HARD FAL

by CJ Lyons

  “Tell them, Lucy!” Daddy yelled, obviously assuming she was the greater threat. “Tell those SWAT boys to clear out, now.”

  Lucy shuffled forward, ostensibly to help Taylor but really to get closer to her weapon, which lay a few feet to his right. She watched Seth carefully, knowing he’d make his move soon.

  “Stop right there,” Daddy shouted at Seth, dividing his focus long enough for Taylor to slide his hand to within a few inches of her weapon. Good. She let her parka fluff around her, clearing her path to her backup weapon. Movement from in front of her caught her eye. Seth, reaching back to draw his revolver.

  A shot reverberated against the hollow concrete walls, followed by another, both coming from Seth. Lucy grabbed her backup Glock and hobbled forward as fast as her bad leg would carry her. Seth had braced himself against the railing, needing both hands to steady his aim. Daddy clutched at his arm, his gun on the catwalk at his feet.

  “Drop it, Seth,” Lucy said.

  “Can’t do it, Lucy.”

  Damn it, she had to stop him. “We need him alive.”

  “You know damn well there’re no bombs. He’s bluffing.”

  “I don’t give a shit about him. I’m thinking of you.” Remembering that others were listening in, she grabbed her earpiece and tossed it over the railing.

  “Do as she says,” Daddy screamed the words. “You can’t shoot me. I’m unarmed. I surrender.”

  Seth hesitated for a fatal moment. Long enough for Daddy to charge him, both men grappling against the railing so that Lucy couldn’t get a clear shot. Seth’s gun clattered to the ground and skidded past her.

  “Do it, Lucy,” Seth shouted. “Go ahead, shoot.”

  Despite his wound, Daddy got the upper hand, pinning Seth sideways against the railing, his back bent as he fought against falling. Seth still stood between her and a clear shot at Daddy. A shot rang out from behind her, sparking against the railing mere inches from Daddy. Taylor, who from his position at the railing had a better angle.

  She searched for a shot of her own, when Daddy suddenly released Seth. He raised his hands in surrender, turning to her.

  “They can’t shoot me,” he told Seth. “It’s against the rules. You of all people should know that, Mr. Assistant US Attorney.”

  Seth slumped against the railing, obviously spent. “Step away,” Lucy told Daddy. “Keep those hands where I can see them.”

  “Aren’t you going to arrest him as well, Special Agent?” Daddy mocked her. “After all, he tortured and killed five innocent men.”

  Seth made a noise like a wild animal. He lunged forward, pulling the road flare from his overcoat pocket. The flare had a short spike at the bottom, designed to anchor it into the ground. Seth plunged it like a spear into Daddy’s neck.

  Then he yanked off the cap, igniting it. Daddy staggered back, hit the railing, and toppled over it, bright red and orange sparks coloring his scream as he fell.

  “They weren’t innocent, you bastard,” Seth called after him. He clung to the railing with both hands, his knees buckling. Lucy drew close, bending to grab her mother’s revolver and pocketing it, keeping her own weapon in her hand.

  “Step away from the edge, Seth.”

  His eyes were wide as he shook his head. “No. I can’t.”

  “Seth, I need your help. Taylor needs your help. He’s injured and I can’t get him out of here by myself. Please, step away.”

  He turned, his gaze riveted to the dancing light from the water below.

  Lucy tried another tactic. “Think of June. Of your baby.”

  “I am.” The words were choked with tears. “June’s safe now.” He turned, straightened with an effort, and finally looked her in the eye. “She’s safe. That’s all that matters.”

  He backed up against the railing, arms held wide, leaning back precariously far over the abyss.

  “Either take the shot or let me go,” he pleaded. “Either way, I can’t stand the idea of her finding out what I did. Please. Let me die a hero in her eyes.”

  “You’ll always be her hero, Seth. Nothing could ever change that.” Despite her words, Lucy’s aim didn’t waver. “But don’t you think June deserves the truth? After all she’s been through?”

  He shook his head, denying her words. “She deserves more than that. She deserves peace of mind. She deserves to feel safe inside her own home. She deserves a future.”

  “She does. Your dying doesn’t give her any of that.”

  “No. Because before the poison kills me, they’ll drag me through courts, the press. That can never happen. They’ll never leave her in peace. They’ll keep hounding her. And they’ll have won. Daddy, the others like him. I can’t let that happen.”

  Before she could stop him, he twisted his body and threw himself over the railing, plunging into the darkness. Lucy darted forward, hit the safety rail so hard it knocked her breath away.

  A splash came from below. And then there was silence.

  Chapter 38

  SEVERAL OF THE SWAT guys stayed behind so that there was room for Taylor, Lucy, and their combat medic in the helicopter. Once at the hospital, the surgeons whisked Taylor away—in mid-sentence, asking for his laptop, of course—leaving Lucy behind in the ER.

  “Ma’am, you might want to get yourself checked out,” one of the ER nurses told Lucy.

  Lucy glanced at her, the world suddenly tilting as her ankle totally surrendered. She wobbled and fell against the wall. “Maybe you’re right. But first, could I use your phone?”

  The nurse ignored her request—as Lucy had learned nurses were prone to do—bundling her into a wheelchair, propping her leg up, removing Lucy’s shoe, brace, and sock to reveal blood oozing from the top of her foot. Not to mention the ankle swollen to almost twice its normal size, leaving indentations from where the brace had constricted it, and bruises in various shades of red and purple.

  Damn. Her surgeon was going to be pissed off.

  Not as much as Nick was once she called him and he came down from the maternity ward. His grin was a match for the one she’d seen the day Megan was born—until he saw her ankle.

  “It’s not as bad as it looks,” she said. “I walked in here without my cane.”

  He closed his eyes for a brief moment. She knew that look all too well—his searching for Zen, Lord give me patience, what the hell, look. “And you think that was a good idea? Ditching your cane?”

  No way could she have climbed into the dam or gotten across that catwalk with it, but she just looked sheepish and said, “Maybe not.”

  He sighed and sank onto the side of her stretcher—she was waiting for an X-ray of her ankle but the doctor said he thought it was just a surgical pin working itself loose after the trauma of the night.

  “Megan delivered June’s baby,” Nick said.

  “What? Why?” She jolted upright, jostling her ankle and releasing a new wave of pain. “Is she okay?”

  “You should have seen her. She was incredible.” Lucy hadn’t seen Nick beam so proudly since the day Megan was born.

  “Of course she was. How’s June? And the baby?” Sooner or later, she’d have to tell June about Seth, was glad she was stuck down here, it gave her time to decide exactly what to say.

  “They’re gorgeous, beautiful.” He wove the fingers of his left hand between hers, their wedding rings sliding together. “I cried.”

  Laughter burst free, rattling the narrow stretcher. “Tell me all about it.”

  By the time he’d finished, she wasn’t laughing—not after hearing how June had to kill a man or that Megan was there to see the aftermath.

  If she had any doubts about her future—about their future—they all evaporated.

  Walden stuck his head through the privacy curtain. “You decent? Up for a visitor?”

  “Sure, come on in.”

  He pulled the curtain aside and held it for Megan who bounded in, wearing a set of hospital scrubs and looking much too grown up in them. When had her little girl
blossomed into an almost-grown woman?

  Megan rushed over and gave Lucy a hug. “Did you hear? I delivered a baby.”

  “I heard. I’m very proud of you.”

  “Oshiro cried,” she said. “So did Walden, but he won’t admit it.”

  “I was up front driving,” Walden protested. “You didn’t see any tears coming from me.”

  “Liar.”

  “That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.”

  “Where is Oshiro?” Lucy asked.

  “Won’t leave June’s side,” Walden answered. Typical over-protective Oshiro.

  “Have you heard anything about Taylor?”

  “He’s getting a CAT scan but the surgeons said there’s a good chance they won’t have to operate.”

  Relief washed over Lucy. Ignoring the stupid oxygen monitor that she didn’t need, she wrapped her free arm around Megan. “That’s good.”

  “Guess I’ll go check on him, see if they’ve decided.” Walden gave her a nod and left.

  “I need to talk to you two,” Lucy started. “How would you feel if I wasn’t an FBI agent?”

  Nick said nothing, understood that this was about Megan more than anything. Despite the trauma of the night—or maybe because of it—she was finally talking to Lucy, seemed almost her old self. Lucy didn’t want to do anything that might jeopardize that.

  “I don’t want you to quit your job, not because of me,” Megan answered.

  “Not because of you. For you. For me and Dad and our family.” Lucy held Megan close, her mouth near the top of Megan’s dark curls. “I think we need time to heal. A chance for a fresh start.”

  “But what will you do? You’re not really good at anything else.”

  Ouch. Out of the mouth of babes. “For starters, I’ll be at your next Kempo tournament and all your soccer games and we can find Grams’ secret recipe for that awesome chocolate ganache cake you love and make it for your birthday.”

  Megan, pressed against Lucy’s chest, nodded. “I think she’d like that.”

  “I do, too.”

  “And you know, Mom,” Megan continued, a glint in her eye. “You don’t need to carry a badge to be a hero.”

  Smart, smart girl. Lucy kissed the top of Megan’s head just like she used to do when Megan was a baby. She used to inhale that delightful baby scent as if it was nectar from the gods, ambrosia that could sustain her as she left her family to face the evil out in the world.

  But the more she fought, the more evil there was and the less she could protect her family from it. Maybe that wasn’t what she should have been focused on all these years. Maybe life was more about standing together than standing behind a defender.

  Maybe Nick and Megan—and her mom—never needed her to protect them. Maybe all they needed was Lucy to be with them.

  Well, she was here now. And nothing was going to tear them apart. Not ever again.

  Family first, Coletta’s voice echoed through her mind.

  Family always.

  <><><>

  AFTER SHE WAS cleared by the doctors—no new broken bones and the old ones looked nicely healed, but definitely a new ankle sprain and she hadn’t done the damaged nerves and muscles any favors—Lucy gave her new cane a test drive and made her way up to Taylor’s room.

  He was pale, too pale, but awake and sitting up, working on his laptop. “Hey, boss. They said I have to stay in bed for a few days, but I get to keep my spleen. Never knew I wanted it in the first place, but figured it might come in handy some day, so that’s a good thing, right?”

  “What kind of drugs do they have you on?” she asked, pulling up a chair to sit beside him.

  “Very, very good ones.” He grinned up at her. “I highly recommend them.”

  Maybe this wasn’t the best time, but she wanted to see June and the baby, then head home with her family. “About what happened tonight. At the end—”

  “I know what Seth did,” he said, suddenly sober. “I know you were trying to protect him. I heard the SWAT guys saying you told them Daddy and he went over together while Seth was struggling to keep Daddy from shooting us.”

  She held her breath, waited. Taylor searched her face for a long moment. “I can live with that. Face myself in the mirror.”

  “Thanks.”

  “What I can’t live with is that you didn’t tell me. You knew he’d killed those men and you said nothing.”

  “I didn’t know. I suspected. No evidence. Just a wild assed theory.” He stared her down—so unlike the usual Taylor. “Okay, more than just a theory. But he paid for what he did.”

  “On his terms. That’s not justice. If he’d lived, would you have let him get away with it?” He waved his hand at his laptop, swinging the IV tubing with it. “I’ve put together most of the pieces. All of those men were threatening June. Daddy paid them to do it. But Seth tortured them, Lucy. Why didn’t he come to us instead? Let us handle it? It’s our job.”

  “Because he was already facing a death sentence.” She explained about the mercury poisoning. “He thought those men could lead him to Daddy—not like we’d been able to find the man in all these years. And he knew he was running out of time.” Taylor opened his mouth but she continued, “I don’t condone what he did. If he hadn’t died down there beneath the dam, I would have arrested him myself.”

  He shook his head. “No, you wouldn’t have. You would have let him see his baby, say goodbye to June, and die on his own terms.”

  She thought about it. “Maybe. Probably. But we failed him, Taylor. And it was the only way he could protect his family.”

  “See, that’s where you’re wrong. Because my guys found him.”

  “Who?”

  “Daddy. Your geographic profile along with my search algorithm hit the jackpot. His real name is Oren Imus and he lives outside of Akron, Ohio. Fourteen years ago, he was fired from his job as a software engineer and tried to sue the company for wrongful termination, saying the child pornography they found in his company computer was planted there because they wanted to steal his ideas. He lost and had to pay court costs and attorney fees.”

  “Thirty-two thousand dollars worth,” Lucy filled in the blanks. “So he sold June and when that didn’t pay off, he sold the Baby Girl images.”

  Taylor nodded. “Point is, all we needed was more data and a little time. If Seth had come to us, those five men might still be alive.”

  She’d seen the police reports on those five men. What they’d found on their computers—and in two cases, they’d also found live victims. Without Seth’s intervention, what might have happened to them?

  Taylor saw her look of doubt. “You’re just like him, Lucy. You don’t see it, but you are.”

  “I’m no vigilante.” Although there had been times in her career when she’d been tempted. But what cop doing the job she did could say otherwise?

  “No. But you trust your instincts more than your team. How many times in the past two years have you left Walden and I in the dark?”

  “I was trying to protect you.”

  His stare and silence said it all. She pushed to her feet. “You’re going to be a great squad leader, Taylor.”

  “They’ll never let me back in the field again, not after this.” He frowned, then looked up at her. “But I’m okay with that. Does that make me a coward?”

  “No. It makes you the right man for your job. Enjoy it. Catch tons of bad guys. And never forget why you do it. You’ll be just fine.”

  She’d almost made it to the door when he called her back. “Lucy. Are you going to be okay?”

  She turned around slowly, using the cane to pivot her weight. God, she felt so old, ancient. “I’ll be fine. Can still face myself in the mirror.”

  The Girl Who Never Was: Memoirs of a Survivor

  by June Unknown

  EPILOGUE

  WISE MEN AND poets are always asking why? Why is there pain and suffering. Why is there evil? Why are we here?

  As I hold my baby, her ski
n pressed against my skin, feel her breath burble from her cheeks, smell her sweetness, I think the answer is so very simple and so very hard. We are here to learn how to love.

  Not just how to give love blindly as I did with Daddy.

  More than learning how to accept and cherish the love offered to us as Seth taught me.

  Rather, how to live it. Every day. With every beat of our hearts.

  Seth’s final gift to me came in the form of a letter. He didn’t try to explain, he left that to others. I think there, at the end, he knew and understood love better than anyone on the planet ever has or ever will.

  To my dearest, beautiful, brave, and amazing wife and daughter:

  You are my everything.

  If you don’t remember anything else, please remember those four words and cherish them as a truth larger than any man could ever speak.

  I want to be there with you both so badly that it breaks my heart. If there was any other path, know that I would have taken it no matter how painful.

  In my mind I am there with you. My arms wrap around both of you, holding you so tight, so that we three, together, our beating hearts echo into eternity with a force strong enough to power the universe.

  That is how much I love you both.

  I don’t regret it—not any of it, not one single moment—so please remember that when shadows fall over your own memories. Know that what we had, what we two created, was beautiful, strong, enduring. Our love, our life together, our baby is absolute proof of what God intended when he started all this; that yes, there is light, there will always be light, and with light comes hope and strength and triumph.

  You will have doubts, my beautiful, amazing, courageous, and yet blind, wife. Fear will creep in and you will worry you are not strong enough. Know that you are. You will be the best mother a child could have. I only wish I could be there by your side to watch our beautiful, strong, and amazing daughter grow.

  Know that I will always be with you both. Know that you are loved, deeply and completely. Know that you are not alone.