Tortured Dreams

In the calm, the world slows down just a fraction. It’s as if time has trouble getting through the calm. As it washed over me, I saw the eyes of the man standing over me. They widened slightly in reaction to my lack of emotion. I imagine it showed in my eyes as well as my face.

  I reached out, grabbed hold of the man at the wrist and pulled. He crashed into the scraps of metal, losing the gun in his fall. Cassie grabbed it and finally jerking free of Gabriel, began to run.

  The other men took a moment to react. By then, Lucas had hold of one. Someone shot him. He growled with rage. There was a second gunshot. It sounded muffled compared to the breaking of bones as Lucas broke his neck. Lucas let go of the dead man. I moved, pulling my leg off whatever was stabbing it. As I yanked my leg forward, off the twisted piece of metal, I shoved the man’s head down onto it. I felt it go through his skull. He gurgled once and began to twitch.

  Xavier had his hands full. He was wresting the gun from another. Lucas had a second man within his grasp. He grabbed him and tossed him onto the mangled remains of the bull. The man began to move, I grabbed his shirt, moving it into the flickering fire. It instantly caught.

  Xavier had finally gotten the gun. He flipped the guy over him, he thudded as he hit the concrete, the air knocked out of him. Xavier shot him, twice, once in the leg, once in the crotch. The fifth man began to run.

  Xavier shot him in the head. He fell. His body being forced forward, his face slamming into the ground.

  “The other bull!” I shouted to Lucas.

  Lucas ran at it. He hit it in the side. It tottered before smashing to the ground. Xavier found the cord for the bellows and unplugged it. I hobbled that direction.

  Ignoring the heat, Lucas tore at the latches and opened it.

  Five people crawled from it. They were suffering some burns. I opened my mouth in horror.

  Malachi’s two younger brothers, my sister in law, my nephew and Nyleena’s boyfriend crawled from the belly of the bull. I looked at Al Welbourne in shock.

  “Doctors,” he said to me.

  “On their way,” Xavier fell to his knees and began examining them. Gabriel had woke up and was currently handcuffing the guy Xavier had shot in the leg. The burned one was gasping on the floor, alive and no longer on fire.

  “What the hell is he doing inside the bull?” I asked Lucas.

  “I guess we were wrong. Who are these other guys though?”

  “I don’t know, I don’t think I’ve ever seen them before.”

  “We’ll fingerprint them and see what that get...” Lucas finished his sentence with a growl.

  A woman stood several feet from us. She had Cassie in front of her, her arm holding her in place. I recognized her face, Jessica Thompson.

  “Let her go,” I told Jessica.

  “Or what?” She looked around. “You don’t have a gun.”

  “I’ve never actually needed one.” I told her.

  “You would in this situation, I have a gun on your niece, without a gun of your own, it would be hard to kill me before I killed her.”

  “So you think,” I didn’t look around. I already knew what I wanted.

  Behind her were a stack of pallets. If I could set those on fire, it would make her have to move. I watched Cassie as I knelt down. I found a flaming bit of wood. The heat singed the hair on my hand and arm. I stood back up, holding it.

  “Fire?” She looked doubtfully at me.

  “Fire,” I agreed and tossed the stick.

  Jessica ducked and laughed. Her hair began to smolder. I hadn’t considered setting her on fire.

  “Your hair’s on fire,” Lucas told her.

  “Yeah right,” Jessica said and stopped. The gun waivered just a bit, Cassie stomped on her foot and jerked out of her grasp.

  Jessica began to scream. She dropped the gun as she swatted at her hair. It was now starting to grow flames.

  “Stop moving,” Xavier wandered over to her and tossed a jacket over her head.

  As the coat fell over her, he punched her in the face. Her body went limp. She collapsed to the ground.

  “Well, not bad work,” Lucas looked around. “The fire was ingenious.

  “I was hoping to set the pallets on fire, not her. Setting her on fire was a bonus,” I told him. He smiled at me.

  Cassie came running out. She ran over and hugged me. I tried not to groan as it shot pain down my leg.

  “I think your mother and brother will be fine after a day or two,” Xavier told her. “They are a little burnt, but it could have been a lot worse.”

  “Thank you,” Cassie blushed at him.

  Malachi and Nyleena came running through the doors. They stopped a few feet into the doorway. Malachi’s eyes darted over everyone. His gaze fell on me. He nodded once. I nodded back. The unspoken words asked if I was alright and reassured him that I was. He found his brothers, they were sitting up finally. He rushed to them.

  Nyleena let out a small yelp that ended in a whimper. Her eyes were following the trails of blood that seemed to be slowly flowing down my body, helped by gravity. She came to me, afraid to touch me. I knew she wanted a hug. I also knew she wouldn’t touch me first. The blood and my calm were enough to keep her within arm’s reach, but not closer. Tears welled up in her eyes.

  “It’s not as bad as it looks,” I told her. “Besides, I just survived my worst nightmare. The blood is the least of my concerns. Al’s off the hook though and he looks like he could use some help.”

  She stared at me for another couple of seconds. I took her hand, squeezed it once. She smiled and turned. She found Al and began talking very quietly to him. I collapsed onto the floor and lay still, the thought of moving made me feel ill.

  Following like lost puppies was a squadron of police officers, paramedics and firemen. They dashed about, trying to do everything that needed to be done. They were examining the injured, putting handcuffs on bad guys and shouting loudly at each other.

  “Let me help you,” Lucas came over to me. He offered his arm. I frowned at him.

  “What? It’s a good arm.”

  “It’s broken and I’m five foot, three inches tall. You are six foot something tall. I don’t think that will work.”

  “Fine,” he bent and carefully picked me up.

  “Doesn’t that hurt?”

  “Yes, but the pain keeps me from passing out from the sedatives.” He told me as he put me on a gurney.

  “I think you could use one yourself, big guy.” I told him. He sat down on mine. There was a second when I thought it would give way under our combined weight, but it only gave a small hiss and a groan. A paramedic attempted to attend to us, we both brushed him away, sending him to deal with the injuries worse than ours. We were good so long as we were sitting down. We watched them silently.

  “Don’t pass out, either of you,” Gabriel walked over to us.

  “That sounds suspiciously like an order,” I told him.

  “It should. I just heard from your director. Alejandro is going to live, but there was significant damage done. He’s going to get a nice fat pension and for some reason, I am getting promoted from FBI liaison to team leader,” he told us.

  “Hope you’re better at it than he was,” Xavier said. “Do you understand the need to communicate between all five of us as individuals as well as a group?”

  “Yes, if we had done it earlier, we might not be in this mess now.” Gabriel answered. “Now, off to the hospital with the lot of you.”

  Chapter 56