When he was finished, he spun back toward her, a frown slashing his eyebrows. “I’ve got to go. Something’s come up. Sorry. I’ll call you later about tonight.”
Before she could say anything, he was striding across the restaurant toward the exit. Something has happened. The rigidity to his gait told her anger festered below the surface. She wondered if it had anything to do with the robbery case. She slowly continued her trek to her office to work on the end-of-the-year report, but she couldn’t forget the pale tinge that colored his face as he looked back at her after hanging up.
Please, Lord, keep him safe. I’m falling for him—hard.
* * *
In his car as he started the engine, David returned the earlier call. “Andy, where are you at school?” It had just let out, and Andy should have been on the bus on his way home.
“First, you didn’t say anything to Mom, did you?”
“No, I’m heading toward the school now. Where are you exactly?” David asked in his calmest voice while his gut tightened at the fear he heard in the boy’s voice.
“The three teens have dragged Joey across the street. They’re heading for the alley running behind the houses. You’ve got to come. I can tell Joey is scared, and the guys are angry with him. You’ve got to help him.”
“Now listen closely. Under no circumstances do I want you to do anything. Get out of there. I’ll check out the alley and take care of everything. Understand?”
“Hurry, Coach.” A pause then Andy said in a frantic voice, “Oh, no. They’re beating him up.”
“Andy—”
Lisa’s son’s phone clicked off. Fear played havoc with David’s mind, images of past situations gone bad flashing across his thoughts in chilling waves. He put a call into the station for backup, then started to punch in Lisa’s number, but instead tossed his cell on the seat and floored his Jeep. He was only a few minutes out and like Andy he wanted to protect her.
Chapter Thirteen
David slammed on his brakes, quickly leaping from his car in front of the series of homes across the street from the middle school that Andy had talked about. David jogged between the houses in order to get to the alley in the back. His heart pumped his blood at a dizzying speed through his body. His adrenaline escalated to full alert. He went for his gun. Again flashes of the past darted in and out of his mind. He saw the face of the dead thirteen-year-old; he shook his head, determined to focus on the situation at hand.
The sounds of fists hitting flesh quickened his step in the direction of the noise. Fear—for Andy, for Joey—taunted his ability to end this peaceably without anyone seriously getting hurt.
When he stepped out into the alley a few yards from the fight, gun in hand, he shut down his emotions in order to do what he had to. One adolescent had Andy pinned against him, while the other pounded at him, striking his body, clipping his jaw. A third teen with a knife hovered over Joey on the ground. His still form heightened the urgency.
“Police. Drop the knife,” David shouted in his toughest voice.
The one holding Andy released him and fled down the alley with his cohort quickly escaping, too. Andy crumbled to the earth.
“Drop the knife now.”
The last adolescent glared at David, the steel blade inches from Joey’s face. David could see in the assailant’s eyes the war raging over finishing what he started or doing what he was ordered. He glanced around him.
“Don’t do it.” David moved closer, his weapon trained on the lone teenager standing now over Joey. “Andy, you okay?”
“Yes, but Joey’s hurt bad,” the boy mumbled as though it were difficult to talk.
The sounds of footsteps approaching from both ends of the alley alerted David his backup had arrived. The assailant peered toward his right, then left. Resignation dawned in his eyes. He opened his hand, and the knife slipped to the ground, barely missing Joey’s arm.
David covered the space between him and the teen and forced him down on the ground with his legs spread while he handcuffed him. At that moment his reinforcements closed in. “Did you get the other two fleeing the scene?”
“Yeah, they’re in the squad car with my partner,” one patrol officer said, jerking the third teen to his feet.
David knelt by Joey. When he noticed the rise and fall of Joey’s chest, relief shuddered through him.
“Is Joey dead?” Andy asked in a quavering voice as he slowly pushed himself to his feet and hobbled toward them.
“No. This looks bad, but he’ll be okay,” David said that more to reassure himself than from any knowledge he was right. He looked toward his backup. “Call for an ambulance.”
“Already have,” one officer said, taking possession of the knife by Joey. “We’ll take this one in.” He jerked his head toward the assailant, and he and his partner left with the third teen held between them.
“I’ll stay until the ambulance arrives,” the first patrolman on the scene said, checking out the alley.
David’s gaze finally fell on Andy on the other side of Joey. Andy’s face looked worse than it had that time outside the gym in November. He would have to have stitches. That thought brought a frown to his mouth. “You were supposed to remain hidden, wait for me.” He inwardly winced at the hard edge to his words, but if he’d been delayed a couple of more minutes, Andy very likely would have been in the same condition as Joey.
“I couldn’t. They kept hitting his head into the ground. Then that big one pulled a knife. He was gonna cut Joey. I couldn’t let him kill Joey. I knew you were coming. I was just trying to buy some time.”
“Yeah, well, you could have gotten yourself killed.” The sound of the ambulance approaching blared through the cold air. “I’ve got to call your mom.”
“No!”
“You can’t keep this from her. You should see your face.”
Andy hung his head down as the ambulance came to a halt near them.
David stood and allowed the EMTs to put Joey on the gurney. “He hasn’t regained consciousness. His head was pounded into the ground.”
“Someone did a number on him,” one of the paramedics said, staring at Joey.
“Yeah, we took them into custody. I’ll be following you to the hospital.” David’s hand settled on Andy’s shoulder. “This one needs to be checked out, too, so I’ll take him.”
After the ambulance pulled away, David started toward his Jeep with Andy next to him. David withdrew his cell phone and punched in Lisa’s work number. When she answered, he saw an anguished expression descend over Andy’s features.
“Lisa, I’m at the middle school. I need you to meet me at the hospital. Andy’s been hurt,” he heard Lisa gasp and hurriedly went on, “but he’s okay. He’ll need some stitches, though.” He barely caught his breath between sentences, his words rushing out.
“What happened?”
“A fight. It would be faster to meet me at the emergency room than to come here.”
She clicked off without saying anything else. Through the connection he could practically feel her confusion, anger and worry.
“She’s gonna be so mad,” Andy muttered as he slid into the front seat.
Yeah, at me. Although Andy wouldn’t tell him where he was without David’s promise not to tell his mother what was going on with Joey, he’d agreed Lisa didn’t need to know because she would have wanted to come with him to the school. Her presence would have complicated the situation. But she might not see it that way.
* * *
Lisa came out of the exam room in the E.R. where Andy was being sewn up and strode up to David, fury carving the planes of her face with a hard edge. “I was standing right there with you when Andy called you for help. What were you thinking not telling me about what was going on?”
“I needed to move fast and without you tagging along.” When she’d first come into the emergency room, her silence and avoidance of him after she’d listened to the explanation of what had happened should have warned him of her reac
tion. But its intensity still took him by surprise.
She started to say something else, shook her head, and snapped her mouth closed. Clamping her lips together, she narrowed her gaze on his face and finally muttered, “That’s not a good answer. I trusted you.”
“That’s the only answer I have. I didn’t need you in danger, too. You were safer at the restaurant.” That was his job, to keep others safe, not to knowingly put someone in danger. “If you really trust me, then you’ll trust that I did what I thought was best.”
She poked him in the chest. “You obviously don’t know me very well after all the time we’ve spent together. My place is by my child’s side no matter what. I don’t need protection, and both you and Andy better get that through your thick heads.” Throwing up her hands, she backed away from him. “A knife! He could have been killed.”
A nerve jerked in his jaw line. “And what would you have done? You would have hampered what I had to do.” He’d seen it before where a loved one would rush in and put the person they wanted to save in peril by their actions.
“Clearly I was reading more into our relat—friendship than there was. If you can’t trust me to do what is best, then I think we need to go our separate ways. I fought too hard to get Andy back to have you make decisions about him without including me.” She spun on her heel and marched back into the examination room.
He began to go after her but halted his movement in mid-stride. This was for the best. His need to protect was one of the reasons he’d become a police officer. He couldn’t change for her, and it had nothing to do with trust. Or did it? Long ago he’d become a miser when it came to his trust. He’d given up trusting others, himself and the Lord, and no relationship could move forward without that trust.
His shoulders sagged forward as he sat again, waiting to hear from Jacob concerning Joey’s injuries. David had called him to tell him about Joey. The doctor had arrived twenty minutes later and disappeared into the examination room, promising to tell him what was going on.
Restless, David surged to his feet and paced the length of the hallway, hoping the patrol officer he’d sent to find Mitch would get here soon with Joey’s brother. The strong urge to seek advice swamped David, but who could he talk to? The person who had listened to him lately didn’t want to see him anymore.
He headed for the vending machines just outside the ER. Depositing some coins, he punched the button for coffee but winced when he took a sip. Bitterness tainted his mouth. He threw the mostly full cup away and turned. His gaze swept the long hallway. He glimpsed the chapel sign.
Without considering his actions, he trudged toward the place. Thankfully Joey had regained consciousness in the ambulance. While the paramedics had wheeled him into the hospital, the teen had looked so defenseless and small. Blood covered his battered face and clothes. When he and Joey had locked gazes, all David had seen was vulnerability in the boy’s expression.
In the chapel, relieved no one else was there, David sat in a chair near the front of the room. The dim lighting soothed his tattered nerves. Back at the alley there had been a moment when he’d hesitated to pull his gun, the kid he’d killed in Dallas dominating his thoughts for a few possibly crucial seconds. He couldn’t run from the truth any longer. He needed to find another profession. He wanted so badly to discuss this with Lisa, but after what happened, she’d slam the door in his face.
What do I do, Lord? Where do I go from here?
Nothing.
He sat another fifteen minutes, leaving his mind open to an answer from God, but silence greeted him. Disappointment weighed him down as he trudged toward the ER.
* * *
At the apartment Lisa paced the living room, having brought her son home half an hour ago, hurting, but okay. She’d been too angry to say much to him, but it was time to get a few things straight with Andy.
She started toward his bedroom when his door flew open and he emerged, changed into a clean pair of jeans and a sweatshirt. “We need to talk.”
“Yeah, I know, but I want you to take me back to see Joey at the hospital.”
“Why? That child has only brought you bad news.”
“Because he needs a friend and he’ll be in pain.” Andy set his jaw as though gritting his teeth. “Mom, Joey could have died today. I have things to say to him, should have weeks ago.”
“You could have died today! Has that not gotten through to you?”
“Yeah, when those guys were hitting me.” He touched his bruised face. “Fists hurt.”
She jammed her balled hands on her hips. “Why didn’t you want David to tell me what was happening when you called him?”
“Because you would have tried to stop me from following Joey and those guys.”
“And David didn’t?”
“Well, yeah, but I couldn’t very well let them kill Joey.”
“There were three of them and just you. What made you think you could do anything?”
Andy looked her in the eye. “God. He was with me.”
Her mouth dropped open. She didn’t know what to say to that. Finally she settled on her original question. “Why didn’t you want me to know?”
“Because I don’t want you involved in any way with anything to do with drugs. They had them and were showing Joey. They kept yelling about some drugs he had of theirs. He either had to give them back or pay him. I think they were the ones the police took from Joey.”
Something in her deflated at the Andy’s explanation. “You don’t have to protect me, Andy. I’m not gonna take drugs again. At the women’s shelter I counsel some of them about drugs. There is no temptation anymore. None. I see how messed up some of the ladies’ lives are, and I don’t ever want to go back to that. You don’t have to be the grown-up anymore.” She closed the distance between them and drew him against her. “Hon, I want you to be a kid. Enjoy your childhood. There’ll be time later for you to be an adult. I’m doing just fine.”
Andy leaned back, tears in his eyes. “Don’t be mad at David. I’m the one you should blame. Promise me you’ll forgive him.”
She remembered telling David he needed to forgive himself in order to move on in his life. How could she not forgive him? She smoothed her son’s hair from his face. “Don’t you worry about a thing.”
“Will you take me to the hospital to see Joey?”
“Why don’t you wait until he goes home tomorrow? I’ll take you out to the refuge then.” She was afraid David would be there, and she didn’t want to see him until she cooled down—thought things through.
“Mom, I need to make sure he’s all right. Please.”
She couldn’t deny her son’s request. She nodded.
* * *
“This was all my fault,” Mitch said, standing at the end of Joey’s hospital bed.
“Why do you say that?” David pulled the blinds over the window now that it was night.
Joey’s brother clenched the railing on the bed. “Those guys were my friends once. Joey got to know them because of me.”
“Did you know what was going on? What your friends were into?”
“Yeah. That’s why we were no longer friends. I’d seen what had happened to some of my older buddies. I didn’t want that for me or Joey.”
“Did you know they had approached Joey about selling drugs at the middle school?”
“No, but then I’ve been very busy with finishing school and working to support us. I wasn’t around as much as I should have been.”
David glanced at Joey, lying in the bed. He’d been slipping in and out of sleep for the past few hours. “You aren’t Joey’s father. You’re his brother. And blaming yourself won’t change what happened. Don’t go down that road. I know personally no good comes from it.”
“How can I not?” Mitch gestured toward his brother. “Look at him. You can hardly recognize him because of the beating.”
“I’ll tell you why you shouldn’t.” David drew in a fortifying breath, only once before telling someone what
he’d gone through with the shooting. “While I worked in Dallas a couple of years ago, I killed a teen in the line of duty. He was thirteen years old. Had his whole life before him, and he was mixed up in drugs because of his older brother. For the past two years my life has been on hold because of that shooting. I blamed myself for the kid’s death. Only lately have I started to realize I didn’t have a choice. Don’t get me wrong. I’ll always regret what happened that day, but blaming myself wouldn’t change it or the fact the kid’s older brother had him there as a lookout and had placed a gun in his hand. A good friend told me I had to forgive myself and look toward the future, not back at the past. And she’s right.”
Mitch hung his head, staring at the end of the bed. “I want my brother back, but I think he’s in the best place for him right now.”
“Yeah, I have to agree with you on that although I doubt Joey does.”
“Hopefully one day he will.” Mitch released his tight grip on the railing.
“You should go get something to eat. I’ll be here if he wakes up again.”
As Mitch left the room, David checked his watch and saw the date. Today was the second anniversary of the shooting, and he hadn’t realized it. He knew then that he’d meant what he’d told Mitch about blaming himself for something he couldn’t avoid—out of his control. He wasn’t going back to that man who pushed everyone who cared about him away to cover up his wounds.
But, Lord, I still don’t know what to do with that future You say I should focus on.
The swishing sound of the door opening drew his attention. Peter and Roman entered the room.
“How’s he doing?” Roman asked, coming to the other side of the bed.
“He’s gonna be hurting for a while, but he’ll heal physically.”
Peter frowned. “Two of those teens went to my school. The other had dropped out last year. I hope this incident will finally wake up the board of education. I’ve been pushing for them to hire a drug counselor for the school district. This problem isn’t going to go away.”
Heart of a Hero (New Beginnings Book 4) Page 18
