Amy Lynn, Into the Fire

by Jack July

  When the smell hit her nose, her head moved back and forth. She said, “Gas, the gas smell, it’s getting stronger. The dogs, the dogs are barking louder, they’re getting closer.”

  “Listen to them Amy, are you sure they are dogs?”

  “Yes, dogs, yes, they’re… No, no not dogs, babies, children screaming, babies, why are they screaming, why?

  “You’re running to the back door, there’s a pistol shot, what happens next?”

  “No, no, no, oh no…”

  As Odetta returned to the back door of the orphanage, trying to remove more children, the pistol shot aimed at Sonda ignited an explosion. She threw up her arms to shield her face from the fireball coming through the doorway. The force of the blast sent her back ten feet, where she landed in some overgrown bushes. She fought to regain her senses, at the same time brushing at her smoking hair with her hands, not sure if she was on fire.

  Sonda had escaped through the side door on the other end of the building. She was just as disoriented. She did know there was still one thing left to do. She staggered to her feet and walked to the back of the building looking for Odetta.

  Through the blown-out windows, flames were visible and growing larger. Odetta heard children screaming; how many, she couldn’t tell. She was making her way toward the doorway when she saw a little arm reach up through the blown out hole where a window had been. Changing course, she made it to the window, grabbed the arm and pulled. She staggered backward, lost her balance and landed on her rear. She looked at what she was holding and froze. It was a sleeve of burnt skin from a child’s arm. She heard footsteps to her right but never looked up. Then she heard a rifle shot and a grunt as a body dropped next to her. She sat and stared into Sonda’s blank lifeless face.

  Dr. Earle kept pushing. “Then what did you hear? Tell me what you heard.”

  “Someone telling me to get up, get up, we have to go. Cody? Cody? Why are you here? Cody? They’re all dead Cody they’re dead, oh my God, OH MY GOD! OH MY GOD!”

  Doc Earle decided that was enough. “Amy, I’m going to count to three and you will come back to me, remembering everything we talked about.” He slapped his hand on the table as he counted, “One, two, three. Amy. Amy?”

  She sat up in the chair and made eye contact with him. She whispered under her breath, “You bastard.” Then let loose a sorrowful wail accompanied by a torrent of tears that lasted well into the evening.

  Chapter 28

  Kelly kept her word to Amy. While Amy was gone and Bogus had left for Houston, once Carla Jo stabilized, she made herself a fixture in Micky’s life. She parked her car at Amy’s house and waved at Athos, who was sitting next to a napping Sam on the porch swing. Athos pointed down towards the barn where she found Micky lovingly washing down Mathias.

  Kelly waved and called out, “Hey lucky charm, take me ridin’?’”

  Micky laughed and shook his head. “Why do you call me that?”

  “’Cause the only other Irish guy I know is the one on the cereal box.”

  “I have a couple more to exercise; I guess we can go riding.”

  “You exercise June yet?”

  “No.”

  Kelly did a little happy dance and jogged to June’s stall. The 16½ hands tall, grey Lusitano mare whinnied in delight. Amy enjoyed the horses but never really attached herself to one like Kelly had. As far as Kelly was concerned, June was hers. Micky put Mathias away, led Bogus’ horse, Renaldo, out of the stall, and he and Kelly walked to the tack barn together. Micky watched her like most hormone-fueled 17 year-old boys watched women of Kelly’s stature. Kelly didn’t have the statuesque beauty of his Ma, but in fitted jeans and an old sweatshirt, long, thick, brunette hair in a ponytail and big blue eyes, Kelly was all ‘girl next door.’

  Micky threw the blanket on June’s back. “You really love this horse, don’t you?”

  Kelly grinned and her eyes sparkled. “You know it.”

  “Bogus was offered a half million Euros for this horse. He accepted the offer.”

  Kelly panicked. “What? No!”

  “Yes. But when Ma found out she stopped it. Do you know why?”

  “No.”

  “Because Ma knows how much you love her.”

  Kelly stroked June’s neck while looking at the ground.

  “Are you still angry with Ma?”

  Kelly nodded. “Yeah, but not as much as I was.”

  “She felt really bad, you know, for what she did. She cried, a lot. She doesn’t cry often.” Kelly turned her head and looked off into the distance. Micky continued, “Other than family, you are all that Ma has. She’s very, ah, she doesn’t like many people.”

  Kelly looked back at Micky. “I know. We’ll make it right.”

  “Good, I’m glad.”

  They finished saddling the horses, and after about an hour of some good strenuous exercise—Kelly wasn’t shy about running June—they walked the horses back to the stable.

  Micky watched Kelly and smiled. “All this time you spend with me; aren’t you afraid I might fall in love with you?”

  Kelly gave him a sultry, amused look, reached over and took his hand. “You better fall in love with me. I’ve fallen in love with you. It’s okay, as long as we both know where the line is.”

  Micky looked a little surprised. Then Kelly continued, “Maybe in another time, another place, yeah, I could see it happenin’. But not in this lifetime, understand?”

  Micky gave her a nod and a tight smile. “At least you’re honest.”

  She saw some pain in his eyes. “Still achin’ over Mary Ann?”

  “Aye, can’t seem to forget her.”

  “Your Ma and I kinda knew it was comin’. She wanted you to learn about her on your own, and you have.” They walked silently for a few more minutes. Kelly looked down, saw something and waved him over. “You see that?”

  Micky looked down and saw a big ant. It looked like it was covered in black and red velvet. “It’s beautiful.”

  Kelly agreed, “Yes it is.”

  Micky reached down to pick it up, Kelly grabbed his hand. “I wouldn’t do that.”

  “Why not?”

  “It’s called a red velvet ant, only it isn’t. It’s actually a wasp and will sting the fire out of you. That right there is Mary Ann. You got stung. Don’t pick it up again, hear me?”

  “She still calls.”

  “Stop answering.”

  “It’s hard.”

  “I know. But from what I understand you have never been afraid of doing hard stuff. Don’t be afraid now.”

  Kelly looked at him and sighed. She knew Mary Ann hadn’t hurt him bad enough yet. But eventually, she would finish him off. “What do ya say I buy you dinner, then we’ll go sit with your aunt for awhile?”

  “I’m supposed to be watching Sam.”

  “Athos will watch him till Carol gets home.”

  “I have to tell Mr. Princeton but okay, I’d like that.”

  Jack and Leon sat in the old green truck down the block from Tommy Lee’s impound yard. Sitzberger’s lawyer walked him in and paid the storage on the car, gave him five hundred dollars cash, then told him, “You get the hell out of here as fast as you can.”

  When Sitzberger left the lot, the old green Ford truck with a straight six and three on the tree struggled to keep up. Jack watched the red Taurus disappear in the distance, hoping he had guessed Sitzberger’s route correctly. As the miles clicked by, they made it to the I20 entrance ramp. Jack was angry with himself. “This is too far. I fucked up, he should not have made it this far.”

  Leon pointed to the top of the ramp. In the emergency lane sat the red Taurus. Jack pulled up behind him. Leon got out and walked to the driver’s side window. Sitzberger was still furiously cranking the engine with no luck. Leon tapped on the window. “Hey man, car trouble?”

  Sitzberger looked a little panicked. “Yeah, yeah, it died, just died.”

  Leon shook his head. “Probably the fuel pump. These Fords
are famous for bad fuel pumps. Come on, we’ll give ya a ride, there’s a service station at the next exit.”

  Sitzberger got out of the car and, in a rage, kicked the door. After taking a few deep breaths he looked back at Leon and asked, “Is there a bus terminal around here?”

  “Yep, truck stop, next exit. Come on, git in.”

  “Yeah, thanks, thanks.”

  Sitzberger slid to the middle of the bench seat, turned to Jack and stuck out his hand. “Hi. Paul.”

  Jack didn’t look at him; he just nodded and said, “Yep.”

  The old truck picked up speed. Moments later, Sitzberger’s head turned as they sped by the exit. “Hey, you said there was a place where I could catch a bus back there.”

  Leon nodded. “There is, but that’s not where you’re a-goin’.”

  His eyes suddenly widened and his face went pale. “Let me out, let me out now!”

  Before he could get too agitated, Leon pulled the hammer back on the model 1911 .45 and jammed it in his ribs. “Boy, I ’spect you gonna wanna calm down. We need to have a little talk.”

  Jack turned to Sitzberger with a look on his scarred face and intense eyes that shot terror through Paul’s body. “My name is Jack Brown. You tried to kill my wife.”

  Sitzberger started to talk when Jack’s elbow smashed into the side of his head. Jack growled, “Shut the fuck up.”

  Thirty minutes later the old truck was bouncing down a dirt road. Jack saw the rag he’d tied to a tree branch and stopped. Leon opened the door and slid out, the .45 trained on their passenger. By the time Sitzberger got out, Jack was already on the passenger side of the truck and gave Sitzberger a shove toward the woods. When Sitzberger turned, Jack raised the foot-long piece of ¾ inch rebar and sent it crashing down where his neck met his collar bone.

  By the time Sitzberger regained his senses, he was hanging from a tree in only his underwear, bound at the wrists, elbows, knees and ankles. Jack sat on a upside down, five gallon bucket, whittling a little stick with his knife. Leon was ten feet away, leaning against a tree with his arms crossed and eyes locked on the two-foot high mound of dirt under Sitzberger’s feet, thinking Oh Jack, what the fuck…”

  Jack stopped whittling and looked up at Sitzberger, who had already begun to scream in pain as the rope cut into his wrists, stretching the tendons. Jack was calm and in a conversational tone asked, “Why did you try to kill my wife?”

  “IT WAS AN ACCIDENT!” Sitzberger cried out as he pled his case. Jack didn’t care about any of the rest of what he said; he just wanted to make sure it was him who’d done it. When Sitzberger took a breath, Jack asked, “Who brought you down here, paid ya?”

  “LAMONT HUGHES! IT WAS LAMONT!” He continued making himself out to be the innocent party, begging and pleading. Jack got up, and walked over by Leon and asked softly, “You hear that? Lamont Hughes.”

  Leon nodded and whispered back, “Yeah, Jack, he’s one of us. I know his family.”

  Jacks eyes were so cold Leon had to look away. “You’re right, he’s one of us. That means he should have known better. You might want to go on back to the truck.”

  Jack turned to walk back toward Sitzberger, knife in hand, when he heard Leon whisper, “Dammit, Jack, you said you wasn’t gonna kill him.”

  Jack stopped and looked over his shoulder. “I’m not.”

  Leon headed back toward the truck. Jack walked up to Sitzberger, leaned in and whispered, “It’s a damn shame your daddy never taught you not to fuck with another man’s family.” He pulled the rag out of his pocket and shoved it in Sitzberger’s mouth, then duct taped it in, wrapping the tape around his head. He snapped open the buck knife, grabbed the rope around his ankles, and pulled up his feet and made deep cuts from the heel to the toe. Sitzberger screamed through the gag while thrashing and kicking to no avail. Skillfully, Jack continued to slice until there were a couple dozen deep gashes all over his body. As the blood ran from the end of his feet and hit the mound, the dirt seemed to come alive. Jack untied the rope connected to the block and tackle, lowered him into the mound, then tied it off.

  Jack picked up his bucket and turned to walk away when he saw Leon. “You fuckin’ lied to me Jack, God Dammit.”

  “No I didn’t. I’m not gonna kill him.” Jack pointed to the fire ant hill, “They are. Thanks for the help.”

  Leon shook his head in disbelief. “That’s some fucked up shit Jack.”

  “Yeah? Well, you ain’t seen nothin’ yet.”

  Dr. Earle had given Amy a mild sedative. She was too upset to argue. Seven hours later, she lay on her back in her little bedroom, staring at the ceiling and rubbing her belly. Doc gently tapped on the doorframe. “Are you awake?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Come have something to eat.”

  “I’m not hungry.”

  “The baby might be.”

  “What time is it?”

  “Two a.m. You missed dinner.”

  “Yeah, I’ll be right out.” She turned on the light and looked in the small mirror. Her eyes were bloodshot and puffy, her hair a rat’s nest. She still felt a little woozy as she walked into the kitchen and took a seat at the bar. Doc set a large glass of orange juice in front of her. She took a long drink, set it back down and asked, “Are we done now? Can I go home?”

  Doc stood at the stove making eggs. “Do you think we’re done?”

  “I know what happened. I know my actions killed a couple dozen children. That’s what I know.”

  “It’s not that simple.”

  “How is it not that simple?”

  “Well, for starters, you shouldn’t have been there in the first place.”

  “But I was. I failed, I failed at my job. Do you even know what my job is?”

  “I’m probably one of five or six people on the planet who knows what your job is.”

  “Protect and avenge children. That’s what I do. I love it, I love doing it, I love my job. But I failed. I am not good enough to do this.”

  “Amy? It’s not that simple.”

  She snapped back, “Stop saying that. Why do you keep saying that!?”

  “Because it’s the truth.”

  She sat staring down at the counter and shaking her head. He continued, “When we stopped, you had made contact with Cody. Do you remember what happened after that?”

  “Just, ah, getting in his car, a blue Audi.”

  “You can leave here if you want. You can get in your truck and drive home. But when you do that, understand this: you will lose your job, and you will never find out the entire truth. I promise you, there is a bigger truth you need to know. To find that, you have to remember the rest of the mission.”

  He set a plate down in front of her. She picked up a fork and took a small bite of potatoes. Her appetite kicked in and she polished off the meal. “You got any more of that?”

  He smiled and heaped some more potatoes and a couple pieces of bacon onto her plate. After some quiet contemplation she decided. “Okay, I’ll stick it out. I mean, how bad can it be, right?”

  His face went blank. She dropped her head into her hands and rubbed her temples. “Oh, Jesus.”

  Chapter 29

  While Jack was gone, Carla Jo was moved from ICU to a private room. She had yet to regain consciousness but her vital signs remained strong. Jack went home and cleaned up after his talk with Paul Sitzberger. When he returned, Jack was met in the lobby by Rita Evans-Anderson, the hospital director.

  Rita had left orders for the receptionist to contact her when Jack arrived. She and Carla Jo had history together. Years before, one of Henderson Medical’s clinics had hired Rita as a nurse when she was released from prison for manslaughter. Her son Andy had also been Amy’s first boyfriend. As they walked to Carla Jo’s room, she explained what was happening and why. Jack was fine until he walked into the room and saw a male nurse starting to undress Carla Jo for a bath.

  “Whatchu doin?”

  “I’m giving Mrs. Brown her bath.�
��

  “Hell if you are.”

  Rita put her hand on Jack’s arm. “Jack, this is John. It’s what he does, he’s very good at it.”

  “No. Ain’t no man doin’ that.”

  John spoke up, “Sir, there is a certain way that this needs to be done.”

  Jack was in no mood to reason. “Boy, you can walk out this door or fly out that window; pick one.”

  Rita gave John a gentle hand gesture pointing him to the door. John nodded and walked out. Jack turned to Rita. “I want a woman doin’ that, understand?” Then Jack thought for a moment. “No, I’ll do it myself.”

  “Jack, this is a skill. There is a certain way this needs to be done.”

  “Alright then, you show me.”

  Rita sighed, nodding her head. She hadn’t bathed a patient in years. “Okay, let me go put on some scrubs. I’ll be right back.”

  An hour later, Kelly and Micky walked up the hall. Deputy Nolan was standing outside Carla Jo’s door. Sheriff Carter wanted to keep a presence close by Carla Jo in case someone tried to do her harm to keep her from telling what she knew. Kelly gave him a smile. “Hi Deputy Nolan.”

  “Hi Miss Kelly, Micky. She’s getting a bath right now.”

  Kelly peeked in the door and saw the privacy curtain up. “Think I’ll take a peek and make sure they’re doin’ a good job.” Micky stepped across the hall to the small couch there and took a seat. Kelly walked in the room and quietly parted the curtain. She stood mesmerized as she watched one of the toughest men she knew, lovingly and with the most tender of care, bathe his wife. A tear made its way down her cheek as she thought, So this is what love looks like.