All This Time

by Marie Wathen

  “Yeah!” Mad heaves a sigh.

  “Who’s that you got there?”

  “A fucking pig, who’s going to die next,” Mad snarls before I hear a loud smack.

  “A cop?” I hear a deep intake of breath from Blues and his voice lowers significantly when he asks, “Is he already dead? He doesn’t look so good.” No response from Mad.

  Unless I expose myself I’m unable to see inside the room to check Russ’ status so I focus on the pissed off face of Tac still glaring at me through the eight by eight size square window in the metal emergency exit door. He has a phone pressed against his ear and his mouth is set in a fine line as he listens to the person on the other end. I shift my weight onto the balls of my feet and he shakes his head at me, knowing that I’m preparing to charge the room.

  “Do you think we could use him as a shield when we leave here?” Blues asks coolly.

  “I don’t know! I don’t know!” Mad shouts, “Hurry the fuck up with that joint, Blues!”

  “Got it,” he replies striking a lighter, “Here!” There’s a long pause and I can hear the popping of the marijuana before I smell the foul scent wafting its way into my nose. “So, want to tell me why we’re here?”

  With a mouthful of smoke, Mad chuckles and says, “I needed drugs.” Blues laughs with him.

  “There are easier ways to get it than busting up into a kiddies emergency room,” Blues retorts with humor laced in his voice too.

  “Not for me,” Mad’s tone is hostile again. “I’ve been cut off from all you motherfuckers! Even Decks after everything I did for him! I hooked him up with the ghost who’s going to change everything just by taking a risk.” Mad pauses to hit his joint again.

  “Wait,” Blues scoffs. “Are you talking about Dr. A? That fucker’s real?” Blues asks incredulously.

  Mad roars with a putrid laughter, “Oh yeah, and he’ll be our escape plan C on catching a ray if you can get us out of here alive.” Long pause and then Mad’s voice is low and demonic. “But first I have a debt to repay. That bastard Decks cut me off because of the slut he has been fucking. His bitch is the next one on my list to die when we get out of here, Blues.”

  “Angel?” Blues’ question is a muffled groan.

  “She really fucked me over letting my whore run away.” It isn’t his threat about me that make my stomach drop. The sound of a bullet racking into the chamber of a gun tells me that he is getting ready to kill Russ. Time’s up! I have to move now. A thick choking sound followed by a gurgle comes from inside the room.

  “Mad,” Blues calls panicky. “Is one of the hostages injured?”

  “Fuck her!” Mad growls then grunts deeply. Is he still referring to me or is someone in the room with them injured? “Here you take this bastard’s left arm and I’ll take his right.”

  “We’re going out the front door?” Blues asks loudly, ensuring I hear the plan. I swallow hard, rise up to my full height and lift my gun so that the barrel is an inch away from the door frame, anticipating their exit. Glancing at the door in front of me again I watch Tac watching me. Respectfully resigning his pleas for me to leave, he nods his head once and joins me in waiting for them. The sound of two sets of feet shuffling and a body being dragged my direction charges my adrenaline through the roof. I step away from the wall and angle my body so that I am pointing at the exact spot I expect Mad to appear.

  A loud groan fills the silence, “Blues?” It’s Russ’ voice calling out for help. Motherfucker! Russ has just divulged to psycho Mad that Blues already knows the cop they are dragging out. I can’t wait another moment. Stepping out into the open space across the hall from the doorway, I set my sights on Mad’s right temple. I glance down at Russ whose blood-soaked head is drooping forward.

  “What the fuck?” Mad snarls turning to face Blues, “You know this piece of shit?” He flails his gun between Blues and Russ haphazardly. My heart stops completely.

  “What?” Blues stalls seeing me frozen in the shadows in the middle of the dark hallway.

  Russ’ head lobs up and he pins me with ice-cold determination. Swallowing hard he shouts with every bit of remaining strength he has left, “Kill the fucker, Sam!”

  His unexpected demand begins a chain reaction that sets things off, but it’s like I am standing outside of my body watching it all unravel in extra slow motion. A loud boom levels the emergency exit door beside me, where Tac was only moments ago which causes the men in front of me to jump. Blues tugs Russ his direction, but instead of moving toward safety Russ’ weak body is all dead weight so they fall face first into the open doorway toward me. Mad jerks his head in my direction recognizing me instantly. In a nanosecond his eyes fill with utter joy before flashing back just as fast to evil. As the dust begins to fly through the air from the mangled door clamoring to the floor I see Tac and another guy approaching in my peripheral. Their arms are outstretched with large black handguns pointing in my direction and they aren’t taking their sweet time coming toward us.

  Mad Hatter draws his weapon up and I scream, “Police, drop your weapon!” But he doesn’t stop, he doesn’t even hesitate. With no other options remaining, I squeeze the trigger on my .45. Two loud simultaneous bangs distort my hearing while a hard kick slams me back against the wall behind me. I watch Mark Hatfield disgusting face smirking at me for the last time before he falls to the floor dead from the bullet I put through his skull.

  After glaring at me Tac charges into the room finding one dead body slumped down in the entryway and two very freaked out grown men lying on the floor staring back up at him. I exhale while trying to keep my body from sliding down the wall and crumpling to the floor. Bile burns my throat as I look between Tac, Blues and Russ. Suddenly, I jolt up onto my feet and in a speed damn near that of the bullet I just killed a man with, I leap over all three men landing inside the emergency room. My head jerks around erratically scanning the remaining faces for one in particular, but I don’t see Kris anywhere.

  “Sam?” Russ groans. Swiftly I turn around and rush over to him.

  Bending down and grabbing his arm, I stifle my tears and scream, “Where is she?” He shakes his head wildly before raising a hand and pointing a finger toward the back wall. All I can see is an empty gurney.

  “Behind the hospital bed,” Russ’ voice cracks with emotion, “He stabbed her.”

  Chapter Sixty-Nine

  Stabbed? My feet carry me, but my mind can’t process what Russ said. Rushing around the hospital bed kicked over on its side, I drop to my knees and all the breath in my chest whooshes out when I see Kris behind it lying in a pool of thick, red blood, a knife wedged deep in her belly under her ribs. Scrambling up to her, I raise my trembling hand and cautiously push the hair away from her face. Her lashes flutter faintly several times before her eyelids lift revealing her signature striking green eyes that shift toward me.

  “I knew you would come,” Kris whispers followed by a gurgled cough that pierces my heart.

  “Ssh.” Tears slip down my cheeks while I shake my head wordlessly trying to make her understand that she doesn’t need to talk.

  “Sam, the ER doctor is coming,” Tac states leaning over the edge of the gurney behind us.

  Unable to reply, I bob my head still staring at Kris while holding her arm across my lap. Needing closer, I stretch out and curl my body against hers with my arm under my head. I move my fingers through her bangs, tucking them behind her ears. Please don’t let go.

  “Sam,” Kris moans softly. Facing each other our eyes lock and understanding drops between us heavier than a steel beam.

  “No, please…don’t talk Kris,” I stutter and stammer. “He…he said the doctor’s coming. Don’t give up…okay. I… need you to make it through this.”

  “Ssh, I need to say this to you, Sam.”

  My eyes plead with her to stop this now. I can’t let her tell me goodbye. I want to shout over to the guys and tell them to drag that fucking doctor over here now, but I can’t peel my eyes away from he
rs. The tears come hard as I sigh and nod my head once.

  “I have loved you from the moment we met. You’re a real bad ass chick, with fighting skills that scare the hell out of me.” The corners of her lips twist, but the smile is fleeting because she becomes strangled with coughs. “You don’t play nice with others.” Cough, cough, cough, “You’re vulgar, stubborn and a real pain in the booty, but that’s all on the surface,” she gasps trying to take a deep breath. The corners of her lips tip up again when she settles. “And maybe a few layers deeper, but,” Cough. “You have the biggest, most loving heart for everyone that you love. After our talk at Christmas you made me believe that loving Tate and being,” Cough, cough, cough, cough, shallow breaths, “being loved is more important than the financial….obligation I poured my life into. Tell him, Tell Tate that I loved him more than everything and I’m sorry.” I suck in a ragged breath when I see her chest still and eyes slip closed. No, this isn’t right. God, please don’t take her. I wildly scream inside my head.

  “Kris?” My words choke in my throat.

  “I’m here,” Her eyelids drift up then down a few times before she tries focusing on me again. “Where I’m going…all the ugliness you’ve been so…adamantly trying to keep me away from won’t be there…kind of ironic, huh?”

  “Hush, please don’t do this. I need you to stay with me, Kris.” My bottom lip quivers.

  “You know in your soul…that finding ways to keep your heart closed off from real love is a lonely existence.” Wheeze, cough, pause, “I need…for you to promise me that you’ll go out there and live. He’s out there Sam…waiting for you. You know this. He…is worth…it all and…so are you.” I’m not going to argue with her now, but she’s wrong. “I’m not wrong…so stop thinking it. Blues,” Shallow breath, “is your soul mate.” She smiles through the pain filtering through her dimming eyes and paling face. “He’s the love of your life and the only man…that has ever tapped into your hard shell,” I touch my fingertips reverently to her cold hands wrapping them and squeezing, begging her to hold on, “...reached into your soul and grabbed…your heart…. all of it belongs to him Sam and you know it.” Her lips perk up again and a single tear slips from her eyes. “Maybe…a piece of it belongs to me.”

  “Yes Kris. You are more than my best friend,” my words are distorted with my sobs. “I love you so much.”

  “Sisters,” She nods and the tears well into her dull green eyes, “Sometimes, I feel like we…were destined to be together. Like, right now. Fate brought us together for this moment in time. You know?” She cries silently and I cry harder.

  I hear noises behind me and feel the bed move away. The doctor. “Detective?” A sweet angelic voice whispers over my shoulder, but I don’t turn around, I can’t.

  “No,” Kris whispers before glancing skyward. “I only have a few moments left. Don’t let them take me away from you yet.”

  “Let them help you.” I beg gripping her hand tighter. “Please Kris, please.” I cry so hard, my chest is squeezing.

  She gurgles and her mouth moves speaking so softly, almost too soft for me to hear lying beside her, “No, let me help you first…Go home, Sam.” Sniffing and dragging my hand under my nose, I narrow my eyes on her. “There is life…waiting for you in Willow. Kiss Gran for me. Grab those twins…love them through their issues and tell those nasty… your parents to fuck off.” She holds my stare before asking, “Promise me?”

  “Yes,” I nod my head weakly choking on more sobs, “For you, anything.”

  “No…for you,” she corrects with a whisper. Her eyes shift to the person hovering behind me, “Angel.”

  “Sam, the doctor’s here,” Tac tells me.

  Kris’ eyes drift to mine locking, and then her eyelashes flutter softly before closing for the last time. My heart lurches hard inside my chest and a scream rips from the pit of my stomach. I place my hand on her cheek, stroking my thumb over her tear trail and roll my head onto her shoulder. I cry hard, harder than I’ve ever cried before. An emanating void floods my chest–an abyss forming a black hole where all things are sucked intensely from my heart and I collapse into nothing. I feel like I’ve died with her, my best friend.

  “Kris?” Russ, who has been hovering above our head, sobs wrapping one arm around me and draping the other over his sister.

  I don’t know how long we stay like this, but eventually someone pries me off her and the floor. Numbly and tucked under Russ’ arm, I stagger outside and sit in the back of a patrol car. I stare down at the ground hearing different people, some patients, doctors and even police department personnel, offer their congratulations to each other on a successful outcome in the hostage situation. As much as I want to scream at them for being fucking idiots I know that Kris would consider the kids being safe the success of this incident. Rescuing Kris and Russ was all that I cared about at the time. Even Blues cared about the littlest hostages more than I did.

  Blues? Glancing up, I spot him standing with Tac and a few other guys across the parking lot. His eyes, sober now, are locked on me, and new longing sieves from them, making him appear kinder. No matter what Kris made me promise, it isn’t written in the cards for me and Blues. I loved the wrong man and there’s no way I will ever get over him. It falls on my lot to be alone.

  “Samantha Walker?” An older gentleman dressed in a tan suit asks leaning against the open door of the patrol car.

  “Yeah,” I answer pulling my attention away from Blues and looking up into severe gray eyes.

  “I’m sorry for your loss,” he sighs glancing around the area, “This probably isn’t the best place, but if you’ll give me a few minutes of your time to explain I think you might be interested in what I have to say.”

  Narrowing my eyes on him, I notice that he is a nice looking gentleman dressed in tailored clothing and shiny Italian shoes. He smiles and it is sweet, but I find it offensive after everything I’ve been through. I frown and he notices my lack of concern for his need to talk.

  “It’s about Dr. A,” he asserts. That piques my interest.

  “What about him?” I growl feeling my hatred from that fucker swelling with each passing moment.

  “I have an offer for you. It comes from deep within the government, a sort of rebel division of task.” He smirks smugly, and I twitch an eyebrow. Yeah, I’m definitely interested now.

  “What do you have to offer me?”

  “A job,” His voice is low and controlled. “I want you on a small task force that will become a tracking team. I understand that you overheard some details from the perpetrator before…killing him.” Details? Now I look at him completely confused. “He gave your friend some information about the ghost?”

  “Uh, Ethan Sloane is not my friend and I’m not sure I understand what information you’re talking about, Mr.…?”

  He smiles. “Call me Max.”

  “Max,” I repeat, “Why me exactly?”

  “I think you probably want the bastard as much I do now. He has avoided justice for many years, Detective, and I need people on this team that are hungry to bring him to justice. Mark Hatfield is just one of his many sick and twisted employees. We’re facing a bleak future if we don’t stop him, stopping the spread of Ryske.”

  “Bleaker?” I snort before growling angrily, “Is that what you think? How much bleaker do you think my life can get sir?”

  “You lost someone very special to you because of all this bullshit. I’m afraid that will happen for me, as well as many others, very soon if we don’t find the bastard, shut down his pharmaceutical facility and end his tyranny. Please consider my offer.” He steps back before adding, “I’ll be in touch, Sam.”

  Chapter Seventy

  Max walks away leaving me contemplating his crazy idea, and my betraying eyes once again drift up to where Blues is standing. I sigh and drop my face into my hands feeling broken in half. Fuck! How am I going to get through this? There is nothing more that I want in this moment than to crumble into a million
pieces or hide away, but that is just not me. I need to get away for sure, and I will, but there’s one thing left to do. Spotting Russ talking with Chief Summers, I stand up and walk over intruding on their conversation.

  “Hey,” My voice cracks, still very much effected from my losses. Russ shifts his body toward me, grabs and hugs tightly.

  “Hey Sam,” He pulls away from me and places both hands on the sides of my face. “Thank you!” He pauses looking deeply into my eyes reflecting equal amounts of sadness as his, “I owe you for saving my life.” I wince as I run my hand tenderly over the bandage taped to his head. “Chief was just telling me that one of the traffic units, not allowed to leave his post during the…situation,” his eyebrows pinch downward, “pulled over Lourdes and promptly arrested her on the warrants the DA issued this morning.”

  “Great,” I say morosely positive that the Kennedy money will have her out in no time. I just hope her sons have a place to go when she gets convicted.

  He sighs and the chief attentively watches our exchange, “I know it’s doesn’t make any of this better, but at least we got her, yeah?”

  “Yeah,” I nod weakly, “Russ, I’m leaving,” I state as calmly as I can while looking into eyes that match my best friends identically.

  “Yeah, I thought you might.” He nods dropping his hands to his sides. “Sam, call me. If you ever need anything, please…”

  “I will,” I interrupt. “I want you to do something for me now though.”

  He narrows his eyes at me and I shift mine toward Blues. He nods his head understanding my silent request to keep him from getting away, and then kisses my cheek before walking over toward Captain Reebals. Together they approach Blues.

  “Well done, Detective Walker,” Chief Summers says clasping a hand on my shoulder. “You made me proud. Canton owes you one for everything you did.” I glance over at him standing beside me watching Russ with purpose.