Save Me (The Archer Brothers 3)

“You guys need to go. I don’t want you here when the authorities arrive. Take Claire with you.”

Nate nods, while I stay frozen next to Penny. I don’t know how this is all going to play out, but leaving her isn’t an option.

“What’s the plan, Cara?”

The sound of sirens grows closer and Cara appears panicked. I’m sure this isn’t how she expected everything to go down. Honestly, it isn’t how I expected things to be either. I thought for sure that Ray was part of Frannie’s posse by the way the basement window was busted from the inside.

Cara pulls out her gun and aims it at an already dead Frannie.

“Hughes, don’t. Your bullets won’t match.”

She looks at me and for the first time I see fear. She’s the only one to offer me help, aside from Marley. I can’t let her lose her career over this.

Rask stands and grabs his gear as if it’s no big deal that his hands are covered in blood. “You found them like this, a stray bullet from a hunter,” he says, before walking through the kitchen.

“McCoy, you go, and I’ll go get Claire. You’ll be too emotional when you see her upstairs. I’ll meet you back at the hotel,” Nate tells me.

I nod reluctantly and take my exit through the same door I came in. I glance back at Penny, hoping for a sign that she knows I’m leaving, and I get nothing. My only solace right now is the knowledge that I’ll soon be seeing my daughter for the first time in six years. It doesn’t even matter that she won’t remember me or know anything about me. Just seeing her in person, listening to her talk will be enough to get me through the night.

“WHO’S TUCKER?”

“My husband.”

The words from earlier replay over and over with each step I take in the white sterile hallway. The look on his face and the fear in his voice is something I’ll never forget. Calling Tucker my husband was a mistake and one I regret. As soon as the word slipped off my tongue I wanted to take it back, but I couldn’t. He heard me and by the expression on his face, I hurt him. It wasn’t my intent, and by all means I shouldn’t have thought about Tucker in that moment, but I did.

It’s odd to think that referring to Tucker as my husband came so easily considering I’ve been married to Ray for so much longer. I’ve even known Ray longer. I love him, but I’ve never lost the love I felt for Tucker.

People cry, they moan in pain from the rooms I pass. Nurses shuffle from room to room helping their patients all while I wait for news on my husband. Only a few make eye contact with me and rarely does a smile form on their face. Their jobs in the ER are not happy ones, but ones that require quick thinking in life or death situations. They don’t have time for idle chitchat and pleasantries, especially for wives who refuse to go to the waiting room. I want the doctors to sense me out in the hall so they work harder on saving my husband’s life.

The emergency room doors open and in rushes another gurney with life saving measures being taken. An EMT straddles the patient while doing chest compressions. He’s barking out orders, telling others what needs to be done to save this person’s life. It’s too hard to tell whether it’s a male or female, but nonetheless it’s a life worth saving.

That’s what they were doing on the way here while the ambulance sped down the windy road as fast as it could. The drawback to living in a small town is that the nearest hospital is forty minutes away and since the gun was fired and the bullet hit Ray, it seems like hours have passed, maybe even days. I know it’s not possible because he’d be dead, but that’s what it feels like.

As for Frannie … I hang my head and push away the onslaught of tears that want to escape. I know once I start crying I won’t be able to stop and I shouldn’t shed a tear for her. She ruined everything. It’s hard to wrap my head around the chain of events leading up to today. My life was peaceful, happy, and six or seven months ago my axis rocked slightly when my husband brought up a news report about a Navy SEAL, only the chances that he heard them incorrectly are high, since the four warriors I once loved as my family had returned. If Ray had just said four and not one things could’ve been different.

No, that’s a lie.

If Ray had said four SEALs I would’ve started searching for Tucker; he would’ve been easy to find. The only problem with that is I don’t know what I would’ve done had I found him. Would I go back to him? Divorce him? Or wait for him to come find me like he did now? I wish I knew the answer because then maybe I’d feel something

for him, when right now all I feel is hatred. I can’t help but feel like he brought Frannie here.

She found me without him, though, and she found my daughter, my house, and shot my husband. But who shot her? There was so much yelling and I was focused on Tucker because I knew he wasn’t going to let anything happen to me, but who was going to protect Ray? Before I knew what was happening, I was being tackled to the ground with my back slamming against the chair. Tucker lay over me, and for a brief moment I thought he had been shot until he started talking. His voice soothed away the fear even though he wasn’t speaking to me. I couldn’t help but feel safe in his arms. I was relieved, yet that relief was short lived when I heard Ray call for me. I knew he was hurt by the way he spoke, and even with him being a few feet away, I couldn’t get there fast enough.

I push off the wall and start pacing the hall again. There are so many noises making my head ache; the beeping from the machines, the constant sound of the intercom going off, and the rush of feet coupled with urgent voices. Everywhere I look there’s a subdued panic on the faces of the medical staff. They try not to show fear, but I see it. I know what it looks like. I’ve lived it. I’ve spent years glancing over my shoulder wondering if Lawson or Frannie were there, lurking. Its only when I stopped being so cautious that my world started changing.

I stand at the opening of the hallway and the ER when another gurney comes in. There is no rushing this time, no one working on the woman lying under the white sheet. Her dark hair hangs off the back, swaying lightly with the movement from being rolled down the hall. Is that Frannie? I can’t help but think it is as I feel a weight being lifted off my shoulders. With Lawson in jail and Frannie dead, my life should go back to normal. I shouldn’t have to worry about anyone coming after my daughter and me, or someone trying to harm my husband. Life can be what it’s meant to be: enjoyable.

What I don’t understand is why Frannie wanted to harm all of us. From our last moments today, I know she was sick and mentally unstable. It’s clear that Lawson being put in jail was a trigger for her. I suppose I have a lot of questions to ask, but I’m not sure I even want to know the answers. I don’t want to find out that this was something, which could’ve been prevented if I had just kept my mouth shut.

“Mrs. Barnes?”

I’m caught off guard by my name being called. The doctor stands in front of me with fresh scrubs on. One would think he hasn’t done anything important today, but the expression on his face tells me otherwise. He’s tired, ragged.

I nod, unable to find my voice. My arms instinctively go around my mid-section, the same thing they did when I was informed that Tucker had died. I’m bracing myself.

“Your husband experienced a lot of damage from the bullet and the blood loss is extensive.”

I know what he’s going to say next and I don’t want to hear him. No one should lose their husband like this, and I’m going to do it twice in my young life. All I remember when I came in with Ray is the EMT saying GSW to the abdomen. Everything else is a jumble of words about his blood pressure, oxygen, and heart rate. They were rushing to do what they could, to get him into surgery before it was too late.