Chapter 41
The SWAT team had used ladders at the end of the building to access the roof, and then simultaneously breeched the front door and rappelled through the bedroom windows of Christine’s apartment.
I was sadly aware if I could have just convinced Walter not to follow through on his plans, or even delayed him just a moment or two longer, he might still be alive and Orlando might not be fighting for his life in the back of an ambulance on the way to the ER. If I had just walked up the stairs, instead of jogging…if this, if that…
“It is what it is.” I thought I heard myself mumble.
There was something wrong with me.
My head hurt, horribly.
Christine was putting Mr. Tumescence into a cat carrier, so we could all be escorted out of the apartment which was now a crime scene.
The whole apartment seemed somehow too small now; there were too many heavily armed soldiers, and I couldn’t see clearly.
When I tried to stand up, the room was swimming.
I had to sit down.
Tony was watching me and he called for the back-up EMTs.
“Well, J.W., this is what you get for not following my advice. If we had just breeched the apartment without you going in, you wouldn’t have gotten your bell rung,”
“No, Tony, they were watching for John at the window. There’s no telling what would have happened if they had seen the police coming,” Christine said.
She had “Tummy” in the carrier and was ready to go.
Lori stood with her. She had stopped crying. She was looking at me with a very concerned expression.
“It was a miracle it turned out this way, Tony. If I had been in town and could have gotten over here within minutes, there wouldn’t have been time to get the SWAT team assembled and into position. Walter couldn’t afford to have any gunfire in the apartment before I got here. He knew once gunshots were heard, the police would be on the way. In order for his plan to work, he had to make it look like he showed up and took out Orlando, just moments too late to save the women, and me. He wanted it to look like I had failed to protect Lori from Orlando, and my failure cost everyone their lives. He would emerge as the hero who protected Lori’s parents and killed the bad guy. He got too cocky, I guess the recent attention we got in the press pushed his buttons.” I said.
Then I threw up.
“Where are those medics?” Tony yelled.
“Coming up the stairs, LT,” somebody said.
The light was hurting my eyes.
“Ladies, please come with me,” A policeman said.
I was vaguely aware Lori was now sitting next to me on the couch.
“No, not till I know he’s OK,” she said.
“I’ll be fine, honey. You go on with Christine and Mr. Tumescence.”
The EMTs showed up and checked me out.
“We need to get him to the ER. His pupils are unequally dilated. He may have a serious head injury.”
The ride to the hospital in the ambulance was not fun. At the hospital, the ER staff was efficient, but all the examinations and tests took hours. Eventually I was diagnosed with a moderate concussion, with no skull fracture.
I would fully recover, other than the permanent minimal brain damage. No worries, some people figure I’m brain damaged anyway.
They decided to keep me overnight for observation. It was nearly dark outside by the time I was put into a bed in a hospital room.
Christine had come to the hospital at some point.
She found me in my room. She sat in one of those odd, futon–like hospital chairs that double as a recliner, for family or friends to sleep on.
“Lori is with her parents now. The police took us downtown to give statements, and her parents met us there. Tony said you could come in and give your statement whenever you feel up to it.” Christine informed me.
“Not today.”
“Well, maybe not officially, but Tony came with me, and he’ll be here any minute.”
I closed my eyes.
“Hey, J.W. Long day, huh?” Tony asked, as he walked into the room.
I squinted at him.
“I woke up with fire ants,”
He and Christine looked at each other and then both of them looked at me, with some concern clearly evident on their faces. My statement seemed strange to them. I guess they figured I was deranged.
I started to chuckle, but it made my head hurt, even worse.
“This morning, in my trailer, I had fire ants in my sleeping bag. I was at the hunting lease, remember?”
They both looked relieved.
“Ouch,” Tony said.
“Yeah, but if they hadn’t been there, I wouldn’t have gotten Christine’s phone call,” I said.
“God sent the ants,” Christine said.
I shrugged.
“I know He did, John. I felt Him with me, through this whole day. I prayed and He…It’s as if…I met Jesus today.”
“Yeah, you nearly did,” Tony said.
“No, Tony, I really did!” She was beaming. “I met Jesus today! He gave me peace and it was as if I were being bathed in light, and there was this … I can’t really describe it.”
I grinned. “You don’t have to. I knew there was something different about you.”
Tony was staring at Christine.
He nodded. “Yeah, I see it too. I guess it explains how well you’ve managed, after…” He trailed off.
“Oh, I’m so very, very…sad, about Walter. He looked so…surprised.” she said dejectedly.
“I’m sorry too, Christine, he made his own choices,” I said.
She bowed her head.
“After, when the policeman brought me out of the room, I looked at his body. It was just an empty husk. Walter wasn’t there anymore.” She closed her eyes. “I don’t ever want to have to do something like that again.”
Tony reached over and took Christine’s hand; he sat on the arm of her chair.
We sat in silence for a while.
Eventually, I asked, “Is Lori OK?”
“Yes, John. She was just so overcome with shame and sadness. She couldn’t believe she had ever thought there was anything good or attractive about either Orlando or Walter. She told me when she saw Orlando hit you, it broke her heart. She felt responsible. She felt responsible for all of it. She was horribly worried about you. I called her the minute we heard the diagnosis,” Christine replied.
“Good thing I have such a hard head, huh?”
“Humph! Thick maybe, so thick there’s probably barely room for your pea brain.” Tony said.
Christine still wanted to talk about Lori.
“I’m trying to help Lori understand none of this was directly her fault. What happened with her and Orlando, happened because of choices she made, and she experienced the consequences of those choices. She’s made better choices since, and all that went before is just water under the bridge. Everything Walter was a part of was always and only, all about Walter.”
“How is Orlando?” I asked.
“He’ll live to stand trial, despite your remarkable shooting skills. Somehow, even with a concussion and sitting on a couch, you managed to hit him three times with three shots. You put him down, but the medics got him stabilized and he’s had some surgery. He’s right here in this hospital, in guarded condition,” Tony responded.
“It’s not too late for him. He can still repent and choose redemption.” I said.
Tony made a sort of ‘who knows’ gesture.
We were aware, for some people the only time or place they ever hear the gospel, is when they are in jail. It was possible that Orlando would go into prison as a prisoner of the devil, and come out of prison with new freedom in Christ.
Christine was struggling with something.
“John, do you know why they didn’t…why didn?
??t they …you know … Why didn’t Walter and Orlando rape us, in the hour we were waiting for you to get there?”
“Why do you think?” I asked her.
Christine glanced at Tony, then back at me.
“I’ve thought about it a lot. I think Walter thought it would hurt you more, if you were there when it happened. It would make him feel more powerful and in control. He wanted to show you what he was capable of, and that you couldn’t do anything about it.”
I nodded. “I expect the whole thing was about him trying to prove to himself he was powerful and in control.”
“Yeah, and that he was smarter than all of us,” Tony added. “He thought he could get away with rape and murder, as if there were no justice.”
“As if he thought there was no God,” Christine added.
I sighed.
“He knows better now.”