CL Hart -From A Distance (54 page)

"I told you I'd be fine," Kenzie whispered into her ear.

"I believed you." Cori opened her eyes and looked at Kenzie, "But it was too hard to just sit there and watch, knowing so many things could go wrong."

Behind Kenzie, a scuffle broke out between the MPs and the colonel, and Manuck suddenly had a gun in his hand. Cori saw the gun come up and the utter determination on the colonel's face as he pulled the trigger.

Unaware of what was happening, Kenzie only felt Cori's tug turning her body as the gun discharged. Cori's body bucked in Kenzie's arms. "Cori?" Kenzie questioned softly as screams of fear and panic filled the air. Three rapid shots quickly followed the first and Colonel Manuck died with the gun still gripped firmly in his hand.

"Cori!" Kenzie gingerly felt her back. It was warm and wet, and Kenzie knew without looking that the wetness was blood.

"Oh, God, Cori!" She laid her gently to the ground, keeping one hand pressed firmly on the wound on her back. "Medic!" Kenzie yelled. "Get me a medic!" She turned back to Cori, her voice filled with fear. "What did you do?"

Blinking several times, Cori looked up at Kenzie. "I did what you would have done for me."

"Why?" Kenzie could hear the siren of the military ambulance that had been parked and ready nearby. The judge was there by her side, but all of her attention was on the woman whose blood was covering her hands. "Why?"

The ambulance arrived and its siren died away as Cori's eyes slowly closed. Kenzie panicked. "Stay with me! Cori, please...look at me." It all seemed surreal as she brushed back Cori's blonde hair, smearing blood across her forehead. After everything they had been through, it couldn't end this way. "Cori, sweetie, open your eyes."

It was a struggle, but Cori did as she was asked, smiling up into Kenzie's face.

"Stay with me, please," Kenzie begged as she held her close. Never before had she wanted something so much, and been so powerless to obtain it. "You have to stay awake...please."

"Okay," Cori said softly.

Tears slid unheeded down Kenzie's face. "Why...why did you do that?"

"Because I love you."

It was the top news story in Seattle that night. Jean Enersen, one of the anchors for the nightly news, spoke solemnly to her TV audience.

"The military has released little information about the shooting this morning during a mock exercise at Waterfront Park. According to sources, the maneuvers early this morning were a simulation of a response to a National Security threat. However, reports from eyewitnesses state the exercise appeared to be very real, including real blood, real bullets, and real body bags.

In other news, there has still been no arrest made in the murder of Senator Winston Palmer during an apparent home invasion..."

Chapter 25

The judge looked down at the address one more time, confirming he was at the right place. He had two favors to do for Kenzie. The first was to wire funds to some fishing boat captain, that he had already done, and the other...

He sighed as he looked up at the hospital. It didn't look like much, but he had not expected it to be. He would have preferred to be with Kenzie. She needed him right now more than ever. Somewhere in a backroom in Washington DC, she was sitting in front of a committee that did not exist as they tore apart her career and questioned her about everything she had done. It had been a long and arduous proceeding, adding to the strain she had been under, but it would soon be over. General Coquette had assured the judge that he would look after Kenzie's interests. After all, he was the one, when he was still a colonel, who had pulled the strings for the judge to start Kenzie's career in the military.

The judge parked in front of the hospital, pulled the keys from the ignition and sat for a moment. When he was done there, he was climbing onto a plane and heading to DC to be with his Katherine. He knew when the hearing was finished and the committee had all their answers, she would be gone again, this time for good. That made him regretful. He would not change what he had done for her, but he knew he would miss her.

Exiting slowly from the vehicle, the judge soaked in the warmth of the California sun as he climbed the steps. The glass door jangled when he pushed it open and stepped into the hospital.

"Can I help you?" asked the young woman at the front desk.

"Yes." He slid the address into his pocket. "I'm looking for a Heather Siddall."

The young woman smiled. "Heather's in the back. I'll get her for you."

A moment later, a woman with chestnut-colored hair and wearing hospital scrubs came through the swinging door. "I'm Heather, can I help you?" she asked, her brow furrowed in question.

The judge didn't know what to say so he just reached into his pocket and pulled out a set of keys. "These are for you," he said as he held them out to her.

She looked from the elderly man to the keys with the tag still on them. "Excuse me?"

He jiggled the keys and offered his best smile. "They're a gift from a couple of friends," he said, placing the keys into her hand, and then he added, "I was asked to deliver them." The judge motioned to the shiny new pickup truck he had parked out in front of the hospital.

"What?"

"It's all yours...a thank-you gift."

"What...what are you talking about?" Heather asked as she and her co-worker moved to the large window. "For me? I don't understand. A gift...a gift for me?"

"From what I heard, you earned it," he said with a smile. "A couple of women I know said to delivery this - because a new truck is better than sending you a postcard."

Suddenly, she understood. "Oh my God! Are they okay? Did everything work out?"

The judge could only offer a smile as he pulled the registration papers from his pocket and handed them to her. "Enjoy it," he said as he left the startled woman and her new pickup truck.

It was the last thing that Kenzie had asked him to do, and he had been happy to comply with her wishes.

The waters of the Pacific Ocean sparkled brightly in the late afternoon sun. A sailboat, anchored off Vancouver Island's rocky shore, bobbed gently up and down in the incoming tide. Kenzie was alone on deck, doing some routine maintenance on the mainsail while the light was still good. Dressed in a fleeced-lined yellow windbreaker, she ignored the tangle of curls brushing over her face as her mind reminisced with her past. Many moments of regret and flashes of haunting memories would catch her off guard at times. However, for the most part, she was living with what had happened. The committee had closed the book on Maquinar and she had earned her freedom, but at a cost. She could never go back to who she had been. Her military career was over, tainted with the broad stroke of a whispered scandal, leaving her to deal with the lives she had taken for all the wrong reasons.
All those people who died for all the wrong reasons...

With a heavy sigh, she looked over the deck of her new boat.
Helen Back Again
was a bit larger and a lot faster, but it wasn't
Helen's Gate.

"Where's your head at?" Cori whispered into Kenzie's ear as she wrapped her arms around her.

Kenzie snuggled into the embrace. "Nowhere."

"I find that hard to believe."

Kenzie smiled but Cori saw a shadow of something darker. "What else is going on in that busy mind of yours?"

"Lots of things...too many things."

"Now that I do believe."

"If I could turn back time and take it all back, I never would've met you."

"I don't accept that. I think we would have found each other eventually."

Kenzie turned around. "I found you and then I almost lost you. That I wouldn't want to live through again." She brushed back the blonde hair but she could not look Cori in the eye. "You aren't the naive and innocent woman I met in Guadalajara. That woman would not have stepped in front of a bullet, especially not one meant for me."

"No, because that woman was Cori Evans and she's dead. She died in Seattle months ago." Lifting her chin, Cori forced Kenzie to look at her. "My name is Maureen Gibbins, and I love you." She kissed Kenzie on the lips, and then smiled as she studied the bronzed face before her. "You aren't the angry, lost woman who came busting into my apartment. We learn and we grow and we forgive. It's a new start for both of us, with new names and new places to go."

Golden eyes began to shimmer as Kenzie fought to control her emotions, but Cori would not let her go, not this time.

Kenzie sniffed loudly, "So much for my tough girl image."

A smirk lifted the corner of Cori's mouth as she held Kenzie's face in her hands. "Sweetie, you lost that long ago with me." Cori gently kissed her. "I love you, I love being with you, and no matter how it happened, I love that you came into my life." She kissed her again, harder and with more passion.

It took a long moment for Kenzie to trust that her voice would not betray her emotions. "I'm the happiest when I'm with you. I feel complete and content. I wasn't sure how this was going to work out. I mean, you could have died and I could have wound up in jail."

Cori placed her fingers on Kenzie's lips, silencing her. "But I didn't die, and you were rightfully given amnesty."

"I'm thankful you're in my life. I love you," Kenzie whispered, tears beginning to spill over. They grew quiet for a while, each lost in their own thoughts and memories as they held each other close. The ocean waves lapped gently against the hull of the sailboat. A light breeze fluttered her hair as Kenzie leaned back and watched as a gull played in the wind. "I was thinking...maybe we should head into Victoria and do some shopping."

"Shopping - you? Really?" Cori's voice exuded excitement.

"Well, for you shopping, for me, I have a package to post...a Zippo lighter I need to send to an old friend."

Cori's face warmed with a smile. "I think he'd like that."

They curled up together under a blanket at the stern of the boat and watched as the sun sank down below the horizon. Kenzie had found the happiness she had been searching for, and a place she could finally call home.

I know who I am. I know what I have done,

But I am no longer alone in the shadow of one.

I trust who you are, you saved more than my life,

You stopped me from walking on the edge of a knife.

Justice is blind and, in a way, so was I,

It's hard to see through a web woven with lies.

But the game isn't over, there's still one in play,

'cause someone's still watching you from far away.

With his sights dialed in, his target is true,

From a distance he watches and the target's still you!

~
CL Hart