Kyron, page 21
“Well, it sure as hell isn’t my brother,” Kyron snapped, “and you have no idea how it pains me to say it.”
“Have a little faith. He’s probably distracted. He’s got a pregnant wife, thinks you’re exaggerating maybe. I don’t know. He’s probably listening to the other guys in the force too.”
“Well, that could be it, I suppose. It’s not in his actual jurisdiction, and maybe he’s thinking I’m asking for favors.” Kyron snorted. “I’m not. I was just hoping for fair treatment, but apparently that doesn’t happen here.”
“Ease up and get some rest, while I’ll see what I can do.” And, with that, Badger rang off.
Kyron laid down on the couch and was asleep almost instantly. When the phone rang again, he woke up instantly, and Badger said, “This is your two-hour wake-up call.”
“Good enough,” Kyron replied, yawning. “I’ll get up and take a look around and maybe do a little reconnaissance walk.”
“Only if you have somebody with you,” Badger noted. “Otherwise you’re leaving yourself open as a target.”
“I know,” he admitted, “but I don’t want this guy to come in here and burn us alive either.”
At that, Badger sucked in his breath. “The fact that you’re even thinking along that line freaks me out a little bit.”
“I know,” Kyron agreed, “but do I think this asshole is done? No way in hell. And the little bit of a beating he took at my hands is something he won’t forget easily.”
“And you just had to do it, didn’t you?”
“Yeah, I sure did. Assholes peppering me with gunshots like that can’t be allowed to continue,” he clarified quietly, “and, in this case, it was long overdue. He was brazen enough to be on her property, shooting at Beth, then at me.”
“I won’t argue with you there,” Badger murmured. “I will call you again in two hours.”
“What about you? Are you getting any sleep?”
“If somebody needs me, you know I’m there,” he replied, his tone brisk. “You stay safe now.” And again, he rang off.
Chapter 13
When a hand shook her awake, Miranda bolted upright and stared around in a panic.
“It’s okay,” Kyron said gently. “You were having what sounded like terrible nightmares.”
She stared at him and then slowly sank back into place. “Yeah,” she agreed. “I get those when I’m stressed out.” She yawned. “What time is it?”
“Midnight,” he replied.
“Is that all?” She was shocked enough that she reached for her phone and double-checked. “Wow. I was really out too.”
“And you can go back to sleep again,” he suggested. “I just didn’t like the sound of the nightmares.”
She smiled at him. “Once again you’re back to that really nice guy persona,” she said, with a smile. “Because, you know, nightmares happen.”
“They do, but they don’t have to happen all the time,” he replied quietly.
“So, what about you? Have you had any sleep?”
“I slept for a few hours on the couch, after telling my boss everything that’s been going on. He’ll see if he can find somebody trustworthy within the local department to talk to.”
“Yeah, is that even a possibility?” she asked, shaking her head.
“He seems to think so. But me? I don’t know at this point.” He added, “I heard you crying from downstairs.”
“I’m sorry,” she said, feeling embarrassed. She looked up at him. “That’s only slightly mortifying.”
“Don’t apologize. If you need to cry, you’re fine,” he replied. As he sat here, they steadily looked at each other.
She finally explained, “It’s about an emotional release after all this crap, not that I don’t want to be here. Did I tell you how much I appreciate this?”
“Yes,” he confirmed, with a smile. “And no, I don’t want anything for it. You’ve done plenty helping with Beth and Grace and letting me stay at your place. I feel bad for having taken the move on myself, without checking with you first.”
“Well, I would have just diddled and dawdled, frozen with indecision, not knowing what to do,” she admitted, with a frown. “That always makes me feel wholly ineffective. Especially when I see a man of action at work, who just makes a decision and goes forward.”
“Stop worrying about it,” he said. “It’s all good.”
“Says you, but I think I’ll have to call in sick tomorrow,” she noted. “Just way too much is going on in my world.”
“Would that be a problem?”
“I don’t know.” She frowned. “Not likely, though it’s always crazy busy and stressful. I’ve been there too long in a way because it’s hard to leave,” she explained, “but I should. I mean, it doesn’t pay nearly enough, and yet it pays the basic bills. And now, with everything upside down, I don’t know where I’m at.”
“Well, a little bit of routine won’t hurt you right now,” he murmured. “Keep that in mind.”
“No, you’re absolutely right there,” she agreed. “A routine would help actually,” she stated, “but I’m so tired.”
“Go back to sleep,” he murmured. “Come on. Get back under the covers again.”
“What will you do?”
“I’ll go back downstairs and relax.”
“But what about sleep?” she asked.
“Not tonight,” he said. “I want to make sure that, if somebody was following you, it wasn’t him.”
She stared at him. “You know that’s why I told you,” she confessed, “because I was afraid it was him.”
“Nobody likes getting the crap beaten out of them,” he confirmed, “and, if he wants revenge, it could be exactly what he’s looking for, a location to come in and whip my butt.”
“But he won’t though. He’ll shoot you in the back, when you’re not looking.”
“And that could be,” he noted quietly. “That really could happen with the crazy old coot, so I’ll go down and keep an eye out.” And, with that, he smiled and said, “Now go on back to sleep.”
“How am I supposed to sleep after that conversation?” she complained.
He shrugged. “Because you have to go to work in the morning.”
“No, I don’t think so,” she argued, but, as she laid back down on the bed, she thought about it. “The trouble is, I need the money.”
“Yeah, I know,” he agreed, “so one step at a time, and, either way, you need some sleep.” And, with that, he headed downstairs.
She tried to relax, she really did, but when she heard an odd sound downstairs, she immediately sat up, and looked around. They had put Beth and Grace in one room locked up together. For the first time, she wondered if that was actually sensible. The neighbor had been shouting about them stealing his dog. And maybe Beth had been at the neighbor’s place for a few days, after he’d found her or captured her or whatever, but he wasn’t entitled to own this dog, and that was something he wouldn’t be happy about either.
As she listened intently, her ears straining for any noise, she heard another weird sound, something like the single creak of a floorboard.
She rose to her feet and quietly reached the top of the stairs. It was a house that she didn’t know, so how was she to discern the difference between the noises of an old house settling or trouble? That would drive her nuts all night.
Swearing to herself, she headed down to the first landing. Ahead of her on the ground floor was a shadow, a shadow with a long rifle raised, pointing at the living room couch, and just as she watched, the rifle fired, and then there was a laugh. With her heart in her throat, she softly headed back upstairs and opened the door to the dogs. They had put all the animals in various rooms for the night.
Beth was already there at the door, glaring at her in the darkness. Miranda whispered to her, “I don’t know what to do, sweetheart, but, if he finds us, we’re all dead,” she noted. “You’ll probably do better on your own, than being a sitting duck like this. But leave Grace behind, and I’ll do my best to keep her safe.” With that, she let Beth out and shut the door to leave Grace behind in the bedroom.
Now what she had to do was get downstairs and see if that asshole had actually shot Kyron. Her heart just ached at the thought that such a good man could have been shot down in the darkness like that. She couldn’t imagine her crazy neighbor would have gotten the drop on Kyron, but she couldn’t take a chance. Creeping back down to the first landing, she heard the man swear.
“Where the fuck are you? What the hell?”
She smiled, realizing that Kyron must have set him up. And now she was likely to be in the way. At that, the gunman raced toward the stairs, and she tripped, trying to turn around.
“There you are, you little bitch,” he yelled, “but you won’t be for long.”
The sound of the rifle cocking came first, and, when the pain slammed into her leg, she cried out, grabbing for the railing, to hold herself up as she tried to climb higher up the stairs. He started up the stairs behind her, his gun raised, but just as he was about to shoot her a second time, a growl came from the top of stairs, and she looked up to see Beth standing there, her teeth bared, glaring at the man who stood behind her.
“Easy girl. He’ll shoot you,” she warned Beth. “Run, go on now, please run!”
The man behind her laughed. “Well, there she is, bitch number two,” he snarled, as he raised the rifle and fired, but Beth was already in motion. As she sailed over Miranda’s head, she landed right on the old man, the two of them going back down the stairs, the rifle firing harmlessly in the air. Almost immediately she heard Kyron’s voice in the background, yelling at her. She couldn’t even make out the words over the din caused by the growls, the shrieks, and the screams, not to mention the cacophony of barking from throughout the house. And she could not even begin to do anything about any of it.
As she struggled to move, the pain took over, and she felt the chills settling in. Almost as if in slow motion, she slid down, until she sat on the stairs, falling over ever-so-lightly.
Then everything went black.
Kyron shouted commands at the dog, who was already in a bloody frenzy, momentarily confused about another potential target to go for. Kyron finally got Beth to listen, and she realized it was Kyron, her handler of sorts, pulling Beth away, shuddering and yelping, with blood pouring from her mouth. “Stay.”
Kyron walked over to the old man on the ground, who was screaming and groaning. Kyron pulled out his phone, and, just as he went to dial 9-1-1, Badger called.
“I need an ambulance,” he barked into the phone, “and I need somebody here who actually can handle this nightmare.”
“I’ve got somebody coming,” he replied. “Who’s hurt?”
“The asshole neighbor who came into my house with a gun just shot Miranda,” he stated, hovering over him, as he realized the old man was no longer able to do very much, so didn’t pose a threat.
Moving quickly up the stairs, he assessed Miranda’s condition. “She’s taken a bullet to the upper thigh,” he told Badger, “and is unconscious on the stairs.”
“I’ve got both heading your way,” Badger replied quietly. “The man coming to help is Jacob, Jacob Luis.”
“I don’t care who he is,” he snapped, rubbing his face with his free hand. “She’s so cold.”
“Just sit tight and keep talking to her,” Badger said. “You know how important that is. You know all this, Kyron. Just let your training take over.”
“If I’d have done that earlier, I’d have taken out this asshole on the first day,” he snapped.
“How’s the dog?”
He couldn’t help but smile at Badger’s very narrow focus. “Beth ripped into the old man.”
“Ouch.”
“Definitely, but, at the same time, Beth also saved Miranda’s life because he would have fired a second shot.”
“Hopefully that will help in this case,” Badger noted.
“Well, I will fight tooth and nail if somebody decides that Beth has to be put down because she’s dangerous,” he snapped, his tone hard. “Beth is many things, but I don’t consider her dangerous. She was forced into the role of protector, and she did her job. And, after what Miranda has been through with this asshole, with cops who didn’t do anything about it? Believe me. I will spend every penny I have to make sure that we finally get some justice here.”
“I’ll back you on all that,” Badger said calmly. “This dog has been through hell, and yet this isn’t even the family who ditched her.”
“No, but we’ll finally get the story behind what happened,” Kyron noted, “assuming the asshole lives.”
Badger hesitated and asked, “Will he?”
“Yeah, more’s the pity,” Kyron acknowledged. “Unless he has a heart attack on the way or something.”
“Though it would be a colossal hassle, it would be better in some ways if he didn’t survive,” Badger theorized, “because you guys could use some closure.”
“Yeah, no good answer there,” he noted. “I hear sirens now.” He checked Miranda again for a pulse, then raced down the stairs, still on the phone to Badger. “Lots of flashing lights are coming down the driveway now.” Then he saw that his brother was coming in too. “Great. … Now my brother decides to show up.”
“He actually comes highly recommended,” Badger noted, “but, given the circumstances, I chose not to call him.”
“Well, I’m glad to hear that. I already told him that this Macintyre guy was a loose cannon who had fired at both of us, not to mention the animals, and Allen told me that the bullet hole in my jacket was insufficient proof.”
“Sounds like there’s an awful lot of history between you two.”
“Yeah, and he just made a whole pile more.”
“Maybe he needs to see the damage for himself this time,” Badger urged. “Keep your cool and an open mind. Let me know what happens and if I can help.” And, with that, he hung up.
As the police and paramedics came into the house, Kyron met them.
“I’ve got two down,” he told them. “The one at the bottom of the stairs is a dog attack. And one up the stairs is a gunshot wound.”
At that, his brother stepped up. “Who’s been shot?” he asked sharply.
“Miranda,” Kyron snapped, looking bitterly at his brother. “She is the woman I told you about. Her asshole neighbor is the one who’s been chewed by the dog,” he added.
“Is that dog dangerous?”
“No,” he spat, his tone hard. “Unless you’re coming in here with a gun raised, shooting the woman who saved the dog.”
At that, one of the paramedics stepped in. “Listen, man. I’m not afraid of dogs, but somebody must have opened a door and let some out or something. An awful lot of animals are in here all of a sudden. Cats too. Can you help us out?”
“Oh, Jesus, sorry.” He moved as many of the dogs as he could, and he quickly herded them and put them away again. He realized the cops probably went door to door, clearing the bottom floor, unwittingly releasing all the animals. He stepped out to find Miranda being loaded onto a gurney already.
“She’ll be okay,” the paramedic shared. “It’s a through-and-through gunshot wound. The shock probably knocked her out, not to mention the loss of blood.”
Kyron just nodded, as he stood here and watched as they loaded her up. “And what about him?”
“He’ll live too,” the other paramedic added, “although some of his injuries look pretty severe.”
The old man glared at him. “I’ll sue your ass.”
“That’s fine,” Kyron. “You’ll have plenty of time to work on your case from prison. As far as I’m concerned, it’s attempted murder, you asshole. You’re looking at twenty years to life.”
The old man’s eyes widened.
“Not to mention stalking, breaking and entering, animal endangerment …”
“What the hell are you talking about?”
“You shot Miranda,” Kyron yelled. “You deliberately came into my house, armed with a weapon to kill her. I won’t have to worry about you suing me,” he noted. “We’ll take that house of yours right out from under you.”
At that, Macintyre protested. “No, no, no, no, I didn’t shoot anybody.”
“Yeah, you did. You came close to shooting her yesterday, and you shot at me on at least three different occasions, once hitting my jacket, not that anybody else gave a shit about that,” he snapped to the local cops.
“Yeah, and I would have taken you out if I could have,” the asshole declared loudly. “I don’t know what the hell you did that it hit your jacket and not you. That was a good shot.”
“A good shot at my back, you coward.” Kyron stared at him.
The old man grunted. “Who cares? You’re young and strong. You beat me to a pulp as it is.”
“After you trespassed onto her yard and started firing at the animals, then firing at me,” Kyron snapped. “You’re damn right I beat you to a pulp, and now I’ll make sure your ass stays in the slammer for the rest of your life.”
“I haven’t got too much life left anyway,” he said, coughing and spitting out blood.
“Maybe not,” Kyron noted, “so we’ll make sure we get the lawsuit filed fast, then collect on the damages you inflicted on her.”
He stared at him. “You can’t do that.” Still protesting, he was taken out to the ambulance.
Kyron looked around at the cops milling about, then he asked, “Which one of you is Jacob Luis?”
One man’s hand went up.
“You’re the one who I want to talk to,” he said. “The rest of you guys step outside.” His brother immediately protested, but Kyron shook his head. “No. I gave you a chance to do the right thing. More than once. I’m not talking to you about this right now. Or probably ever.” And, with that, he slammed the door in his brother’s face.
Jacob looked at him. “Hurt feelings?”
“I went to him over being shot at by this asshole, even showed him the bullet hole in the back of my jacket, but he told me that anybody could have fired that shot.”
Jacob frowned at that and nodded. “You also need to understand that Miranda has been investigated for too many animals many times.”
