Courageous (39 page)

As Adam ducked and crawled out the passenger side door, TJ and Antoine fired several rounds into the side of his car, which now blocked TJ’s view of David and Nathan. Glass shattered as the squad car was hit by the shotgun blast.

Nathan apprised him as they crouched on the ground behind the car. “Three guys, one has a shotgun, a 9mm. I’m almost out of ammo.”

“Antoine!” TJ held his shoulder and winced. “Come here, man. You gotta shoot this for me!”

“We gotta go! Give it to me.” Big Antoine grabbed the shotgun while TJ pushed Derrick down to the front of the car. “Get out of our way!”

The gangsters looked for an escape, but a fence ran down the road on the right side, an open field beyond it. The land was all flat and open on the left until it came to a house where a young black girl, maybe nine years old, watched, three hundred feet away.

Antoine shot his last two shells.

Adam heard an explosion of glass and metal overhead. Mirror and metal flew through the air like skeet.

TJ pointed down the road. “’Toine. The girl! We need leverage. Let’s go!”

Antoine cried, “I’m out; I’m out,” dropped the shotgun, and ran after TJ toward the girl and the house.

Adam yelled, “I got ’em,” then saw the girl and realized he couldn’t fire.

“Goin’ after that girl. Stay with me!” Adam yelled.

“With you,” Nathan said.

David ran alongside them.

“Front of the car, front of the car,” Adam called.

Derrick screamed as they rounded the side of TJ’s car.

“Show me your hands,” the cops yelled, guns drawn. Derrick waved his hands frantically.

David pointed toward the girl and the gangsters. “I’ve got him. Go!”

Adam and Nathan took off in pursuit of TJ and Antoine.

TJ chased the girl while Antoine hid behind a massive tree, waiting.

Adam ran beside Nathan, surprised at his own speed and endurance. He thought of Dylan, the only person he’d ever run alongside at this pace. Just as Nathan pulled in front of Adam, Antoine lunged and tackled Adam.

TJ pursued the girl, who climbed the wooden ladder of a tree house. TJ climbed behind her and grabbed her ankle. She screamed, paralyzed with fear. Nathan jumped up and grabbed TJ, pulling him down. The gangster fell to the ground, Nathan on top of him.

“Daddy! Daddy!” the girl screamed.

Adam fought with Antoine. He pulled his Glock, but Antoine knocked it out of his hand. Antoine exchanged punishing blows with Adam, each connecting to the other’s jaw.

TJ landed two pile-driver blows on Nathan’s cheek as he had several months ago when Nathan hung on to the steering wheel.

Nathan was nearly overcome when out of nowhere someone slammed into TJ, knocking him off Nathan. Then came screams of sirens and the screech of tires as more patrol cars pulled up. Two of the officers ran for Antoine, who was still pounding Adam’s face. They tackled him and finally handcuffed him.

Two other officers jumped TJ and subdued him. The girl’s father left the officers to finish TJ. He went to the base of the tree house and reached for the terrified girl, who lowered herself to the safety of her father’s arms.

Adam lay on the ground, face bruised and bloody. One of the officers came over. “You all right, Adam?”

“Get the girl. Help the girl!”

“She’s all right, man. She’s with her dad.”

Adam, head on the grass, caught sight of the girl, now secure in her father’s arms. He saw the look in her eyes and thought of Emily. And somehow, beaten half to death, he felt incredible relief, even happiness.

Ten minutes later, after TJ, Antoine, and Derrick were taken to separate patrol cars, Nathan walked gingerly over to Adam, who sat under a tree, still wiping blood from his face.

“You okay?”

“That dude was strong.”

He assessed Adam. “You’re lookin’ like I’m feelin’.”

“I’m feelin’ like I’m lookin’.”

Nathan extended his hand to Adam. “Thank God for backup. None of us could have done this alone.”

“Just be glad you fought the small guy.”

“The
small
guy?”

“What’s that on your arm?” Adam pointed to just below Nathan’s left sleeve, where a bloodstained bandage wrapped his upper arm.

“An object lesson.”

“What do you mean?”

“You know how Jordan pesters me to wear a vest?”

“Yeah, I’ve mentioned it a few times myself.”

“Well, when my gangster buddy, who has now remodeled my face twice, let go with the sawed-off shotgun, I thought I’d been hit. I was so close I could feel the force of all that shot exploding out of the barrel.”

“Yeah?”

“So a few minutes ago when all my pains registered, I felt this awful sting in my arm. And there, implanted in my skin, was a single piece of shot.”

“One?”

“One.”
He pulled the little piece of metal out of his pocket. “It’s not a heavy gauge, but I’ll tell you my arm hurts like crazy. Had I been just a foot closer, I’d have gotten dozens of them at least. If he’d gotten off a straight shot, I would have taken maybe a hundred in the chest, point-blank.”

Adam cringed.

“So I figure God fired me a warning. True, the vest wouldn’t have protected my arm. But if I’d taken it in the chest, the vest would have saved my life.
If
I’d worn it. I’m going to tell Jordan he was right and I was wrong.”

Adam looked at Nathan. “Glad you’re okay.”

“Likewise.”

As Adam pulled his cell out and called Victoria, Nathan approached the patrol car where Derrick, handcuffed and bent forward, stared at the floor. Nathan opened the door and leaned down. Tears streamed down the young man’s face.

“Derrick, what are you doin’? Why were you with these guys?”

He shook his head like he wondered the same thing. “I ain’t got nobody, man. I just ain’t got nobody.”

Nathan remained silent but put his hand on Derrick’s shoulder.

Meanwhile Adam approached David, who leaned against his bullet-pierced patrol car.

“You did good today, David.”

“You mean, for a rookie, right?”

Adam shook his head and slapped David on the back. “You’re not a rookie.”

Chapter Forty-five

Hundreds of men, ages six to eighty-six, took their places on Third Avenue, one of Albany’s most beautiful streets. Lined with massive oak trees, sun and shade were dappled in the leaves of late spring; it was spectacular.

A big banner stretched across the street:
First Annual Father & Son 5K
.

Grandfathers and mentors were invited too. Ten minutes before the race, Adam stood between Dylan and Tyler.

Adam spoke softly. “Dylan, feel free to break loose. I’ll stay back with Tyler. We’d slow you down.”

“That’s okay, Dad. Let’s run together. There’ll be other 5Ks.”

“You sure? I appreciate that, buddy. I really do.”

He turned to the twelve-year-old boy with black hair and almond eyes. “Tyler, we’re really glad you could join us.”

“Yeah, man.” Dylan slapped hands with Tyler. “This’ll be fun.”

After they took off and the runners spread out, Dylan stayed by Tyler and Adam, but just a few steps ahead to set the pace and squeeze the best performance out of them. Both Adam and Dylan were impressed with Tyler’s ability to keep up.

There was something magical about running with all these men and being cheered on by grandmas, wives, daughters, and sisters.

Dylan said to his dad as they ran, “I feel like rooting for everyone around me, like we’re all on the same team.”

Familiar faces surrounded them: Riley Cooper with his dad, Caleb Holt with a high school boy Dylan knew from Young Life.

The more Tyler ran, the more he hit his stride, eyes on Dylan, determined to stay with him.

At about the 4K mark, they spotted Victoria and Mia waving and holding out drinks. “Adam!” Victoria called. As he veered over, she handed him something he didn’t expect.

He smiled, turned, and waved. Victoria and Mia both laughed.

“What is that, Dad?”

“Well . . . it’s a raspberry cruller from Krispy Kreme.”

“How do you know it’s from Krispy Kreme?”

“Trust me, Son. I know.”

He ripped off a third and handed it to Dylan and gave another third to Tyler. No cruller had ever been more quickly consumed.

The more Adam and Dylan encouraged Tyler, the faster he ran. Though the run was short, Adam was so sore from the Denson Road incident, he had to push himself. They finished in the first quarter of the pack, much faster than Adam or Dylan had anticipated.

When they crossed the finish line, Adam and Dylan both slapped hands with Tyler.

“Tyler, good job!” Dylan said. “You should definitely go out for track!”

Wave after wave of men and boys crossed the finish line. As they regained their breath, they laughed and talked like old friends. It was a spontaneous fraternity meeting on the streets of Albany. City streets sometimes plagued by the consequences of fatherlessness had been reclaimed to celebrate fatherhood.

Adam had never experienced anything like it. He thumped Dylan on the back. “Aren’t you glad I talked you into running this 5K?”

They met Victoria and Mia and went to the Cookie Shop on North Jackson. By the time lunch was over, Dylan and Tyler agreed to meet twice a week at Westover High’s track.

Dylan said to Adam as they were leaving, “I’m just warning you, Dad—our next race is a 10K.”

Adam stretched out in his recliner that night—given recent events, he figured he’d earned it. Over popcorn and sweet tea, he and Dylan and Victoria talked and laughed for an hour about the 5K and the raspberry cruller and anything else that came to mind.

When Adam got a call from Sergeant Murphy, he braced himself to leave for work; rare to be called out on a Saturday night, but not unprecedented.

“Adam? I have good news for you.”

“What’s that?”

“The paperwork’s done, and as of Monday morning, you’ve got a new partner.”

“Anybody I know?”

“Fresh out of the academy. Nice kid. I think you’ll like him.”

On Monday, Adam, still feeling stiff from the race and the Denson Road episode, entered the sheriff’s department and headed to the muster room. He saw the familiar face of a big young man seated on a bench.

“Brock Kelley?”

“Hey, Corporal Mitchell.” Brock stood, and they shook hands.

“Call me Adam. I see you’re wearing the proud uniform of the Dougherty County Sheriff’s Department.”

“I’m reporting for duty.”

“That’s great news,” Adam said. “Have they told you who your partner is?”

“No, sir. I’m in the dark.”

“Get used to that.” Adam grinned. “But stop calling me sir. It’s Adam.”

“Okay. Adam.”

“Coming in for roll call?”

“Sergeant Murphy told me to stay out here until he sends for me.”

“See you inside.”

As Adam walked to the muster room, he couldn’t help but smile.

Thanks, Lord, for answering my prayer. I’ll be able to help Brock as a cop and as a Christ follower. And he’ll be great for me. Dylan will like him, too. And he’ll be impressed that his dad’s new partner is the local football legend!

Adam sat behind David, drinking coffee and waiting for roll call.

“How’d your dinner go with Amanda and Olivia?”

“Great! Awesome!”

Adam grinned. “Sounds like you had a good time, David!”

“I just keep feeling . . . closer to Amanda, closer than I could have imagined. And Olivia’s like . . . I can’t describe it.” David swallowed hard. “I met a family at church, in that home Bible study group I go to. They rent out a nice little apartment.”

“Yeah?”

“So I checked it out. The rent’s the same as what Amanda’s paying now, and it’s a better setup. And . . . it’s three minutes from my place.”

Nathan entered and sat just before Sergeant Murphy stepped to the front. After a few announcements, the sergeant said, “We have a new rookie. Let’s give a warm welcome to Brock Kelley.”

“State championship,” Adam heard someone whisper.

Lord, use me in this young man’s life.

“And Deputy Kelley will have the distinction of being the partner of . . .”