Barry (Hollister #5)

Chapter 19

CHAPTER 19

L ooking through a swollen eye, Kathy carefully watched Jackson as he paced back and forth in front of the opening. His actions and mumbling had become increasingly violent. He stopped suddenly and grabbed a pair of binoculars from the dirt near where he was pacing. He lifted them, dropped them, and then lifted them again.

“Loverboy is on his way.” He picked up the phone and walked back to her. Grabbing her around the waist, he half-carried and half-dragged her to the entrance, where he dropped her, and she cried out as her shoulder took the brunt of the fall. Her mouth was gagged with a filthy rag. She tried to keep quiet. Any movement or sound from her seemed to be a trigger.

She stared out into the distance. The rising sun painted the land that stretched out below them with a pale-yellow highlight. Lying in a small patch of sun, she felt the warmth hit her skin. The agony of pain in her hands and feet, along with the wounds from Jackson’s rage, soaked up the warmth. Tears fell as she laid as still as she could. She couldn’t see Barry, but he was out there somewhere. He was coming for her. She knew Jackson wanted Barry to suffer, and he was hurt to her to cause Barry that pain. He’d suffered too much. His life had been so hard, and now …

Kathy jerked at the sound of Jackson pulling something from the back of the small depression in the hillside. He kicked her feet out of the way as he scooted the black plastic container next to her. He smacked the side of the box several times and popped the corner open.

Kathy froze at the eerie sound. A sound she’d been conditioned to fear. Rattlesnakes. Her eyes left the box, and her gaze traveled to Jackson. He was staring at her with a sneer. “You’ll never make it back to town for the antivenom. Even if he kills me, he won’t be able to save you. Maybe if there was only one bite. But …” He put her battery back in her phone and held it up, talking to the camera. “I want you to have a video of your woman dying.”

He went to the side of the cave and picked up a stick with a rope taped to the end. Her heart pounded so hard she couldn’t breathe as she watched. He used the crude tool and picked out a snake. It writhed at the end, dangling as Jackson shook it, making it madder. He hovered the snake over her, and she screamed and tried to beg him not to do this. The snake dropped on her, and the bite was instantaneous and deep. Her hip combusted in searing pain and intense heat. The snake slithered away a few feet and coiled again. It lifted its rattle and warned the world with the horrendous sound. Jackson made a motion with the stick, and the snake launched toward the stick, striking at the air. After its move, it made haste toward a clump of rocks.

He shut the lid on the container, sat down, and stared down at her. The sharp pain of the bite echoed through her hip. The burning sensation of an iron pressed against her skin centered where the fangs had lanced her skin. She could feel the sweat roll down her brow and yet knew the morning wasn’t hot enough for the reaction.

“You chose the wrong man.” Kathy jerked her eyes open. She couldn’t breathe very well. Her nose was clogged from crying, and the gag prevented all but the smallest pull of air through her mouth. She panted and shook her head side to side with a purpose and intent no one could miss. It was an act of defiance, telling the man above her he was absolutely wrong. Barry wasn’t the wrong man. He was everything. She knew that in every cell of her body.

He sighed. His rancid breath no longer made her gag. She stared at him. The yellow tinge to his skin and the rotted teeth made him look like a monster. One of the made-up undead she’d seen on the television shows, only he wasn’t an actor. He was her reality. She dropped her head to the ground and stared at him as he began to speak. “You’re going to die. He won’t be able to save you. You see, killing him was never my intention. Pain, that is my intent. I wanted him ostracized. A solo target is the easiest to manipulate. When that didn’t happen, I wanted him crippled, physically and up here. Drive him insane and torment him.” He tapped his head. “I want him to suffer . When I figured out he was seeing you, I watched. I watched everything. I saw that damn dog, and you were important to him. The captain, too. I know where his woman looks for eggs every morning. I know where the kid’s playpen is in the house.”

Jackson stood up and looked out. “Hear that?” He glanced at her. She strained to hear anything through the rushing of blood in her ears. Then she picked it out. The sound of a motor. Barry . “He’ll have a choice to make. Try to save you or chase me. By the time he gets you back to town, I’ll be well hidden.” Jackson placed her phone against the black box. She knew the camera was on. She closed her eyes, not wanting Barry to see her like that.

“Open your eyes, bitch.” She did as instructed and stared into the face of her camera. “I want him to see, to know what you’re going through. I want him to see your pain.” He lifted the corner of the lid again, shoving the stick inside the box.

She shook her head. Oh, Barry. I’m so, so sorry . She knew he’d blame himself. She knew he’d regret his time with her and wished it had never happened so she wouldn’t get hurt. But the times she’d spent with him were the only moments she’d truly felt alive. She wouldn’t have changed anything. She stared at the camera and hoped he could read what she was trying to project. I love you. I will always love you.

“In position.” Barry heard again. He revved the engine and hit the next to what looked like his last hill.

“Alex?” Ethan’s question echoed his.

“We’ve got an angle problem. Working it.” That was Scott Evers.

“Visual?” Ethan asked.

“Alpha Five. I see her. She’s bound and on the ground.” Barry gunned the ATV. He couldn’t stop anymore; he was in the open.

“Barry, you know the plan.” That was Andrew’s voice. He did know the plan. He’d been going over it in his mind since they left the diner last night. He knew exactly what he was going to do and what his assignment was, and he wouldn’t fail.

“The Op is active,” Ethan said as Barry launched over the last hill and stopped at the flat. He stopped the vehicle and got off. His legs and hands ghosted the vibration he’d fought for the entire trip.

He lifted his arms in the air as directed and looked up. Above him, about thirty feet away and ten feet up a slope, was a notch in the hill. A man stood at the entrance with a snake at the end of a stick. The snake hovered over Kathy.

The man shouted, “You took my brother from me! ”

Barry made a fist with his right hand. A subtle movement that wouldn’t draw any attention. It was a prearranged signal asking if the sharpshooter could take him out.

“I have him, but if I take the shot, he’ll drop that snake,” Alex said.

“I didn’t take him from you. The enemy did that,” Barry said, keeping Jackson engaged. But the reality of those words sunk in deep. The enemy had caused his injuries and Fish’s. The enemy had taken his peace and Fish’s life. The enemy was to blame. Not him, not Cap, not Gunny, not anyone. They were pieces of a game of war that had been blown to hell and back.

“Let me see her,” Barry demanded.

“Fuck you!” the man yelled and shook the stick with the snake. He kicked Kathy, and she moved. “She’s already been bit once. She’s just waiting to die. I want you to feel what it’s like to lose the most important person in your life.”

That comment ticked every box he needed to hear. Everything was driven into each of the participant's minds during the briefing. Kathy’s life was in danger. Jackson had caused the injury, and he was a threat. If the comms didn’t pick up the words the bastard uttered, it didn’t matter because Barry could live with the call, and he’d be justified. “I need a three count, your count.” Barry scarcely moved his lips.

“Who are you talking to?” Jackson looked out at the land behind Barry. Jackson grabbed at the base of the stick with both hands for a second.

“You.” Barry dropped his right hand. Jackson didn’t notice. He was searching the vista. “There isn’t anyone out here but us.”

“Where are they?” Jackson yelled, turned to his right and then to his left, one hand grabbing the stick, the other went to the small of his back. “Fuck you!” the man yelled.

“One, two,” Alex said in his ear simultaneously.

Barry pulled the taped Beretta from his shirt. He didn’t hear the third count.

His focus was on the snake.

Breath control .

Cup the grip for support.

Sight picture .

Finger pull.

Shot .

All the actions took place in the same split second. The movement was as natural as breathing. He fired, and the snake’s body jumped in the air.

His eyes followed the upward movement, and he fired again at the apex. The snake dropped, and Barry was running. He was up the incline and on his knees in front of Kathy.

He picked up the snake by the rattles and flicked it away from her. Her face was mottled, bruised, and caked with mud on one side. “Oh, fuck . Baby.” He tried to free the gag from her mouth .

“Get that chopper here now!” he commanded as he pulled out his knife and cut the material, pulling the gag out of her mouth.

“Incoming. ETA five minutes. Doc Cassidy is on his way.”

“A doctor is coming.”

“The snake bit my hip.” Her words were raspy and breathless. “He’s going to hurt Gen and Sev.” Her words came out in a sobbed mess as he worked on the twisted wires around her wrists.

“I love you, baby. Hold on, let me get this wire off you.” He glanced up and watched the doctor sprinting up the incline. The hood of his ghillie suit was slapped off, and Barry moved as the doctor slid on his knees beside her. “Hi, Kathy.”

She tried to reply, but the effort seemed too much.

“Doc, the snake bit her on the hip.” Barry nodded to Kathy, who cried out when Barry pulled the wire apart from where the bastard had wrapped it around her wrists.

Dr. Cassidy nodded to her ankles. “Get that shit off her.”

“On it.” Barry worked on the twisted wire as Dr. Cassidy assessed the snake bite.

She tried to hold Barry’s t-shirt and whispered, “He’s going to hurt Gen and Sev.”

Barry rose on his knees and looked over the black box. He blinked at what he saw. Not only did the sniper fire, but there were also bullet holes scattered around the man’s chest. In his hand was an automatic handgun. He turned back to her. Yet Jackson’s death grip held onto a gun Barry hadn’t seen. “Honey, he won’t hurt anyone ever again. I promise. He’s dead.”

She stared at him. The desperate emotion in her eyes was gutting him. He lowered a bit, trying to stay out of the doctor’s way, and whispered, “I promise. He will never hurt anyone again.”

“Snakes in the box.” Her eyes traveled to the black plastic box.

He glanced at the large black plastic bin. “We’ll be careful,” Barry assured her. She nodded and seemed to relax. Barry went to work on the twisted wire. He’d just finished removing the wires from her ankles when he heard the helicopter. “I’m taking her to the ranch. I have antivenom there.” The doctor was careful with her as he marked the bite’s radius. He used some kind of blue paper to cover her exposed skin. Her eyes were closed, and Barry felt that old friend rage boiling up under his skin.

What that man had done to her was … He shook the thoughts away. “Shouldn’t we go to a hospital?”

“Yeah. I have a clinic, and it has everything we need. It’s closer, and the sooner she gets treatment, the better,” the doc said as he wrapped gauze around her wrists. “Take that roll and wrap it around her ankles. Not too tight. Ethan, let Mike know we have incoming and to sanitize the area.”

“Roger, already done.” The man’s voice came across the comms still in his ear .

Barry worked beside the doctor as he talked to Kathy. Not that she was answering, but he kept talking. “You’re going to be okay, baby. I love you. You’re going to be okay.” The words were on repeat, and his stupid mouth and mind couldn’t produce any other sounds.

The chopper landed, and Barry scooped her up into his arms. She leaned into him, and that small action gave him a burst of adrenaline. He made it to the chopper in record time and took a seat with her still in his arms. As soon as the doctor’s foot hit the rail, the bird was in the air. The doctor braced himself on the door, and Barry’s foot found the seat across from him, keeping him and Kathy upright and planted in the seat. The pilot was fucking insane, but thank God, he was fast, and fast was what Kathy needed.

He kissed the top of her head. She was sweating way more than she should have been for the temperature. That bastard . The battered woman he held against him was his life. She was the primary reason he’d found his way out of the hell he’d fallen into. He couldn’t lose her now.

The helicopter landed, and Doc helped him out of the helicopter while he held her. It was as if the man knew he wouldn’t relinquish his possession of her until he absolutely had to do so. Doc threw his bag into an ATV, and Barry got into the passenger seat with Kathy in his arms.

The doctor was quick, and they pulled up in front of a building with white siding. It was small, but the locking system on the doors was something he didn’t expect. A person opened the door for him, and Doc Cassidy directed him into the exam room. “Okay, Barry, here’s where you need to leave. I’ve got her. I’ll let you in as soon as she’s treated and stable.”

Barry laid her down on the tall gurney. He kissed her forehead, which was terribly hot. “Be strong. I love you.” He backed away. He was not looking at anything but Kathy until the room door shut off his view.

Barely registering the sound of the helicopter taking off again, he sank to his ass in the hallway and stared at the door. Sometime later, a pair of cowboy boots appeared in his line of sight. He looked up at Mr. Marshall. “I’d join you on the floor, young man, but by the time I got up, I’d be late for dinner.”

Barry lifted to his feet. Exhaustion was a real thing, and it settled hard and deep into his bones. “Thank you for all your help, sir. She was bitten by a rattler. He’d hurt her, too.” Which was the understatement of the year, but words were difficult right then. His brain and heart were with the woman in the other room.

Mr. Marshall nodded and handed him a piece of taffy. Barry shook his head, not interested in the candy. “You need the sugar. You’ve had a shock.” Mr. Marshall handed him the candy.

“Thank you.” He wouldn’t argue the point. After he unwrapped it, he popped it in his mouth, still staring at the door.

“Heard you did a fancy piece of shooting to keep that other snake from biting your woman. ”

Barry glanced over at him. He wasn’t sure how Mr. Marshall knew that, but then again, he wasn’t sure how a rancher knew how to run a military operation either. Not that it was classified as a military operation. It was considered the town going after one of their own, and that was something everyone agreed on. He shrugged. “I’m good with a handgun, but I got lucky, too. When the other bullets hit Jackson, he flew backward, which flipped the snake up. I was able to get a second shot.”

Mr. Marshall grunted, saying something that Barry didn’t catch. “I’m sorry, sir, I didn’t hear you. I’m running on a lack of sleep and a lot of worry.”

“Don’t matter what I said, although I’d like you to answer a question.”

“If I can.”

Frank turned to him. “Is she going to be enough for you?”

What the fuck? She was his life. “Sir?”

“When things get hard, when there isn’t any money, or when you disagree, when the world closes in tight … is the love you feel for that woman going to keep you going?”

Barry’s mouth went slack, and he shook his head. A mule kicking him in the gut wouldn’t have taken the air out of his lungs as quickly. “I don’t think that’s any of your business, but I’ll answer the question. She isn’t ‘enough,’ sir; she’s everything .” He crossed his arms over his chest and glared at Mr. Marshall. “Are you asking because you don’t think I’m enough for her ? ”

Mr. Marshall let out a bark of laughter. “No, I’m asking because, as far as I know, you ain’t got no pop to ask you where your mind is at concerning that young lady.” Frank shook his head. “I got a history. Married for the hope of love once. It ended in two beautiful daughters and a wife who was miserable. She passed before she could leave me and have what she wanted.”

“Respectfully, sir. It sounds like she was the one who needed to be asked if you were enough, not the other way around.”

Frank nodded. “Yep. Both sides should have had that question posed. Kathy is in there; she’s got parents. They’re on their way here. Corrie ask you that question?”

Well, no, she hadn’t. But he hadn’t thought she’d needed to ask, either. “No, sir.”

“Figured. That’s why I did. See, around here, things are hard. It is a bitter, hard life sometimes. Most people don’t know anything else, so we buckle down and work.”

“Sir, I’ve never known an easy life. I’ve never had money, but I pay my bills. Hollister is … well, for me, it’s peaceful and safe. I’m learning how to work the ranch. It’s painful and hard, but it brings me satisfaction. Everything, including my mental health, has eased. Jackson out there, he was mental, sir. I’ll face any legal questions in his death.”

“Everything that man said was recorded on Kathy’s phone and our comm devices. We have it, and it’s being held for the proper authorities. You kept your cool and did what you needed to do. That was exceptional shooting, and you knew what you needed to do. All that stuff you talk to Doc Wheeler about, none of that came into play, did it?”

“No, sir.” He wouldn’t pat himself on the back for acting normal, and he didn’t want anyone else to do that, either. “I’m getting better. Not completely fixed yet.”

Mr. Marshall grunted and handed him another piece of taffy. “Son, take it from someone on the outside looking in. Everyone is happy with your progress.”

That time, Barry grunted, “Except for Chester.”

Frank rolled his eyes. “That old coot needs some help, for sure. Believe Ken Zorn is working on that.”

The door to the room opened, and the doctor walked out. “Okay, we’ve administered the antivenom, and right now, my associate is cleaning her up. She has some contusions, and the wire on her wrists and ankles broke the skin. She has sensation in her hands and feet, so I don’t think there’ll be any lingering problems there, but I’ll keep a close eye on it. If we need to get her to a specialist, we’ll do it.”

Barry nodded at the door. “Can I go in?”

“Soon,” Dr. Cassidy said. “Frank, may I talk with Barry?”

“Yep.” Frank nodded at Barry. “If you ever need a job, I’ll take you on in a heartbeat.”

Barry blinked and shook the hand offered him. “Thank you, sir.”

They watched Frank amble down the hall and out the door. Doc Cassidy shook his head. “That is high praise, right there. He likes you. ”

That was debatable, but he was more concerned about what the doctor wanted to discuss. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing right now, but I wanted to tell you what you’ll need to look for once we release her.” Barry felt his face light up, but the doctor held up his hand. “She’ll be here at least overnight so we can monitor her vitals and ensure she doesn’t have an acute reaction to the antivenom. We’ll send her home if everything looks good, but it can take up to a month for her to recover completely from this bite.”

“I can stay with her. I’ll leave my job if I have to.” He’d have to talk to the Hollisters about taking time off. He couldn’t see them denying his request.

“Why would you need to do that?” Lorna, Kathy’s mother, asked as she jogged down the hall. She hugged Barry. “Frank just let me in the door. How is she?”

“Doc?” Barry held Lorna as the doctor explained.

The woman drew a deep breath and released it slowly, saying, “Oh, thank God. Barry, if you can stay with her at night, I can be there during the day. One of the benefits of being retired.”

“Who’s retired?” Melvin asked as he walked down the hall. “How is she?”

“She’s going to be okay.” Lorna hugged her husband. “We’re talking about when she goes home.”

“And the bastard that did this?” Melvin demanded.

“He’s dead,” Barry said.

Melvin stared at him. “Won’t say I’m sorry about that. ”

“Neither will I.” Barry held Melvin’s gaze. The protective instincts of her father were echoed in his look.

Melvin nodded. “Good.”

The door opened, and a young woman in scrubs came out. She had long dark hair but a smile on her face. “Hi, I’m Dr. Lillian Montrose. She’s asking for you.” She nodded at Barry, who started toward the door but stopped.

He looked over at her parents. “Lorna, you and Melvin should go in first.”

“No.” Lorna smiled and patted his arm. “She needs you right now. Just let her know we’re here.”