Hard Trauma

by Franklin Horton

  “She using any lights?” Cliff asked.

  “Negative,” Badger replied. “Humpty’s in stealth mode.”

  “I want you and Riley to get in position ahead of her. I’ll start moving toward you guys. I want the rest of you to remain in position and monitor for other targets.”

  52

  Tough as she was, Tia was already beginning to question her ability to trek the distance to the road. She didn’t remember walking being this difficult. She was committed, though. It was either keep going or lay down in the desert to die. Even if she called for a ride at that very moment, it wasn’t like they could come searching for her in the middle of the ranch. She was going to have to tough it out.

  She pulled her Santa Muerte effigy from her purse and shared some tequila with her. She replaced the statue and the liquor in her purse, then set off again. As she walked, she prayed aloud. She asked for a new life; asked for the ability to rise again and be a respected member of her community; asked for the strength to haul her tired old ass across these last few miles of dark desert.

  Several times she thought she heard noises. She was aware that the desert was alive at night. During the day, most animals took shelter from the heat. At night, they came out and moved around like she was doing.

  She was deep in prayer when a man popped up from behind a rock. He blinded her with a powerful strobing flashlight while barking orders at her. She didn’t even think of the gun in her purse. It was pure reflex to drop her bags and raise her hands up in front of her face. Anything to block the painful flashing light.

  The man was screaming commands in English. She figured he had to be a cop but she couldn’t see him. He was ordering her to put her hands over her head but that would only allow him to further blind her with the light. Did he think she was an idiot? She wasn’t moving her hands.

  Tia felt a sting at her back, and for a moment she thought a scorpion must have gotten beneath her shirt. Then she heard the crackle of high voltage electricity and her muscles quit working. She went rigid and toppled over into the dirt. Her bladder let go, dampening her sweatpants.

  Strong hands rolled her onto her face. She tasted the dirt embedded in her smeared pink lipstick. Her hands were gathered behind her and flex-cuffed. When the cuffs were secure, the hands rolled her onto her back. The bright light hit her in the face but it was no longer strobing. The blinding beam made it impossible to open her eyes. Although she scrunched her eyes closed and tried to twist her head away she could find no relief.

  “Are you Tia?” a voice demanded. “Are you Fidelia Mendoza?”

  “Fuck you,” she hissed. “Get that light out of my face!”

  “It’s her,” a different voice said. “It matches the photo. We got her.”

  The beam of light moved from her face, lowering to her torso. She cracked her eyes open and saw a man speaking into a microphone attached a helmet. She wondered if she’d been captured by the Army. Did they think she was so dangerous that they’d sent the military after her? She found that to be funny. At least someone had a little respect for her.

  “This is Badger. Subject in custody. I’ve got a visual confirmation from the photograph. This is our target.”

  53

  Getting uninterrupted stretches of sleep in the hospital was proving impossible. There were constant visits from nurses wanting to take his vitals and ask about his pain. His biggest pain was the inability to sleep, to which they were contributing. By morning, Ty was ready to bolt. The only good thing about the night was that the pain medications interfered with his dreams. There were no nightmares and no sensation of waking into a hyper-vigilant panic state.

  The next morning, he’d already given up on sleep when he got a text message from Cliff Mathis.

  We got her. She’s in custody.

  No explanation was required. Ty knew what that meant. They had Tia.

  He was typing a response, wanting details, when the door flew open and Aiden marched in with Deena on her tail. Aiden’s arms were full of tiny fast food bags, which she deposited at the foot of his bed. She started to leap onto Ty, to give him a flying hug, but Deena grabbed her just in time.

  “He’s hurt, baby. You have to be gentle.”

  Aiden rolled her eyes. “Oh, I forgot he’s a baby.” She flashed Ty a wicked grin.

  “What’s in the bags?” Ty asked.

  “She insisted on bringing you some food,” Deena said.

  “They’re Happy Meals,” Aiden said. “To make you happy.”

  “How many are there?” Ty asked.

  “Six,” Aiden said.

  “What about that one in your hand?” Ty asked. “It doesn’t look like a happy meal.”

  She frowned. “I don’t eat Happy Meals. I’m not a baby.” She winked at Ty and dug into the adult-sized portion of chicken nuggets she’d gotten for herself.

  Deena rolled Ty’s tray table into position and began laying out the tiny containers of chicken nuggets and French fries for him. Aiden could barely stifle a grin. She pulled out her phone and took a picture, cackling as she stared at the image she’d captured.

  “How are you feeling?” Deena asked.

  “Like I got hit by a truck.”

  “Poor baby,” Aiden whispered.

  Ty considered throwing a nugget at her but wasn’t prepared for the consequences. He was in no condition for any kind of battle at the moment, even if it was simply a food fight. “The orthopedic surgeon came by for a consult earlier. He said I might have to have some pins in my wrist but they won’t know until the swelling goes down. I’ll have to follow-up on that when I get home.”

  “So when are they releasing you?” Deena asked.

  “I don’t know but I hope it’s today. I think they were just concerned about my head injury.”

  “Your head is pretty hard,” Aiden quipped. “You’ll be fine.”

  There was a knock at the door and it opened enough for a face Ty recognized to appear in the crack. It was Heather Wells, Gretchen’s mother.

  “Can we come in?” she asked.

  “Please,” Ty said.

  Heather pushed the door open and stepped aside to let Gretchen enter the room. She was wearing pajamas with a hospital gown over them. She hesitated inside the door and her mother put an arm around her. They approached the bed together. Deena moved to Aiden’s side, giving Gretchen and her mother room.

  Ty smiled at Gretchen. “Would you like some chicken nuggets?”

  Gretchen looked at the half-dozen boxes, then at her mother.

  “Are you sure it’s okay?” Heather asked.

  Ty nodded. “Definitely. They’re a gift from my niece Aiden. She wants me to be very, very happy, but there’s more than I can eat.”

  Aiden nodded as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

  Ty scooted two containers of nuggets and two packets of fries in Gretchen’s direction. She opened a container and sampled one.

  “They’re better than the hospital’s,” she said.

  Ty smiled at her. “I’m sure they are.”

  Heather gently placed a hand on an uninjured portion of Ty’s arm. “I can’t thank you enough. You were the only one who figured it out. If you hadn’t hung in there...”

  Ty didn’t know what to say, uncomfortable with the praise. “I didn’t have any choice. I couldn’t let it go.”

  “I’ll let you rest, but I’m going to get your information before we leave. We don’t live that far away from each other. I could make you dinner when everyone is home and healed up.” She looked at Deena and Aiden. “You all too.”

  “That sounds great,” Ty said. “I’d like that.”

  “In the meantime, if there’s anything we can ever do for you, just ask. We are eternally in your debt.”

  “Oh, he needs all kinds of help,” Aiden said. “Trust me.”

  “Aiden!” Deena hissed. “Be quiet.”

  Heather smiled. “It’s okay. I’m used to little girls.”

  “Tweens!�
� Aiden insisted. “Not little girls.”

  “Thank you for helping me,” Gretchen said. “And for the nuggets.”

  “You’re welcome, sweetie,” Ty said.

  Heather gave him a very gentle hug and left with her daughter. When they were gone, Aiden gave him a look.

  “Eh, so you saved a girl. Don’t start thinking you’re a bigshot or anything.”

  Ty grinned. “No chance of that. I have a feeling you’ll keep me humble.”

  “I don’t even know what that means.”

  “It means, we’re going to leave now and let Uncle Ty rest,” Deena said. “I’m sure he’s exhausted.”

  “We just got here,” Aiden groaned.

  “It’s you,” Ty said with an evil grin. “Your presence is exhausting.”

  “If you weren’t such a baby, we’d fight,” Aiden said. “There’d only be two hits. Me hitting you and you hitting the floor.”

  Ty started laughing but winced when the movement caused a sharp pain in his collarbone. Aiden stood and Ty instantly stiffened, afraid his rowdy niece might pounce on him. Instead, she patted the back of his hand with a dramatically delicate gesture.

  “Hope you feel better, little baby,” she cooed.

  “I love you, Aiden. Thank you guys for coming.”

  “Love you, Uncle Ty.”

  Deena gave him a kiss on the cheek. “Call me the minute you know anything about your discharge.”

  54

  The doctor discharged Ty that afternoon. Before leaving the hospital, he went by Gretchen’s room and said good-bye to her and her mother. While seeing those two reunited gave him a sense of accomplishment, he was wary. He was waiting on the letdown, the depression that would come crashing down on him now that this all-consuming mission had been completed. What was next for him?

  The FBI put him up in a hotel so he could meet with them the next day. They wanted him to provide a detailed statement on what took place from the time he ducked out of the task force meeting, up until the point Cliff Mathis’s team showed up at the ranch. Now that he was certain he wasn’t going to be arrested, he was fine with returning to the field office.

  Deena and Aiden were already at the airport, waiting on their flight home. Deena had invited Ty to stay with them for a couple of days when he got home but he assured her he’d be fine. He was anxious to get back to his own bed and his own space, as long as it didn’t swallow him. If depression took hold, he wasn’t sure he was in any condition to fight back.

  Lying in bed at his hotel, eating pizza, Ty caught Jessica up on the turn of events through text messages. He assured her he hadn’t told anyone how he got Barger’s address. She told him the Wasteland had been relatively quiet as of late, which he was pleased to hear. They made plans for him to stop in Oklahoma so he could buy her that dinner he promised.

  He shot Cliff Mathis a couple of messages inquiring about Tia’s capture, but hadn’t heard back from him. He had to assume the man was involved in something that was keeping him away from the phone.

  The next day, the meeting with the FBI was tiring. Ty was fighting pain and taking meds for it, although he was aware he needed to get off those pills as soon as possible. He’d seen too many friends become addicted and he had enough problems already. The last thing he needed was an addiction to go along with it.

  After making a day-long recorded statement, the FBI delivered Ty back to his room. They told him they were done with him for now, but he was free to stay in the room until he was able to travel. If they needed anything further from him, they’d reach out. Depending on how things went with the legal case, he might have to return to testify or make further statements.

  Once back in his hotel room for another evening, Ty was trying to decide on his dinner plans. He was starving. He’d been reunited with his truck and it was parked outside his hotel so he was mobile again. He was wavering between driving somewhere for dinner or simply having pizza delivered to his room. He was searching his phone for dinner options when it rang, startling him. It was Cliff Mathis.

  “Hello, Cliff.”

  “Hey, Ty. How you holding up?”

  “Feel like I got dropped out of a chopper. Pretty rough. The FBI told me how you guys found Tia. Very fucking impressive.”

  “We figured she was holed up like a rat. It was just a matter of waiting her out. When it got dark, she scurried out of her hole.”

  “That’s a relief, Cliff. Going home with her on the loose felt wrong.”

  “I was wondering if you might be up for dinner. My treat.”

  Despite being tired, Ty had begun to worry that the hotel walls were going to close in on him at some point. He was due for an emotional crash. “I’d love to,” he said.

  “Where are you?”

  Ty gave him the address of the hotel and thirty minutes later they were heading down the street in Cliff’s Bronco.

  “What do you have a taste for?” Cliff asked. “Mexican? Sushi? Steaks? Barbecue? You name it, we got it.”

  “Mexican would be great.”

  “I know just the place.”

  When they got there, Cliff ordered a beer while they studied the menu. Ty ordered an iced tea, hoping the caffeine might perk him up a little. The pain meds had him feeling a little thickheaded.

  “You did good work out there,” Cliff said. “I wanted to tell you that.”

  “Thanks, but you guys probably saved my ass,” Ty replied. “I was a fucking mess when you rolled up. If Tia had sent out reinforcements from the ranch, I’d probably be in a hole in the desert somewhere. Who knows where Gretchen might have ended up.”

  Cliff took a sip of his beer. The waiter returned with chips, queso, and salsa. He took their orders and departed.

  “If you don’t mind me asking, Ty, how are you adjusting to civilian life? I know it’s hard sliding from the tip of the spear to somewhere in the outfield. Some people make the transition easier than others.”

  “It sucks. Most days, I wish my life had gone differently. I kind of feel like I don’t belong anywhere now. I can’t go back to the military and the civilian world doesn’t feel right either.”

  “How are you doing emotionally?”

  Ty was a little uncomfortable with that question. He didn’t know this guy well enough to go spilling his guts to him. He was a guarded person by nature and emotional crap was not something he was used to opening up about. “Well, you know I’m a member of the Wasteland. That should tell you something. We’ve all got our burdens to bear.”

  Cliff scanned the room, a gesture that seemed more habit than concern. He was a man who liked to stay aware of his surroundings. He leaned forward, his gaze intense. “Ty, I’m not going to beat around the bush. I’d like to offer you a place on my team. I’d like you to join the company.”

  “Door Kickers?”

  Cliff nodded.

  Ty hesitated before answering. “I appreciate the offer, seriously I do, but I have…history, and I’m not sure you want that on your team.”

  “I checked into you, Ty. I know what happened. I know about the dead civilians, and I know you took the heat for that. Everything I’ve learned about you makes me think you’re exactly the right person for our team.”

  Ty stared at his tea, tracing lines in the condensation on the glass with a damp finger. “I saw her in that Suburban at the ranch, Cliff. When I opened that door, I thought it was happening all over again. It was just like in my nightmares. Another dead child. I’d failed.”

  “That’s okay, buddy. She wasn’t dead. You saved this one.”

  Ty kept shaking his head, staring at his drink. “It’s not okay. I had a meltdown. I totally lost my shit.”

  “I need you to listen to me. That feeling you’re describing is not who Tyler Stone is. That feeling is a symptom of a condition that can be dealt with. You need to distinguish between the two, and I might be able to help with that.”

  “How?”

  “I have a doctor I want you to see in Virginia. He’s worked
with my people before. He’s good but you have to be honest with him. Don’t be afraid to tell him the truth when he asks hard questions. The only way he can help you is if you’re honest. Will you call him?”

  Ty looked Cliff in the eye. “Are you sure you want me on your team?”

  “One hundred percent,” Cliff said. “However, medical compliance is required. You want to be on my team, you see the doc, and you do what he tells you.”

  “How would being on the team work? Would I have to move here? I mean, I help my sister out and I’d hate to leave her in a lurch.”

  “You don’t have to move,” Cliff said. “We put you on salary. You get full benefits. You just have to be ready to deploy at a moment’s notice to anywhere in the world. It’s like being back on a team, only with a different mission.”

  “What exactly is that mission? What would I be doing?”

  “We go wherever in the world people are being trafficked. We rescue victims and help local governments arrest the offenders. We kick down doors, we drop out of choppers, and we set up sting operations. We provide non-lethal operational support. You’ll take down bad guys and give victims a chance at a new life.”

  “You sure the other guys will be cool with me coming onboard? They saw me falling apart when I found Gretchen. What if they don’t think they can depend on me?”

  “You don’t have to worry about that. My company doesn’t just save victims,” Cliff said. “It saves veterans. At some point, every man on my team felt like you do. They were waiting for a mission that never came. Now here’s your mission. Are you up for it?”

  Ty imagined himself returning to Virginia. To his bleak apartment. To his search for another depressing job. To only feeling alive in the gym or on the range. That wasn’t the life he wanted. He extended his hand.

  “I’ll accept your offer.”

  Cliff shook his hand, a genuine smile on his face. “Welcome aboard, Ty.”