Tarnished Hero

by Temple Madison

  “Did you say something?”

  “I said, got a buck to spare, kid?”

  The man surprised Adam by speaking with a gentleness Adam hadn’t expected, so he reached into his pocket, pulled out a twenty, and handed it over.

  The man looked down at the bill, and said, “Looks new. Where’d you get it…Sweden?”

  The man’s mention of Sweden surprised Adam, who stared at him until he finally turned and walked away. The man had gotten only a few feet when it hit Adam like a bolt of lightning, and he turned quickly.

  “Eddie?” When Adam saw the man getting away from him, he yelled again. “Eddie!” Again, nothing. Becoming desperate, he yelled, “Casey? Casey Cross?” When he still got no response, the man began walking faster until Adam ran up, pulled at his arm, forcing him around. “Eddie, it’s Adam. I know it’s you…”

  “Get lost, kid,” the man said as he pulled his arm away, immediately turned the corner, and crossed the street.

  Without a moment’s hesitation Adam ran up to him again. “Eddie, talk to me,” he said just before several shots rang out.

  Quick as lightning, Eddie grabbed Adam, pushed him down to the ground, and covered him with his body.

  After the gunplay was over, Adam noticed Eddie’s body felt like a dead weight, and didn’t move. And then suddenly he heard a lot of running and shouting happening around them until the police finally got there, and lifted Eddie’s limp body, and pulled Adam from beneath him.

  “Oh my God,” Adam shouted. “He’s not moving!”

  * * * *

  Later, at the hospital, Adam was pacing worriedly up and down the waiting room until the doctor, just out of the OR, came in. He watched as the doctor looked around at the few people in there, and then called out, “Adam Dunbar?”

  Adam raced up to him, anxious for news of Eddie’s condition. “Yes, yes, what’s the news? Is he…oh, God, is he…”

  “He’s going to be all right, Mr. Dunbar, but I’m afraid his condition is very serious, and he’s going to need complete bed rest. I’m afraid that means no visitors.”

  “But I’m a friend, a good friend. Someone who’s very interested in seeing him well and whole. He very probably saved my life. I think he would want to see me, doctor.”

  “Mr. Dunbar, the best thing you can do right now is go home, get some rest yourself, and in a few days, if Mr. Scarlett does as well as expected, then he’ll be able to receive visitors.”

  “A few days?” Adam said, grabbing the doctor. “You don’t understand, doctor. As soon as the shooting started he pushed me to the ground. If it hadn’t been for him I’d be the one…oh, God, this whole thing is my fault. I…God, I’m so stupid. I practically pointed him out to those bastards who did this. He was in disguise, and could have gotten away clean except for me.” Adam began crying. “Oh, God, how can one man be so stupid?” Adam looked up at the doctor, his eyes pleading. “And now, if he dies, it’ll be my fault. I might as well have been the one that pulled that trigger. I’m just as much to blame.”

  The doctor was finally able to pull himself out of Adam’s grasp, and led him to a chair. “Mr. Dunbar, please. You’ve got to get hold of yourself.” He looked around and called to a passing nurse. “Take Mr. Dunbar to an empty room and see that he gets some sleep. He’s very overwrought, and needs some rest. His friend—”

  “Oh, I see. Did he die?”

  “No, he’s not dead, but…please, nurse, just handle it, okay? I’ve got a million things to do. I just got out of surgery, I’ve got a class, rounds to make. Oh, God, this is the day from hell.”

  “Don’t worry, doctor, I’ll take care of it.”

  “Thanks,” he said, and then rushed off.

  * * * *

  The next morning, Adam opened his eyes to a strange room, lunged upward, and looked around. The last memory he had was being in the hospital where Eddie—oh, God, Eddie. He gave his watch a quick glance, and then looked around at the daylight coming through the windows, and wondered what the latest news was regarding Eddie. He jumped up, quickly ran out of the room to a vacant corridor, and saw nothing but shining floor tile, daylight peeping through windows with closed blinds, and hushed voices that came from somewhere. He knew he would never be given access to Eddie’s room if he was seen, so, he crept around like a burglar looking for the nurse’s station, and then waited for her to leave. From there he crept up to the reception counter, and was just about to begin fumbling through her papers when his eyes caught a computerized list of patients on the wall, along with their room numbers. In that moment he thanked God that the hospital had computerized their records when so many of them were still behind the times. Among the LED lighted names it was easy to find the one he was looking for.

  After carefully checking the room numbers he found it, and ran until he stood quietly outside the room with his back plastered to the wall, looking up and down the corridor, afraid some doctor or nurse would come along and tell him to get out. Finally, he turned, looked through the glass panel in the door, and saw Eddie hooked up to tubes, and his chest covered with bandages. His eyes widened, because at that moment the truth crashed down upon him, reminding him of the tiny, unfamiliar voice that said nothing except the name of the funeral home. The creep, whoever he was, knew that Adam would show up and single Eddie out for them so they could close in. Stupid fool that he was, he had played right into their hands.

  Now, with one more look up and down the corridor, he pushed on the door, and opened it. Inside, the room was full of the smell of antiseptic, alcohol, and the god-awful smell of adhesive, and lots of it. Enough to hold a brave, vigilant, giant like Eddie together. He walked up to the bed slowly, watching for any little movement Eddie might make, and stood looking down at Eddie with anxious eyes. Finally, he pulled a chair up beside the bed, sat down, and leaned close to Eddie, and whispered his important message.

  “Eddie, if you can hear me, I’m sorry. God, I’m so sorry.” While he was saying it, he looked closely at the face he’d come to love, and saw—Eddie’s eyes open.

  When Adam saw that, he gasped. Eddie’s eyes held a myriad of emotions. Everything from pain to surprise to see Adam there.

  “Don’t talk,” Adam said. “I’m not even supposed to be here, but I had to apologize. To let you know I am so sorry that this happened. I know it’s my fault, and if when you get out of here you never want to see me again, I’ll understand. But I just wanted you to know that…I love you, Eddie, and had I known…if I would’ve had any idea…I wouldn’t have…” Adam finished on a sob, and quickly turned his head away so Eddie couldn’t see the unmanly tears he was shedding.

  “You love me?” Eddie managed in a gravelly whisper.

  Adam turned back. “Not that it matters much now, but yes.”

  While Adam was looking at him, Eddie slowly closed his eyes, and Adam suddenly became afraid. My God, was he dead? “Eddie? Eddie!” he kept saying with no response. He was about to call a nurse when he heard a voice.

  “He’s still alive, he’s just weak.”

  Adam turned quickly and saw the doctor. “I know you’re upset with me, but I had to…”

  “Even at the expense of his life? You do a lot of that, don’t you?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “I mean, Mr…”

  “Adam Dunbar.”

  “I mean, Mr. Dunbar that you exposed him to his enemies, and now, at the possible expense of his life, you have to make yourself feel better by coming in here to apologize to him.”

  Adam lowered his head. “You’re right. Again, I’m sorry. It seems I’m always apologizing here lately. I can’t seem to do anything right.” He looked up at the doctor. “All I know is, I care about this man. I’d rather die myself than…”

  Just then he felt a touch on his fingers and looked down. Tears began to fall again when he saw Eddie’s fingers were lightly touching his, and when he looked into Eddie’s eyes, incredibly he knew what Eddie was thinking.

  It’s ok
ay, his eyes said. It’s okay.

  * * * *

  In the weeks that followed, Eddie got steadily better, and Adam spent every day at the hospital with him. They talked, laughed, joked around, played games, ate together, and even watched TV. And then the day came when Adam asked Eddie the all-important question. The question that almost put Eddie back on the critical list.

  “Eddie, how about giving it up?”

  “Giving it up?”

  “You know. Undercover work. There’s a million jobs at the NYPD that you could probably do. Does it have to be something so dangerous? How about a desk job?”

  Eddie couldn’t believe what he was hearing, and stared at Adam for several seconds feeling the anger slowly crawling up his spine and into his brain. “You…how could you ask me a question like that?”

  “Like what?”

  “Don’t you get it yet, Adam? The work I do is important to me. It’s like a friggin’ calling, a mission, for God’s sake.”

  “I know that, but I die a thousand deaths knowing you’re out there putting your life in danger.”

  “You!” Eddie yelled as loud as he could. “You! You! You! Does everything have to be about you?” Feeling a slight pain, Eddie closed his eyes, and then opened them and looked hard at Adam. “Adam, I know what I’m doing. I’m a professional Undercover Cop, and I’ve been trained for what I do.”

  “Trained to go in there as someone else…tricking them into believing your one thing when you’re actually something else? That seems…I don’t know…unfair somehow. You’re…”

  “Are you out of your mind?” Eddie growled.

  “But it’s not honest, is it?”

  “Not honest?” Eddie sputtered, not believing what he was hearing.

  “It’s…I don’t know, dirty somehow.”

  “Dirty? Did I hear you say dirty? My God, Adam, clearly you don’t know what the fuck you’re talking about. This is war we’re talking about. Soldiers, undercover cops, firefighters, anyone that puts their life in danger, they’re doing it for you. To keep you safe. And if being an undercover cop means fighting dirty, passing myself off as someone I’m not, I don’t give a fuck. I’m there to bring them down. Adam, they deal drugs to kids, for God’s sake. Teenagers are killed every three hours, they pimp, and they kill for no better reason than they think it’s fuckin’ cool. These creeps despise authority, they kill for the sheer pleasure of it, they perform hate crimes on women, old people, and gays. Do you think that’s honest? Hell, they fight dirtier than I do, Adam. I’m just better at it than they are, if I’m lucky. Believe me, if I have to fight dirty to save some teenager’s life, or so the citizens of this city can walk the streets in safety, I will. And the idea of ever asking me to give it up is absolutely insane. I won’t do it. I won’t do it for you, for me, for mom’s apple pie, and for God almighty. Why? Because it’s something I believe in, and it’s a job that has to be done. All UC’s have been trained to die if necessary. The day I fell on you, hell, I didn’t stumble, I did it to save your fuckin’ life. All men of war have been trained that way. That’s why you sometimes hear about these soldiers in foreign countries that will even blow themselves up to get just one lousy enemy soldier. If I have to fight dirty, then I’ll fight dirty. I’ll get those damned bastards even if it’s with the last breath in my body. So the answer is no, Adam. Hell, no.”

  * * * *

  Adam stared at Eddie.

  In Adam Dunbar’s eyes Eddie Scarlett had just grown ten more feet, and Eddie was already a giant of a man who stood taller than the tallest hero he’d ever known, or read about. Adam looked down at himself, at his designer clothes, his perfectly styled hair, and his perfectly manicured nails, and knew that wasn’t the mark of a man. Adam then looked at Eddie, and knew that out of the two of them Eddie was the real man. Eddie, with his craggy face, his hair that looked as if it had been cut with a sharp rock, and knew that if he had to, he didn’t mind taking a bullet, rolling around in the dirt, or even putting his very life in danger by pretending to be the worst kind of bastard to ever draw breath if it meant it would get him close enough to the enemy to bring said enemy down. He inconvenienced himself time and again, lost sleep, didn’t eat regular, and Adam knew, without a doubt, that this job would someday kill him.

  Did that matter to Eddie? Not in the least.

  “I’m sorry,” Adam whispered. “There, I’ve said it again. Made another mistake. I don’t know how I manage to stick my foot in my mouth time after time. Stupid, I guess.”

  “You’re not stupid, Adam, you’re…I don’t know…young, I guess. Naïve. You just haven’t found a cause in your life that you’d be willing to lay down your life for.”

  Adam looked at Eddie. “Does it have to be a cause?”

  “Yes it does. You die for causes, you live for people. And that’s what I’m going to try and do for you, Adam. Live. You see,” Eddie said as he pointed upward. “He has a timetable, and if it’s my time to go, I’ll go. It might be as dramatic as being blown up by a bomb, being burned up in a house fire, or as boring as being hit by a bus, but whatever it is, it’s up to Him. Not some mob boss, or trigger-happy sniper. Him.”

  Eddie’s speech had certainly given young, naïve Adam something to think about.

  * * * *

  As soon as Eddie was given a release by his doctor, Eddie and Adam stopped by KingStar to visit, of all people, Adam’s twin sister, Ada.

  As soon as she saw Eddie and Adam walk into her office, Ada smiled big, reached out, and caught Eddie’s hand in hers, and said, “Oh, Mr. Scarlett, I will never be able to thank you enough for what you did for us. What went on here was absolutely unbelievable. I can’t begin to tell you how much I appreciate the work you did here. To think that Mr. McAlister was this awful Lady Killer that’s been…well, I’m just shocked.”

  “It’s okay, Ms. Dunbar.”

  “And when I found out that Vinnie Torrio was also a part of this, and it was all just a well-planned…what do they call it? Sting? Anyway, you and Mr. Torrio did such a wonderful job. No one suspected what you were here for. Not even me. This was all planned when I was on vacation, of course, so I…when I found out, I was absolutely floored.”

  Eddie couldn’t help but chuckle at her enthusiasm, and her continuous pumping of his hand. “Really, Ms. Dunbar, you don’t owe me anything. I was just doing my job. I’m just happy that it all turned out the way it did.”

  “Well, sir, you are welcome here anytime, and I have to admit that I have a whole new respect for the NYPD. You really are doing some wonderful things over there.”

  “I really wish you’d call me Eddie.”

  “Of course,” she replied, and looked over at Adam. “Oh, hello, Adam. I guess I missed you in all the excitement of seeing Mr. Scarlett. Well, little brother, may I assume that you’re here to work?”

  “Hear that?” he said to Eddie. “Just because she’s a whole two minutes older than me, she thinks that gives her the right to call me ‘little brother.’” He looked back at her. “No, I’m not here to work, Ada, you know that. I…uh, we just came by to give you some news.”

  “Oh, really? What’s going on?”

  “Well…Eddie and I are going to move in together.”

  “Oh, really?” she said, looking at both with surprise. “Moving in together? When did all this happen?”

  “That’s hard to say,” Eddie responded. “I guess I’d have to say it all started one night when I realized how good Adam looks in red.”

  “Oh, God,” Adam said, remembering the red socks and net shirt. “That damned thing has caused me nothing but trouble. I’m throwing it out.”

  Eddie chuckled. “Oh, no you’re not.”

  “An inside joke, no doubt,” Ada said, looking at both of them suspiciously.

  “Sorry,” Eddie said. “That was uncalled for.”

  “That’s okay…however, this is a big decision, and I do feel the need to be honest with you.”

  “Mmm, sounds intriguing.�
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  “Before you make any decisions, I need to tell you a few things about Adam. He’s still a child, you know. Irresponsible, reckless, careless, and immature. He can’t make a bed, and he can’t even fold his own laundry. He’s a motherless child. I’ve tried to get him to go to work here to learn some responsibility, but he always manages to wiggle out of it somehow…like he did when you were here.”

  “Come to think of it, I don’t think I ever saw him doing any work.”

  “He’s allergic to it. But…well…if you’re sure, you have my blessing.”

  “Thank you,” Eddie said. “However, it seems very odd that two people from the same womb, born at the same time, and to the same mother can be so different. I mean, you seem very responsible, and apparently do a good job running this place. What do you think happened?”

  She laughed, slid her eyes toward Adam, and said, “From what I understand, in every set of twins, there is a bad one and a good one.” She pointed toward Adam. “Meet the bad one.”

  Eddie snickered. “Okay, well, I would say that I’ll try to raise him right, but I’m afraid I’m not much better at housework than he is. I can shoot a gun, run along the top of a moving train, bloody the nose of a bad man, and play the role of the enemy, but don’t ask me to make a bed.”

  “Oh, God,” she responded. “Well, don’t worry. I’ll make sure I drop by occasionally to see that you boys don’t get buried beneath the filth.”

  “Thanks,” Eddie said, and looked over at Adam. “Come on…sonny.”

  Adam looked back at Ada. “You’ll pay for this.”

  Ada laughed. “Blessings on you both.”

  As the two were walking down the street, Adam looked over at Eddie. “You know, there’s just one thing I can’t figure out.”

  “Yeah?” Eddie answered. “What’s that?”

  “How a man like you, tough as nails, smart, can go underground and fool the mafia into thinking you’re the lowest, meanest, hombre this town has ever produced, and yet you can’t make a bed, wash a dish, or run a vacuum.”