Redemption (Desire Never Dies)

by Clara Grace Walker

  “You’re not going anywhere!” Shirley screamed from behind. She chased after them, with Arthur on her heels. “I’m not through with you. Or that little tramp either!”

  Mindy stopped, and Earl tried to urge her on. But she stood firm, staring Shirley down and breathing hard. “I’m not a tramp!” she screamed. “But you sure as hell are crazy!”

  “You’re a slut!” Shirley reached the patch of broken glass scattered across the floor and tripped, thudding to her knees. Arthur fell on top of her. “Damn you!” she screamed. “I’ll kill you! I’ll kill you all!”

  Her shrieks coincided with another lightning strike and a powerful gust of wind. As Earl tugged on Mindy’s hand, the sky above them flashed bright, revealing a black swirling mass of clouds. It roared like a train thundering through the sky. Earl had seen enough weather footage on TV to recognize the tornado for what it was.

  “Run!” he yelled, and pulled Mindy by the hand. This time she ran with him.

  Smashing into the building behind them, Earl heard the cacophony of sounds at once. The tornado’s roar. The glass shattering. And Shirley and Arthur screaming. He looked back only once as they ran out the door. Glass from the ceiling broke apart and fell in jagged panes, one piercing Shirley in the skull. Arthur disappeared into the swirling dark clouds, his screams echoing in the wind.

  Earl looked away and kept running.

  Outside, heading down the walkway toward the hotel, rain smacked them in huge droplets, while the tornado twisted away from them, back toward the sea.

  Danny paused, his thin frame wet and shaking. “You ever learn how to handle a gun for any of those movies of yours?”

  “What?” Earl asked. “Shouldn’t we be running?”

  Danny didn’t move. “Did you learn, or not?”

  “Yes. Why?”

  Danny handed him the gun. “Take this. I lied when I told Sarge I knew how to use it.”

  Earl took the gun and stuffed it into his pocket. “Let’s hope I don’t need it.”

  They resumed running. Wind threw rain at them like hurled pebbles. Within seconds they were soaked. Roaring in from the ocean, each wind gust tossed leaves and twigs and dirt around, whipping them through the air as though tossed from a blender. Behind them, glass shattered. Earl held Mindy in his arms, pulling the blanket over her face to protect her from flying debris. “Tell me, Danny.” He yelled above the howl of the wind. “How bad is this going to get?”

  Danny ran hunched over, head down, arms crossed over his chest. “Really bad. Phoebe’s a Category 5. She’s just getting wound up.”

  Earl pulled Mindy closer. “Any chance we’re going to survive?”

  “Should be able to survive the storm okay in the hotel,” Danny hollered back. “Should give us cover. Aftermath is going to suck though. No power. Dirty water. And a police department that thinks you folks were evacuated.”

  The realization of what that meant burned Earl. “She meant to kill us all.”

  Danny nodded, hollering. “She did.”

  As they neared the hotel, Earl saw people huddled together just short of the hotel door. Astrid, Walter and his wife ran from the hotel in their direction. Even above the howling wind, he heard their panicked cries.

  “Stop those people,” someone shouted. A shot rang out. Astrid tripped and fell. Walter and his wife halted, helping her to her feet. Earl didn’t see what the bullet struck, but it appeared to have missed the trio.

  Mindy hiked the blanket higher on her shoulders. “What’s wrong?”

  “I don’t know.”

  Ahead of him, Walter’s wife caught Danny by the arm. “He’s crazy,” she shouted breathlessly. “All of them are.”

  “Stay here,” Earl called to her. “The treatment center’s being smashed to pieces.”

  “Oh, hell,” Danny said in front of him.

  “What?” Earl wiped rain water from his face, looking over Danny’s shoulder. Nick Beck sat on the sidewalk, gauze wound around his upper arm. Blood soaked through the cloth. Belinda sprawled on her back a few feet away. Her face looked as if someone had taken a bucket of blood and poured it on her. Rain washed the blood over her cheeks in a stream of water flowing down the walkway. Vince cried beside her. Jamie knelt next to Nick, little Charlotte crying at her side. Maggie and Isabelle were there, too. Obviously they hadn’t made it to Orlando. And he’d bet the gun-toting thugs blocking the door to the hotel had something to do with it.

  “No one’s going anywhere without an armed escort,” Ryan shouted. He waved the gun with one hand, swiping water from his face with the other.

  “Ryan.” Earl spit the name out in distaste.

  Mindy shivered, clutching the blanket in front of her. “They killed Belinda.”

  “I know.” He pulled her closer. Water seeped through the musty-smelling blanket. He needed to get her out of the cold. His rage at Shirley and fear of the storm had settled inside him, and he became comfortable with the emotions. Protectiveness occupied his thoughts. For all the people Shirley had meant to kill. And for Mindy most of all.

  “It’s a good thing one of us knows how to use that gun,” Danny yelled.

  Earl patted his pants pocket.

  “There’s five of them.” Danny gestured toward the guards. “Think we can take them?”

  “We have to try.” Earl reached Preston and Nick, stooping to inspect the blood-soaked bandage. “You alright?”

  Nick nodded. “Sad to say, this isn’t the first time I’ve been shot.”

  “No shit.” Earl couldn’t help but admire the guy. He sounded pretty damn together for someone who’d just had a bullet tear through him. “And I thought I was an action star.” He pointed at Ryan. “I have a gun. If I can take that thug out, I can create a diversion.”

  “You think that’ll work?” Preston asked.

  “It always works in the movies.” Anxiety and doubt hid behind his words. In the movies there were always stunt doubles and prop guns and EMS technicians standing by. This was no movie set. He could wind up dead at the end of this particular take, but he had to shoot the scene all the same. The storm pelted twigs and branches and the occasional bush their way. The rehab center was a death trap. And there was the tornado he’d seen skittering out to sea. They had to get inside the hotel. “As soon as I pull the gun, Maggie and Jamie should take the girls and Mindy and get out of here. If real life doesn’t go according to the script, I don’t’ want them getting hurt.”

  “Preston, I’m not….”

  Maggie started to protest, but Preston shook his head. Jamie never got past opening her mouth before Nick silenced her with a hard look.

  Mindy scowled. “I’m not leaving you.”

  He pulled her tight against him, kissing her wet cheek. “I need to know you’re safe.”

  “It’s okay,” Maggie said. “Jamie and I will take care of you.”

  “Please,” he said.

  Mindy trembled, but nodded, and he stepped in front of her. Once she had moved a safe distance behind him, he took another step toward the door, until he was just out of Ryan’s reach and staring him in the face. Rain beat down on him, pounding into his flesh, plastering his t-shirt against his chest and molding the thick denim of his jeans against his legs until they sagged heavy on his hips. Fingering the cold, slick plastic of the gun, he aimed it at Ryan’s face, watching with satisfaction as the asshole’s eyes grew wide.

  “What are you doing here?” he asked, close enough to be heard above the wind without yelling.

  Earl grinned, displaying a confidence he didn’t feel. “Don’t you mean how did I escape, instead of dying in Shirley’s naked arms?”

  Ryan gulped and stared at the gun. “Where’s Shirley?”

  “My guess would be Hell.” Earl gave the gun a slight wave. “You and your thugs put your guns down and step away from those doors.”

  Ryan looked at the gun, then back to Earl. His bottom lip quivered. “I’ve never thought you were too bright,” he said. “But unti
l now I thought you could at least count. There are five of us and one of you. As soon as you fire that gun, one of us is going to shoot you.”

  “Maybe,” Earl agreed. “But it won’t be you. You’re going to be the first person I shoot.”

  Sounded like one of his movie scripts. “Now have your thugs put down their guns before I shoot you for the fun of it.”

  Ryan glanced at the other guards uncertainly. Some of their stances wavered. He looked back at Earl. “You wouldn’t dare shoot me.” He raised the gun at Earl, cocking the hammer.

  A shot rang out. Ryan’s eyes widened, shock etched in his stare. He clutched at his chest, seeming to catch the blood sprouting from it before doubling over and hitting the ground.

  A tall, black woman stepped into view from behind Earl. “He might not shoot your dumb ass, but I sure as hell will.”

  “Sarge!” Danny yelled. “Good of you to join the party.”

  The remaining four guards set their weapons down. Sarge kicked them out of reach. Handing zip ties to Danny, Earl and Preston, she jerked Betty’s arms behind her back. Tie ‘em up, boys. We’ll have the authorities collect them when this storm blows over.”

  Earl zip-tied Jim, grabbed Mindy and hustled her inside the hotel.

  Chapter 89

  Mindy woke with a smile on her face. Sunlight streamed through a busted window. Outside, gulls screeched and waves crashed onto the shore. She didn’t recognize the room she awoke in. Earl had suggested they try out different rooms for the last two nights, waiting for the evacuation chopper to get here. He’d finally gotten cell service last night.

  “Morning, gorgeous,” he said, coming in from the bathroom.

  “Morning, stud. Any running water in there yet?”

  He held his nose, grinning and shaking his head. “Hope really springs eternal where you’re concerned, doesn’t it?”

  She climbed out of bed and into his embrace. “Why shouldn’t it? If you’d asked me a month ago if there was a chance for us, I’d have said no. If I can have a second chance with you, then there’s hope for anything.”

  He slid his hand along her backside, pulling her close. “Mmmm.” His lips moved along her neck, up to her earlobe, gently nibbling. “Helicopter won’t be here for half an hour. What do you say?”

  “I say half an hour’s plenty of time, but I want to tell you what I’ve decided first.”

  He took a step back, still holding her by the hips. Concern flitted across his face. “What have you decided?”

  “The judge was right when he issued a guardianship over me. He just issued it to the wrong person, who sent me to the wrong place.”

  Earl arched a brow at her. “And?”

  “And if I really want to get my life together and have a real future with you, which I do, then as soon as we’re evacuated, I need to get my butt in rehab. Real rehab this time.”

  Earl pulled her back close, wrapping her in his arms. “I’m proud of you, doll. Don’t worry. We’ll find you a good place this time, and I’ll be with you every step of the way.”

  She smiled and savored the moment. The beginning of the rest of her life.

  The End.

  Other Books by Clara Grace Walker

  Gratification - Book # 1 of the Desire Never Dies trilogy

  Gossip - Book # 2 of the Desire Never Dies trilogy

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