Because of You: Covert OPS 1

by Kymber Jones

  Chrys shook her head. “Use my phone. It’s number two. It’s my Dad. He’ll bring everyone else out.”

  “Are you sure?” Bret asked.

  “Yes.”

  “Okay, here, hand it to me.”

  Chrys pointed to the wall. “I dropped it when he slammed me against the wall.”

  Bret looked over at where Chrys pointed and saw the phone. Quickly he walked back over and picked it up, then pressed the number two until the phone began to ring.

  “Hey Love, where…”

  “Mr. Hopkins? It’s Bret, the bartender. I just caught one of the patrons trying to attack your daughter behind the club. The police are on their way, but Chrys wanted me to call you out here.”

  “Thanks. You said you’re behind the bar?” Captain Hopkins demanded, his voice harsh.

  “Yes, sir.”

  “We’ll be right there.”

  Bret disconnected the call and turned his attention back to Chrys.

  “Look at me.” He told her gently, holding up four fingers. “How many fingers am I holding up?”

  “Enough for me to break if you’re not careful.” Chrys snapped, then groaned.

  “Easy. Let’s sit you down. That’s right. Good, your family’s here,” Bret said, stepping away so Captain Hopkins and Sven could take a look at Chrys.

  “The police are pulling up,” Vita said, not happy to be involved with the police but knowing his sister needed her attacker taken off the streets legally, at least this one time. “I’m going to go get them.”

  Captain Hopkins just nodded, saying “Thanks,” as he pulled Chrys into his arms and hugged her. Then he pulled back and looked her over, asking, “Are you alright?”

  “Yeah, I just have a migraine from Hell,” Chrys complained.

  “What happened?” Her father asked.

  “He slammed me against the wall and tried to rape me. It took a few seconds for my head to stop swimming after it slammed against the wall, but when it did, he was trying to get my pants off of me. I told him twice to take his hands off of me, but he didn’t listen, so I made him take his hands off of me.”

  Captain Hopkins turned to look at the guy that assaulted Chrys laying on the blacktop, covered in blood and dirt.

  “Good girl.” Captain Hopkins said, a smile playing at his mouth. “I can see you didn’t leave much for us to do, though.”

  “Sorry,” Chrys mumbled as the police and paramedics walked up with Vita.

  “Alright, let’s break this apart.” The lead cop instructed. “Can someone tell us what’s going on here?”

  Bret stepped forward. “I’m the one that came out and found the man on the ground attacking Miss Hopkins. She was shouting at him to stop, but he kept trying to remove her pants. When he didn’t stop, Miss Hopkins forced him to stop. But he had already slammed her against the building, smashing her head against the wall.”

  “And you’re saying the young lady did this to her attacker?” The police officer asked, his voice full of skepticism.

  “That’s right. We have the entire assault on tape in the back office. I can take you back there to have a look if you would like.” Bret told the officer.

  “That would be great. My partner will take the girl’s statement. I have to see this for myself.”

  “Believe me, if I didn’t see it, I sure as Hell wouldn’t have believed it. Chrys here looks too damn small to take on anyone larger than her.”

  Some of the men in the Team surrounding Chrys snorted, trying their best not to laugh. Sven, however, saw no reason not to hide his amusement at Bret’s statement. Chrys could take on damn near anyone; it didn’t matter how much bigger that person was compared to her. One of these days, she would come across the person that could take her on, and no one wanted to think of that day happening, so Chrys getting out of their line of work and going back to her biological family was of the utmost importance. Until then, it was still fun watching Chrys take people down who were too full of themselves.

  The lead police officer turned to face Sven when he laughed. “Do you find this funny?” He demanded.

  “Yes,” Sven said. “The idea that the Brat can’t take someone on is funny. The idea that someone thought they could try and hurt her? He’s lucky it was her that stopped him. If it were any of us, he’d be dead right now. No one touches her without her consent. Or any woman, I don’t care who they are. If she says no, then that’s it.”

  “And who are you?” The officer asked. “How are you involved with this?”

  “I’m her brother,” Sven told him. “We’re,” Sven indicated to the group with him. “Her family. Her father’s holding her, and the rest of us are her brothers.”

  “All of you are her brothers?” The officer couldn’t hide his disbelief.

  “Yes.”

  “I’m sorry, but I find it hard to believe that all seven of you are Chrys’s brothers. There is no resemblance at all between the four of you. Nor is there any resemblance to her father. Now, there is some family resemblance to those four there next to Chrys and her father.”

  Sven huffed a sigh. “If you must know, not that it’s any of your business, Chrys was adopted. The three of us are her adopted brothers. We just found her biological family. We are here with the Army, celebrating with part of her newfound family before we are deployed again in a few days.”

  The officer nodded. “Okay. Well, I’m sorry your guys' celebration turned out like this. You’re right. No one deserves to have this happen to them. Your sister’s lucky she knows how to handle herself.”

  “We made damn sure of it. We didn't want something like this to happen to her.”

  “Well, you did a great job then. Maybe too great. It looks like Ms. Hopkins did a real number on him. I’m going to see the tape right now. If we have any questions for you, make sure you leave your contact information with my partner.”

  Sven nodded. “We will.”

  “Thanks.” The officer turned to Bret. “Can you show me this tape?”

  “Sure, it’s in the back, like I said.”

  “Lead the way.”

  Turning to Chrys talking to the lead officer’s partner, Sven saw the assailant being loaded into an ambulance and carted away, wishing he had the chance to kill him once again. It would save the citizens a lot of money in taxes when they had to arrest and try the guy for his assault. In Sven’s opinion, it just wasn’t worth it. Get rid of him once and be done with it. No one would miss an ass such as he was, not if they knew the truth about him.

  “Alright,” the officer said to Chrys. “Thank you for your report. I’m sorry this happened to you, especially your first free night in our town. It’s not the right way to remember a place. I hope you can give us another chance to make a better impression on you because our town isn’t a bad place.”

  Chrys shrugged. “I’m sure it isn’t,” Chrys agreed. “I’m sure this was probably a fluke happening, especially in a town of this size, but I’m going to have to think about getting to know this town. Maybe after we get back from our deployment, I’ll give it another chance.”

  “That would be great. It would be a shame if our town were to lose its attraction because of something like this. Now, I have all of your contact information. My partner is reviewing the tape and will be taking a copy back to the station for evidence. He’ll also be getting the bartender’s statement. The paramedics will take you to the hospital to get you checked out to make sure everything is okay. The lump on the back of your head looks pretty nasty, so you probably have a slight concussion. Here’s my card if you need anything. We’ll be getting a hold of you to let you know when he’s being prosecuted and when his trial is going to be.”

  “Thank you. Will I need an attorney? I mean, he’s the one that attacked me.” Chrys wanted to know.

  “It’s going to depend on the prosecutor. I can’t begin to say I’m sorry. I would like to say no, but you did a number on your attacker.”

  “I should have just killed the son of a
bitch,” Chrys mumbled. “It would have been less hassle.”

  “Maybe.” The officer agreed, trying to hide his laughter.

  “Alright, I’ll go with the paramedics. I want my family to go there with me. If there’s nothing else, I’ll go there now because my head is still absolutely killing me, and all I want to do is go to sleep. I’m sorry.”

  “No need to apologize. No, there’s nothing else I need right now. As I said, I have everything I need right now. I gave you my card. Here are a couple more to give to your family if you want so they can get a hold of me if they want, and you permit us to speak to them.”

  “Yes, you have my permission to speak to anyone in my family. I gave you a list of their names. If any of them call, you can speak freely to all of them. But they are the only people you are allowed to speak with.”

  “That’s fine. I’ll have that indicated in your report.”

  “Thank you,” Chrys said, groaning. “Damn, I feel sick. I’m sorry, I need to go. You can call any of us later if you need to.”

  “I appreciate it. Now go get looked at, and have your head taken care of. Then get some rest. You’re going to need it.”

  “I will, thanks.”

  Chrys held onto her father’s arm, her legs a bit weak due to the dizziness she was feeling. When Chrys reached the ambulance, the paramedic standing at the back reached out and helped her down onto the stretcher.

  “Here you go,” he told Chrys. “Lay down, that’s right. You said you had a headache and were feeling sick? Did I hear you correctly?” The paramedic asked.

  “Yes,” Chrys said softly.

  “Let me see the bump on the back of your head.”

  Chrys tried to sit up, but the dizziness started to overwhelm her.

  “Just raise your head, don’t try to get up.” The paramedic told her as he moved Chrys's hair around to get a look at the back of her head.

  “Damn, he got you good. So, besides your headache and feeling sick, are you hurt anywhere else? Is anything else wrong we need to be aware of?”

  “I’m dizzy, but I think that will go away in a bit. Other than that, no, nothing else is wrong that I know of anyway.”

  “Okay. Who’s riding with you to the hospital?”

  “I am.” Captain Hopkins spoke up.

  “And you are?” The paramedic asked.

  “I’m her father.”

  “Very well, Chrys, is it?” The paramedic asked.

  “Yes.”

  “Do you want to be strapped in completely or just once across your chest?”

  “Just once, please.”

  “Alright. There you go. John, are you ready to pick her up?” He asked his partner inside the back of the ambulance.

  “Sure am. Hand her on up.” John said.

  “On three. One, two, three.”

  Dropping the stretcher then lifting it, the paramedics got it inside the ambulance then stood it on its legs once again, all in a couple of minutes. Once the stretcher was secure, Captain Hopkins climbed inside and told his Team to meet them at the Hospital.

  “Don’t worry. We’ll be there just as soon as we can.” Sven said.

  “I know. We’ll meet you there.”

  “Go take care of our girl, Boss.”

  “Damn right I will.”

  With that, John pulled the doors shut, and the ambulance pulled away from the group, leaving them to work out amongst themselves what would happen next.

  Chapter 8

  Walking into a small room crammed with so many people, the Doctor had to stop and stare for a minute to make sure he was in the right place. In all of the years the Doctor had been practicing, he never saw a patient with so many visitors. Especially all at once.

  “Well, young lady,” the Doctor said. “I have some good news and some not-so-good news. Which would you like first?”

  “Just give it all to me. I don’t care.” Chrys said from under a wet towel placed over her face.

  “You’re going to be fine in a couple of days. You just need to get plenty of rest. I’ll give you a prescription so that you can have some pain meds for when you need them, but other than the meds, you’ll be free to go. The not-so-good news is that you do have a slight concussion. That’s what’s making you sick. However, you’ve already been awake a couple of hours past the time of your accident, so I don’t think anything will happen if you were to go to sleep when you go home. Just make sure someone is there to keep an eye on you in case anything does happen. Understand?”

  “Yes, Sir,” Chrys replied. “Everyone here will be making sure to check in on me, I promise you.”

  “Are any of you her family?” The Doctor asked.

  “We’re all her family. I’m her father,” Captain Hopkins said. “And the rest of these gentlemen are her brothers. I guarantee someone will be with her at all times until you say the danger zone has passed.”

  “Very well. As I said, Ms. Hopkins can go home and sleep; she just needs someone to keep an eye on her to make sure nothing happens for the next couple of days. By day three, unless she’s still feeling sick, she should be good to go on her own again.”

  Captain Hopkins nodded. “Very well. Thank you very much, Doctor. We appreciate you helping Chrys out.”

  “It was my pleasure. I’m glad it was nothing more serious than what it was. And may I say, congratulations on taking out your assailant the way you did. Not many people, especially young women, would handle a situation like this the way you did and keep a cool head. You did a great job. You gave me more work, but you did a great job.”

  Chrys peeked out from under the towel and gave a small smile. “I should have done more to him, but I didn’t have a chance. I wanted to smash his balls into the dirt. He sure as Hell don’t need them.”

  The Doctor laughed. “I’m sure he’s glad you didn’t do that. It hurts me just thinking about it. Your family did a great thing teaching you how to defend yourself.”

  “Yes, they did. I’m very thankful to them. And you, Doctor. Thank you for your help.”

  “You’re very welcome young lady. Now, I don’t want you to think you’re not welcome here, but I don’t want to see you here again for a good long while. You take it easy, understand?”

  “I understand. Thanks again.”

  “I’ll go write up your prescription and the discharge papers. You can get ready to head out of here. And remember what I said about not wanting to see you here again.”

  “I will.”

  When the Doctor walked out of the room, Captain Hopkins leaned over Chrys and hugged her.

  “Thank God you’re okay. I don’t know what we’d do if this had been any worse.”

  Chrys shrugged. “Sven would have killed the bastard first of all.”

  “That’s true,” Captain Hopkins laughed. “But then, I’m pretty sure everyone would have been hunting him down.”

  “Yeah. You’re right about that.” Chrys agreed. “Okay, can someone hand me my shoes, please?”

  Benito was the closest to the door where her shoes were sitting. He bent down to pick them up and handed them to Chrys.

  “Here you go, Piccola (little one),” Benito said.

  “Uh,” Chrys complained, even though she was still smiling a little. “I guess compared to all of you giants; I am a little one. But no one else had better call me little,” she glared at her adopted family. “I’ll have to kick all your asses when I’m feeling better.”

  Everyone on her Team quickly acted as if they were zipping their mouths shut. Sick or not, Chrys would still take them down, and they knew it.

  “Good. God, I am so ready to get some sleep. Can someone go hurry the Doctor up? Please?”

  “No need.” A nurse said, entering the room after she knocked softly on the open door. “I have your paperwork right here. And I have your meds right here, too. All of the pharmacies are closed this time of night, so I had it filled here for you.”

  “Thank you,” Chrys told her.

  “It’s not a
problem. Who do I give this to?” the nurse asked.

  “I’ll take it,” Sven said, reaching out for everything in the nurse’s hands.

  “Fine. Here are the meds, the instructions for them, and Ms. Hopkins’s discharge papers. They tell you what to do when you get her home and when to bring her back if need be.”

  “We appreciate this,” Sven said.

  “It’s not a problem. Follow up with Ms. Hopkins’s provider in about three days, and come back here if you need to. You take care, Chrys.”

  “I will. Thanks.”

  “We’ll see you around.”

  The nurse walked out, leaving everyone alone. Chrys wanted to jump out of bed, but she knew if she did that, she would get sick all over the place.

  “Okay, let’s get the hell out of this place. We have spent way too much time here.”

  Vita helped Chrys out of bed then let Captain Hopkins help walk her slowly out of the room.

  When the group entered the ER’s waiting room as they made their way outside, they saw Bret sitting in front of the doors. As soon as he saw the group make their way towards him, he jumped out of his seat and walked over to them.

  “How are you doing?” Bret asked. “Is everything okay?”

  “Yeah. Slight concussion, have to rest for a couple of days with someone watching me, and that’s it.” Chrys said. “Overall, I’m fortunate. Everything could have been much worse.”

  “Yes, it could have.” Captain Hopkins agreed with her. “But you kept your head like usual. You did well. We’re proud of you.”

  “Thanks,” Chrys mumbled, looking away from her father. She was getting tired of people saying how good she did and how proud everyone was of her. If Chrys had done so good, the bastard that attacked her would be dead right now instead of being treated himself. Instead, Chrys went easy on him and left him to the courts. That wasn’t doing good. That was fucking up, in her opinion.

  “I hope you don’t mind. I had your vehicle brought here. Well, I had Pryce drive it here for you. I brought mine. I figured the two of us would drive all of you back to your hotel.”

  “That’s great. We appreciate you doing that for us.” Captain Hopkins said.