by Jill S. Behe
“Hey. You okay back there?”
“No. Not really.”
Decker’s face went to stone. “What’s wrong?”
“Um. I…can’t get up.”
His eyes went to slits. “Why?”
“I’m afraid to move.”
“It’s okay.” He told himself she was just scared. But he had a sinking feeling…. “She can’t hurt you, anymore.”
“That’s not it.”
Damn. “What’s wrong?”
He was inching closer with every question, and could now see she was shaking. Her whole body vibrated. His medic mode kicked in. Upper lip and forehead were dotted with sweat, breathing was shallow, her lips were purple/blue. Hell and damnation. Then there was the blood saturating her sleeve.
Double damn.
“Teal?”
“I, uh, got shot, and sort of got thrown down here. I’m, um, pretty sure, if I move, I’m gonna pass out.”
He moved the last two feet faster than he should have, agitating the bullet in his thigh. He grunted, blinking the pain away. “Why didn’t you say something sooner?”
She wanted to roll her eyes, but was already dizzy. “For pity’s sake, man.” Her voice was a raspy whisper. “When would that have been? Between gunshots? Besides, I didn’t want to distract you, and—oh shit—that sounded bad.”
“I know what you mean. I heard you, you know. Barely, but the words seemed to float to me. Helped me focus on the reality that she was going to kill more people, friends of mine, and possibly you, if I didn’t stop her. I had to get past the ‘Oh-my-god-I-know-this-woman,’ and consider her the enemy. I’m not happy that it ended the way it did, but it’s over now.” He knelt beside her. A fresh onslaught of his own pain had him hissing. “Where are you hit?”
She should tell him what she’d seen. He needed to know, but— “Shoulder. It was from a ricochet. The bullet went in under the vest.”
Triple damn. “Okay, sweetheart. We’ll get it taken care of.”
“Why did it take so long for the team to get in here?”
“We didn’t know she was here. Travers, the guy on the front door, signaled he’d heard a shot. We scrambled as fast as we could. The fact that she might be armed should have been part of the plan, but as she hadn’t shot any of the others, we figured she’d be hiding on the floor somewhere with a stun gun, and pounce. Never thought— Dammit. We…dropped the ball, big time. I’m so sorry, babe.”
“But, you got her.”
“I did.”
He had to lean close to hear: “And who’s calling the kettle black? You’re hit, too.”
He shook his head, shrugged. “Just a scratch, babe.”
She managed to frown. “A scratch, my left pinky toe. That scratch, Mr. Macho, is soaking your jeans.”
He looked down. “Shit. I just bought these jeans.”
Levi, rifle on his shoulder, and so loaded down with riot gear Teal almost didn’t recognize him, strode into her line of sight.
“Teal. What can I say? I’m as sorry as I can be about how it all went down. She was cleverer than we gave her credit for.”
“Understood.” Her voice but a whisper. “Just glad you got her before she finished me off.”
“Deck. Hey man, you five by five?”
A nod. “It’s done. I’ll think about the impact later. Teal needs a hospital.”
She rallied to respond. “So does he.”
“You’re both hit? How did that happen? How serious? Dammit! MEDIC! We got wounded over here! Move it!”
Decker slid to a sitting position against the stack of pallets next to Teal.
Levi squatted in front of them. “We’re going to need your rifle. Standard procedure.”
“I’m aware.”
“We recovered your Barrett.”
A nod. “Excellent.”
“It’ll need to be processed, but you’ll get it back. Eventually.”
“Levi, I’m well acquainted with bureaucratic red tape.”
“Just a friendly reminder. Don’t get pissed.”
Decker eyed his friend. “Watch it.”
An EMT hustled forward. “Who’s hurt?”
Levi waved his hand, and stood. “Those two. Get ’em loaded into the ambulance. You can sort ’em out later.”
“On it, Chief.” The young man moved towards Teal.
Levi saluted Decker. “Solid op, sniper.”
Decker saluted back. “Not without casualties, but yeah, solid.
Cade rushed up. “Dad!”
“Hey, kid. What are you doing here?”
“Uncle Levi gave the ‘all clear’. What’s going on? How come you two are just sitting here? Hey, Teal.” He stopped, stared. “God, is that blood?” His eyes rounded. “You’re shot? Holy shit.”
“We’ll be fine.” Her voice was strained. “This young man is going to take very good care of us. Your father included. Did you notice the blood on his jeans? It’s his.”
Cade’s face went white. “Dad’s shot?”
Decker frowned at Teal. “Relax, Cade. They’re going to load us up and haul us out in a minute. You going to follow the ambulance?”
“Sure.” But Cade’s attention was on the activity around the zip-line. “God. She’s—” He looked back at Decker, eyes somber. “You had to—?”
A nod.
“I’m so sorry.”
A shrug.
“Damn.” He took a seat next to his father–a man he was admiring more and more every day. “It’s definitely not like on TV. You said once, I think, it weighs heavy, afterwards. I understand now.”
“Damn right it’s not like on TV.” Levi, hands on hips, shifted, antsy. “I’ve got stuff to do. I’ll see you guys later. Gotta clean up this mess.”
Decker nodded to his friend, and gave a tired wave.
Levi walked away, yelling orders. “And, get that body down off that contraption!”
Chapter 52
Decker needed to talk to Teal, but she’d been in and out of consciousness for the ride to the hospital. Once they put her in the Emergency Room, and despite his own wounds, he insisted on staying by her side, hoping for a moment of lucidity.
The on-call doctor, though, insisted he leave. “I need to examine the wound.”
With an eye roll, Decker capitulated. “Know that I’ll be right outside.”
Teal, though so wanting the black fog to swallow her again for a little while longer, knew she had to tell Decker what she’d seen, in case she wouldn’t remember later. “Wait.”
The doctor and Decker both looked over.
“I need to talk to him.” Her voice was just above a whisper. “Please? Just for a minute, in private.”
The man in the white coat sighed, nodded. “Five minutes. No more.”
Decker waited until the man disappeared through the curtain, then took her hand. “Before you tell me anything, I need to ask you a question.”
“Make it fast. I don’t know how long I’ll be awake.”
“I thought you told me Liz wouldn’t be able to come back.”
“That wasn’t a question.” She closed her eyes. “She said they wouldn’t let her.”
“But I felt her hand on my shoulder.”
Teal gave his hand a weak squeeze. The pain in her heart was rivaling the pain in her shoulder. “It wasn’t Liz.”
“Not Liz? Then who—?”
“I’m so sorry, Decker.”
He was losing patience, and not wanting to even think about who she’d seen. “Teal, our five minutes are almost up. What aren’t you telling me?”
“It was—”
The doctor pushed through the curtain. “Time’s up. We need to get her to surgery.”
Decker held up a finger. “One second.” To Teal: “Finish your sentence.”
“I’m sorry, Decker. It was Carin.”
A male nurse brushed past on his way to the head of the bed.
“No.” Panic. Shock. Grief. “No. No, that can’t be. She’s�
�”
The nurse spoke to Teal. “I’m going to take you for a little ride now, Miss. Sir, you’ll have to step aside.”
Decker moved without realizing it, and watched—trying to process and translate what he’d heard—as Teal was wheeled out of the room. He then turned and headed for the ICU, and his daughter.
Levi seeing Decker walking…limping, away from the surgery ward, followed. “Dammit, Deck. Slow down.”
The other man abruptly halted and faced his friend. “Teal says Carin—” He paused, took a breath. “She said Carin didn’t make it.”
“What!?” Levi pulled out his phone. “They’re supposed to alert us with any changes in her condition.”
“Yes. They were.” Decker grabbed his from his back pocket. “Shit. I had it on vibrate so it wouldn’t go off at a critical point.”
“Mine, too.” Levi looked down, reading the text on his cell as Decker did the same.
“Double Damn. It’s true. She’s gone, Levi. Almost two hours ago.”
“How did Teal know?”
Decker leaned against the wall. “I felt someone touch my shoulder when I was lining up my shot. I thought it was Liz. I mentioned it to Teal before they took her to surgery. She said it was Carin. I didn’t…couldn’t believe her.” He bent over at the waist. “God. God. I lost them both, by the same person.”
Levi laid a hand on Decker’s back. “I’m so sorry, Deck man. Sorry as I can be.”
Decker shook his head, and straightened. “Not your doing.”
“Dad?”
He turned to see Cade coming down the hall.
Levi scrubbed his face.
“Dad. I went to see Carin. They told me—” Tears threatened. “They said she died this morning. I thought she was getting better.”
Decker held out an arm.
Cade moved in for a hug.
“I just found out myself, Cade. I can’t believe it, either.”
Taking a few cleansing breaths, Cade stepped back, wiped his eyes. “How’s Teal?”
“Probably in surgery by now. She should be fine.”
“What about you? How many stitches?”
“I don’t have any, yet. I haven’t—”
In an instant, the young man’s grief and concern turned to anger. “You haven’t been seen yet? What the hell, dad? Get that thing taken care of. I don’t want to lose you to gangrene, or something worse. What the hell were you thinking?”
Decker studied his son for several seconds. In that time, the pain in his leg seemed to intensify. “I had a few other things on my mind. But, all right, let’s go.”
An hour later, the three men sat in the surgical waiting room—for the second time in as many days. Medical personnel had cut off the pants leg of Decker’s brand new jeans at just about mid-thigh. His bandaged leg hid twelve stitches, six of them on the inside. The recovered bullet—he and Levi conjectured it had ricocheted off something to still be in his leg—was in a little plastic baggie in his shirt pocket.
The leg propped on the opposite chair, ached like an angry invasion of bees, despite the heavy dose of a deadening drug. It was going to hurt worse—of this Decker was certain—when the painkiller wore off so he wasn’t going to complain. Keeping attention on his wound kept his mind off other…events he didn’t want to deal with straight on, but that too was inevitable.
Cade was catnapping in a chair, but looked uncomfortable. Levi was flipping through an old Woman’s Day magazine looking bored, worried, and sad.
Another two hours passed before a man in green scrubs pushed through the door to the surgical theater. “You’re here for Hannigan?”
Cade woke instantly, and stretched. “Yes. All of us.”
“She’s in Recovery, and we’ll be moving her to Post Op in about thirty minutes, or so. Surgery went well. No excessive damage. She’ll be sore, and need physical therapy to restore her full range of motion, but I don’t foresee any complications.”
Cade let out a short laugh. “Hallelujah!”
Decker felt the rise of emotion—mostly relief—and stood slowly. “Thank you, doctor.”
A nod. “Once Post Op releases her, she’ll be admitted for overnight observation. They’ll let you know what room she’ll be in. I anticipate releasing her from the hospital tomorrow afternoon.”
“I appreciate the update. Thanks, again.”
Levi slapped his friend on the back. “Great news, bud.”
“Yeah, a bit of light on a dark day. Thanks for being here, Levi.”
“Wouldn’t be anywhere else.”
“Just so you know,” He had the attention of the other two. “I’m going to marry that lady. As soon as she’s conscious enough to comprehend my question, I’m going to ask her.”
Cade grinned.
Levi laughed. “Never doubted it, my friend.”
“Let’s go buy a ring.”
* * *
THE END
About the Author
Jill is the eldest of four children born to Christian parents in East Central Pennsylvania. It took a while, but the rebel within finally broke free. After shocking family and friends by enlisting in the U.S. Army then marrying, birthing three sons, and getting divorced, she's again living in the great State of PA...until the next adventure.
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She began writing nonsense stories for her siblings and friends while in grade school starting about the time she learned cursive. Her writing has improved since then, thank goodness. With time, maturity, and persistence, Jill continues to hone her craft in a variety of genres.
Taking up the challenge to write outside the box, Jill’s story “How Do You Do It, Mr. Sullivan?” was accepted for the anthology Midnight Movie Creature Feature 2 (May December Publications, LLC, 2013). She also co-authored "S.P.Q.R.” with Rob M. Miller for the anthology Fifty Shades of Decay (Angelic Knight Press, 2013). “Whiskers”, another short, appears in the anthology From Dusk Til Dawn (Visionary Press Collaborative, 2015).
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Her Maggie Mercer Mystery trilogy: Mossy Creek, Freezer Burn, and Dog Days was picked up by Devil Dog Press, 2015 – 2016. Pondering Station, a standalone novel was published through Devil Dog Press in late 2018 and Dark Deeds, is her latest publication with Devil Dog Press.
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Currently, she’s working on her next novel.
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Visit her at www.therebelwriter.wordpress.com
Or on Facebook: Jill S. Behe, Author
Also by Jill S. Behe
Mossy Creek Book 1
Freezer Burn Book 2
Dog Days Book 3
Pondering Station
Also From DevilDog Press
www.devildogpress.com
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Mossy Creek A Maggie Mercer Mystery By Jill Behe
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