Even though the pressure was far less than it needed to be, he screamed.
Katie winced, sick that she was hurting him all over again.
“I know, baby, I’m so sorry. Lean on me. Help is almost here.”
Donny leaned into the security of her arms and body and came undone in her arms, shaking uncontrollably and sobbing so hard it was difficult to understand what he was saying.
“Daddy…Daddy hurt me, Miss Katie…said bad things…mean things…and he hurt me.”
Katie wanted to cry, but one of them in hysterics was enough.
“I know, honey, and I’m so sorry he did that.”
“Doesn’t love me,” Donny sobbed.
“That doesn’t matter. Your daddy doesn’t even love himself. Your mama loves you. Your big brothers love you. We all love you, Donny. You are such a special little boy.”
She saw Susan Wayne coming across the playground as fast as she could, and the look on her face was one of horror.
“Oh my God, Katie! What happened?”
“Justin tried to take Donny. He broke his arm before I could catch up.”
“Well, from the looks of Mr. Tiller, you did catch up,” Susan said. But when she knelt down beside them to look at Donny’s arm, she paled, then touched Donny’s cheek.
“I want Mama,” he said, hiccupping through tears.
“I already called her,” Susan said. She pulled a handful of tissues from her pocket and gently began to wipe away snot and tears.
“Did you call an ambulance?” Katie asked.
“They always dispatch one with a call from the school,” Susan said.
And then Katie looked up and saw Sam running toward them with all the help they needed right behind him.
“Thank God,” she said. “Sam’s here, and so are the EMTs.”
***
Sam had just handed his dispatcher some papers when a 911 call came in. He stayed to listen, and then his heart nearly stopped.
“911. What is your emergency?” Lucas said.
“This is Susan Wayne at the elementary school. We have a parental kidnapping in progress. Justin Tiller just grabbed his son when the children were on the playground and is trying to get away with him. It’s a violation of a protective order.”
“Yes, ma’am. On the way,” Lucas said, and began dispatching the call as Sam took off out the back door.
He jumped in the patrol car, running lights and siren all the way to the school, trying not to panic. He pulled up at the same time the officers arrived, and seconds later, an ambulance arrived behind them.
Sam got out running, heading for the access gate the janitor was unlocking, with officers and medical personnel following.
When he saw Katie sitting on the ground and the principal kneeling beside her, his gut knotted. Please God, don’t let her be hurt…not again.
And then he saw her look up, and the relief on her face when she saw him made him run even faster. But the closer he got, the more of the scene was revealed.
Justin Tiller was out cold on the ground, and Katie had a little boy cradled against her. Blood was all over both of them.
“Are you okay?” he asked.
“I’m fine. Justin broke Donny’s arm. Compound fracture.”
“Jesus,” Sam said, and then pointed at the man on the ground. “What happened to him?”
Before Katie could answer, Donny did it for her. “Miss Katie drop-kicked my daddy like a ninja. She saved me.”
Sam blinked. “Drop-kicked?”
“Black belt. Karate,” Katie said.
The other officers were now on the scene, as were the EMTs.
One was checking Justin’s vital signs, while the other two EMTs began stabilizing Donny to move.
And then Frieda Tiller arrived, out of breath and pushing through the crowd. Donny saw his mama and started crying again.
“Daddy hurt me!” he wailed. “He wouldn’t let go and broke my arm.”
Frieda stifled the horror she was feeling and knelt nearby, watching the EMTs frantically working to get him ready for surgery.
“I’m sorry, baby. Mama is so sorry, but it’s going to be okay. The doctors will fix your arm, and your daddy is never going to bother you again. I promise. Okay?”
“Okay,” he said, and moments later, they carried him out of the playground on a stretcher, with Frieda running beside it.
Unaware of what had been happening, Justin was beginning to come around. He moaned, then rolled over and puked.
“I need a drink,” he mumbled.
“Hangovers are a bitch,” Ben said as he and Carl dragged him to his feet and cuffed him.
Justin blinked, looking around at the playground, and remembered.
“Dammit all to hell! Where’s my son? My wife is an unfit mother. He’s coming to live with me.” And then he saw Katie and added her to his complaints. “That woman kicked me in the jaw. It hurts like hell. It might be broken.” He kept glaring at Katie. “I’ll make you sorry for what you did. You don’t have the right to keep my boy from me.”
Sam grabbed Justin by the cuffs, yanking him so close he could see the pores in Tiller’s skin.
“You just threatened a woman in my presence. If anything ever happens to her…for the rest of her life…I’ll come looking for you first. So you better pray her life is nothing but blessed, or I will make you sorry in ways you cannot imagine.”
Justin gasped. “He just threatened me. You all heard it.”
Katie couldn’t quit staring at Sam. He’d just become her knight in shining armor.
“We didn’t hear anything,” Ben said.
“Get him out of my sight. Lock him up,” Sam said.
Ben grabbed Tiller by one arm, and Carl grabbed the other. Together, they walked Justin Tiller off the playground. What he’d done today was a guarantee he would not be working this mess out in jail. With his arrest record and the seriousness of what he’d done, this would put him in prison.
Susan eyed Katie’s appearance. “I’ll get someone to watch your class so you can go home and change. I think your students would freak if you walked in the room looking like that.”
“I’ll need my keys. They’re in my purse, and it’s in my room,” Katie said.
“Just go out to your vehicle. Tell me where you keep your purse, and I’ll bring it to you myself.”