHSU."

"Okay. Maisie is the mom and Poppy's the daughter. Last name's Mann. Take good care of them, yeah?"

"We'll take care of your family, sir. You can meet us there."

I spoke to Poppy one more time and then the line went dead. After checking in with Booker and being assured Ace was on his way, I headed to the crash site, right off the side of 26 before the freeway interchanges to I-5 and I-405, finding the ambulances and police cars had the road blocked off.

Pulling my truck off to the shoulder, I rushed into the chaos, my heart in my throat. I was glad to see that Poppy hadn't been entirely correct in her assessment of being alone. A couple of cars had pulled off to the side of the road and called 9-1-1, but one lady had her two young kids in the back, the other car was an older woman, so I really couldn't fault them for not climbing down the embankment.

Before I could get to the ambulance, it took off just as Ace pulled up with a tow truck. I jogged to him. "What's goin' on?"

"Not entirely sure yet," I said. "Looks like she guided her car off Jefferson where it went through a guard rail and down the embankment."

"Shit," Ace said. "Who?"

"Maisie."

"Maisie?" Ace asked. "Kim's Maisie?"

I shook my head. Cassidy was Ace's old lady, so even though I didn't advertise the fact I'd gone out with Maisie, Cassidy and Kim were sisters now, so they'd probably done their woman thing and over-shared. "Shut up, Ace. Just fuckin' deal with the car, yeah? I wanna get it back to the shop. Her daughter said somethin' was wrong with the brakes."

Once Ace was on task to deal with the car, I took off for the hospital. I lied to the admittance desk, claiming to be family until they reluctantly buzzed me back and showed me to a room. Poppy was sitting on the bed alone, crying.

"Poppy?"

She raised her head and relief covered her face. "You came."

"Yeah, baby girl. Where's your mom?" I pulled a chair up next to her and frowned. Her head was bandaged, and her left eye was starting to purple.

"I don't know. I'm waiting to find out." She licked her lips. "I'm thirsty."

I poured her some water and handed it to her. "Who should we call, Poppy?"

"No one," she said, and took a sip of water. "Auntie Ali's here. She just went to get the nurse." She put her hand to her head with a grimace.

"Are you in pain?"

Poppy nodded.

"Excuse me? Who the hell are you and what are you doing in here?" A petite brunette advanced on me and I raised my hands in surrender.

"It's okay, Ali. This is Hatch," Poppy said.

Ali paused and studied me. "You're Hatch?"

I nodded, bolstered by the fact Maisie had obviously mentioned me. Before we could continue introductions, a nurse arrived and squeezed a syringe of morphine into Poppy's arm. "I can only give you a little, honey, because we need you to stay awake. We're going to take you for a scan in a little bit."

"We'll keep her awake," Ali promised. "Any word on Maisie Mann?"

"Not yet. As soon as I know something, I'll let you know." The nurse left the room and I waved Ali to the chair I'd pulled next to Poppy's bed.

Poppy's eyes were drooping, so I squeezed her arm gently. She looked up at me, her pupils pinned. "Hmm?"

"Feeling a little better?" I asked.

She nodded.

I smiled. "I need you to tell me everything you remember, okay?"

"It all happened really fast. Mum said something felt weird, then yelled for me to hold on." She took a deep breath. "There was glass everywhere and my head hurt, but when Mummy didn't answer me, I got really scared. I pushed the Mercedes emergency button and, since she keeps her cell phone in the console, I called you." She gasped. "I left her phone in the car."

"It's okay, honey," Ali assured her. "The last thing she's going to care about is her phone. She'll get another one."

Another nurse walked in with a wheelchair and informed Poppy she could see her mother.

"Can we all come?" Alison asked.

"Yes. You can't stay for long, though. Mrs. Mann's pretty tired."

Poppy was shaky as she tried to slide off the bed, so I lifted her and set her in the wheelchair. The nurse handed Alison Poppy's bag of personal items and then we headed toward the elevator bay.

We arrived at Maisie's room and Poppy let out a frightened squeak. "Mummy!"

"Don't get up, Poppet," Maisie whispered, eyeing me in confusion as a nurse wheeled Poppy into the room.

I hung back and took in Maisie's appearance. Her right arm was in a sling and a bandage was wrapped around her head. She looked like she'd taken a pretty nasty beating. I saw Poppy's eyes widen and her face contort in fear as the nurse guided her to the side of Maisie's bed.

"I'll be right back," the nurse said.

Maisie nodded. "Thanks."

Damn, but I wanted to reach out and touch her. Hold her. Make sure she was really okay.

"Are you…?" Poppy asked, tears streaming down her face. "Are you okay?"

Maisie took her hand. "I'm good, love. I have to have a little surgery on my arm. It's broken pretty bad. But they're going to wait until my concussion clears."

"Poppy has a concussion as well," Ali said. "They just gave her some pain meds."

Maisie gave her a watery smile. "Thanks, Ali."

Poppy moved to stand.

"Don't get up," I ordered, and Poppy sat back down.

Maisie's eyes flew to me and she bit her lip. "How… what are you doing here?"

"I called him," Poppy said.

Another nurse walked in and smiled at Maisie. "I'm here to take Poppy for her scan."

"Do I have to go by myself?" Poppy asked.

"I'll come with you, honey," Ali offered.

"Thanks, Ali." Maisie smiled at her daughter. "It's pretty straight forward, Poppet. Don't be scared."

"Can Hatch come with me?"

I shook my head. "I should really head out, baby girl."

Ali frowned at me, then schooled her features and faced Poppy. "I'll come with you, sweetie. It'll be fine. You'll see."

"Okay, Ali. Thanks."

The nurse wheeled Poppy out and Ali followed.