To Love a Soldier (13 page)

I started shaking my head. “You are fucking insane.”

“No, you’re just playing hard to get, princess,” he said, spitting a mouthful of blood to the floor. “And I know you love getting the dick, because I just watched you taking that loser’s tiny dick a few hours ago. You should really close your curtains.”

I wanted to throw up and crawl into a ball, but I had to stay strong. Brady needed help desperately. “Listen, just leave so I can call for help for Brady. He’s bleeding to death there.”

“So let him die. You’re going to be with me anyway, and we don’t need him in the way.”

“Please, Mike. Please, I’m begging you,” I pleaded as a last resort.

“So, you really care about him, huh?” he taunted.

Momentarily staring at Brady unconscious, “yes. I do.”

“Okay, then get on your knees and beg like that,” he said as he undid his button and pulled his zipper down with one hand. “I’m going to give you the biggest load you’ve ever seen and then I’m going to gut you like your little boyfriend there, so you can die together.”

“Mike, what the fuck?” I pleaded. “HELP!” I screamed, hoping my mom, a neighbor, or anyone at all, would hear me.

“There’s no help, bitch. Your slutty mother is up there now cleaning herself off for me.” He started licking his lips. “So I’m going to make you the entrée and her the dessert. Mother-daughter combo. Man, the guys will be high-fiving me for months.” He pointed the knife at me and began walking around the couch.

I kept pleading and circling the couch, trying to stay away from the blade. He kept the stairs and doorway behind him, though, so it wasn’t an option. I had no choice but to try getting past him. I was running out of time. By now, there was a larger pool of blood surrounding Brady, who was still slumped over and hadn’t moved at all.

I darted towards the front door and grabbed hold of the handle. I felt Mike grab me from behind and tug me. I tried to not let go, but he was too strong. I managed to turn the handle and the door opened slightly, but not enough. My hand slipped off the knob, and my body was being tossed into the air. I landed face down on the couch. Mike’s weight bore down on me right after landing. He shoved my face into the cushion and he slid the blade between my hip and pants.

“Make another sound. Make another move. Go ahead, bitch. Do anything other than what I tell you and my dick
isn’t the only thing that’s going to stick you,” he whispered, close enough that I could feel the heat of his disgusting breath on my ear. He cut my pants down the side and I felt a sting down my leg. I couldn’t do anything but lie there, or I knew I was dead.

He grabbed my pants, tearing them the rest of the way. He groped my ass
, and it took every ounce of strength not to vomit. I heard the sound of his pants falling down, and I knew it was coming. I closed my eyes as tight as I could with tears running out and I clenched my teeth. I was about to know what Hell was like.

“You’re about to enjoy a ride on the Mikey train,” he groaned.

“The fuck she is!” I heard a man’s voice yell. I felt the weight of Mike’s body lift off me. I turned immediately to escape and saw Officer Joe Reed hurling Mike across the room. Mike’s body tumbled across the floor and stopped at the bottom of the stairs. His knife was lying at Joe’s feet.

Joe looked at me with steely eyes and then over to Brady. Then he looked up and over to Mike, who was trying to gather himself, probably not knowing what just happened.

“You forgot your knife,” Joe said, kicking it over to him. Mike looked confused. Joe un-holstered his gun and yelled, “Police officer. Drop your weapon. Drop your weapon now!”

Mike’s face filled with fear. Joe raised his gun and told me to close my eyes. I knew what he was about to do. I wanted him to do it. I would never be safe with Mike alive and, for all I knew, Brady was dead
as well. I didn’t want to watch anyone get shot, but I couldn’t make myself close my eyes. I wanted to witness his end. In my eyes, if anyone deserved it, it was Mike.

BOOM!
A shot rang out and Mike toppled back down to the floor. Officer Reed immediately called for backup and fire rescue. He holstered his gun and dropped to the floor to evaluate Brady. “Liz, are you all right? Did he stab you?”

“No, I’m fine,” I said in a panic. I quickly said my first prayer in what had to be 20 something years.
God, please, God, let him be alive.
“Is Brady alive?” I asked Joe.

He put on a pair of medical gloves and began field dressing the stab wound. “He has a pulse, but he needs help quick.”

Just then, my mom came running down the stairs in her bathroom, toting my handgun. “What the fuck is going on?” she yelled, looking down at Mike’s dead body. “I heard a gunshot.”

“Ma’am, it’s me. Joe Reed,” Joe said. “Please put the gun away.”

She slipped the gun in a drawer of her china cabinet and ran to me, grabbing me into her arms. I felt like I was being bear hugged by John.

“Are you okay, Liz?” She was frantic. “Oh no, he didn’t.” She paused. “Did he?”

“No, Mom. I’m okay now. He didn’t get the chance to.”

“Oh, thank God. Are you hurt? I see blood.”

“I just got cut by his knife. I’m fine. You need to help Brady. He was stabbed,” I said, starting to sob. No sooner than I got the words out, she pushed Joe out of the way.

“Mrs. Kane, I got this. I was a combat medic for a year,” he said.

“Well, I’ve been a nurse for 23 years. Now move,” she spat.

Joe held the stab wound while my mom got in place and began checking his vitals. “This isn’t good,” she said in a low voice. “We need to get him to the hospital now. We can’t wait.”

“They’re here,” Joe said. “The ambulance just pulled up.” He got up and took me out of the room. “You need to stay out of the way, Liz. I know it’s hard, but there’s nothing you can do for him right now. Let the professionals do their jobs.”

Tears poured out of my eyes. Brady had been there to protect me and he might have given his life to do just that. I wiggled past Officer Reed and yelled into the living room to my mother. “Mom. Please,” I cried out and had to control myself before breaking down again. “Please don’t let him die.”

We just looked at each other. She had a look of confidence, while I was completely and utterly terrified. I immediately felt guilty. I shouldn’t have put that kind of burden on her.

I watched as the medics rushed in and strapped Brady to a board. I fell to pieces and had to sit down. Joe went back in and met up with other officers who had arrived as backup. They were talking and writing their reports. One taped the entire perimeter of the property.

After the chaos subsided a little, Joe came back in to talk to me. “Okay Liz, I need you to listen to me,” he said sternly. “I know this is hard on you. I can’t image how traumatizing it all must be, but I need you to stay focused for me.”

I wiped the tears off my face and sucked the rest back in. I looked up at him, “okay.”

“Good. So here’s what’s going to happen. Officers are going to secure the crime scene, which now happens to be your entire property since we’ve found multiple footprints along the side and in the backyard. We can’t touch the body until the coroner comes and investigates. After that, they’ll remove him and send in a professional cleaning company to remove everything. A detective is going to come and take my report. After that, he’s going to want to talk to you and your mother. Brady will pull through this, so they’ll be talking to him, too. Your mother didn’t see anything and Brady saw what he did before I arrived. You need to tell him what happened prior to me coming, and then you can tell him how you saw the perpetrator not listen to my commands and advance with his weapon before being fired upon. Can you do that, Liz?”

“Without a doubt. Yes,” I answered him. “How did you know to come here? I didn’t think anyone heard me screaming.”

“I didn’t,” he said. “I’ve been keeping an eye on you and your house for some time now.” He smiled.

“John?” I asked.

“He’s my brother too, Liz. We watch out for each other and our families.”

I stood up and wrapped my arms around him. I hugged him so tight. “Thank you so much. You honestly saved my life.”

“You’re welcome,” he said humbly and walked out.

I waited around, not moving from the dining room chair. Everything happened as Joe had said it would. I gave my story
, and I believed what I said. Even if Mike didn’t have the knife in his hand when he was shot, I knew that if he had, things would’ve gone down the same way. I had no doubt. Even though I finally felt safe, I couldn’t feel relief until I knew how Brady was doing.

Finding the closest officer, I got his attention. “Excuse me.”

“Yes?” He asked.

“Can I please go get my phone? It’s upstairs in my room. I’d like to call my Mom.”

Surveying the scene, “Go ahead and make sure you don’t disturb any of the evidence and don’t change your clothes. The detectives are going to want pictures.”

I nodded in understanding and carefully moved around the caution tape making my way upstairs to get my phone. Even though I couldn’t change yet, I grabbed a pair of yoga pants to put on as soon as I could. I needed to call my mom to see how Brady was doing. I also needed to call Mandy and make sure she was okay. For all I knew, he could have gone there first. And I had to call John. He needed to hear it from me, even if it was over a voicemail if he still wasn’t able to get a call. Scrolling through my contacts, I called my mom first and she answered on the second ring.

“Honey, I’m just walking out of the ER now,” she said.

“Mom, is he…” I paused. I couldn’t say it. I didn’t think I really wanted to hear it if he was dead.

“No, he’s not,” she said softly. “They have the bleeding under control. He’s lost a lot, so he needs a transfusion.”

“So he’ll be okay?” I asked.

“I can’t answer that yet. They’re taking him to the OR right now because the knife lacerated his lung and,” she stopped. “Listen, Liz. They’re going to fix him up. He’s going to be fine.” Only her voice didn’t have the same confidence.

“Mom, I’m scared.” I began to cry.

“I’ll stay here until he comes out, sweetie. Then I’ll stay with him, until you can get here. I have to go; there’s a detective here who wants to ask me some questions. If there’s any update before you get here, I’ll call you. Okay? I love you.”

“Thanks, Mom. I love you, too.” I hung up the phone and quickly called Mandy.
Pick up. Pick up
.

“Hey Lizzy, what’s up?” she answered.

I couldn’t even talk. Instead, I began bawling my eyes out.

“Liz, what the fuck? What’s wrong?”

“Br. Bra…” I couldn’t get his name out. I took a deep cleansing breath and tried again. “Brady!”

“Oh, what happened? Did you guys get in a bad fight or something?” she asked.

“Mike,” I managed to stutter.

“Mike? What the fuck! Are you okay? What happened?”

“Brady was stabbed. He’s not doing well.” I put the phone away from my ear and let the river flow again. I could hear her yelling through the phone.

“Liz. Are you home? Liz? Are you there?” she kept asking. “Fuck this, I’m on my way!”

The call ended and my phone returned to my contacts screen. I scrolled back up to John. I touched his name and took a deep breath again. This was going to be hard.

It went straight to voicemail. I didn’t want to tell him by message, but I also wanted him to hear my voice first so I could assure him I was okay. I explained as quickly as I
could what went down before the message could cut me off. I couldn’t finish everything, but I was able to assure him twice that I was physically all right.

I went back downstairs to wait for Mandy. I knew she’d be freaking out at the sight of all the cops and tape. The coroner was already there now and I really hoped he would be done and get Mike’s body out of my house before she came. I didn’t know what she’d feel or do if she saw that.

Out front, I paced the front porch. There were a few cops still outside searching and several standing around, talking. They kept looking at me while I paced. I saw headlights speeding down my street and I knew it had to be her. The car got closer and barely slowed down. It got the attention of several cops, who began to look concerned. I was quick to let them know that it was my friend coming, because I didn’t want them to think she was a threat if she came running up all wild and have to take her to the ground. They acknowledged and stood back.

The car came to a screeching halt and the door flew open. She left the engine on and came running up the driveway, straight to me. Her obvious care and compassion for me overwhelmed me
, and I couldn’t help but start another session of hysterical crying. Without saying anything, she held me in her arms and began rocking me. It took quite a few minutes to regain my composure and then, I began to tell her what happened. She held me up by my shoulders the whole time. Anger overtook her face as I got to the Mike part.

“I’m so sorry, Liz. I don’t even know what to say.”

“It’s okay,” I cried.

Just then the door opened and another cop came out. He left the door open and Mandy turned her head to look in. Her eyes widened. She clearly saw Mike’s dead body lying on the floor.
She let go of my shoulders and walked inside. It almost seemed like she was in a trance. She walked towards his body. The coroner hadn’t noticed and stepped away from the body to write notes. Mandy walked over and stood above Mike. I went in, and I put my arm around her.