by C. C. Koen
“This is gonna be funner than I thought. The game just got a lot more interesting.”
Rick’s head popped up as Jake shoved Maggie onto the couch and reached behind his back, pulling out another weapon. A revolver.
Shit. Rick took a step closer to Maggie and hadn’t realized he did until Jake ordered, “Stay there.” The semiautomatic pointed at Rick, the pistol at Maggie. Jake shuffled to the far side of the coffee table again and set the revolver he’d aimed at her on it. “There’s one bullet in it. Even though you’re a lying bitch, I was gonna give you a chance to live . . . maybe. But now, I got a better idea.”
“Jake, please.”
“Stop whining, Maggie. All it does is piss me off. I had to listen to it for years, and what did I get but a fucking brat and three years in lockup. As if living with you wasn’t bad enough, you had to get knocked up even when I told you I didn’t want a kid.”
Jake tilted the gun in his hand toward the table. “You’re gonna pick that up, Maggie.”
From the corner of his eye, Rick saw a flash of a red braided pigtail and Cece’s face peek out, then return to her hiding spot. Dammit. Okay, think how to sign a message to her. The pantry behind the back door would be a safer place for her to hide. Fuck. How was he going to do that? What would he say? Cece could read and spell basic words. Maybe he could sign pantry, but would she know what it meant? Should he try closet? Shit. His heart pounding in his ears and chest made it impossible to think straight.
“But first, you’re gonna tell this sucker how you ruined my life. The lies you told, bitch.”
All right, he’d go with the first rather than the latter. She might get confused and think he wanted her to come to the coat closet beside him. He couldn’t send her into the yard either, even though escaping would be ideal. Between the broken spring in the hinge that caused the screen door to slam shut, and the possibility Jake might find her, he couldn’t call attention to that area. Besides, at her age he doubted she’d know where to go, or which neighbor to ask for help. The chance she’d be outside wandering around wasn’t the best option.
Inching the slightest bit to the right, Rick got in position toward the action—Maggie and Jake. With his left hand tucked behind his thigh, closest to Cece’s view, he spelled P-A-N-T-R-Y several times. At this angle he didn’t have a straight-on view of the kitchen anymore without turning his head. He wouldn’t do that, not with Jake focused on him, an evil smile stretching across his pockmarked cheeks.
Shit, did he know? See him?
“Tell him, Maggie, how you lied on the stand. That way he’ll know what kind of psycho you are.”
Maggie flinched, her hands twisting in her lap. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Jake’s boisterous, hysterical laughing polluted the tense air with a guttural and sinister howl that made Rick’s eardrums buzz.
P-A-N-T-R-Y D-O-O-R H-I-D-E
He tried again and again as Jake’s sight remained on Maggie.
Through clenched teeth, Jake shouted, “I didn’t do it, you lunatic. Don’t give me that open-mouthed shit, Maggie, because my trigger finger is getting itchy. Act like you’re surprised, yeah, right. Instead of asking me, what’d you do? You cried to your fucking daddy? Didn’t trust me. And worse yet, you testified against me, your husband. Who does that shit but a vindictive, crazy woman?”
“I asked, but you wouldn’t tell me.”
“After, Maggie, after. It was too fucking late then. They hauled my ass to jail. When you found the bags in the garage, you should have come to me. If you had, I would have told you the truth.”
Maggie stood, her hands clenched around her stomach. “What happened?”
Jake took a few steps back, closer to the wall, farther away from Maggie, but the semiautomatic remained steady and aimed at her. “It was Donnie.”
Her eyebrows scrunched together and lips pursed. Maggie lifted her hand and shifted it into her hair, squeezing, tugging. “Why didn’t you tell the police your brother did it? You didn’t mention him, not even at the trial.”
As Maggie probed further, her statement got drowned out. Jake yanked a photo frame with a picture of her, Cece, and Kat off the wall and flung it across the room and over her shoulder, knocking a dent in the plaster before it shattered on the wood floor between her and Rick. Glass splintered and flew onto the coffee table, the sofa, and a piece hit Rick in the leg.
“I wasn’t gonna turn my brother in. But you’d know nothin’ about protecting flesh and blood, or someone you love, would you? At the first chance, you betrayed me.”
The diversion gave Rick a chance to move, twist to the left so he could get a quick look into the kitchen while glancing down to the long, triangular shard of glass lying on top of his shoe. As he bent over to pick it up, Jake snapped, “Leave it.”
Each of his moves were orchestrated to a t. Rick’s fingers were a hair’s length above the seam of his pant leg, and he angled his head just right, giving him the proper position to search for Cece. The maneuver seemed like he wanted the slivered shank off his foot, but he could give a shit about that, except the possibility of using the spear as a weapon.
No tiny sneaker, nothing. Did she figure it out, or had she tucked into a tighter ball?
“Get up.”
Slow, but not steady, Rick straightened. His gut told him this ordeal might get worse. Jake bringing up such a touchy subject would escalate the situation and set off an already erratic temper. Although, he guessed it had been the intention all along. Otherwise her ex wouldn’t have paid her this unexpected visit.
Shit. How long had he been here? In all this time, he hadn’t looked at his watch. An inward cringe sunk into the pit of his stomach when he did. Thirty minutes. He could’ve sworn an hour or two had gone by.
In the personal protection lectures Matt gave him, at the top of the list: remain calm. Another, don’t be a superhero. Unfortunately for him, Matt hadn’t said anything about two guns, which remained an unpredictable variable, and the revolver still sat on the coffee table a foot from Jake, and at least ten from Rick.
“Pick up the gun.”
Maggie shook her head, remaining in place at the edge of the couch. “No.”
Jake shifted his glare to him. “She’s not worth it.” In a matter of seconds, Jake picked up the revolver and tucked it into the front of his waistband, rounded the table, and before Rick got halfway to Maggie, latched onto her arm and shoved the semiautomatic into her neck. “I’m gonna save you the misery.” A cockeyed, evil grin in place, Jake dragged her struggling body toward the kitchen.
“Please . . . stop . . . don’t . . . do . . . this.” Maggie’s whimpers and heaving sobs made her strained pleas almost incoherent.
Intent on keeping Jake out of that part of the house and saving Maggie, Rick advanced. In a split-second, Jake switched directions, hobbling toward him. All of them at a standstill in the middle of the living room.
“Shut up. You mean nothing. All you are is dead.”
Twice the width and a head taller than Maggie, Jake peered over her shoulder. His black pupils enlarged to the point that only the outer rim displayed a murky brown. The semiautomatic pressed to Maggie’s right temple and Jake’s hardened stare sent chills down Rick’s spine. Methodically, the grip Jake had on her upper arm slid down and clasped her hand. His beefy fingers crushed Maggie’s onto the handle of the revolver and forced her to aim—at Rick’s chest. His thumb pulled on the hammer, and Jake held the trigger, ready to fire.
Paler than Rick had ever seen her, Maggie’s freckles shown redder than usual. Sweat dripping from her brow and through her blinking lashes cast a glowing sheen on her beautiful face. He swallowed the sour taste in his mouth. More than an arm’s length away, if he lunged at Jake, the guns would go off before he could disarm him. This would be it. He failed. Hadn’t done anything to rescue her or Cece. He memorized Maggie’s amazing mint-green eyes. If he died, she did; he wanted her to be his last breath and remembrance into
the afterlife. To carry her with him for an eternity.
Jake tainted the moment, standing guard, waiting, watching.
“I love you.” Rick’s vow echoed from the depths of his soul. “Forever. Always,” he whispered over the tears coating their cheeks, rolling off their chins. He wouldn’t die knowing he hadn’t told her.
Jake pressed his mouth to Maggie’s ear. “You ruined my life. Now I’m gonna do the same for you.” A click came from the revolver they pointed at his chest, knocking Rick back a step after the misfire. Maggie’s whimpers and trembles increased. With a sinister chuckle, Jake promised, “There’s a bullet in there somewhere. Which one will it be, Maggie? I planned on saving that little surprise for you, but lover boy gets it.”
Two blasts exploded.
Jake crumpled and Maggie propelled backward, dragged down with him. Three hundred pounds crashed onto solid wood; Maggie’s shoulder and hip smacked against it. The blow and boom that followed resembled a bomb detonated.
And all hell broke loose.
Falling onto his knees, Rick swept Maggie into his arms as Matt crushed a boot onto Jake’s wrist and snatched the semiautomatic. Kat scrambled and yanked away the revolver, kicking Jake in the ribs. “Bastard.” Another swift boot in the same spot. “Fucking pig.” Jake groaned and rolled onto his side, pulling his knees up into a fetal position. The next blow hit him in the nose. “Asshole.”
Rick wanted to do the same thing and a whole hell of a lot more, but he had other priorities—his girls. He hurried into the kitchen, placed Maggie on a chair, and scanned her head, chest, and legs making sure all parts were intact, and thankful she hadn’t been shot too. Her face drained of all color. Her eyes were bloodshot and stared over his shoulder into space. Her hands were crossed and clutched to her arms, and she rocked back and forth. “Maggie?” he called softly several times, hoping she understood him over the shouting in the other room. Fear rising, he refused to concentrate on that and decided on a different tactic. “We have to find Cece. Do you hear me, honey?” He stood and glanced at the pantry door. As he took a step toward it, a hand snatched his. Maggie got up and parroted, “Cece, Cece, Cece.” Dazed confusion and pinched ridges marred her forehead. He cupped her cheeks, inspecting her dilated pupils, stretched in wide-eyed alarm. “I’ll find her. I promise.” His head and heart throbbed and worry for both of them consumed him.
Maybe if she saw her daughter she’d snap out of her trance. He wrapped his arms around her, pulling her toward the storeroom, and yanked on the knob. “Oh, god.” The shelves were stocked with cans and dry goods, but Cece wasn’t inside.
Sirens grew louder and closer. Rick twisted around and examined the living room. Most of the view blocked by Matt, he sidestepped to the right, and got a look. Slumped against a wall with his arms behind his back, Jake’s bruised and swollen eyelids were closed and blood smeared like painted-on scars lined his cheek and jaw. Matt’s .44 magnum trained on the asshole’s chest, ready for any possibility. In that slouched and battered condition, Jake wouldn’t be going anywhere except prison.
His brain turned fuzzy, and he had no idea where the piece of shit got shot. The details came in spurts, two blasts he thought but wasn’t sure now. Maybe he was experiencing shock too. He shook his head, not allowing himself to get distracted. He had to stay focused.
“Matt.”
Without turning around, his best friend, who he would never complain about again, responded as if nothing were the matter. “Yo.”
“Have you seen Cece?”
“Cece,” Maggie muttered. Her trembles vibrated along his ribs and across his stomach as he tucked her closer.
“Backyard, Kat has her.”
Once the first part had come out of Matt’s mouth, he propelled Maggie toward the screen, slamming it open, and rushed down the steps. In the fort, Kat had Cece wrapped in her arms, her niece’s head lying on her shoulder as Kat swayed side to side.
Maggie screamed a garbled combination of her daughter’s name and “Oh, god” as she ran across the lawn. In a leap, she climbed the first few ladder rungs and extended her hands out to her sister. “My baby, give me my baby.”
“Come all the way up.”
Maggie grabbed the holds on the cedar trim and pulled herself into the fort. Once on solid footing, Kat handed Cece to Maggie, and all three of them hugged and cried on each other’s shoulders.
All the oxygen vanished. Bent over with his fingers locked to his knees, he attempted to inhale and exhale without hyperventilating. Crackling microphones and more voices came from inside. He realized the sirens had come to a stop. The screen door opened and slammed shut behind him, but he didn’t move from his ready-to-throw-up position. A hand placed between his shoulder blades and Matt’s boots didn’t force him out of his hunched-over pose either.
“The police are here, want statements.”
Rick nodded and concentrated on his breathing. After a huge inhale, he pulled up to his full height and dove at Matt, capturing him in a man hug. “Thank you, thank you so damn much.”
Matt pounded him on the back. “Anytime, my friend, anytime.”
Holding on to Matt’s shoulders, he pushed away and filled in the blanks. “I was afraid you wouldn’t come.”
An embarrassed red tinge covered Matt’s cheeks. “I almost didn’t.”
“What?”
“When I got the alert, I thought it was a joke.”
His heavy, strained arms dropped to his sides. The realization set in at just how close he had come to dying. “What do you mean?”
Matt shrugged as if his claim hadn’t been a big deal. “You were freakin’ out. After my little pep talk, I thought you were just foolin’ around, pullin’ a prank.”
Rick threw his hands up, scrubbing them through his hair and yanking out his frustration. Unable to stand in place now, he paced to the white picket fence surrounding the yard, which should’ve provided a pleasant picture of hearth and home, but the chronic spasms in his stressed muscles almost had him collapsing against it and destroying the perfect frame.
“I’m sorry, man.”
Maggie climbed down, Cece still in her arms, and Kat jumped from the ledge onto the grass at least five feet below. He jogged past Matt and almost tackled Maggie and Cece, pulling them into his chest in a tight embrace. He kissed Cece and Maggie on top of their heads, murmuring against them, “I love you.”
“We need all of you inside,” an unfamiliar female voice ordered.
Clustered together, Maggie joined at Rick’s hip, Cece safe and sound asleep in her mother’s arms, they shuffled in synchronized formation from the playset toward the kitchen where the officer waited and Matt held the screen door open. Kat trudged along, bringing up the rear.
After they were seated in the living room, and Cece tucked into bed, the officers questioned each of them separately about the incident. From what he could figure, Kat got there sometime between him signing to Cece and discovering she disappeared. Kat had been on assignment, working on a case. When she arrived home and stepped on the porch, she overheard Jake’s shouting and laughter. Since she couldn’t see in the window, she crept into the backyard for a sneak attack. Cece and Maggie had been playing there earlier. Maggie ran inside to get a couple bottles of water. Her cell rang, and when she went to pick it up in the living room, Jake surprised her, capturing her in a chokehold and dragging her to the couch.
Rick stormed in not long after.
And fortunately for all of them, Kat caught sight of Cece by the fridge and coaxed her outside, hiding her in the fort. That was when Kat saw Matt’s SUV pull up next to the curb. They snuck in through the kitchen just as Jake’s twisted Russian roulette almost killed him. Matt’s shot hit Jake in the back. Kat struck his thigh, taking him down. Their keen timing saved Rick and Maggie. The paramedics checked them out and left after they refused further medical treatment.
Hours passed before the police took off. Since Matt and Kat discharged their weapons, they’d have to repor
t to the station tomorrow for additional questioning. Both relinquished their firearms until permits could be verified. Justifiable in their action, neither would face charges for the time being, but the investigation would continue and there would be follow-up. A district attorney had to review the reports and reach a conclusion. The deputy indicated if everything checked out, none of them should have anything to worry about.
Jake had been transported to the hospital, officers accompanying him. If stable, he’d be extradited to Texas. As a convicted criminal on parole, he had a slew of charges pending against him, regardless of his claims of innocence. He couldn’t declare that now, not with a room full of witnesses.
Out front, Matt stood on the porch waiting for Rick as he said good night to Maggie. He cupped her beautiful face and kissed her temple. “I’m so glad you and Cece are safe.” He wrapped his arms around her and pressed his cheek to hers. They both shed a life’s worth of sweat today. He doubted he smelled great. Regardless, he needed to be closer to her. He pulled her tighter and set his nose in the crook of her neck. Her skin reminded him of strawberries and vanilla. He placed his mouth there too and spoke from the heart. “I love you.” As if he were praying, he repeated the affectionate pledge in her ear and at last on her lips.
When he took a step back, he clued in to her vacant green eyes, non-smiling mouth, and stiff arms at her sides. “Maggie?”
Her mouth opened, closed, and opened. Her head shook as she said, “I’m sorry.”
“What?” Without air in his lungs he thought the question would be a whisper, but over the buzzing in his ears, he shouted it.
Her eyes closed, and she inhaled, repeating louder. “I’m sorry. I can’t.”
His body jolted, slamming his shoulder into the doorjamb. “You can’t what?” he growled, anger rather than concern for her mental state fueling him.
“Do this,” she said faintly.
“This?” He grabbed her upper arms, her eyes wide open now. “Did you hear me? I love you. I love Cece. I want us to be a family. Does any of that register?”
