That Perfect Place

by M Carr

  He peeked around the corner to see a face in the cracked open door of the back bedroom. He and Westin shot simultaneously and neither missed. Cautiously Jake entered the hallway and searched for the mechanism to open the door to the tunnel. He remembered it was up high to keep children out. A wall sconce looked out of place. He turned it and was rewarded by a doorway rolling open in the wall.

  “Westin, I’ve got it.”

  “Gundersen, get out of here. Get to safety.” Westin pointed at the front door.

  Another gunman appeared on the stairs and started shooting. Both Jake and Westin ignored the ladder and jumped straight down into the tunnel to avoid being shot. They heard the man’s boots coming down the stairs toward them. Jake stood on his tiptoes and used the rifle to spray the hallway back toward the stairs. He was rewarded with a scream and the thud of a body. A grenade went off above them, blowing debris into the tunnel.

  “I think this might be the safest way,” Jake commented to the agent. Westin nodded and headed down the tunnel.

  It was dimly lit and barely high enough for the tall vet. He had to stoop to keep from bumping his head. They went straight for about twenty feet, and then it took a sharp left turn. Westin peered around the corner; it was empty.

  The tunnel emptied under the barn into a twelve-by-twelve room. The room had been transformed into a sophisticated lab. Two men in paper suits were standing in the corner with their hands up. The homeland security agent cuffed them with wire ties. The hatch was open over their heads, so Jake cautiously crept up the ladder to see what was up there. He counted four men by the barn windows looking out. He could hear footsteps overhead indicating at least one man in the loft. He took out two before Westin yanked him back down into the tunnel.

  “They’re going to blast the doors off,” he said just as a tremendous noise exploded over their heads. A few seconds later, men started flooding the building. Westin started up the ladder and motioned Jake to stay behind.

  Two more agents burst out of the tunnel. Jake filled them in on what was happening above. They tried to get the two trussed-up scientists to leave by the tunnel, but the men refused. One was acting very nervous, and the other was smirking. An unpleasant thought occurred to Jake and the agents at the same time.

  “This place is rigged to blow!” yelled one into his radio, “Everybody out!” He headed down the tunnel as he spoke.

  Jake headed up the ladder, as it was his closest way out. He was at the top when a blast rocked the barn and he was thrown off his feet and dropped hard. His left shoulder hit something very unyielding, and he felt his clavicle snap. In slow motion the floor collapsed under him. He flailed helplessly, trying to grab a hold of something to slow his descent.

  He fell into the hole and landed on his left side, sprawled over a counter. Pain coursed through his body as he lay there gasping and gagging. He tired to move and wound up sliding to the floor, hitting his head hard on some debris. Blackness threatened to overtake him. The air was thick with dust and some chemical that burned his throat with every breath he took.

  Willing himself not to pass out, he staggered to where the tunnel should be. He couldn’t hear anything and his head was pounding, but the instinct for self-preservation carried him toward the safest exit. Halfway down the first stretch, strong hands grabbed him and dragged him out. They lifted him into the partially wrecked cabin. His eyes were tearing too much to be able to see who they were. Mercifully he passed out.

  A few minutes later while he was still trying to take a decent gulp of fresh air, someone came over and flushed his eyes with saline. His ribs were on fire, and breathing was excruciating. His throat and mouth were raw and his lips bleeding from the chemicals and dust he had inhaled, and he still couldn’t hear anything. He was bruised and bloody from a dozen different small shrapnel wounds. He could feel hands on him and a mask being slipped over his nose and mouth. He lay still and concentrated on breathing.

  After a few minutes on oxygen, he began to feel more alive. He recognized Jim holding the oxygen mask.

  Halloran appeared above them and questioned Jim. “Will he be OK?”

  “He was awfully close to the blast—broken ribs at least. I can’t tell how much other damage there is. He needs follow-up medical care.”

  “Well, get him back to base. We’re set up by your truck. Someone will meet you there and get the wounded to a hospital.”

  An ambulance was waiting for them by the truck. The two agents that went out through the tunnel were not injured too badly. The shock wave had knocked them down, and the ensuing fireball had scorched the back of the last man out. Both were choking on the same fumes Jake had inhaled. They were being loaded into an ambulance as he was brought in.

  Jill jumped out of the FBI’s Suburban and ran toward Jake, but an agent caught her and said she had better wait until the EMTs were done. She stood off to the side obviously distraught. Jim put his arm around her.

  “He was a little too close when the lab blew up, so he’s a bit shook up; his vital signs were strong though. He’ll be OK, but he has inhaled some nasty stuff.”

  Jill buried her head in Jim’s shoulder. “The last thing I said to him was insulting. Why am I so stupid?”

  Jim didn’t know what to say, so he just handed her a hanky. He and Tina were both of the mindset that when it’s right it’s right and just accept it. He didn’t know why Jill was always throwing up obstacles between herself and Jake.

  “I’m calling Tina to let her know we’re OK,” he said as he pulled out his cell phone.

  Bob Mattson was leaning against the back of Jake’s pickup. An agent had cut the tape and handcuffed him with his hands in front. Bob was in the process of sneaking away when they brought Jake in on a stretcher. Bob saw them fussing over his rival and saw Jill crying for him. He heard an agent saying to Halloran, “I think the ex-marine got more guys than the rest of us combined.” No one had as yet even asked Bob his name.

  Suddenly he couldn’t take it anymore. Why was the world so unfair? Everyone compared him to Gundersen, his grandfather especially. He was Bob Mattson, grandson of the richest, most important man in town; he shouldn’t have to prove himself. But all his life everyone had expected too much from him and had insulted him, especially Cynthia. Her carrying on with Jake had been a deliberate slap in the face. She knew how much he had resented Jake’s popularity. Well, he would just show them. He looked around to see that no one was watching him.

  The interior lights were on in the truck, and he saw a gun case on the back seat. Quietly he opened the door and pulled the pistol out of the case. It wasn’t a regular gun, but it didn’t matter. Clumsily he loaded a dart and aimed at Jake’s bare chest. When the paramedic was turned away, he fired. He saw Jake swat at the dart and try to flick it away. Now who was pathetic and unarmed?

  hat the hell?” the EMT said, holding up the dart he had pulled from his patient’s chest. Jim saw it and recognized it immediately. He knew those darts were loaded with the opiate Jake used to anesthetize large exotic animals. The dart was red, meaning it was enough to sedate over three hundred pounds. His partner could be dead in a matter of minutes. He ran to the truck and searched frantically for the antagonist, calling over his shoulder as he did so.

  “That dart was loaded with Fentanyl. We need to get as much Naltrexone into him as we can.”

  Jill saw the dart and also Bob Mattson throwing away Jake’s tranquilizer gun. Without even thinking about her actions, she grabbed Jake’s shotgun from the hood of the pickup and fired. She missed narrowly, but the DHS agents had caught on. They grabbed Bob and threw him roughly to the ground and recuffed him with his hands behind his back.

  “You are under arrest for the attempted murder of Jakob Gundersen,” Halloran said as he picked him up by the hair and shoved him into the back seat of one of their cars. “You better pray it stays attempted murder with all of these witnesses.”

  Jim, meanwhile, found the antidote. He loaded a syringe and administered it via
IV to Jake, praying it was enough to counteract the effects of the overdose.

  The EMTs were hooking Jake up to a heart monitor when his eyes rolled back in his head and his breathing slowed. One paramedic inserted an airway while the other called into base. A helicopter, which had landed in the meadow as backup, was now warmed up to transport him. They loaded a defibrillator in case his heart stopped, and the paramedics climbed into the chopper, but they wouldn’t let Jill in with them.

  She had been chafing his wrists and trying to keep him focused when he passed out. She wasn’t entirely sure he had known who she was. She felt as if her own heart had stopped completely. The sudden realization that this was what Tina had meant when she said she couldn’t remember life before Jim hit Jill like a ton of bricks, and she sank to the ground shaking.

  Agent Westin lifted her up and half-carried her into his car. He whisked her off to the hospital, sirens and lights going the whole way.

  Oh God, please, please, don’t let him die. Did I say, ‘I love you’ to him? I’m sure I didn’t.

  “How far is it?” she asked weakly, her pulse pounding and her coordination gone.

  “It shouldn’t take the chopper more than a half hour to Iowa City. From here, over an hour for us.” Westin didn’t need anyone to tell him this was Gundersen’s girl—the way she was leaning forward in her seat and gripping the dashboard said it all.

  Jim took the truck back to the farmhouse to fill everybody in on the night’s events as soon as he was allowed to leave. He dreaded facing Jeanine, who obviously doted on her kid brother. He was glad Tina would be there. She would know exactly what to do and say.

  Everyone was gathered in the living room, including Nels, waiting for some information, so Jim was able to explain things just once. The part about Jake being blown up didn’t go over well. He never even got to the part about the tranquilizer dart.

  “Why was he part of the fighting anyway?” Nels wanted to know.

  “Nels, because he’s Jake,” Jeanine pointed out. “He still has that marine first-boots-on-the-ground mentality.”

  “Is my dad going to die?” Brad refocused the discussion.

  “Oh, sweetie, we’re all going to the hospital right now and see how he’s doing. Jim says he wasn’t hurt too bad in the explosion.” Jeanine hugged her nephew. “Nels, you’re elected to call Ma. Remember, they’re five hours ahead in Sweden.”

  “Wait.” Jim held up his hand. “I wasn’t finished. That guy Mattson shot him with a tranquilizer dart. I’m afraid his life is in serious danger.”

  That caused more uproar, so Jim and Tina grabbed Brad and took off in their car while the others were getting organized. Nels loaded everyone else in his Suburban. Tina called her sister to see if there was any news.

  “His heart stopped, but they were able to get it going again,” Jill informed her sister, tearfully. “That’s all I know for now.”

  Tina turned to Brad after sharing a meaningful look with Jim. “He’s hanging in there, Brad.”

  The whole group gathered in the emergency waiting room with Jill. An intern came out to give them an update. There wasn’t much to say except that he was still alive but on full life support. Time ticked by with agonizing slowness.

  Brad asked Jill if they had made up from their fight, and she started to cry again.

  “We didn’t have time.”

  Brad put his hand on her arm. “Dad’s pretty easygoing and doesn’t stay mad for long. He’ll ask again.”

  “Ask what?”

  “Well, the question, you know, the one-knee thing.”

  “Propose? Oh God. I thought just the opposite. He was acting so strangely last week. You wouldn’t let me talk to him on Tuesday. He didn’t answer on Wednesday. Then Friday, he sent me home after telling Cynthia he didn’t want to get married.”

  Tina took her off to a quiet corner to get her back under control.

  Jeanine came over after Jill had calmed a bit to fill her in on things. “Honey, Jake loves you, but he had a really rough time of it last week.”

  “He had a rough time? I lost my dearest friend and aunt. I could have used some comfort and instead he ignored me.”

  Jeanine’s voice took on a sharp edge. “Do you know what PTSD is?”

  Jill’s eyes got big and round. “Are you talking about post-traumatic stress? But he’s never shown any signs.”

  “I’m sure he’s never told you much about Afghanistan. The helicopter he and his squad were in was hit midair, mangling Jakob’s leg and killing the nineteen-year-old kid across from him. They had to make an emergency landing and hole up for two hours. When they got word that help was about three minutes out, the radio signal gave away their position. They were hit with a mortar, killing another three of his eighteen men and re-injuring him and four others.

  “He was in a hospital in Germany for three weeks, hovering between life and death. He lost his foot but finally recovered enough to be sent to California, only to find his wife was carrying on with another man. So yeah, my brother has trouble from time to time.”

  She softened her tone a bit and continued, “Last week, after the tornado, he had some problems. Maggie came up and sedated him Tuesday evening. She and Steve took him somewhere on Wednesday, and by that evening he was somewhat better but on sedatives for the rest of the week, which tend to make him act strangely. I know he was planning to tell you all this when he had time.”

  “That would be so hard for Jake. No wonder he seemed nervous on Saturday.” Jill blew her nose. “I thought he regretted us and didn’t want to get too close, especially after what he said to Cynthia. Oh, God, when am I ever going to get things right? You just never think of Jake as being less than in total command.” She covered her eyes, and Jeanine pulled her into a hug.

  Jim tried to lighten the mood. “Your dad never ceases to amaze me,” he said to Brad. “You should have seen him. The DHS guys said they’d hire him for their assault team anytime.”

  “The only thing Jake has ever been bad at is standing up to Ida,” Nels said.

  “And cooking,” SJ added. “He never pays close enough attention and burns things or doesn’t cook them enough.”

  “I wish he had been able to play more baseball,” Nels added. “If he had made the majors, Granddad would have bust his britches with pride.”

  “You can blame our father for that,” Jeanine said.

  “We can blame our father for a lot of wrongs, Jeanie, but it doesn’t do any good. You didn’t know him before Ida when our mom was still alive. He was a different man.”

  Around two, Jim went to find drinks for everyone, and the wait continued. At three, Jeanine remembered to call the answering service to close the clinic for Monday at the least. Finally, around four in the morning, the resident on duty came out and sat with them.

  “Dr. Gundersen has regained his swallow reflex and is breathing on his own again. I think we can safely say he is out of danger. He probably won’t really wake up until sometime later today, but we can take a few of you back if you want to see him.”

  Jeanine put her arm around Brad and followed the doctor. Nels pushed Jill along after them.

  “Go on,” he said. “Jake loves you even if you’re not on the same wavelength just now. He’s like a cat—whenever he’s sick or upset he hides and then you have to go find him and pry out of him just exactly what’s wrong. You’ll catch on after a bit.”

  It was about three in the afternoon before Jake was alert enough to respond to visitors. He had broken several ribs and his collarbone in the explosion. His hearing had come back, but his ears were still ringing and he had a mild concussion as well as huge, livid bruises and cuts all over. His throat and mouth were raw after the crud he had inhaled, and he couldn’t speak without coughing.

  Jeanine kissed his forehead. “You are without a doubt the most trying little brother ever. Why can’t you be more like Nels? He has never given me a bit of trouble.”

  “Now look,” she continued leaning in c
loser, “I don’t know what happened between you and Jill, but she has punished herself enough, so admit you were wrong and move on, OK?”

  Jake nodded and gave her a tired smile. His sister always contended that life was tough enough for women, and men should admit their guilt immediately. It just made things simpler that way.

  Brad approached his dad hesitantly. “Are you going to be all right?” he asked, trying not to cry. “Why did that guy Mattson shoot you anyway?”

  Jake looked confused, and Jim had to explain what had happened. Jake’s eyes widened, and he shrugged and shook his head. “Couldn’t handle losing Jill,” he rasped and then coughed.

  Jim looked at Jake seriously. “I don’t think he ever had a chance with her. If you ask me, I think she’s in love with you and has been for a while. I don’t know why she fights it. I’m just glad I got the easygoing, sensible sister.”

  After a few minutes, Jim ushered the others out, leaving Jill alone with him.

  “Oh, Jakob, I’m so sorry. All I ever think about is me. I didn’t give you a chance to say anything at the restaurant. And then you came and put your life in danger to save me anyway.” Tears streamed silently down her face.

  He took her hand and squeezed it. “’S OK,” he croaked. She held onto his for a while until he drifted into an uneasy sleep.

  Jeanine meanwhile was listening to the doctor’s report. Jake’s left kidney was badly bruised, and he was passing blood in his urine. More tests had been ordered to check for internal damage. They were monitoring him closely, and hopefully things would clear up without surgery.

  The others found Jeanine slumped on a bench. She explained that Jake only had a third of his right kidney remaining and that she was his best donor match if his left kidney gave out. It was the first time anyone had ever seen her less than composed. Sam sat with her for a bit and held her hand.

  Tina meanwhile had gotten hotel rooms nearby. She and Sam drove all the way home to get some personal items for the vigil. They took shifts, and someone was in Jake’s room with him at all times. She had a bit of trouble convincing her sister to eat and sleep, but Jill’s stamina eventually gave out and she slept at least part of the night on Monday.