Double Trouble

I looked down at my bathroom sink that all of us had just used to clean off our hands and faces of the paint. It was covered in purple and green paint and I knew Brooke was going to kill me for it. I grabbed a towel, dried off my face and made my way out into the living room where Matt, Brian and Johnny were watching some show on TV.
"It looks like we murdered two of the teletubbies in there," I said pointing to the bathroom.
Brian laughed. "Yeah but which ones?"
I shrugged and threw my towel at him. "I don't know their names. Those things actually creep me out."
"You mean Tinky-winky and Dipsy. Those are the purple and green ones," Johnny said.
The three of us stared at our friend like he had gone insane. "Do I even want to know how or why you know that, Short Shit?" Matt asked.
Johnny shrugged. "I lost my remote. It's always stuck on one channel."
We all laughed at him then Brian and Matt started punching him in his arm and teasing him incessantly. I walked over to my phone hoping to find a message from Brooke and frowned when I saw I had no new messages. It was getting kind of late and Brooke wasn't back yet. If she hadn't been with Zack, I would have been more worried.
Then I heard my front door open. "Honey, I'm home," Zack said as he came into the living room followed by a small woman. I noticed her as Gena from Doctor Dude's office.
Zack turned to us all and smiled. "Guys, this is Gena. Gena, this is Matt, Brian, Johnny and you know Jimmy."
She waved at all of us. "Hi guys. Hey Jimmy."
"Hey Gena," I said looking around them. "Zack, where's Brooke?"
Zack shrugged. "She should have been back by now. I left with Gena to go get some coffee. She said she could drive back."
At that, my mouth dropped open and I could feel anger boiling up inside of me. "You did WHAT?! The only reason you went with her was to keep her safe! Brooke should not be driving in her condition! She can barely reach the fucking steering wheel around her stomach and YOU LEFT HER TO GO ON A FUCKING DATE?!"
Zack held his hands up in defense and took a step back. "Dude, calm down. She should be home any minute now. You know Brooke. She probably stopped somewhere to pee or eat."
Matt stood up and placed a hand on my shaking shoulder. "Zack's right, Jimbo. Brooke will be home soon."
Brian agreed with him. "Just give her a few minutes before you call her."
Even though my friends were probably right, I had a terrible feeling about this. I had always been very protective of her even before we had gotten married. But now she was carrying my babies and it physically hurt to think of harm coming to either one of them.
I sat down on the couch cradling my phone to my chest trying to calm down. I knew I was most likely overreacting but I couldn't help it. I loved Brooke so much that I didn't know what I would ever do if I lost her.
I had waited five minutes before I couldn't take it anymore and I called her number. I called three times and each time I didn't get an answer. This wasn't like Brooke. If she missed one of my calls, she almost always called me back immediately.
My heart was beating faster now as I called a fourth time. "Hello?" I heard from the other side.
My stomach dropped when I realized that it wasn't Brooke's voice. "Who is this? Where's Brooke?!" I shouted into the phone causing my friends to look over at me.
"Brooke? I don't know, man," the lady said. "I was leaving the doctor's office when I heard somebody's phone go off a couple times. I went to investigate and found a purse and keys laying next to an abandoned car like they had been dropped."
I nearly dropped the phone when I heard this. My worst fears were coming true. Something had happened to my Brooke and I wasn't there to protect her.
"Sir? Hello?" I heard and I snapped back into reality. The lady on the other end was trying to get my attention.
"I'm here," I said, trying to get my heartbeat under control. "Please continue."
She cleared her throat before saying, "Well, I know it's wrong to go throough someone else's purse, but it looked like something bad had happened here. This Brooke, is she your girlfriend?"
"Wife," I answered. "Brooke is my wife and she's almost eight months pregnant with twins."
I heard the other lady gasp. "Oh my God. Ok look, my name is Kelly Pierce. If you call the police I will take this stuff to the Huntington Police station and I will meet you there. Can you do that?"
I nodded but remembered she couldn't see me. "Sure. Thank you," I managed to get out before I hung my phone up and slid off the couch. I landed in a heap on the floor and just started screaming and screaming.
What had happened to Brooke?! Would I ever see her again?! What about our babies? What would happen to them?! If I ever found who did this I would KILL them! And I would NOT make it quick!
I felt hands rubbing my back and I looked up to see all four of my friends kneeling over me with concerned faces. I slowly sat up and leaned my back against the couch. I could see Gena in the corner frantically speaking into her phone and I gave Zack a questioning look.
"She's calling the police," he explained. "We heard what had happened from the other side of the phone. That lady doesn't exactly speak quietly."
Brian and Matt grabbed me under my arms and helped me to my feet. I had to lean against Brian because I could barely stand on my own. This whole experience was taking its toll on me but I had to keep going. Brooke needed me.
I don't really remember the trip to the police station. But I do remember pacing around the waiting room while we waited for Kelly to show up with Brooke's things.
About forty five minutes had passed before a short woman maybe in her late thirties was escorted in by an officer. I recognized Brooke's purse in her hands immediately. I gasped and ran up to the lady.
Kelly looked at me and guessing by the look on her face, my appearance had startled her. She hadn't been expecting a tall man covered in tattoos let alone five of us.
I stopped before I reached her. "I'm sorry, if I scared you. My name is Jimmy. We talked on the phone?"
Kelly's face softened a little. "Oh! Oh of course. I'm sorry. I didn't expect there to be so many here." She looked down at the purse in her hands and held it out to me. "Here you go. I promise you nothing is missing. And the officer has said it's ok if you have it."
I said thanks to her and gave her a small hug as she laft the room. I sat down in the closest chair and held the bag to my chest.
Soon after that, a tall man in a police uniform and I recognized him as Officer Hicks. he had been a police officer when we were all growing up and he had busted all of us more times than we could count. He had been at mine and Brooke's wedding. Now, he was giving me a simpathetic look as he walked over to me.
I stood as he came closer. "Hello, Officer Hicks," I said, shaking his hand.
"Hello, Jimmy," he said. "I promise you that I will do everything in my power to get Brooke back to you safe and sound. But first, can I please talk to you in private?"
I nodded, gave the purse to Brian and followed the older man out into the empty hallway.
Officer Hicks stood across from me and cleared his throat. "Well, son, I'm not really sure how to put this, but it looks like a straight up kidnapping. There didn't seem to be any evidence of a struggle. Whoever took her, grabbed her from behind."
"But she's eight months pregnant with twins!" I exclaimed. "They couldn't have been alone. She's tiny but the babies are both pretty big. She would weigh alot more than usual. And not to mention my Brooke is a fighter. You know that."
The officer chuckled lightly. "Yeah I remember. The little spit fire always fought against me. You're right, Jimmy. She wouldn't have gone without a fight and he wasn't alone. There were two of them."
My eyes widened. "Two of them? How do you know for sure?"
"There is video surveillance in that parking lot and we have the tape. You can see her being pulled away, but I don't recognize any of the men. That's why I asked you to come with me. I was hoping you could identify one or both of them for me?" Officer Hicks said.
I nodded vigourously. "Absolutely. I'll follow you."
Officer Hicks nodded then turned on his heal, heading down the hall. I wasted no time following him. He showed me to a small room that was occupied with a lot of technical devices and in the middle was a table with a TV on top of it.
I watched the officer as he pushed the play button on one of the machines and I saw the screen of the television turn on. I got closer and watched it closely. For it being a parking lot survelliance tape, it was surprisingly clear.
I watched as Brooke walked, well waddled, out to her car and I saw in the far corner a van speed into the lot. Two men quickly got out of the van and ran over to my wife and one grabbed her from behind covering her mouth and pulling her backwards. I saw as Brooke kicked as hard as she could and the other man grabbed her feet and both of them carried her to the van.
When they turned to open the back door, my eyes got wide as I recognized one of them. "Son of a bitch! It's Drew!"
Officer Hicks paused it and rewound it until it showed Drew's face again. "Are you sure, Jimmy?" he asked me. "You can clearly recognize this man?"
I nodded. "Yes I absolutely can. That's Drew Carter. He's Brooke's ex and he's still in love with her. I knew he wanted her back but I never thought he'd be stupid enough to try kidnapping her!"
My heart was beating faster now and I could almost feel my blood boiling I was getting so angry. Drew had taken Brooke! The mother fucker had laid his hand on my wife and put her in harm's way! There was no way he was getting away with this.
I told Officer Hicks where Drew lived and the man escorted me back to the room I had been in, previously. Before I opened the door, he put a comforting hand on my shoulder. "Don't worry, son. I'll find her. I give you my word. But promise me you will leave this to the law."
I nodded as I walked back into the room. My four friends, my brothers, ran up to me when they saw me walk through the door.
"So?" Johnny asked. "What happened?"
"What did you learn?' Matt asked.
I walked across the room and colapsed into one of the chairs, utterly exhausted. "They found a tape that showed Brooke being kidnapped. By Drew."
All of them gasped. "Oh my God!" Zack said. "Jimmy I'm so sorry! This is all my fault."
I shook my head. "No, Zacky, it isn't. It's Drew's fault. He wanted her and he was going to try to get her no matter what. I'm not mad at you, bro."
I was, however, over the top pissed that Drew had even thought about hurting Brooke. I didn't care what Officer Hicks had said, I was taking care of him MYSELF.

Notes