Page 75 of Under Pressure
“Maybe Wayne’s right,” Don admitted—but only because Wayne wasn’t here to hear him.
“About what?” Walt asked.
“About needing to deal with my emotions instead of locking them away.” That’s what he’d done in the army. Anytime he’d faced something horrific, he’d locked it away. It was how he’d been able to cope. That and with Amelia’s love. But she was gone now, and he needed another outlet.
Both Harry and Walt sat a little taller, tossing glances at one another again.
“Stop that,” Don barked.
“What?” Harry asked.
“Giving one another knowing looks.” Don ran a hand through his hair—he knew what he had to do. “I’ll get us out of here. He stood and made his way over to the bars. “Hey, Beddoe!”
Officer Beddoe dropped his feet from his desk and peered around the corner. He had the overnight shift tonight; the rest of the officers were out patrolling around Diamond Cove to makesure there wasn’t any looting or breaking and entering and that everything stayed orderly before the hurricane hit.
“We’re ready to make our last call.”
Beddoe picked up Don’s cell from his desk and marched over.
Don took the phone. “Thank you, officer.”
“Don, you can call me Petey. You know me, I interned at The Palms for years, for crying out loud,” Beddoe said.
Don nodded. “But now you’re an officer of the law. You earned your title and I respect that.”
“You folks need anything?” Beddoe asked Walt and Harry.
“A coffee would be nice,” their cellmate called out. Somehow, miraculously, he’d managed to sit up straight, but he blinked so slowly he might be sleeping in those moments between blinks.
“Not you, Adamson,” Beddoe said. “You need to sleep it off.”
Adamson closed his eyes and tilted back into the bars, hitting his head with a metallic thunk.
Don opened his phone. He had eighteen missed text messages, mostly from the Secret Seven. He went to the group text and sent a message.
Don: We need help.
A text came through almost immediately.
Nancy: Where are you?
Winnie: Are Harry and Walt with you?
Don: They’re here.
Polly: Where’s here?
Don: Hell.
The dots wavered as he waited for a response.
Rosa: SantaMaría!
Winnie: I know it’s hard to lose a loved one, but you’re going to be okay. We’re here for you, Don.
Nancy: Don’t do anything drastic!
Don blinked at his screen. What on earth? That was not the answer he was expecting. He scrolled back to his message.
