by Gary Land
He held her until she stopped shaking. She pulled back slightly and looked at him. “I had to see for myself,” she cried. “Otherwise...it wouldn’t have been real for me.” She gasped for air trying not to sob. “I was afraid...I was afraid he would haunt my dreams forever.”
Noly pushed her back gently. “I know.”
Kacy looked back at Finnegan and flinched at the gruesomeness laid out before her. Noly turned her towards him, brushed loose hair from her face, and said, “No mercy.”
“No mercy,” she repeated.
He gently wiped the tears from her cheeks. “Come on, let’s go...Sarah’s waiting for you.”
As they walked out the door, Kacy turned back to Finnegan one last time, and whispered, “I told you he’d come for me.”
#
Sarah waited patiently in the hospital lobby for them to arrive. Noly had called when he first found her and told Sarah that Kacy would be fine, that she was just a little dehydrated. He left off the worst details deciding that Kacy would talk to her mom when she was ready.
Sarah stood at the window overlooking the parking lot anxiously rubbing her hands together. She hadn’t noticed Kacy and Noly exit the elevator from the roof.
“Mommy?”
Sarah, still looking out the window, gasped, twirled around and ran towards Kacy. When Sarah swept her up in a hug, they were already both crying. Noly stood guard next to them lest anyone try to interfere with this moment. No one dared.
Noticing the jumpsuit, Sarah asked, “You didn’t enlist without my permission, did you?”
“No...but I might want to join when I’m old enough,” Kacy said.
Sarah finally turned to Noly and hugged him too. “Thank you for bringing her back to me.”
“Back to us,” Noly said. “From now on, it’s always us.”
She smiled up at him, and took his hand. Kacy grabbed his other hand.
It was a perfect moment until Sarah noticed blood on Kacy’s jumpsuit.
“What’s...this?” Sarah reached out and touched it.
Kacy flinched at the pain. She tried to twist away and say it was nothing, but it was too late.
“Oh my god, you’re hurt,” Sarah said.
Kacy looked up at Noly sheepishly. “I think my stitches came out.”
“Stitches!” Sarah looked from Kacy to Noly for an explanation. Neither seemed to be in a hurry to offer one, but Noly finally answered her.
“It’s not as bad as it looks. The doctor is waiting for us. Let’s get Captain Kacy fixed up and we’ll tell you all about it.”
The doctor gave Kacy two pints of blood, cleaned and properly sutured the wound. And gave her the dreaded Tetanus shot. They gave her more fluids for the dehydration then checked her into a room for overnight observation. Sarah and Noly stayed with her all night.
Kacy told them everything while Sarah cried and Noly’s jaw muscle worked overtime. It was so hard to hear what Kacy had been through, but Noly could see that she was safe and healthy, and he knew she would be much stronger for having lived through the ordeal.
When she told him about gouging out Finnegan’s eyes, Sarah put a hand over her mouth.
“I remembered the lion.” She smiled at Noly.
“You did a great job, Kacy,” Noly said. “No one could have done any better.”
“I wanted to be strong...for you,” Kacy told him. “I wanted to be brave like you are.” She paused, and then shyly added, “You saved my life--you saved me twice.”
Noly looked at Sarah, tears welling in his eyes. He looked back at Kacy, and hugged her.
“You saved me too...you both did.”
Chapter 38
Kacy sat at the kitchen table watching her mom cook dinner. She couldn’t concentrate on the Sudoku puzzle she was trying to complete, because her mind kept wandering. It had been two days since Noly rescued her from the desert. Physically, she felt fine, but she couldn’t stop thinking about the events of the last week. She thought she would in time, but--something was wrong.
Kacy felt like she was falling. Something in her face must have changed, because Sarah became alarmed.
“Kacy, what’s wrong?”
Kacy couldn’t shake the feeling--the kind you get when you ride down a very fast elevator. Something was definitely wrong. She dug deep into herself, opening her mind, thinking.
“Noly,” she said.
“Honey?”
Kacy slowly started towards the door, wrinkling her forehead, concentrating. One step, then another. She didn’t understand what was happening, but something inside her screamed to go to Noly. He was in trouble.
She didn’t realize she was crying until she felt a tear slide down her cheek.
“It’s okay, mom...I just remembered...I’m supposed to help Mrs. H. I’ll be back in a little bit.”
Before Sarah could respond, Kacy was out the door and running down the length of the building towards Noly’s apartment.
Catherine van Leesle aimed the gun at Noly’s head. She cocked her head first to the right and then to the left as if studying a great painting, or analyzing some undecipherable code. She hummed a tune that Noly didn’t recognize. He was probably being generous by considering it a tune.
Noly recognized the gun as a Beretta M9, and briefly wondered where Catherine would have got it from. Maybe Otto had a collection. Noly wondered if he was destined to die at the hands of this psychotic girl. She had already shot him once and put him in a coma. Now, she was here to finish the job. But Noly doubted if she really understood what she was doing.
He managed to shift his position just a little, so that he stood at a slight angle to Catherine instead of straight on. If Catherine shot him in the head it probably wouldn’t matter, but he had a better chance with a body shot this way.
Catherine’s arm would be getting tired soon; she would either shoot or not. Noly knew he could measure this moment of fate in mere seconds. He heard a noise and flicked his eyes away from Catherine, but only for a second. He looked back at the last of the van Leesle’s, and saw her finger start to squeeze the trigger.
He said, “No mercy.”
#
The door to Noly’s apartment stood open. A cold blast of air cooled the sweat that had already formed on Kacy’s brow. She stepped quietly through the door, listening for any sound. She knew where Noly hid all his guns. He kept at least one in every room. Most people would consider that paranoid behavior, but Noly explained that in his line of work it always paid to be extra careful, to be prepared. You’re not paranoid if someone really is out to get you.
She went straight for the Glock, because it was closest. She removed it from its hiding place in the kitchen, checked that it was loaded and slid a round into the chamber. She surprised herself by remaining calm, but she knew Noly needed her help, and she would never let him down.
It sounded like humming, so she slowly followed the noise until she found a woman holding a gun on Noly. Kacy was suddenly very afraid. Afraid of making a mistake, afraid of killing someone. Then Noly looked into her eyes for just a moment.
He said, “No mercy.” Noly was talking to her, not the woman.
This lady was going to kill Noly. But it was not just Noly anymore--she was going to kill her Dad. Any doubts Kacy had fled in an instant. Noly had already saved her life twice.
Kacy raised the gun with both hands, aimed for the back of the woman’s left arm, and fired. As expected, the force of the bullet spun Catherine around towards Kacy. When she had fully turned, Kacy hesitated, but when she saw Catherine raise the gun, Kacy took aim and shot her center-mass. Noly’s would-be assassin fell to the ground, and Kacy knew she was dead.
Noly walked over to Kacy and put his arm around her. “Nice,” he said. That was it--just the one word. Gun down at her side she looked up at him.
“Now it’s two to one.”
The End
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