Chapter 4 #2
“I admit I’ve lost track of time myself.
They were trying to get a hold of him as to what to do with me.
That was part of the problem because they had picked me up and didn’t know what to do next.
John was supposed to be the mastermind of whatever godforsaken plan they had to get my pension money and my VA benefits.
” He coughed several times, his bony frame rattling on Wilden’s back.
Jackson continued. “They’d run out of money, and Hookman told them they needed some other source, so they were finding all the vets and seniors in town who they could blackmail into giving over their monthly pension,” he explained.
“However, I refused to play that game. I didn’t go to war for all those years, and then end up in a wheelchair, only to have some asshole punk decide he should just take the money I need to live on. ”
“I’m damn sorry about that,” Wilden said. “I know my father caused a lot of trouble for people in town, but he is most definitely dead. I ordered and paid for his cremation today.”
Jackson snorted. “That explains why that punk Larry didn’t know what to do with me. Larry and his buddy were pissed off and upset that John wasn’t answering.”
“Hell, they should have found out by now. It’s a pretty small town.”
“How did he die?” Jackson asked.
“He was shot while walking down the street.”
“Damn,” he muttered. “Odd that they didn’t know.”
“If they haven’t been following the local news or even the gossip, maybe they didn’t have any clue,” Wilden suggested. “And, if they were the ones responsible for the situation you were in, maybe that had them lay low or to run scared.”
“I wish they would run scared,” Jackson declared, “because I’m totally okay with hauling their asses into jail.” He groaned with pain. “Do you need to put me down and try this again?” he asked.
“No, I was just hoping my vehicle was closer.”
“Yeah, me too,” Jackson muttered. “I’m sorry, son. I didn’t mean to be a burden on anybody.”
“You’re not a burden,” Wilden declared. “So, you just stop thinking that. And, since it seems my useless father had something to do with your kidnapping and confinement, we owe him for that too.”
“I can’t blame you for the sins of your father.”
“Lots of people will, you know.”
“Maybe, but you’re the one who walked out when you realized how bad he was.”
“I sure did, but unfortunately that left my grandmother at his mercy. Although she really wanted him back, I don’t think she understood just what that would entail.
I thought he had been with her the whole ten years or so that I was in the navy.
However, she told me last night how he upped and left her again, once I went off to the military.
Still, like a bad penny, he came back again, maybe not too many months ago.
And Nan, with her good heart, gave him yet another chance, which he sure didn’t deserve.
He wouldn’t let her contact me, so things got a little rougher still. He made things pretty hard for her.”
“Damn,” Jackson muttered. “Life is tough enough when you’re out there just trying to make peace with it all. And then you get some asshole who decides that he should waltz right in and make life harder on everybody.”
“Yeah, that was my father,” Wilden stated, with a headshake.
“He somehow figured that everybody owed him and that he shouldn’t have to do anything in life.
And I don’t know where he got that idea from because my grandmother was a hardworking woman.
And to even think that he had something to do with you ending up in this situation just boils my blood and totally pisses me off. ”
“Don’t bother getting pissed off right now, at least not until you get me in your vehicle,” Jackson pointed out, followed by another soft groan.
With every step, Wilden knew the man was hurting, but there was only so much Wilden could do. “First we’ll take you to the hospital to get checked over,” he began.
“Yeah, no,” Jackson snapped. “I’m not going to no hospital. There is nothing a hospital can do for me.”
Wilden sighed. The damn old man was stubborn. “You’re talking to somebody who’s been through it too, remember?”
Jackson snorted. “Then you also know that the hospital is not where I’m going.
They’ll tell me that I can’t live alone and that I need to move into some home or some such garbage,” he explained.
“That’s also not happening.” His tone was stern.
“No, just take me home and leave me with Sarge. We’ll be fine. ”
“I’ll miss him,” Wilden shared, with a chuckle. “He’s been really good to have around.”
“He’s a great dog. How did you even know about him anyway?” he asked. “Wasn’t he locked up at the house?”
“No, I came looking because he was running loose, and somebody caught him and took him to the vet. When she scanned him for a microchip, that triggered an alert that went to my boss, who’s been running this program to periodically check in and confirm the retired War Dogs are okay.”
“Seriously?” Jackson asked.
“Yes, seriously,” Wilden said, with a laugh. “So, they asked me to come take a look because I’d only just found out about my father, and they knew I needed to come back here and help my grandma.”
“Thank God for that,” he said. “Hey, Sarge, look at that. You’re so valuable that people even keep track of you.”
“It’s a good thing,” Wilden noted, “because apparently I came home to more than any of us expected.”
Then again, with Jackson not willing to go to the hospital, there was only one option. And Wilden fully intended to use that card, as soon as he put the damn sack of potatoes in his vehicle.
Vivian answered the phone to hear Wilden on the other end. “I didn’t expect you to call me,” she admitted in a teasing tone, “but I’m glad to hear that you’re checking in.”
“I’m checking in for a different reason,” he began. “I know it’s an imposition, and I know you’ll tell me that it’s not what you do.”
“That’s a great start to a phone call,” she noted curiously. “What’s going on?”
“Remember that noise I went to check out?”
“Yes.”
“I found Mr. Russell. He’d been left out in the forest on his own, a man who uses a wheelchair for mobility, and other than that literally has to crawl his way through life. … I carried him back.”
“Oh my God,” she cried out in shock. “And you carried him?”
“Yes, I carried him,” he repeated, with a sigh.
“So, obviously I’m not feeling quite perfect myself, but Jackson refuses to go to the hospital.
I think he’s okay, but I would feel better if somebody checked him out.
He is beyond irate at the idea of going to a hospital because he’s a disabled vet, and he has already been through a lot in too many hospitals. ”
“So, hang on a minute. You want me to check him out medically?” she asked in astonishment. She almost heard him wince.
“Yeah, I guess that’s not happening, huh?” Wilden asked.
She hesitated, unsure of how to respond. “I’ll come and do it, but, if something is seriously wrong,” she clarified, “he’ll have to go to a hospital.”
“Maybe, between us, if something is seriously wrong, we can convince him to do that,” he shared, “because there’s no way otherwise. He wants to be left at home, and I do have both dogs here at Jackson’s place, so, if you could possibly come and check him out, that would make me feel better.”
“But I don’t treat humans.”
“Yeah, I knew you would say that. I have a lot of field medic experience myself, but I don’t have any experience with diabetes.”
“Ah. Okay, let me just grab my bag, and I’ll come.”
“I’ll text you the address.”
“I already have it,” she said. “I looked it up when I first ended up with Sarge.”
“Okay, good. So, we’ll just wait here for you.”
“Right,” she noted, with a hint of humor. “We certainly are meeting for the most bizarre circumstances.”
“I know.”
Then something else clicked in the back of her mind. “Did you contact the police?”
“That’s the next fight. Jackson doesn’t think there’ll be a point in doing so.”
“Oh God,” she muttered. “I’ll be right there, and then we’ll tag team him on this because that cannot be allowed to happen to him again—or to anyone else.”
“Making sure it doesn’t happen to anybody else is the trick because more is going on than we knew. I’ll fill you in when you get here.”
She quickly disconnected and changed out of the comfy clothes she had put on as soon as she got home, still slightly damp from the waterfall.
With that done, she grabbed both of her dogs, not wanting to leave them alone again, since they’d been alone all day and now for part of the night.
With them in her SUV, she headed over to Jackson Russell’s place.
When she parked in the driveway, the door opened, and Sarge bounded out. She opened her car door and let her two dogs out and let everybody sniff each other, while she slowly moved them on leashes toward the house. Dagger was there too, loping around on the grass like the big puppy that he was.
She had to laugh at his antics because he was so full of life and so happy to have a chance at life.
He didn’t even realize how close he’d come to being returned to the shelter and quite likely euthanized before dinner.
She was so glad she’d saved his life. As she walked inside, she announced, “This is Romeo and Juliet.”
Wilden chuckled, then bent down to greet the dogs, who were all over him instantly. “They’re lovely.”
“I don’t know about lovely,” she clarified, “but they’ve been home all day and were not impressed with the idea of my leaving again, so I brought them along.
I figured, what the—” When she stepped forward, she saw Jackson Russell sitting in a big easy chair under a blanket, shivering slightly. She frowned at him.
He frowned right back. “I wouldn’t have even called you.”