Save Me

by Heidi McLaughlin

  “We aren’t in Germany, Frannie, and none of us are prisoners of war,” Evan says, training his pistol on her. Nate moves around the back of Frannie, cornering her.

  “Can someone tell me what the hell is going on?” Ray’s voice quivers as he speaks out. A quick look tells me his hands are tied behind his back and he would’ve been forced to watch his wife’s assassination and probably Claire’s, too. For a brief moment I thought he could be involved and relief washes over me that he’s not.

  “Tell him, Frannie,” Evan says, his voice laced with sarcasm. “Tell this man why you’re pointing a gun at his wife’s head. Tell him why you’ve been hunting her down for the past six months. And please for the love of God tell us why you would destroy all of our lives. Inquiring minds want to know what goes on in your fucked up mind.”

  “You’ll never understand, Evan.”

  “Try us,” Nate says.

  “People do things for the ones they love.”

  “Your brother is a child molester. He doesn’t deserve love,” Rask says as he drops a bullet into his chamber.

  “I love him and once they’re dead, we can be together. He’ll be free from the prison you sent him to.”

  “You’re fucking sick,” Nate adds.

  “Penny,” I say, getting her attention only to have Frannie yell for us to stop talking, “look at me.” I drop to my knees so we’re somewhat eye level. Tears steak down her face and her hands shake. Her eyes move to the stairs, her way of silently telling me that Claire is up there. I look at Evan and motion for the stairs, watching as he backs his way up them, his gun never changing position until he’s out of sight.

  “I think it’s in your best interests if you all leave. This is none of your business. You’re not even supposed to be alive.”

  “I think you’re fucking crazy,” I spit back at her.

  There’s a soft whimper coming from Ray; I glance over to see a man scared out of his wits. “It’s going to be okay, Ray,” I tell him, hoping to reassure him.

  Frannie makes a move, stepping behind Penny and placing her arm around her neck. “I’m going to count to three then she dies.”

  “If she dies, so does your brother. I’ll fucking torture him, Frannie, and I’ll make you watch. You’ll be begging me to end his life, and only when I’ve had enough will I hand you the gun and help you squeeze the trigger, but we won’t aim to kill. No, you see I have twelve rounds in my pistol so each shot will be designed to cause him extreme pain. And the last person he sees will be you as you deliver the final bullet which will end his piece of shit excuse for a life,” I say, making eye contact with her.

  The collective gasps in the room don’t catch me off guard. I know what I said is extreme but I mean every word of it. If Penny or Claire die tonight and I don’t go with them, Ted Lawson won’t see a single day in a courtroom.

  “Penny, look at me.”

  When she does I all but die on the inside. “Claire is safe and you’re going to be just fine.”

  The telltale sound of a gun cocking into place fills the room. Everyone is yelling for guns to be dropped, but I’m only focusing on Penny. She’s biting her lip so hard it’s starting to bleed. I want to reach out to her, but can’t right now. Not until the threat is gone.

  “I’m going to kill her,” Frannie says, grabbing Penny’s hair and pulling her head back. Before I can stand, the faint sound of glass breaking and Frannie lurching forward catches my attention, but it’s the second gunshot, which has me tackling Penny to the ground in her chair, knocking the wind out of her, so I can protect her body with mine.

  PENNY’S SCREAM PIERCES MY ears, causing me to move away slightly. I can’t tell if she’s hurt or freaked out. Probably a bit of both if I had to guess. I’m afraid to move, to leave this position for fear that Penny will be hurt more than she already is because I don’t know where the hell the shot came from.

  “She’s down! She’s down!” someone yells from behind me. I can’t tell if it’s Rask or Nate, but I look over both my shoulders to see what they’re talking about and find Frannie on the ground looking lifeless.

  “What the fuck?” I hear Evan behind me as he comes thundering down the stairs. I hope that Claire has stayed in her room because she doesn’t need to see her mother tied up like this.

  “Is she dead?” I ask Rask who is the closest to the body. He crawls over to her, pushes her gun away, and feels for a pulse.

  “She’s gone,” he says. I quickly roll off Penny and pull my knife from my boot to cut the tape from her wrists to free her.

  “Where’s Claire?” Penny cries, panic lacing her voice, and I look to Evan for the answer.

  “She’s okay. She’s upstairs. I told her to keep her headphones on. I don’t know if she’ll listen to me, but I’m hoping she will. She seems pretty scared.”

  “Ah … Amy,” a pained voice sounds from behind me and we all turn toward it.

  Penny scrambles away from me and goes to Ray. I turn away again, not wanting to see them together.

  “Oh God, Ray,” she screams, getting my attention.

  I rush over to her side to find Ray shot and bleeding profusely.

  “Who fucking fired their gun?” I yell out, knowing it wasn’t me. I heard the glass break and watched Frannie lurch forward—that’s when I dove for Penny to keep Frannie away from her. “She fucking shot him,” I say as I cut the tape from his wrists so we can lay him down.

  “Who shot Frannie?” Evan asks.

  I glance from Nate to Rask and they both shake their heads. Rask immediately moves to the window and says, “We must have a shooter outside.”

  We all look at each other and back at Ray who is bleeding out on the couch.

  “Go,” Rask says, kneeling down in front of Ray, “I’ll see if I can stop the bleeding.”

  I reach for Penny, but quickly realize she doesn’t need me; she’s too focused on her husband. It’s the way things should be even though watching her care for him breaks my heart. I want to be selfish and want her to worry about me, but that’s not going to happen.

  Nate, Evan, and I grab our guns and head outside, this time with Evan in the lead. My infrared shows a body sitting in the woods, unmoving as we approach. We rush to the edge of the grass and enter the woods.

  “Put your hands up,” Evan yells and the shooter does slowly, causing us to move faster, but stay together. We have to work as a team against this unknown threat. Our weapons are drawn, guiding us to his location.

  Nate takes the lead from Evan, moving swiftly over the forest floor. Leaves and twigs snap under our feet, indicating to the shooter how far away we are from him. This isn’t the way missions should be done, but there hasn’t been any rhyme or reason to this one. Nate reaches him first, pinning his hands easily to his back while I keep my gun on him.

  “Holy fuck,” Evan blurts as he shines his flashlight on the assailant.

  “What?” Both Nate and I say at the same time. I lift my night vision goggles and walk around to the front with my gun steady. My mouth drops when I see our supposed to be dead team leader, River. I don’t know if I should shoot him, kick him, or tie him up and hand him over to the authorities. What I do know is that I’m about tell him that his bullet missed.

  “You killed your wife, not mine,” I tell him.

  “That was my intent.”

  “What the fuck, man, I thought you were dead? Your house blew up. I was there. I saw it!” Evan exclaims, with Nate now by his side. Both of them have dropped their guns, but mine remains steady and aimed at his chest. I don’t know why or how he’s here, but I don’t trust him even though he’s killed his wife. I turn on my helmet flashlight so I can get a good look at him. There doesn’t seem to be a damn thing wrong with him. If he’s been hiding or on the run, he’s been doing a fine job staying clean and well fed.

  “Start talking, motherfucker, before I pump you full of lead!” The sudden outburst of anger rolls through me as I stare at him. If it weren’t for him,
we wouldn’t be in the position we are in today. I wouldn’t be standing here with my gun pointed at my team leader while my wife tends to her other husband. We’d all be on base, living our lives and worrying about the next terrorist threat.

  I can feel Evan and Nate’s eyes on me, but I don’t care. As far as I’m concerned he’s responsible for everything that has happened because he brought that crazy bitch into our lives. Without her sick and twisted lifestyle, I’d be home right now nursing a fucking beer. Instead I’m in the middle of nowhere with my finger adding a bit of pressure to the trigger that’s going to release the bullet which will kill the man in front of me.

  River slowly turns his head to look me in the eyes. He doesn’t try to shield the light from his eyes, or move this hands even though I know Nate hasn’t tied him up. Instead he remains on his knees, waiting to see if I’m going to end his life.

  “I don’t know where to start,” he says, earning a scoff from me.

  “The beginning works.”

  “Come on, let’s take him inside.” Evan grabs River’s arm, helping him up. I don’t agree, but I have a feeling I’m outnumbered when Nate bends to pick up River’s belongings. I follow behind, keeping my gun aimed at River’s head. One move and he’s dead.

  Evan takes River through the front door where chaos has ensued. Penny is sobbing and Rask is covered in blood. I glance quickly around the room and see that Frannie is still on the floor and Claire isn’t down here, at least not that I can see. I drop to my knees and set my gun down.

  “What can I do?”

  Rask shakes his head. “The paramedics are on their way, but he’s lost a lot of blood. I can’t stop the bleeding.”

  My hand reaches for Penny, pausing briefly before I place it on her back. She doesn’t acknowledge me and part of me dies a little on the inside. I know it shouldn’t bother me, but it does. She’s supposed to be my wife, not this guy who is dying on their couch. She’s supposed to seek comfort in me, but can’t because her heart doesn’t belong to me anymore.

  “Holy shit,” Cara curses as she bursts through the door, startling all of us with her stealth-like ninja skills. I swear a SEAL trained her with how quietly she can move around. We make eye contact quickly before another holy shit comes tumbling out of her mouth when she spots River being held by Evan.

  “I should’ve left instructions on how not to kill anyone while I was gone.”

  “We didn’t kill anyone,” Nate says. “River shot Frannie through the window and her reaction caused her gun to go off and shot Barnes. When we came in, Penny was duct taped to the chair and Barnes had his hands tied behind his back.”

  “Shit,” she mutters, pulling out her phone.

  I try to focus my attention back on Penny, rubbing her back for comfort while she whispers into her husband’s ear. I turn away, trying not to eavesdrop, giving them the privacy they need.

  “The ambulance is pulling in now. Evan, you take River and get the hell out of here. Of all of you he’s classified as dead. Where did the bullet that hit Frannie come from?” Cara questions.

  Evan pushes River through the kitchen and out back.

  “The window,” Nate answers.

  “Shit, why did he have to go and shoot her?”

  That’s what we want to know, but haven’t got any answers yet.

  “Where’s Claire?”

  “Upstairs, I think.” I shrug, not knowing where my daughter is. Even if I went to her, she wouldn’t know who I was, so maybe it’s best if Cara goes to find her.

  “You guys need to go. I don’t want you here when the authorities arrive. Take Claire with you.”

  Nate nods, while I stay frozen next to Penny. I don’t know how this is all going to play out, but leaving her isn’t an option.

  “What’s the plan, Cara?”

  The sound of sirens grows closer and Cara appears panicked. I’m sure this isn’t how she expected everything to go down. Honestly, it isn’t how I expected things to be either. I thought for sure that Ray was part of Frannie’s posse by the way the basement window was busted from the inside.

  Cara pulls out her gun and aims it at an already dead Frannie.

  “Hughes, don’t. Your bullets won’t match.”

  She looks at me and for the first time I see fear. She’s the only one to offer me help, aside from Marley. I can’t let her lose her career over this.

  Rask stands and grabs his gear as if it’s no big deal that his hands are covered in blood. “You found them like this, a stray bullet from a hunter,” he says, before walking through the kitchen.

  “McCoy, you go, and I’ll go get Claire. You’ll be too emotional when you see her upstairs. I’ll meet you back at the hotel,” Nate tells me.

  I nod reluctantly and take my exit through the same door I came in. I glance back at Penny, hoping for a sign that she knows I’m leaving, and I get nothing. My only solace right now is the knowledge that I’ll soon be seeing my daughter for the first time in six years. It doesn’t even matter that she won’t remember me or know anything about me. Just seeing her in person, listening to her talk will be enough to get me through the night.

  “WHO’S TUCKER?”

  “My husband.”

  The words from earlier replay over and over with each step I take in the white sterile hallway. The look on his face and the fear in his voice is something I’ll never forget. Calling Tucker my husband was a mistake and one I regret. As soon as the word slipped off my tongue I wanted to take it back, but I couldn’t. He heard me and by the expression on his face, I hurt him. It wasn’t my intent, and by all means I shouldn’t have thought about Tucker in that moment, but I did.

  It’s odd to think that referring to Tucker as my husband came so easily considering I’ve been married to Ray for so much longer. I’ve even known Ray longer. I love him, but I’ve never lost the love I felt for Tucker.

  People cry, they moan in pain from the rooms I pass. Nurses shuffle from room to room helping their patients all while I wait for news on my husband. Only a few make eye contact with me and rarely does a smile form on their face. Their jobs in the ER are not happy ones, but ones that require quick thinking in life or death situations. They don’t have time for idle chitchat and pleasantries, especially for wives who refuse to go to the waiting room. I want the doctors to sense me out in the hall so they work harder on saving my husband’s life.

  The emergency room doors open and in rushes another gurney with life saving measures being taken. An EMT straddles the patient while doing chest compressions. He’s barking out orders, telling others what needs to be done to save this person’s life. It’s too hard to tell whether it’s a male or female, but nonetheless it’s a life worth saving.

  That’s what they were doing on the way here while the ambulance sped down the windy road as fast as it could. The drawback to living in a small town is that the nearest hospital is forty minutes away and since the gun was fired and the bullet hit Ray, it seems like hours have passed, maybe even days. I know it’s not possible because he’d be dead, but that’s what it feels like.

  As for Frannie … I hang my head and push away the onslaught of tears that want to escape. I know once I start crying I won’t be able to stop and I shouldn’t shed a tear for her. She ruined everything. It’s hard to wrap my head around the chain of events leading up to today. My life was peaceful, happy, and six or seven months ago my axis rocked slightly when my husband brought up a news report about a Navy SEAL, only the chances that he heard them incorrectly are high, since the four warriors I once loved as my family had returned. If Ray had just said four and not one things could’ve been different.

  No, that’s a lie.

  If Ray had said four SEALs I would’ve started searching for Tucker; he would’ve been easy to find. The only problem with that is I don’t know what I would’ve done had I found him. Would I go back to him? Divorce him? Or wait for him to come find me like he did now? I wish I knew the answer because then maybe I’d feel something
for him, when right now all I feel is hatred. I can’t help but feel like he brought Frannie here.

  She found me without him, though, and she found my daughter, my house, and shot my husband. But who shot her? There was so much yelling and I was focused on Tucker because I knew he wasn’t going to let anything happen to me, but who was going to protect Ray? Before I knew what was happening, I was being tackled to the ground with my back slamming against the chair. Tucker lay over me, and for a brief moment I thought he had been shot until he started talking. His voice soothed away the fear even though he wasn’t speaking to me. I couldn’t help but feel safe in his arms. I was relieved, yet that relief was short lived when I heard Ray call for me. I knew he was hurt by the way he spoke, and even with him being a few feet away, I couldn’t get there fast enough.

  I push off the wall and start pacing the hall again. There are so many noises making my head ache; the beeping from the machines, the constant sound of the intercom going off, and the rush of feet coupled with urgent voices. Everywhere I look there’s a subdued panic on the faces of the medical staff. They try not to show fear, but I see it. I know what it looks like. I’ve lived it. I’ve spent years glancing over my shoulder wondering if Lawson or Frannie were there, lurking. Its only when I stopped being so cautious that my world started changing.

  I stand at the opening of the hallway and the ER when another gurney comes in. There is no rushing this time, no one working on the woman lying under the white sheet. Her dark hair hangs off the back, swaying lightly with the movement from being rolled down the hall. Is that Frannie? I can’t help but think it is as I feel a weight being lifted off my shoulders. With Lawson in jail and Frannie dead, my life should go back to normal. I shouldn’t have to worry about anyone coming after my daughter and me, or someone trying to harm my husband. Life can be what it’s meant to be: enjoyable.

  What I don’t understand is why Frannie wanted to harm all of us. From our last moments today, I know she was sick and mentally unstable. It’s clear that Lawson being put in jail was a trigger for her. I suppose I have a lot of questions to ask, but I’m not sure I even want to know the answers. I don’t want to find out that this was something, which could’ve been prevented if I had just kept my mouth shut.