Joseph
I paced the ground in front of our plane waiting for Trevor to return with Jessica. Back and forth. She was in some train station 3 hours away. The wait was making my carefully crafted mask of calmness crack and crumble into my hands.
"Sir maybe you should sit down?" On of the people surrounding me suggested laying a hand on my shoulder to stop me from pacing. I glared at him.
"If they don't come back with her do you realize what that means?" I looked around and they all looked at me like a crazed man. Which I probably was."It means this was all for nothing. It means we have to come back and try again. How many of exciting does that sound?" I snapped. I glanced down at the hand still resting on my shoulder, then back up to the owner.
"Right." He coughed and quickly pulled his hand down to his side. His cheeks flushed. "Sorry bout that." A smile threatened to make an appearance but I suppressed it.
We stood in silence together for several moments before we could hear the soft engine of a car coming towards us in the distance.
"Cover yourselves. It might not be them." I said while we listened to the purr come closer and closer. Everyone ducked down into the cover of the tall grass and we waited. Until finally I could see the shiny black SUV's speeding along toward us.
I breathed a short lived sight of relief. The cars stopped. Out of one 4 of my guys jumped out, and the others doors stayed closed. That is until it flew open so fast I thought the thing might fly off it's hinges. My breath caught in my throat as I saw the state of the interior of the car. Even from a distance I could see that blood was everywhere. On the floors, the seats the door. Everywhere. And a lot of it.
The driver, Adam jumped out and ran to the aid of the 2 in the back. Dread filled me because I knew one of them was Jessica. It was a mans body that stepped out of the SUV next. At this point I was running. Taking me to the one person that had made me feel peace since my parents died.
She was lying on her back. One arm hanging off the seat grazing the ground. Her skin was ghostly pale, the contrast of the dark red blood coating her leg was something you'd see if a horror movie. The cloth that was tied tightly around her thigh seemed to have stopped the bleeding for now but as soon as it was removed it would begin to bleed again.
"What happened!" I yelled as I climbed into the back of the car to make sure she was breathing.
"When we got to the station, Romano and his men were already there. They had all the exits covered. We had to make a run for it. A lot of people died. She was shot in the leg when we were almost to the cars." He paused for a moment and watched me as I tended to her. "She is alive sir."
I nodded stiffly. She can't wait til we get back home. We'll have to stop somewhere along the way." I carefully lifted her head into my arms and slid my arm underneath the back of her knees. My arm under her legs was dangerously close to the bullet hole in her thigh. I pulled my arm back out, not willing to risk tearing open the wound further.
"Bring me a board. We can't carry her like this."
"Yes sir." Trevor sprinted off towards the small plane to find anything fitting the description of what we needed. A few minutes later he came back carrying a large piece of plywood. We lifted her onto it as a team and then carried her to the plane. On the way I yelled for the Pilot to get the engines going.
Just as we stepped into the plane the plane the engines roared to life, overpowering any other sound. Jessica's ears were dead to the sound. She didn't even bat an eye when they came on. The platform slowly lifted up until the bay was closed and sealed tight.
The only sort of padding we had for her to lay on was a bunch of towels we spread out underneath her pale body. "I need somebody to tell the pilot to stop in Kansas. I know a doctor there that can help with Jessica."
"Yes sir."
"We'll probably need to refuel soon too." I added as an after thought.
I brushed the hair away from her damp forehead. Her skin was cold and yet she was sweating. I didn't know if I should put a blanket over her or try and cool her down. The helpless feeling was killing me. She's dying right in front of me and there's noting I can do but brush the hair out of her face.
The hours it took to get to get to Kansas were pure torture. With each moment that passed I felt like she was slipping through my fingers right when I'd gotten her back. I could feel all the eyes in the room watching me. The way that I cared for her like I'd never cared for anyone else. I guess there's a first time for everything.
The wheels touched down and sent everyone inside jolting forward.
"Did you call him?" I asked as we slid the board back underneath Jessica's back.
"Yes, he said that we could bring her to his house. He'd get everything that he'd need to fix the gun shot. You sure you trust this guy."
"Yes." I grunted as Trevor and I lifted her body into the air. "He was a good friend of my mothers. She grew up here." We carried her over to one of the SUV's we brought from California.
Jess, Trevor, and I climbed into one of cars. "I want the rest of you to stay here. Cover the plane. Make sure no one finds it." I pulled the door shut and started the engine. I peeled down the ramp, off the plane, and into the short dead grass and dirt that covered the ground in Kansas. Clouds of dust billowed behind us as we sped towards one of the only towns that is stiff functional in Kansas.
"You know where he lives in assuming." Trevor asked once we reached civilization.
"Yes." I tried to focus on the road, and block out all of the old buildings that reminded me of my childhood. Of when my mother and I would come and visit when everything with my dad and his business got to be too much for her and she needed to get away. I recognized all of the shops here, some of the people that strolled down the sidewalks looked familiar. I swore to myself I would never come back here after she died. Yet here I was. Going to one of the people that I remembered more than anything else in this town.
I pulled up outside the 2 story house with perfect green grass and a white picket fence outlining the perimeter of the yard. I sat there and wasted precious seconds staring. Memories of my mother I'd suppressed for years came rushing back to the surface. A door slamming shut to my right snapped my out of my stroll down memory lane.
I helped Trevor get Jessica out of the car and thanked god that none of the children in the neighborhood were out playing today. The wall up to the door was almost painful for my brain.
As soon as we reached the door it was flung open and we were quickly ushered inside. There he was. His hair had gotten whiter and his skin wrinkly but other than that he looked the same as he did all those years ago.
"Joseph." He said and a quick smile flitted across his lips, but it was quickly replaced with a frown as he glanced down at Jessica.
"Grandpa." I nodded to him. "Where do you want her."
***
"You know this is why I retired." Grandpa said as he sat down on the couch and clutched his chest as he caught his breath. "My heart can't take surgery anymore." He paused for a moment. "But I'll be damned if I don't miss the thrill of doing it. Saving people. That's what I love."
I thought about laughing along with him. "I'm sorry to come here with this after all of these years."
"Why have you stayed away for so long Joseph? You know that everyone here loves you." He said with a gentleness that only he could pull off.
"If they knew the person that I am they wouldn't be so loving." I tried to sound nonchalant but I could hear the guilt laced in.
"Joseph." He sighed and ran a hand through his grey and black hair. "You've taken up your fathers business." I nodded and stared at the door wishing desperately that I wasn't having this conversation with him. I knew how much he despised what my father did, and I knew he would despise me for following in his footsteps.
I didn't even notice that he'd gotten up until I felt his hand on my shoulder. "You know that I know you're a good person that had some bad things happen to you. I know that you aren't as bad as you think you are." He smiled gently. "If you were the monster you believe you are you wouldn't have brought Miss Jessica to see me."
"She's the only person that I can look at and not feel like she's afraid, or fake. She's real and she makes me want to be better for her. Because whats happened to her over the last few days. She didn't deserve any of it, and I'm going to make sure that it never happens again." In that moment I made a vow to myself. That she would always be safe in my arms. As long as she wanted to be there. Something as good, and pure as her couldn't want to be with a man like me forever. But if she wanted me, she could have me.