The Hermit

by McClendon, Shayne

  Dr. Billings removed the long handled tweezers, Ryan crouched beside Daphne, bringing his face level with hers, “Okay, Daphne, okay, honey…it’s going to be alright. There, there. Don’t cry. It’s almost over.” He smoothed her hair back from her face, “Tell me about college. What did you study?” Her teeth were clattering together. “What did you go to school for, Daphne?”

  “I’m…I was an RN. I specialized in hospice care.”

  “That’s a very unusual field for a young woman to choose. What made you select hospice care?” Ryan asked her softly.

  “My father…he died of cancer when I was ten. I…I loved the nurse who took care of him. She was so good with him. With me, too. She was always honest, told me things like she cared. My mother, she took her life a few weeks after I was born so I went to live with my great aunt. Janice lived next door. Became like a sister to me. Aunt Glenda passed when I was seventeen, complications from a stroke. She was very old and she’d been so kind to me. I lived with Janice and her family until I went away to college. She was the maid of honor at…at my wedding.”

  She struggled to keep herself from flying apart with the doctor’s hands on her…in her. She was shaking so hard now her skull was vibrating against the table.

  Dr. Billings glanced up from between Daphne’s legs. In a voice barely above a whisper, the older man said, “Dr. Wallace?” Ryan looked at him and knew immediately, sickeningly, what he’d found evidence of. “They…the men who held her…they aborted a fetus. Merciful Jesus. What has this woman been subjected to?”

  Ryan looked back at Daphne and she was sobbing openly now, her forearm over her eyes. He leaned over her, pulling her arm away. “Oh, Daphne…Daphne, I’m so sorry. So sorry.” He stroked her hair and hadn’t felt such a desire to do violence, to take vengeance, in many years.

  “It wasn’t my husband’s. It was from…one of them. I knew. I don’t know how but I knew almost immediately. When they realized, figured out, I was pregnant, they…tied me down. I don’t remember much. I passed out when they put some sort of…a pipe inside me. When I woke up, I was…not pregnant anymore. That was a few weeks ago, I think. I’ll have to have my uterus removed. The pain is almost constant now. Just one more thing they took from me.”

  She cried as the doctor finished removing the small pieces of metal pipe that had lodged in the soft tissues of her vaginal wall. He placed the splinters in an evidence jar. Ryan held her hand and felt the tears on his own face, the fury growing hot inside him for this sweet young woman who’d been through so much.

  Dr. Billings said, “We need to move her to a real hospital. There’s too much damage for us to handle here. She needs more thorough care.”

  Kate, the young woman tasked with taking photos, was crying and wiping her face with the sleeve of her shirt. Ryan pulled Daphne’s gown closed and helped her sit up the moment Dr. Billings removed the clamp and stepped away. “She needs clothes that fit her…” he started to say.

  “No, I’ll wear the ones you gave me,” Daphne said forcefully.

  “Okay, undergarments that fit her then,” he said without looking away from her face.

  “We look like we’re about the same size,” Kate whispered, “I’ll go get her some things to wear.” She rushed from the room. Daphne leaned her forehead against Ryan’s chest and seemed to drift in and out of sleep. He kept his arms around her loosely. When Kate returned ten minutes later, she was carrying a small bag. “A package of new underwear, a bra, and some toiletries…a couple of things I thought of fast. I wish I could think of more to do.”

  Daphne lifted her head from Ryan and took the bag carefully, “Thank you. Really. Thank you.” He set her on her feet and she went to get dressed while Ryan waited outside the screen. When she came out, she looked calmer. “I’m…okay now. Thank you for staying with me, Ryan.” He nodded and tugged her to his side, wrapping his arm around her small shoulders.

  They were shown back to the first room and he sat with her on the small couch. He wasn’t surprised when she fell into an exhausted sleep leaning against him. He must have dozed off himself because when he opened his eyes, a pretty blonde was crouched in front of Daphne, her hand on her knee, eyes sparkling with tears she was fighting not to shed. “Daphne, oh sweet girl, please open your eyes for me. It’s Janice.”

  Daphne’s eyes fluttered open and she rubbed them hard, as if Janice was an illusion. “Janice…?”

  “Yes, baby, it’s me. I’m here, Daphne. I’m so…so happy to see you.” Daphne burst into wracking sobs and propelled herself into Janice’s arms. Ryan watched as they gripped one another tightly. “Oh, honey, I’m so sorry for everything you’ve gone through. It’s going to be okay now. Ssh, it’s okay. You’re safe and we’re going to get you home, get you well.” She stroked her friend’s dark hair, tears streaming down her face. Glancing at Ryan, she mouthed, “Thank you,” and he nodded.

  After a long time, Ryan and Janice realized Daphne had fallen asleep on her friend, had cried herself into complete exhaustion. He carefully lifted her back, laying her on the small couch and covering her with the jacket he’d given her. He went to the small desk and wrote down his contact information, giving it to Janice to give her when she woke up.

  Speaking quietly at the door of the small room, he told the young woman, “I’m going to go. She’s becoming attached to me because I helped her. If I don’t go now, it will get harder and harder. For both of us.” He cleared his throat. “You’re here now and I know you’re ready to be there for whatever she needs. If you ever need medical advice, money, anything…I’ve written my number and email down for you. Anything that isn’t covered, I’m happy to pay for. Send me an email and I’ll wire whatever you need. I mean it.”

  As he turned to go she placed her hand on his arm, “Dr. Wallace…I looked you up on the plane. I’m so sorry for everything that drove you into the Alaskan wilderness…but I’m so grateful you were there to find her, to save her. If there is ever anything you need, here is all my contact information. Daphne is likely going to be hospitalized for a while. After that, she’ll be staying with me and my family. I hope you’ll consider coming to visit in a few months when she’s back on her feet. I know that would mean a lot to her.”

  He smiled, “Just take care of her. Please.” She nodded and he left her to watch over her friend.

  On his way out of the station, he stopped to speak to Noel Quincy. Pulling the Ziploc bag from his coat, he told her, “These are the clothes she was wearing when I found her as well as the clippings I took from her nails. I’ve done some calculations and mapped out a grid where I think she was being held, based on how long she’d been walking when she escaped. I plan on scouting the area.” He leaned closer to the older woman, “If I find the other two men, I will shoot them on sight and let you know where to find their bodies. I hope you understand.”

  Ms. Quincy’s eyes went cold, “Oh, I understand completely, Dr. Wallace. Happy hunting. You can guarantee our people will be looking as well and I don’t have the funding to deal with lodging them for an extended time as they await trial. Nor would I want that poor woman having to face her attackers ever again. We’re in the wilds of Alaska. She’ll get a different kind of justice.”

  They nodded at one another and Ryan spared one last look at the office before heading for the helicopter waiting a block away. Every step cost him. Leaving her without saying goodbye seemed cowardly but he wasn’t sure he could leave if he had to look into her brown eyes.

  Within minutes he was buckled in his seat and the door to the chopper was closing when he saw Daphne running toward him. She was exhausted and wearing boots five sizes too big. “Wait.” He called out as he unstrapped the seatbelt and jumped from the chopper.

  He walked toward her and could see the relief in her eyes that she’d made it in time. She jumped at him and he caught her easily, wrapping the flaps of his coat around her. “Daphne, what are you doing out here? You’re not wearing a coat, honey. It’s too cold.” He s
aw Janice jogging from the station, Daphne’s coat in her hands.

  “Ryan, I couldn’t let you leave without telling you something,” she whispered in his ear. Her arms were tight around his neck and he held her snugly, her feet dangling a foot from the hard packed dirt. “Thank you…for everything you did for me. Thank you for saving my life. For making me feel like I can have a life again someday. For holding my hand and crying for me. For not letting them hurt me or scare me more than necessary.”

  She took a gasping breath, “I know you think I have a hero complex and maybe I do. But you have to really be a hero for someone to feel that way. I will never, ever, be able to repay all that you’ve done for me.” She pulled back to look at him.

  “I know something bad happened to you. It’s the only way a man like you would withdraw from the world. You are such a good person, a good man, and the world wouldn’t be the same without you in it. Right now, I’m broken and ruined and ugly. I’ll never be the person I used to be again. I’ll always be scarred, always be damaged. I may never be able to…to be with a man again, I don’t know. But if I could, I’d pick you, Ryan. You’re everything good and kind and beautiful. I hope one day, you see yourself as the hero. See yourself the way I see you. Because no one will ever compare to you in my mind.”

  She kissed his lips and his arms tightened on her. “Please be safe, Ryan. It would kill me if anything happened to you. With all I’ve lost, that would be more than I could bear.” Another kiss and she loosened her arms from his neck, allowing him to lower her to the ground.

  She put her hand on his face and he instinctively leaned into her palm. Janice came forward and wrapped his big coat around her shoulders. He pulled it closed and leaned in to whisper in her ear, “You aren’t ugly or ruined, Daphne. You’re a survivor and though I wish the circumstances were different, I’m so proud to know you. Take care of yourself, sweet Daphne…I’m not the hero here. You are.” He kissed her face in front of her ear, the scar along her jaw beneath his lips. He leaned back and stroked her hair back from her face with a smile. Then he turned to go. Daphne stood with Janice, watching as he got in the helicopter and it lifted off. He kept his hand on the window, staring at her until she disappeared from sight.

  Then he sat back and waited to be transported back to his cabin. The one place on earth he’d ever felt able to seal his heart from the gaping wounds that covered it. Waving at the pilot as the chopper lifted out of the meadow, he walked up the hill.

  He’d once considered this home his one chance at finding peace…he now just considered it lonely.

  Chapter Six

  The day after leaving Daphne in McArthur, Ryan cleaned his guns. Bringing them from the gun case one by one, he sighted them in and made adjustments. He made sure they were loaded and packed extra magazines.

  Not that he would need much ammo. He was a very good shot. He pulled out his gear, loading his pack with survival supplies and food packets that took up very little space and would feed him for more than a month if necessary. Layering himself in thermal wear, he secured his cabin and headed out to hunt.

  He hiked back to where he’d found Daphne, went up high enough to determine the most likely range of mountains. His decision made, he hiked for ten hours before making camp. He had to adjust for the weakened condition she’d been in when she got away, as well as her unfamiliarity with the land. With every step, he got further from his cabin and closer to where he believed Daphne had been held captive for almost two years.

  On the morning of the second day, he found an empty bag that once held beef jerky and knew he was on the right track. Marking the trees, he continued on. Every two hours, he removed the binoculars and scanned the face of the mountains. By his fourth day, he’d explored half a dozen caves that didn’t hold what he was looking for.

  He wouldn’t give up. He knew he was in the right general area.

  And so it was that almost a month after Daphne’s escape, he found her prison. Donning night vision goggles, he entered the semi-concealed cave after he’d determined no one alive was inside.

  The body of her last rapist lay just inside a makeshift jail cell made of rebar that had been pounded into the rock of the floor and ceiling. The man’s pants were around his knees and Ryan was gratified to see almost a dozen stab wounds delivered into primary organs.

  It didn’t look like the others had been back since she’d fled. The cold had preserved the body but nothing could help the smell of this place. He stepped into her cage and saw where she’d once kept track of the days she spent here.

  Rows and rows of small marks on the rock hit him like a fist in his gut. A blanket thinner than a t-shirt lay in a dirty heap on top of a threadbare bed roll, likely the same one she’d brought from her own camp. That she had survived the elements alone was a miracle. Alaska was not known for being gentle.

  He inspected the body of the dead man, finding his wallet in the back pocket of his pants. “Winston James. You got less than you deserved, mother fucker. You got off a hell of a lot easier than your friends will, I guarantee you.” Ryan kicked the man in the back and left the cell.

  Just outside the cell, against the stone wall, was a bucket. In the bucket was the pipe they’d used to rip the baby from Daphne’s womb. It was still covered in her blood. There was no food, no water, no heat. She’d lived in this hole for two years, able to see the outside but it may as well have been a hundred miles away. He left the cave and set up a blind fifty yards above the entrance.

  He staked out the cave for days without seeing another person. He passed the time listening to his MP3 player turned low in one ear and reading one James Patterson novel after another. He wasn’t bored. He was a very patient man.

  His patience, as it always had before, paid off near noon a week later.

  Two men came from above, passing within feet of him and moving toward the opening below. They were chatting amicably, not a care or a fear in the world. Not realizing their death was literally moments away. “I’m tellin’ you, she’s gettin’ too thin. Hasn’t been right since we yanked our brat out her body. Might have to off her soon,” the one named Abel said.

  The man Ryan identified from Daphne’s sketch as Dan chuckled, “I guess Winston decided to really get some good times in before we lose our little pet. He hasn’t been back to the oil field in weeks. He’ll be lucky if he has a job after this.”

  “Dumb shit. A piece of ass isn’t worth losin’ your paycheck. It ain’t like we don’t have the weekends to come pay our girl a visit; share some of our good company with her. Though the wife sure has been keeping me at home lately.”

  Dan stroked his groin through his pants, his erection already obvious. “I been itchin’ for her though, Abel. None of the girls in town are so…accommodating. With her, we can do what we can’t with our other women. I’m gonna miss that. Sure as hell am.”

  Clapping his friend on the back, Abel told him, “Dan-o, I don’t want to give up getting sex the way I really want it. We’ll just have to find another one to take her place. I’m ready for a fresh one with some fight in her anyway.” They laughed and Ryan wanted to puke.

  Waiting until they were twenty yards past him, he sighted them in through the scope of his rifle. When they were within a few feet of one another, he whistled softly and they turned. He shot the first man, waited one moment to ensure his aim was true then took out the second man.

  They weren’t kill shots…he’d shot them both in the groin. He stayed where he was for several minutes, listening to them scream, not ashamed to admit that he deeply enjoyed the sound. He wanted to be sure they were alone. He also wanted to make sure they suffered a little longer.

  Shouldering his rifle, Ryan withdrew the 9mm from the holster on his hip. Peering up the mountain from the direction they’d come, he knew no one would come to their rescue and stepped out of his hiding place.

  “What the fuck…what the fuck is happening?” Abel was screaming, blood gushing between the hands he had cupped between
his legs.

  Dan was puking on himself as his own body poured his blood onto the pine needles that covered the ground. “I don’t understand. Who…who would shoot us?” He was barely moving and Ryan figured he’d die first.

  “Hmm…let me think you piece of shit,” Ryan said conversationally as he bent to grab the man by the back of his collar and began dragging him to the cave entrance. “Daphne Pierce. That’s the woman’s name that you referred to as your pet, your piece of ass, your girl. Daphne Pierce. I found her, patched her up, and she provided excellent sketches of the three of you.”

  Entering the cave, he dragged Dan into the cage and dropped him beside his long-dead friend, pleased when the man tried to scramble away screaming. “Winston underestimated her obviously.” Bending, he patted the man down, removing a knife, keys, his wallet, and phone. “Be right back.”

  Within a few minutes, he dragged Abel into the cave and confiscated his personal belongings before tossing him in beside Dan. Both of them were whimpering, begging, asking what he wanted. He didn’t bother answering them. The sound of the cage door slamming closed was fantastic. Ryan replaced the padlock they’d used to keep Daphne prisoner day after day for so long.