Ben (The Sherwood)

I ran my hands over my face and through my hair. “Now what?” I asked. “Ron Parson is getting desperate.”

“He is,” Matt agreed. “Desperate men make mistakes. Let him keep stewing.”

I didn’t like that plan. I wanted Ron finished and off the streets of Sherwood. I was getting married in two weeks. Two weeks after that my court date was scheduled, and Asia was officially, solely mine. Sixty days since Jasmine had left her in Elijah’s home. Sixty days since she had begged me in a letter to be her father. That was the easiest decision I had ever made besides marrying Disa.

**

The chatter around the dining room table during brunch was all about my wedding in two weeks. Disa told Mom and Danni that she would just wear the dress that she wore last night. She loved the gray, layered, chiffon dress. I knew nothing about what she was speaking. I continued to eat.

“Disa, you need a dress,” my mother argued with her. “A girl only gets married once in her life.”

I was a man and I knew that.

She gave in knowing she didn’t stand a chance with my mother. Then I turned my head. Disa turned hers too. She had heard it. Slowly my brothers heard the sound too. A pop. Then another. The sound got closer and closer to the house.

“Get on the floor,” Dad shouted. We were all under the table.

That is when I knew what that sound was. An automatic rifle was firing on the house. A sickly sound that was terrifying. Disa’s eyes met mine. “Asia and the other babies are in the living room on the floor.”

“Stay here.”

I crawled out from under the table to the entrance of the dining room. The long hall from the entrance to the kitchen ran the length of the house. Across the hall, was the living room where the three babies were on the backs lying helplessly. Crying now because of the loud sound of gunfire.

“AJ come with me,” Heath shouted.

Elijah had joined me on our knees at the entrance to the room. His son was lying by my daughter. We both looked over our shoulder then at the babies once again. Walker Wild’s child was in that room too. His daughter was his heart and soul. Not that he didn’t love our children too.

He leapt over us, dodging bullets that were bouncing in the hallway. He grabbed all three babies and headed to the kitchen with them. Elijah and I sat back on our asses. “They’re safe,” Elijah informed Jenny.

She was sobbing into her hands. Mom comforted her. Dad was on his phone talking to Hawk. “This is war, Hawk. Arrest that son-of-a-bitch or I will let AJ and Heath have him.”

I blinked at Elijah and he dropped his chin to his chest.

Then I heard the explosion of gunfire over our heads. The automatic weapon that was firing on the house stopped. Elijah and I looked at each other, then at Dad.

“Get your ass over here, Hawk. AJ or Heath has taken out the shooter.” Dad rose from the floor and laid his phone on the table. My eyes met his and I knew that he was troubled by this turn of events.

We got to our feet and Disa climbed out from beneath the table. “Get Asia for me, would you?”

She nodded and headed to the kitchen where Walker had my daughter safe and sound.

I followed Dad and my other brothers out to the lawn where the shooter laid dead not more than three feet from the front porch. It wasn’t the man from the church this morning, but he was dressed like him. He wasn’t a member of the Babylon First Church of God.

Heath flew through the door letting it slam shut in AJ’s face. “Thanks,” AJ shouted at him. Then he came out too.

He squatted beside the dead man and looked him over then he showed us a wrist tattoo hidden by his long sleeves. “Who has their phone on them?” He asked.

Matt handed Heath his. He snapped a photo of it. Couldn’t it be just a tattoo? Why did he think it was of importance? I didn’t ask questions. I just wanted to know what had happened to our sleepy little town of Sherwood, Ohio.

Hawk’s police cruiser roared down the driveway followed by a few deputy sheriffs in their police cruisers. Hawk wasn’t in uniform when he got out of his car that was leading the pack of cops. Heath rose and stepped back from the dead body on our front parent’s front lawn.

“Tainting evidence, Heath?” Hawk asked, strolling up the front porch like it was any other Sunday at the Hatfield house.

“Checking for a pulse,” he responded with a casualness that surprised me but then again it was Heath. We didn’t know what he had seen overseas because he didn’t talk about it. He refused to. “Thought I might have to do CPR but it’s too late.”

Hawk snorted. He didn’t believe Heath for a second. Lucky for us Heath didn’t remove anything from the dead man’s body. I stepped back to the porch steps and sat down on the first one, watching in disbelief as this scene unfolded.

I rested my crossed arms on my knees and watched as the deputies collected evidence, bullets mainly. Took a thousand pictures of the dead man. I heard them say no one would ever identify him. How many do you really need? Then the coroner took him away.