by Lynn, JB
A wave of hopelessness rose in me, choking off my breath. I swayed dizzily.
I didn’t find protection.
It found me.
It was the screams that bought me enough time to reach the protection of the trees.
The two attackers were distracted first by the eardrum-shattering cacophony that was chasing them down.
“Get out,” Irma the donkey brayed, charging toward the bigger guy. “This is our home.”
“Follow! Follow!” Zippy, Herschel’s little canine companion, yipped, charging toward the gunman.
The gunman’s eyes grew wide with alarm, not because of the small white dog nipping at his ankles, but because Percy, the blind peacock, his beautiful tail feathers fanned out, was bearing down on him, screeching to the dog leading him, “Which way? Which way?”
If you’ve never seen a peacock attack, it’s quite something; a mixture of flashing bright colors, sharp talons, and a call that sounds like a rabid cat that’s done meth.
Instead of shooting at the bird, the gunman covered his head with his arms and collapsed on the ground, quivering. He dropped his gun.
Zippy dragged it away. No doubt hoping to bury it somewhere.
“Leave it,” I warned him. It was going to be difficult enough explaining the situation to Griswald. The last thing I needed was evidence going missing.
The little dog glared at me but put down the weapon that was bigger than his head.
“It’s Cujo time!” God shouted to the Doberman.
DeeDee charged out of the woods, jumped on the gunman’s chest, and pinned him to the ground, snarling like she was going to rip his throat out.
I watched in fascination as Irma delivered a kick to the bigger man that knocked him flat on his back. As he fell, he hit his head on a rock and lost consciousness.
I emerged from the woods, wiping the dirt off my clothes. “Thanks, everyone.”
Percy turned toward the sound of my voice. Unable to see me, he asked, “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine,” I assured him. “Thanks to you.”
“And me!” Irma brayed, not wanting her contribution to the takedown to go unacknowledged.
“Too me?” DeeDee growled, glaring at her captive.
“All of you,” I said.
“Help! Help! Help!” a little voice squeaked.
I looked around and found Benny huddled in a clump of grass. I carefully scooped him up.
He held out a bloody paw for my examination.
“Oh, the poor baby broke a nail,” God mocked.
Before I could tell him to be nice, Mike cawed from a treetop, “Company.”
Looking up, I saw Piss streaking toward me. Coming to a halt, she asked, “Everything okay, sugar?”
“Yes.”
She pranced over to the unconscious thug and sniffed at his face. “This one’s still alive.”
Irma, who’d been nibbling on a tuft of grass, looked up. “I didn’t kick him that hard. I wasn’t trying to kill him.”
U.S. Marshal Lawrence Griswald came racing toward us, gun drawn. “I heard a gunshot!”
“Everybody’s okay,” I told him.
“Everybody except the bad guys,” God corrected.
The worry on Griswald’s face turned to disbelief as he took in the scene of the donkey, peacock, two dogs, the cat, and me cradling a bloody white mouse. He shook his head as he surveyed the unconscious man and the one being held prisoner by the Doberman. “Why do I think I don’t want to know what happened here?”
“The crazy bird attacked me,” the gunman whimpered. “And now the demon dog is trying to kill me.”
“A demon not,” she growled angrily, baring her teeth at him. “Dog good.”
“Good girl, DeeDee,” Griswald praised.
She beamed beneath the compliment; a move that revealed even more of her teeth, which in turn terrified her prisoner even more.
The man whimpered.
“His gun is there,” I told the marshal, pointing to where it had been abandoned by Zippy. “It might be a little slimy.”
“Slimy?” Griswald said in a tone that indicated that he hated having to ask the question.
“Drooly. Zippy tried to run away with it,” I explained.
Herschel arrived huffing and puffing. “Is everyone okay?”
Zippy, Irma, and Percy all answered him at once.
Griswald stared at the vocal animals. Even I couldn’t really figure out what everyone said, but Herschel seemed pleased with their response.
Shaking his head, Griswald used his phone to call for backup. When he was done, he gave me a hard look.
“What were you doing out here taking these two on by yourself?”
I gulped. It wasn’t like I could tell him that Mike, who was now sitting in a nearby tree, watching the end of the drama play out, had told me about the intruders. “I was just out for a walk,” I lied.
Griswald frowned. “And if your crazy cat hadn’t shown up and spooked the donkey, you’d have ended up dead.”
“I was not spooked,” Irma brayed. “I was the cavalry.”
Herschel patted her nose, quieting her.
Griswald stared at me, waiting for me to reply.
I shrugged helplessly, feeling trapped.
“The important thing is that my granddaughter is okay,” Herschel said gruffly, walking over to me and giving me a bear hug.
I buried my head in his shoulder so that I could avoid the accusatory gaze of the U.S. Marshal.
“This time,” Griswald muttered. “But she takes too many chances.”
“He has a point, sugar,” Piss purred from where she sat beside the unconscious convict.
I knew they were right.
I also knew I didn’t have a choice.
33
After I had answered all of the questions posed by Griswald and his police detective nephew, Brian, I was finally allowed to return to the main house.
But I never made it there because my cell phone buzzed.
“Don’t answer it,” God urged.
“I have to.” I pulled out my phone and looked at the number. I didn’t recognize it but that doesn’t mean much.
I never recognize the numbers that Patrick calls me from.
“Hello?”
“The bosses want another report on how Angel’s doing,” Gino said. “I mean, I could tell them from what my medical representative told me, but I don’t think that’s what you want to happen.”
I glanced longingly at the house, not that I wanted to go there, but I was tired. “I’ll go check on him,” I told Gino tiredly.
“Okay,” Gino said. “And remember, if you need help, call.”
“I need you two to stay here,” I told DeeDee and Piss.
“Why?” DeeDee barked, insulted that she was going to be left behind.
“Because I can’t leave the family members here unprotected,” I told her.
Piss looked at me with her one good eye. “But we just caught the bad guys.”
I shook my head. “My experience has been that once Archie starts some sort of trouble for the family, it rarely ends well. This ended extraordinarily well, considering.”
“You were rescued by a dumb ass,” God pointed out. “Literally, a dumb ass.”
I shrugged. “It could have been worse. Besides, if they stay here, they can report back on the family drama, too.”
“Okay,” Piss purred. “You’re the boss.” With that, she trotted toward the house.
DeeDee wasn’t as easily convinced. “Me too go.”
I patted her head and looked into her trusting eyes, offering her what I hoped was a reassuring smile. “I’ll be back soon,” I told her. “I just need you to keep everyone safe for a little while longer.”
She blinked at me and cocked her head to the side, considering my request.
I said a silent prayer that God would not take this moment to interject himself into the conversation. My canine companion had to work this out for herse
lf, and he would just confuse her.
“Okay,” she yipped suddenly and raced after Piss.
God let out an audible sigh of relief. “I thought we were never going to get rid of them.”
I started walking toward my car. “I wasn’t trying to get rid of them. I just think that they could be more helpful here.”
“Unlike I,” God said with self-importance as he scrambled up onto my shoulder. “I am the most helpful.”
“Me too. Me too. Me too.”
I glanced down at the mouse, who was still cupped in my hand. “You too, Benny.”
The little white mouse’s whiskers trembled with joy.
God groaned. “What’s he going to do except drive us insane with his repetitive ramblings.”
“He doesn’t ramble,” I said firmly. I opened my car door and climbed inside, extending my arm so that the lizard could run down it and jump onto the dashboard. I carefully placed the injured mouse in the cup holder. “You okay in there?”
“Yes. Yes. Yes,” the mouse replied.
“Repetition. Repetition. Repetition,” the lizard mocked as he scrambled back and forth along the length of the dashboard.
Deciding to ignore him, I started the car.
“You know you’ve got to be careful,” God said.
“Of what now?” I asked, putting the car into gear and starting to pull out of the driveway.
“This going to visit Angel business,” God said. “Sure, it’s fine while Patrick is watching the place, he’s not going to say anything, but he can’t be there twenty-four hours a day. Has it occurred to you that there could be somebody else from law enforcement watching Angel, too?”
I shrugged. Honestly, it had not. But I wasn’t going to tell him that, otherwise I’d have to start making excuses about how much I had on my mind. Not that they were excuses, but he would hear them as such.
Instead, I chose to go on the defensive. “So what would you have me do?” I asked. “Ignore the Delveccios’ order?”
“The bodyguard could have told them how he is,” the lizard pointed out.
“But Gino wasn’t supposed to know that stuff. He’s helping me out. He’s helping Angel out. He’s trying to keep his job. It’s not my place to out him.”
“Oh please,” God groaned, pressing the back of his paw to his little forehead. “Please don’t tell me you’re falling for this one, too?”
“Too! Too! Too!” I heard from the cup holder.
I didn’t deign to answer him on that subject. But honestly, he wasn’t that far off. I mean, in some ways Gino was kind of the perfect guy for me. He was well aware of my criminal activities and he knew I talked to my animals. What else could I want in a man? What else could anyone want in a man?
34
I didn’t see anyone suspicious lurking around the parking lot of the motel where Angel was holed up. Then again, if they were there, I probably wasn’t supposed to spot them. I tried not to glance around suspiciously as I crossed the asphalt and climbed the stairs up to the second floor. I didn’t want to look nervous, even though I really was. I walked down the length of the landing, down to the end, and took a deep breath before knocking on Angel’s door.
“Go away,” he growled from inside.
“It’s me,” I called out.
“I know. Go away.”
I blinked and took a step back, surprised by his greeting, or lack thereof.
“I’m not going away,” I told him. I crossed my arms over my chest, tapped my foot impatiently, and waited for him to open the door.
“Maybe you should take this as a sign you should leave,” God suggested from his hiding place in my bra.
“Leave. Leave. Leave,” Benny urged. I cupped the little mouse in my palm and glanced down at him.
“I can’t,” I reminded them. “I have a job to do; I have to report to his uncles how he’s doing.”
I waited another long moment, hoping Angel would open the door. When he didn’t, I banged on it as hard as I could. “Let me in,” I shouted. “Let me in!”
The door swung open and Angel glared at me. “What are you doing?”
Shrugging, I said, “I needed to see you.”
He shook his head. “You shouldn’t be here. You shouldn’t be drawing attention to this room. You should leave.”
“And you shouldn’t be acting so weird. What’s with you? You’ve never been such a jerk before.”
A spasm of guilt contorted his features. He prided himself on being a good guy.
“Did Dwayne do that to you?” I waved in the direction of his injury.
He shook his head. “No. It was an accident.”
“An accident?”
“I got in the way of another friend. There was a fight. I tried to break it up.”
I felt my lips purse and knew that I was giving him the same look Aunt Susan gave when she was going to lecture me. “These are the people you’re hanging out with? People who get into fights?”
Angel hung his head. “Things just got out of hand.”
“Things will get worse,” I warned him.
He looked away, guilt draped over him like a drop cloth.
I frowned at him, taking in that he was paler than usual and that he had an expression of pain etched on his face. “You should be getting better medical care.”
He shook his head. “I don’t have time.”
I cocked my head to the side and gave him a long look. “Why not?”
He shook his head again. “You have to leave, Maggie.”
Instead of doing as he wished, I pushed my way into his room. Sighing heavily, he closed the door behind me. “What will it take to get you to leave?”
I turned to face him. “If you’re in trouble…” I began.
“What?” he mocked. “You’re going to be the one to help me?”
I clamped my jaw closed to keep myself from blurting out that I was probably much better equipped at being able to help him out of a troublesome spot than he could even imagine. “You’re obviously not doing well enough on your own.”
He blinked, surprised by my attack.
“I’m sure your uncles could help you,” I suggested. “Or Gino.”
Shaking his head, Angel shuffled over to the bed and gingerly sat down on it, wincing in pain. “This isn’t their kind of problem.”
“What kind of problem is it?”
“You wouldn’t understand,” he said dismissively.
Putting my hands on my hips, I glared at him. “Try me.”
“I owe these guys,” he said tiredly.
“Owe them what?” I asked.
“We served together,” he explained slowly. “There was an accident on the ship. People were hurt. People were killed.”
“And you owe them why?”
“Because trauma unites,” he muttered under his breath.
“Sorry?” I asked, even though I’d heard him perfectly well.
“My friend, Jim, I couldn’t save his arm,” Angel said, rubbing his hand over his face as though he was trying to erase the memory.
“I’m sure you did the best you could,” I said, calmly walking over to him.
“My best wasn’t good enough.” He hung his head, the weight of guilt pressing down on him.
“It wasn’t your fault,” I said, putting my hand on his shoulder.
He shook me off. “You don’t know that. You don’t know anything.”
“I know it’s not worth whatever it is you’re going to do for these guys,” I told him.
He tilted his head to the side and gave me a long look. “Did I say guys?”
I gulped. It wasn’t like I could tell him I’d staked him out at the bar. I shrugged and lied as well as I could. “You said you all served together. Dwayne, this guy, Jim…”
He nodded slowly, and I couldn’t tell whether or not he was accepting my explanation.
“If they’re your friends, they won’t pressure you into doing something you don’t want to do,” I told him.
/> “I owe him,” he said tiredly.
“No,” I told him sternly. “You did your best under terrible circumstances; you don’t owe anybody anything.”
He was silent for a long moment before he nodded slowly. “You’re probably right.”
My heart leapt knowing I was getting through to him. He wasn’t going to lose his Boy Scout shine after all.
“Of course, I’m right,” I said, giving him a playful smack to the back of his head. “All you need to do is listen to me.”
He chuckled. “I understand why my uncles are so fond of you,” he said, shaking his head. “You’re a force of nature.”
“I’m a force for good,” I told him.
“You are that,” he said.
I looked away, feeling guilty, wondering if he’d feel the same thing if he knew how many people I’d killed in the name of being good.
“Why don’t you let me take you home?” I suggested. “My car’s in the lot. I’ll take you home, they’ll get you better medical care, and all of this can be over.”
He considered the offer for a long moment.
“You’re a good guy, Angel,” I reminded him. “You’re not the kind of person who goes looking for trouble.”
“It’s funny,” he revealed. “I spent my whole life trying to separate myself from my family’s business, and I’m on the verge of committing something just as bad as they would.”
“But you don’t have to,” I told him.
“It’s not that easy. I can’t just walk away from this thing.”
“Are they blackmailing you?”
He shook his head. “It’s a debt I owe.”
“Gambling?” I guessed, though he didn’t seem the type. My dad had done his fair share of gambling and I knew the signs.
“Of course not.”
“Then find another solution,” I urged. “You shouldn’t have to compromise yourself, your values.”
He got a faraway look in his eyes as he considered that.
I held my breath for a long moment, waiting for him to reach a decision. I saw the change in him the moment he did. I spoke quickly. “Let me take you home.”
He nodded and slowly got to his feet. “I’d appreciate that.” I wrapped my arm around him so he could lean his weight on me, and we moved to leave the room.
