12- Pimple or Bullet?

12

 

Bullet or Pimple?

 

The Gross Proposition...

They laid on the couch.  It was a large sectional in an L-shape that took up most of their living room. They watched television, which had always been one of the Deveruax's favorite past times.  Leo looked over and watched as his wife fingered a growing pimple on her leg angrily.

She saw him watching her and felt the need to explain.  "This thing appeared this morning and will not go away."

Leo raised an eyebrow and grinned.  "I'm sure the constant picking helps."

Jo scowled at him.  "Seriously, I want to get rid of this thing."

"I could bite it."  He said.  Leo had been prone to saying gross things just for the sake of disgusting his wife.  It was a hobby that he enjoyed.

On cue, Jo's face curled into revulsion.  "Ugh, nasty!  Why would you say something like that?"

“Because that’s how much I love you.  I would pop one of your pimples with my teeth.”  He said, trying to trap her.

The joke was on him.  “I just want you to know, I don’t love you that much.”

He feigned insult.  “I’m hurt.”

She shrugged.

“If you had to either take a bullet for me or pop a pimple of mine with your teeth, which would you do?” Leo asked the brutal hypothetical but Jo didn’t flinch.

“Bullet.” She answered almost immediately.

Leo looked surprised.  “Really?  I mean the bullet could kill you, a pimple is just gross.”

“Don’t care.“  Jo answered.  “In that situation, you always take the bullet.”

****

Present…

Leo saw Barkley spin, gun in hand, and he willed his broken and beaten body to move.  He heard the gun bark two loud shots before he grabbed Barkley’s arm and pushed it up so it pointed toward the sky.  He loosely punched at the agent with his other hand, taking Barkley by surprise.

Barkley took the weak blow and fell back against the throttle, pushing it to a stop.  The boat quickly came to a halt in the lake waters.  The attack had more startled Barkley than anything, Leonard having been weakened from the pounding he had taken at the hands of the Russian.  Barkley hand not seen the attack coming and that was why he had allowed it to happen.

Leonard knew he didn’t have the strength to fight Barkley so instinct kicked in and it told him that controlling the gun was everything.  He placed his other hand on Barkley’s wrist and focused only on keeping the gun point away from him or anyone he cared about.

“Fat piece of shit!”  Barkley roared in irritation and began to rain blows down with his free hand on Leo’s neck and shoulders to attempt to force him to let go.

After the third or fourth blow (Leo was losing track), his resolve began to weaken.  All he could hope was that Jo had gotten out of range and that she was safe.  That was all that mattered to him now.  That was all that really mattered to him ever.

Leo began to lose his grip when the two of them were splashed with what seemed like buckets of water. The force and surprise made them stagger slightly.  Leo felt his grip slip and knew in the next second it would be over.

****

“Let him go and get down.  Come on Leo, get out of the way.“  Eliza was speaking as if Leonard could hear her out there on the lake, and realize he was just in the way and move.

Eliza had been tracking them and they had begun to move out of range when Leo had thrown himself at Barkley and, in the struggle, stopped the boat.  She now had the range and the shot if Leonard would just get out of the way long enough for her to take it.

“Yes!”  She yelled as Jo pulled her Jet Ski into a hard sideways stop as she reached the boat sending a miniature tsunami of water of the two men.  The move forced Leonard to let go and stagger.  Barkley rose to shoot him and Eliza’s finger began to tense on the trigger…

“Damn it!”  She cursed as, just before taking the shot, Jo dove off her Jet Ski and into the back of the boat crashing into Barkley before he could kill her husband but more importantly before Eliza could take the shot.

She released the trigger and continued to watch and wait, looking for her shot.

****

The water stunned them both but Leo lost his grip and stumbled.  Barkley regained his composure and was about to take the shot, but Jo could not let that happen.  She rushed forward, the adrenaline in her body helping her to ignore the pain in her shoulder.  She grabbed the wrist of Barkley’s gun hand with both hands, roaring as she did.

The roar was more for herself than anyone else.  A way to quiet the panic in her head.  Barkley became enraged as she grabbed at him.  “Where do you people keep coming from!”

Barkley placed his free hand on his own wrist and started to slowly point the gun back towards Josephine’s head.  She could see the dark opening of the barrel like a black hole and the pain in her shoulder flared.  The gun moved towards her.  She could not stop it.

Leo recovered, placing both hands on the barrel of the gun and beginning to pull it back away from her. They stood there for a second, deadlocked, wrestling over the firearm in a struggle for life and death. The Deveruaxs began to force the barrel back toward Barkley.  Even with their wounds, combined they had more strength then Barkley.

Barkley had something they didn’t, however, and that was experience.  He saw that Leo had his hands over the barrel so he fired the gun into the air.  The slide on the gun slid back and forth with the action catching the skin of Leo’s fingers and tearing them.  He howled in pain and let go.  At the same time, Jo was deafened and stunned by the sound so close to her.  Barkley ripped the gun away and punched Leonard hard to the face.  He staggered backwards and fell.  Barkley then backhanded Jo and she fell to Leo’s right.

Barkley raised the firearm and leveled it at them.  “You fucking tourists should have minded your own damn-“

One gunshot rang out, but not from the small boat.  It came from the shore line.  Simultaneously, Barkley’s chest plumed red as the rifle bullet entered through the front of his breastbone above his heart and exited out his spinal cord.

Barkley never got to finish his sentence, or anything for that matter, ever again.

The body tumbled backward over the side of the boat and into the water with a splash and just like that, it was over.

There was almost a full thirty seconds of silence as both Jo and Leo just sat there and blinked.  They fought to catch their breath.

“Did we win?” Leo finally asked through gasps.

Jo nodded to herself more than anyone else.  “Yeah.  Yeah, I think we did.”

“You took a bullet for me.”  Leo said and Jo turned toward him.

“What?” She asked, frazzled.

“You took a bullet for me.” He said again and reached out to point at it but accidently touched it.

She yowled in pain and slapped him.  “Ass!”

He yowled in pain when she slapped him.  “Hey, come on, that hurts.”

“Would you still take the bullet?”  He asked as the pain subsided.

“Huh?” She asked again not seeing what he was getting at.

“Instead of popping the pimple with your teeth.”  He explained.  “Now that you have taken the bullet, would you still choose it over the pimple?”

Her shoulder was on fire and her chest and arm covered in blood.  “Yes, you always take the bullet in that situation.”

Somehow, through the pain, they found the ability to laugh.

****

A Freakin’ Castle…

“Were are we going?” Jo asked again, she hated not driving but Leo had insisted.

Leo just smiled in reply.  “It’s a surprise.”

It had been two weeks since their so called vacation to Michigan where all hell had broken loose.  After an extended stay at the hospital, the D.H.S had paid for their remaining stay and the head of Homeland Security himself came in to thank them personally.  Leo had been beside himself but Jo had been suspicious that it had just been a way to keep them from suing.

They were now trying to figure out what to do with their remaining millions.  Jo was savvy and knew that though $50,000,000.00 seemed like a lot now it wouldn’t last them forever if they just blew it on whatever they wanted.  They would have to use this opportunity to make their fortune so they wouldn’t have to work again.

“So, any more ideas on what to do with the money?”  She asked.  Leo took a breath and Jo quickly corrected her mistake before he could capitalize.  “Aside from buying a comic shop.”

Leo exhaled, defeated.  He took a second then shrugged.  “I’m not sure.  We should probably buy stock or something like that.”

Jo raised her eyebrow at him.  “Do you have any idea what that involves?”

He shook his head.  “No, I was hoping you did.”

She shook her head.  “Oh well, we’ll figure something out.  We just need to be careful spending it.”

Leo made a grimace and Jo narrowed her eyes at him.  “What was that?”

He recovered and shook his head but the damage was done.  Jo pressed him.  “How much did you spend?”

Leo looked meek.  “Just a couple of million or so.”

Jo Looked shocked.  “What in God’s name could you have spent a couple of million on?!”

Leo stopped the car and pointed.  “That.”

Jo stared in amazement and confusion.  “Is that… a castle?!”

The house was huge and sprawling in front of them, made of old brick and stone to resemble an old English castle.  “That is a freakin’ castle!”

“Why?” Jo sputtered aghast.

 “Because we are winners, babe.”  He said.  “And winners have castles.”

Jo couldn’t help but laugh and Leo reached over and pulled her into him before she could stop him kissing her hard, she kissed him back. Love didn’t always make sense but it did make happiness.

He broke away.  “Not to mention, we can build our bat cave under it.”

Leo wiggled his eyebrows and then got out of the car.  She shook her head.  “No… Leo.  No.  We are not super heroes.  Leo, are you listening to me?!  Leo?!”

END OF SEASON 1

11- Keep Going

11

 

Keep Going

 

Eliza’s story…

Eliza tried to cover her ears with her hands but no matter how hard she pressed, it never seemed to block out the sounds, not really.  Even if it could have stopped her from hearing the screams, sobs and the echo of her father's fist crashing into her mother's face, she just would have heard it in her own head.

There was no escaping it.

She curled up tighter into a ball on her bed.  The people on the posters and pictures stuck to her wall seemed to stare as if to mock her fear.  She felt a pang of regret as she realized she was more worried about dear old dad deciding to come upstairs than her mother's well-being.

The fear that racked Eliza Adams thirteen-year-old body was all-encompassing.  It was so heavy, it was a physical pain that spread from her head to her feet.  Tears streamed down her face but she was not crying.  It was like her body was shaking them out of her.

She just wanted it to be over, wanted to go back to pretending they were a normal family.  She wanted to go back to the fairy tale life where her father did not get drunk once every two weeks or so and beat the shit out of her mother, and sometimes her.

After what seemed like an eternity, the screaming stopped with a slamming of the front door.  Her father had left too cool off.  He would return sometime in the middle of the night a different person, filled with guilt and regret.  He would apologize and win her mother over and the pretending would resume... until next time.

She relaxed slowly like a scared animal coming out of its hiding spot after a great storm.  Her door opened and at first she tensed, half expecting it to be the dark creature that possessed her father, but instead it was her mother.

She would have been a beautiful woman if the years of stress and abuse had not taken such a devastating toll on her.  Her right eye and the left side of her mouth were swollen and beginning to turn purple.  There was a deadness in her, like the life and energy had been drained from her soul.

She sat down on the bed next to Eliza and held her in her arms.  Eliza broke into sobs as she always did.

"You be strong, Liz.  You never stop."  Her mother repeated over and over like a mantra and Liz knew that one day she would be all out of tears.  One day she would find the strength to stop this fear that came in waves.

"You never stop."

 

****

Reality brutally returned to agent Eliza Adams.  She took a deep breath of air, as if she had surfaced from the water after a long dive, then coughed.  The bullets her partner had fired into her abdomen had been stopped by her standard issue vest.  The close range and impact had still pounded into her and knocked her out by forcing the air out of her lungs.

"Jesus!"  One of the Sheriffs standing over her said as Agent Adams returned to the land of the living.

Eliza ripped at her shirt sending buttons scattering along the pavement.  She then caught the Velcro and pulled it, freeing the vest that swung open and just like that she felt like she could breathe again.  She did not care that she was lying in just a bra in the middle of a crowd of strangers.  She was just happy she had oxygen in her lungs one more time.

"Status." She said in a raspy voice and everyone just kind of looked back and forth at each other, confused.

Eliza took a deep breath.  "What is the status of the situation?  Where is Barkley?"

One of the Sheriffs was squared into speaking.  "Sorry ma'am.  He took a hostage and confiscated a boat.  We radioed for a copper and the police boat’s ETA.  Five minutes till intercept."

Eliza nodded and forced her jelly legs back to the solid form they had once been and stood.  As she did, she looked around and noticed something.  "Where is Josephine?"

The Sheriff looked confused.  "Who?"

"The female civilian.  The one woman who got into the ambulance with the hostage!"  Her patience was wearing thin.

The Sheriffs looked around and shrugged and Liz knew then exactly were Jo would be, where she had always been.  With her husband.

"I need a rifle, now!"  Eliza said and the Sheriff hopped to the task of finding her one as Eliza began to hobble toward the dock where Barkley had killed the tour guide and made off with the boat.  She could she him shred the water already two hundred yards out.

She turned and saw the Sheriff running back toward her.   He had a Remington 700 .308 with a scope.  "I use this for hunting!"

He tossed the gun to her and she caught it, flipping it around and spinning.  The rifle was bolt action.  She pulled the bolt up and jammed it open.  The Sheriff handed her a couple of bullets but she only grabbed one, she only had time for one, and jammed it into the rifle before closing the action with a satisfying mechanical clank.

Eliza had always hated scopes.  She understood they were necessary but hated not having any peripheral vision.  There was something about it that unnerved her and made it hade for her to find the target and lead it properly.  She would have to make do.

She raised the gun to her shoulder and closed an eye, peering through the scope.  She saw Barkley at the helm of the boat.  Leo was draped over the back of the boat, his head and arm dangling.  She cursed her luck.  He was moving too fast for her to be able to get a clean shot off and soon he would be too far for her to take a shot altogether.

She scanned the water and that's when she saw her.  Jo was on a Jet Ski she had confiscated from the docks, racing after Barkley and her husband in distress.  This made matters worse.  Jo was not combat trained, she was just a scared wife, bumbling after her husband and putting herself in the way.

"What are you doing, Jo?" Eliza mumbled to herself as she watched and hoped for an opening to present itself.

 

*****

"What in the hell am I doing?!"  Jo yelled to herself as she gunned the Jet Ski and bounced over the wake that was created by Barkley's newly acquired boat.

This was a defining moment for Josephine because she had never seen herself doing anything like this. She was not this person who dives in head first and hopes everything works out, that was her husband. She was a ‘tell the cops and worry’ sort of person.  Her logical brain told her she couldn't possibly help, and that she was, in all probability, making things worse.

As much as she knew this, there was another part of her, the part that had made her defy her instincts and fall for the man in the silly hats and the stupid shirts.  The part that could not imagine her life without him.  The part that commanded she go after him, that she free Leonard or die trying.

She turned the accelerator and pushed the Jet Ski harder.

She saw Leo look up and see her as she closed in on the boat and a myriad of emotions passed over his face, both happiness and concern were in them as he knew she was putting herself in danger for him.

Barkley turned and saw her as well.  She saw his mouth twist into a curse as he turned and fired his pistol.  She heard the three pops, clear as day, and felt an impact rock through her.  Instinctively, she gripped the Jet Ski and didn't fall backward.

The pain started a second later.  It began at her shoulder and blitzed forward through her upper chest and torso.  The bullet had caught her in the meat of her shoulder.  Blood began to run out of the hole and drip down her hand and arm as well as her tank top.

She had come to a stop in the water on the machine trying not to let the hurt go too deep, trying not to let it get to her.  She had never been a fan of pain, but now it had become her enemy.

She heard the pop of the gun a couple more times and looked up.  The boat had come to a stop as well, only fifty-or-so feet ahead of her.  Barkley struggled with a beaten and hurt Leonard and Jo knew he would lose this fight.

Logic told her to stay where she was but love made her twist the accelerator and rush, head long, into trouble one more time, live or die, for the man she loved.

TO BE CONTINUED...