by Ali Vali
"I promise." Desi continued to smile as she pushed her sister out the door with Jack. The noise from the balcony stopped abruptly and Desi’s only hope was that Rachel had decided to run down the stairs instead of walk. Her thoughts brightened for a moment when she considered that the silence might be because Mike had killed or wounded his brother, but seeing Byron standing amidst the broken glass dashed that hope. There was one thing they had all missed in the noise that Mike and Byron had caused with their struggle, and it was about to turn the tide again.
Harry opened the door of her vehicle just in time to see a man land in her yard after flying off her veranda. She was about to start joking with Stephen for being so clumsy when she heard the crunch of bone when he landed. The long legged doctor jumped the hedge and ran to the injured man to attend to his wounds when she saw who it was.
Blanching with pain, Mike gasped, "Please hurry and get upstairs before he hurts anyone else. I’m sorry Dr. Basantes, I tried to stop him." Mike pointed to the upstairs room and tried not to move any more than necessary. There was something wrong with his legs and the pain in his hip area was about to make him pass out.
"Try not to move until I get back. Is your brother armed?" Harry wanted to know what situation she was going into before she went up the stairs. It wouldn’t do Desi and Jack any good if she got killed going through the door.
"Just a knife, please hurry he’s lost his mind and I know he just wants to kill her."
Harry didn’t wait for Mike to say another thing. She jumped over the bushes again and headed for the back door. Not bothering with the key she kicked the locked kitchen door in and started making her way to the stairs. In the kitchen she ran into Rachel running out with Jack in her arms.
"Get into my car and take off, the keys are in the ignition. Just ignore the moaning guy in the yard for now and get Jack out of here." Harry took a second to hold the hysterical woman before heading up to save her partner.
"He’s up there Harry. The son of a bitch got into the house. Please don’t let anything happen to her."
"Don’t worry about that runt, just get the baby out."
Byron moved back into the room stopping to pick up his knife on the way back in. The handle was picking up the light of the moon and it felt sticky in his hand. Desi was kneeling over the black woman on the floor when he stepped back into the room through the splintered door. His wife was pressing a towel, with what looked like a bear on it, to the wound he had inflicted with the blade in his hand.
"Miss me?" Byron smiled until he flinched from pain from the split lip Mike had given him before he had pushed him over the side of the railing. The smile disappeared when he realized the baby and Rachel were gone. "Where is he, bitch? I’m not play games here Desiree, where is he?" Not wanting to wait any more he moved quickly toward Desi intent on making her pay for all she had done to him and for all she had taken away.
He was a hand length away from grabbing Desi by her new short haircut when the deep voice stopped him like an invisible hand. There was no fucking way he was hearing that voice now that he was so close to his goal.
"You know Bryon, as I spent my time locked up in that small cage they put me in, you know what I did to pass the time?" Tyrell was standing in the doorway waiting for the weasel to make his move. He had made a promise to the doctor and he wasn’t about to go back on that.
"What boy, did you do to pass the time?" Desi could hear the frustration in Byron’s voice as he answered. Byron rolled his head and looked in Tyrell’s direction trying to hurry the answer along. He didn’t have time to waste playing stupid games with the idiot.
"We’ve had a previous discussion I believe about the use of the term ‘boy’ if I recall, but we’ll get back to that later." Desi watched and listened to the, what seemed like, polite conversation and hoped like hell the new player was here to help. Mona’s breathing was getting shallow and she couldn’t wait that much longer for help. "I read a lot. All kinds of books actually, which surprised my sister since I wasn’t much for books when I was in school, but in jail, I had all the time in the world to kill. I read in one of them books that a man like you needs something in place of his penis since you are what they called fucked up in the head. That big knife in your hand would be it, if I guess correctly." Tyrell nodded his head toward the object he had been referring to. He wanted to make Byron mad enough to go after him and away from the two women in the room.
"Just shut up Tyrell before I use this big knife to carve a piece out of you." Bryon pointed the tip of the knife toward the other man in the room falling for Tyrell’s tactics when he forgot about Desi and Mona with his arrival.
"Yeah, the bigger the knife means the smaller the dick. Shit man from the looks of it, you couldn’t screw a cat and satisfy it." As Tyrell held up his thumb and index finger close together to make his point, Desi recognized the laugh that came from behind him and wanted to faint from the shear relief of living to hear it again.
"You don’t know shit." Bryon continued to hold the knife pointed at Tyrell hoping to make the man back down, but his fellow jail mate looked like he was waiting for a bus he was so cool.
"I’m a doctor, and I would have to say that Tyrell’s diagnosis of your problem is right on the money. The medical opinion is free, now get the hell out of my house." Harry moved into the room and closer to Byron showing no fear. She was so mad that Desi would swear later that Harry had gotten a couple of inches bigger everywhere from her height to the size of her hands. Tyrell had moved out of Harry’s way and kneeled next to Desi to help her with Mona.
"Thank God you are here bitch. I’ve been dreaming of this moment since they put me in that hellhole." Byron took a deep breath and puffed out his chest. Last time was different, was the mantra running through his head. Every time he had run through this scenario in prison, he was the one that came out on top. Last time it was just a lucky break on her part because the house had been dark.
"Dreaming of what?" Harry moved closer causing Byron to take a step back toward the broken balcony doors.
"Of opening a can of whoop ass on you." Bryon tried to sound menacing as the woman moved closer into his personal space. He didn’t move thinking if he did it would be a sign of weakness on his part. Once she noticed the knife she would back down.
"Can of whoop ass? What are you, in the third grade? Who in the hell uses the term, ‘can of whoop ass’ any more?" Harry asked the questions in rapid succession using air quotation marks when she got to the last one. Desi laughed behind her thinking that only Harry would use dry humor at a time like this. It was funny in a way that Desi had never felt more terrified but safe all at the same time. Harry looked like a large animal of prey toying with its food before tearing into it. The temperature of the room had dropped at least fifteen degrees since the door had been shattered, but Desi noticed the beads of sweat that had broken out on Byron’s lip. They had only made an appearance when they were married when Byron had done something to anger his father.
"We are going to be all right Mona so don’t you dare die on me now old girl. Harry will see that we are ok." She whispered the words into Mona’s ear as she pressed the towel into the wound hoping the bleeding would stop. Tyrell moved after he had pulled the afghan on the sofa to cover Mona so that he would be a barrier between the two women on the floor and Byron. He would have offered to subdue Byron for Harry, but the look in the surgeon’s eyes when she walked into her bedroom told him it would have only resulted in both him and Byron getting the shit kicked out of them.
"Shut up now before I hurt you." Byron was losing control of the situation and tried the one thing he had left. Without warning he lunged at Harry’s chest with the knife willing it to hit it’s target. Harry grabbed his wrist as it flew past her and landed a swift kick to Byron’s chest causing a long exhale of air to come out. He looked up through watery eyes to see Harry bouncing on the balls of her feet. "Lucky shot."
"Sure it was. Let’s try it again and see how lucky I can ge
t?" Harry taunted him into lunging for her again. As he swung the knife again, Harry grabbed his wrist and held it above his head as she grabbed the other hand and started snapping fingers one at a time. "This little piggy went someplace he didn’t belong." She listened for the snap and went on. "This little piggy liked to beat up on women that couldn’t fight back." Snap. "This little piggy should match the other two." Snap. "And this one is screaming at you, ‘you moron didn’t you remember the jaw incident?’" Snap.
He screamed as she broke each individual bone but refused to go down. Byron had to think of something to turn the tables on her. "Yeah but just remember you bitch, who got to taste that sweet thing over there first. Desi may not have loved me, but she was a wild woman for me in bed. She couldn’t wait for me to come home and stick it to her. She couldn’t get enough." Byron started to do some taunting of his own as he held his broken fingers under his armpit still holding the knife in the other hand. Harry moved so quickly that he didn’t see the blow coming until his head snapped back and he spit his two front teeth out on the carpet when it whipped back into place. Tyrell could tell she had pulled her punch at the last minute so as not to drive his nose into his brain. The doctor seemed like a very interesting person. This was not the compassionate woman that had held his sister’s hand a few days ago, this is who had he met that day at the free clinic.
"That should make you popular in the shower Byron." Harry took deep breaths to rein in her temper knowing if she didn’t, she would kill the pathetic man standing before her. She pointed at the missing teeth in case he had not understood her reference. "I mean, Tyrell over there says there was more than one big Bubba that was sweet on you at Angola. Now that I have you bleeding and in pain, let’s get something straight. You don’t talk to, talk about or utter Desi’s name again now or in your lifetime and I will let you leave this house tonight alive."
"If she’s half as good as putting people back together as she is at taking them apart, Harry must be one hell of a doctor." Tyrell held the makeshift bandage to Mona’s wound trying not to use too much pressure so as not to cause any more damage. Desi kept trying to split her attention to the fight behind her and Mona to make sure she was still breathing. She could tell Harry was trying to find her focus as the big hands opened and closed repeatedly. Desi had seen the action numerous times at the hospital when Harry was losing patience with her students. Maybe if she tried that breaking fingers trick, it would get them to study harder before rounds.
"She’s a better doctor since she gets more practice at it. Trying to break that many bones all the time would be murder on those beautiful talented hands." Tyrell nodded his head at Desi’s answer, taking a moment to look at the woman kneeling next to him. As much as he disliked Byron, the big man could understand how this woman could take up so much of the man’s thought process. Desi was one of the most beautiful women he had ever encountered.
"I hate you." Bryon ran at her again and Harry aimed her kick to the groin this time. Before he could recover from the blow, Harry grabbed the hand that was holding the knife and twisted his arm around and up until she heard the bone snap. The instant overwhelming pain caused Bryon to finally drop the knife in his hand and it landed with a muted thump on the carpet. Harry stepped around to the front and followed up with a right upper cut that dropped Bryon like the knife before him.
After he fell, Harry left him alone. She had decided on the way upstairs that she wouldn’t kill him no matter how much she wanted to. Her path and the oath that she had taken was to try and protect life not take it, and Byron Simoneaux wouldn’t deter her from that. Only after she had neutralized him did she turn to face Desi.
"Harry please, help her." Desi pointed to Mona and Harry quickly moved to try and stabilize their wounded friend.
"Desi go into the closet and get my bag." Desi got up to get what Harry had asked for as all three conscious people could hear the sirens getting closer.
The scream from the closet doorway caused both Harry and Tyrell to look up. The last memory Harry had was of Bryon standing over her with a wooden club over his head before she watched him swing it downward toward her head.
The crack caused by the table leg connecting with Harry’s head sounded fatal, and both Tyrell and Desi watched as Harry fell like a dead weight onto Mona. When the police ran into the room moments later, they found a crying Desi cradling Harry in her arms and Tyrell Lagrie pressing a baby wash cloth to another woman’s stomach.
A few feet from them laid Bryon Simoneaux, Jr. with a knife buried to the hilt into his midsection. The knife had been driven in with such force that it had pinned him to the floor. To the officer that arrived first, the man looked like a butterfly he had seen in an exhibit once. The shocker was that he was still breathing, but no one in the room was giving him any attention. They were actually acting like the man wasn’t even there.
"In here hurry." Desi could hear Rachel screaming at someone as numerous feet pounded down the hall in an apparent stampede. The blonde was still in shock from watching Harry go down like a bag of wet cement and in her panic hadn’t checked for a pulse so convinced that she wouldn’t find one.
Behind the running Rachel, two sets of paramedics came rushing in, not sure as to what they would find. Another group was loading the crying man with an apparent broken leg and maybe hip fracture down in the yard. Whatever had happened in the house, had apparently been some brawl because there seemed to be injured people everywhere. In addition to the medical help there were a squadron of police personnel combing the property for any other intruders. Among the ones that had secured the house were Roger and his partner Oscar.
Roger took in the scene in the bedroom the second he could make it out from the hall. It seemed so vastly different from the last time he had answered the call at the same house. He was in disbelief that Harry was one of the people the paramedics were checking out. They were having trouble prying her out of Desi’s grip to check the extent of her injuries and Roger stepped in to intervene.
"Come on honey, let her go and let these people do their jobs. She’s going to be fine, just let her go." Roger spoke in soft even tones trying to calm the hysterical woman down. The rumpled detective tracked Tyrell as he stepped into the bathroom to wash Mona’s blood off his hands. From the way the big man was acting Roger didn’t think they would have any trouble taking him back into custody.
The three paramedics working on Mona were busy hooking up I.V. and monitors to various parts of her body while one of them was on the phone with the emergency room doctor at Charity. As in all trauma cases, that would be the first stop until the patient was stabilized, then they would be moved to the hospital of their choice. Desi’s crying only got louder when suddenly one of them yelled ‘clear’ as the heart monitor showed ventricular fibrillation, the quiver of a heart gone away.
"No please God no. Please don’t take her." Desi buried her face in Roger’s chest as the medics on the floor ripped open the shirt in their way in a fight with time now. The body moved in an unnatural arch as the current ran through the chest, but after only one shock, Mona’s heart was beating as it should again.
"Rachel why don’t you take your sister downstairs until this is all over. While you are down there try and get in touch with Harry’s parents and Mona’s family if you have the numbers." Roger stood up and pulled Desi along with him. Desi was shaking her head violently from side to side and Roger knew it would be a struggle to get her out of the room.
"No, I won’t leave her, she needs me." Desi tried to get back to Harry’s side. It was scaring her that those blues eyes hadn’t opened yet. The medical orders being thrown out, Harry’s silence, the baby crying and Bryon’s now constant moaning were starting to drive Desi out of her mind.
Roger and Rachel both got concerned when Desi just stopped. As if someone had flipped a switch, she stopped struggling, stopped crying and stopped talking. There on the ground not that far from where Bryon laid bleeding was Harry looking up at her. The doctor lo
oked a little disoriented, but managed a half smile to make Desi feel better.
"I promise to do whatever you want from now on, just don’t hit me so hard next time." Harry couldn’t get her voice to go over a whisper but Desi heard her just fine.
"I didn’t hit you, baby, Bryon did." Desi was down on her knees and holding Harry’s hand as soon as Roger let her go. Harry looked over and listened to the great debate the two medics were having as to how to unpin the man from the hardwood floor.
"If you have to pull that knife out, please do me a favor and twist a couple of time first," requested Harry before she closed her eyes again. "Oh, and I predict he has a broken arm, the possibility of broken ribs, some missing teeth and all the fingers on his left hand are broken." Desi laughed knowing from the list Harry had just rattled off, there was no permanent damage to her head.
"I’ll do it myself if necessary Harry. Now get out of here so I can sort all this out." Roger directed them out of the room with his thumb now that they had Harry loaded on a stretcher. From the sound of the sirens Mona was already on her way to the hospital and from the speed of the ambulance, the feisty woman was still with them.
"Go on Desi, I’ll be there in just a few with Jack and the rest of the family." Rachel was still clutching onto the baby who was fine but still letting the world around him know his displeasure.
"Call Serena before you head out Rachel, that way you’ll have someone to sit with until all this is finished," Desi added as she followed Harry’s stretcher out of the room.
The last thing all the women heard as they made their way out of the house was Roger giving the uniformed officers orders that would piece together what had happened in the house before they arrived. For the moment at least, Tyrell was the only witness that was in any condition to talk so they would start there.