Saving Us (24 page)

Rick laughed again. I heard the gun click. A lump formed in my throat and I felt like I could’t breathe. I swallowed it and closed my eyes. Sure, I could try to throw my head back at him or kick his shin, but he could also shoot me just as easily.

“John, please just listen to him. I need you to get to Conner. Lower your gun and let us b
y.” I think that both John and Rick were equally shocked. John shook his head. He didn’t want to do that. I asked again. “Please!”

He bent over and sat his gun on the floor. “Now, just let the woman go.”

Rick shook his head. “I don’t think so. Amy here is my ticket out of here. Move out of my way!”

“John, please. You need to get to Conner.” I was pleading with him. He had to know how important it was to get to Conner. The room behind us was silent and that was
never a good sign. I couldn’t even begin to let myself think that he could really be gone.

John backed away and held up his hands. I hated being forced to walk past the man, but Conner seemed to be my only
concern. He just had to be okay.

I looked back when we reached the foyer and saw John rushing down to the floor in the family room. I could hear him saying Conner’s name and telling him to stay awake. That meant that he was alive…right?

Rick pushed me out of the house. He kept the gun pointed at my belly as we made our way to the hidden mail truck. I looked all around the property and didn’t see all the police cars like John had told Rick about. I should have known it was bluff. If the police were on their way, we would be long gone before they arrived.

After pushing me
into the back of the truck, Rick shut the door and climbed into the front seat. He reached into his pockets and I heard him cussing. “Shit! I dropped my damn keys in that house.” He pointed the gun back at me. “Come here!”

I crawled forward. “Give me your hands.”

I lifted my hands up in front of him. He grabbed a zip tie and wrapped it tightly around my wrist and then secured it to the seat belt. “You try to get free and I will kill you. You understand?”

I nodded and watched him climb out of the truck. Once he was gone, I slumped down on the metal truck floor and let myself break down. This was the absolute worst thing that I could have ever imagined happening. I just had to know that Conner was going to survive this. My tears continued until I heard the back door opening. I spun my body around in case it was Rick.

Heather climbed inside. She held her finger to her lip. “Shh, I don’t know how long we have. She grabbed the zip tie and looked around the truck for something to break it with. It wasn’t like there was a pair of scissors laying around. Heather smiled and pulled out a knife from the waist of her pants. She started rubbing it back and forth until the tie came loose. I shook off the sensations of how tight it had been.

Before I could turn around to climb out. The driver
’s side door flew open. I put my hands back and pretended I was still hooked up, while Heather ducked her body behind the driver’s seat so that he couldn’t see her. We stared at each other as the truck engine started.

Heather reached over and touched my belly. I was shocked at first, but she looked up at me with tears in her eyes and pointed to her own. I knew right then that she was trying to change because she had a chance at real happiness herself. I cried more imagining never being able to see or touch Conner again.
The mail truck started whipping around as Rick attempted to get off of the ranch. I lost my balance and went rolling across the bed of the truck. Rick slammed on the brakes, sending me crashing back into his seat. He grabbed me by the neck. “How did you get free, bitch?”

Heather grabbed him by the neck and started choking him
with a plastic zip tie. “She had help!”

I watched his face turning red as the air was being cut off. Finally, his hands let go of me. I fell back against the hard metal floor. Rick was digging his fingers into Heather to try to free her hold on his neck. I saw the gun between his legs.
  There was no hesitation as I took a deep breath and threw my body forward.

As soon as I had it in my hands, I slid back and aimed it right at Rick. “Put your hands in the air,
or I will blow your God damn head from here to Texas.”

Heather slowly let g
o and backed away from the seat. Rick laughed. “Yeah, right. You expect me to believe that you even know how to use that?”

I aimed for the window right beside his head and fired. It was loud and I was pretty sure I had busted out at least one of my eardrums. Heather held onto her ears and tried to keep her eyes on what was going on.

Right away, Rick held up his hands. “Alright! Alright! What do you want now?”

I froze. What was I
supposed to do now? Was I supposed to let this man, who had possibly killed the father of my child, just go to prison? Oh hell no!

I aimed the gun at his thigh and fired. He grabbed his leg and screamed out in agony. “That was for all the times you lied to me.

I shot him in his arm. “That was for all the times you laid a hand on me.”

“Stop it! Please!” He was pleading with me to spare his life, but all I could see was Conner lying on that floor.

I shot him in the stomach. “That was for everything you did to me and the people I care about and for forcing Heather into hiding just because she didn’t want to hurt people anymore.”

He cried more. I knew he was in pain and all I wanted to do was smile.  “Please, Amy. Call an ambulance. I’m going to bleed out here.”

“You stopped at nothing until you took him away from me. Was it that hard for you to know that I was truly happy? I hate you. You are the real life devil and you deserve to spend an eternity in Hell for what you’ve done.”

Rick made on
e last attempt to get to me. He threw his body in my direction and I fired.

His body slumped over me.

Heather helped me push him off so that I could stand up. We could hear police sirens in the far distance and knew help was coming.

She grabbed my hand and we both pushed open the back doors to the mail truck. Police cars surrounded the truck and we were met with officers running toward us.  They surrounded the truck, but what they found wasn’t going to be what they expected. The only thing left inside was Rick’s lifeless body. He may have taken his first wife’s life. He may have ruined his second’s, but I’d be damned if I was going to let him take anything away from me
anymore.

I kept hold of Heather’s hand until I saw the ambulance pulling up in the distance and then I ran as fast as my
pregnant body would allow. The only place I wanted to be was with Conner. I just had to know if he was still alive.

Chapter 30

Conner
 

It was John. He was telling me to stay awake. That’s the only thing that I was sure of. Everything was blurry but I could make out his beard and the sound of his voice. A female voice started talking to me. My hopes of it being Amy were disappointing when I heard the slight Spanish accent. It was Lucy who was holding my hand.

One minute I was starting to be able to focus and then the next I wouldn’t be able to hold my eyes open at all. I wasn’t in that much pain. It was more that I was freezing.

I had to stay focused. I had to get to Amy.

I was fighting. There was no way for me to be sure how bad it was, but I knew I was seriously injured.

When I opened my eyes again, I could have sworn that I was seeing daylight. A rush of reality came over me when I wondered if I was dying. Soon, I felt someone putting something over my face. The loud sounds of rattling forced me to open my eyes. I think I was in an ambulance.

I tried to lift my head, but the person next to me pushed it back down. “Try to keep still.”

I didn’t want to keep still. I wanted to know where Amy was. I didn’t give a damn about going to a hospital. Not if she was out there somewhere with Rick. If I’d gotten injured that could only mean that Rick got away.

“Amy…” It probably didn’t even sound like her name out loud, but in my mind it came out right.

I thought about Amy, forcing myself to focus on just her. I couldn’t give up hope.

My body was in a battle with my mind. Although I tried to fight, I was playing a losing battle. My eyes became heavy again and I could feel myself losing control. Amy was the last thought I had before everything went to black.

Chapter 31

Amy

I watched the ambulance pulling away. In the distance I could see Colt’s truck approaching. Once he noticed me standing there with a blanket around me, he jumped out of his truck and came running my way. His hands reached out for my shoulders and he pulled me into his arms. “Damn, woman, you had us so worried. Where’s everyone else?”

I pulled away from Colt and started shaking my head.

“Conner? John?” His eyes were huge. I’d never realized how they were the exact color of Conner’s. I was consumed with angst and just collapsed to the ground. Colt kneeled down and touched my arm. “Amy?” He must have waived down an officer. “I need some help over here.”

They picked me up and carried me to the backseat of one of the squad cars. I was too upset to look at either of them. All I wanted
was to know what was happening with Conner. Thankfully, Colt wanted the same answers.

“My cousin and John. Do you have any idea what happened?”

I looked up just as the officer began explaining. “Your cousin suffered a gunshot to his abdomen. The ambulance took him out of here a couple minutes ago. John went with him. He wasn’t harmed.”

I jumped up out of the car. “You have to get me to the hospital!” I wasn’t asking. I was ordering Colt to take me. “Colt, please!”

“Ma’am, we will need you to make your official statement. I suppose we can meet you at the hospital. Since you are all so close to the sheriff, I can count on him to keep track of you until I get there.”

I nodded. “Yes, meet us there.” I grabbed Colt’s arm and pulled him toward his truck.

“Get in and get buckled!”

We took off and headed for the hospital. My whole body was shaking. The last time I saw Conner, he was laying lifeless on the floor. I had to see him. I had to know he was okay.

What if he wasn’t? What would I do without his love? How could I go on without him being there with me? I buried my face into my hands and bawled my eyes out. Conner was everything to me. He was my best friend, my partner and the father to our unborn child. As much as I had always wanted to be a mother, I didn’t want to do any of this without him.

My world revolved around that man. His love for me is what had kept me sane.
How was I going to raise a beautiful child alone? How could I live with the guilt that would come from him dying? All of this was my fault. I brought Rick into all of our lives. I did this.

If I never would have let myself fall for Conner, he would still be out there living his life. Instead he was fighting for it.

“Amy, did they catch Rick? Tell me they got his ass.”

I sniffled and wiped the tears from my eyes. “You don’t have to worry about Rick ever again.”

“They killed him? You know, I try to live my life as a good Christian, but that man was evil. His fate was set a long time ago. I don’t think anyone will miss that man.”

I agreed. “The police didn’t kill Rick.” I looked right at Colt. “I did. I shot him.”

He reached out and grabbed my hand. I knew it was a kind gesture. It was a shock for me to be able to say that I took the man’s life. “Are you alright?”

I shook my head. “It doesn’t matter right now. I just need to get to Conner. I have to know…I have to know he’s going to be okay. I can’t live with myself if I lose him. This is all my fault.”

“Conner is a grown man, Amy. He made his own decisions. There’s no tellin’ what people are capable of. Conner did what he wanted. He wanted to protect you and his unborn child. There ain’t no good man that would turn their back on that situation. He wouldn’t want you thinkin’ that and you know it.”

He was right, but it didn’t make me change my mind. “Please just drive faster.”

“I’m nearin’ a hundred, darlin’. I’d like us to arrive in one piece if that’s alright with you.” I knew he was doing the best he could. “How are you feelin’? I think when we arrive and find out about Conner, you should get checked out yourself. You’ve been through a hell of an ordeal.”

I nodded. “Yeah, maybe I will. I’m not doing anything until I see him though.”

“I know.” We finally pulled into the hospital parking lot. Colt hadn’t even turned off the truck before I was jumping out and running toward the entrance. The information desk was straight ahead and I ran up and cut in front of these two women. “I’m so sorry. This is an emergency. Where can we find Conner Healy? He was brought in by ambulance.”

“Go to emergency and check in with them.”

I didn’t wait for the woman to say anything else. I grabbed Colt by the arm and rushed toward the emergency department. The triage nurse was reading a book as I approached. She looked up with beady eyes and smiled. “Can I help you?”