Life after the Lottery Ch. 80

"Hey, Rachel."

"James!" She screamed. "He is following us!"

I put her on the speaker.

"Who?"

"That guy! He is in his truck!"

"How the fuck did he get out of jail?!"

"We don't know!" Linda yelled.

"We just got on the interstate after leaving the stores, and he is behind us!"

"Are you sure?"

"Yes! I know it is him!" Rachel yelled.

"Where is your security?"

"We don't have any! He is supposed to be in jail!"

"Head to the house! I'll be waiting! Tell Linda to drive like hell!"

"I will!!" I heard Linda scream.

"Stay on the phone if you can!"

"Red Cat! Now!" I yelled at the girls.

"What?" Came from Samantha.

"All of you go! Downstairs, now!!" I yelled at them.

"Go! Now!!" Dawn shouted.

Samantha and Amy jumped up and ran to the elevator.

"What are you going to do?" Dawn asked.

"I will cover them when they get here. All of you need to be downstairs. Send the elevator back up when you get down there. Don't come back up until I call you. Go! Call the Sheriff!"

Dawn ran toward the elevator and the girls.

"Grab a gun once you are in the saferoom!" I yelled at Dawn.

"Don't worry! I will!"

"Stay down there!"

They all went down to the saferoom.

Rachel and Linda screamed for a few minutes as they sped down the interstate.

"Rachel, where are you!"

"We are flying down the interstate! He is still trying to follow us, but we are losing him! We are about three minutes from your exit!"

"Okay. When you get here, the gate will be open. Come to the house and run inside and go down to the saferoom! Don't stop!"

"I need to make sure he doesn't try to get into the house!" Rachel yelled.

"I'll take care of that! Kill all the lights once you are on the elevator, just like I showed you! He is probably guessing you are coming here! You should have a lead on him!"

"Okay!"

I grabbed my phone and went to the closet, got out my black windbreaker that said Law Enforcement in big yellow letters, and put it on. I pressed the button to open the hidden gun cabinet.

"Rachel, I will be outside waiting to cover you two! Don't stop when you get here! Run straight into the house and close the door, and hit the lockdown button in the elevator once you are there! Go down to the saferoom and stay! The girls are already there!"

"Okay!"

I listened to Rachel and Linda yelling at each other as I picked up my pistol and holster and clipped it onto my belt along with extra magazines. It was dark outside, and when Rachel hit the lockdown button, all the lights would go off, so I grabbed a pair of night-vision goggles.

"Where are you?"

"About to get off!"

"Okay. Drive fast and safe!"

"We are getting off at your exit now!" Linda yelled.

"Drive like hell, Linda!"

"I am!!"

I hit the button to open the gate and turn on all the lights on the property, and then headed out the front door, leaving it open behind me. I hurried over to some tall shrubs on the other side of the driveway across from the front door...and waited.

"Rachel, I am waiting for you. Pull up and get out and run into the house and close the door! Don't stop!"

"Okay!"

I stood and waited.

"We are almost there!"

A few seconds later, I heard the exhaust of Linda's car roaring down the road. Brakes squealed, and I saw her turn into the drive. She floored it and flew to the house. They pulled up, and the doors on her Diablo flew up before they stopped.

"Run into the house!!" I yelled. "Down to the saferoom!! Go!!"

Rachel had her gun in her hand and was looking back as Linda ran.

"In the house!! I have got you covered!!" I screamed, and they ran to the door.

They ran into the house, and the door slammed. A moment later, all the lights in the house and on the property went off.

"Good, girl."

A minute later, I heard a crash and looked back at the gate. He had guessed right. It appeared he had rammed the gate trying to make the turn. His engine roared, and I saw the truck flying down the drive with one headlight light now broken out. I pulled the night vision goggles down and put my phone in my pocket, and waited.

The truck made the turn to the front of the house in a slide, and he floored it and rammed Linda's Diablo hard. That knocked out the other headlight.

"I'll kill you bitch!!" He screamed as he got out of the truck.

I moved behind a tall bush and watched in the dark.

"Where the fuck are you!! I'll kill you, you fucking cunt!!"

I saw the pistol he had in his hand as he walked to the front door.

"You had my ass beat up!! I'll kill you for that, bitch!! Come out and face me!!"

Even without the lights, when he walked onto the front porch, the infrared lights from the security camera on the porch lit him up like daylight. From where I was, it was about thirty feet to the front door.

"I'll get you!!" He screamed. "Come out, you cunt!!"

Bang! Bang! Bang!

He was firing into the lock on the door, but the front door was 2-inch-thick oak, and it was a reinforced lock.

"Fucking bitch!! I'll rape you, then kill you!! I'll fuck your dead body!!"

Bang! Bang!

"Five," I counted.

He fired into the door more and kicked and beat on it.

"Eight."

"I'll get you and your little cunt dyke!!"

He stepped off the porch and fired into the large front window four times, and it exploded.

"Twelve."

"Law Enforcement Officer!!! Drop the weapon and get on the ground!!!" I screamed.

"Fuck you, asshole!!!"

Bang! Bang! Bang!

"Fifteen. You should be out."

He dropped the empty mag and jammed another one in.

"Fuck. I didn't need that."

I watched as the windows on Linda's Diablo exploded as he shot up her car.

"Eight more. Keep shooting until you run out."

"Drop the weapon, or I will fire!!!" I screamed.

"Fuck you!!!"

He went back onto the porch and kicked the door.

"Get on the ground!!!" I screamed. "I will shoot and kill you!!!"

"Fuck you!!!"

He turned and looked out in my direction and fired two times.

"Fuck," I mumbled. "Drop the weapon, or I will shoot you!!! Last warning!!!"

"I'll kill you too, mother fucker!!!"

He started firing into the dark in my direction. I heard several bullets cut through the bush next to me.

"Last warning!!! Law Enforcement!!! I will fire!!!"

"Fuck you, asshole!!!"

Bang! Bang!

He fired in my direction again.

"Enough, mother fucker!!" I yelled.

Bang!

The bullet I fired hit his gun hand and knocked the gun out.

"Ahhh, fuck!!! Mother fucker!!!" He screamed.

He bent down and searched for the gun with his other hand until he found it. He picked up the gun, and it fired once. I watched as he struggled to put another magazine in, then started shooting up the cars, then in my direction again as he ran to his truck.

"I am going to shoot you if you don't put the gun down!!!" I screamed.

"Fuck you!!!" I'll kill you too!!!"

He fired once more in my direction as he got to his truck. I watched as he reached into the truck and came out with a shotgun.

"Not good," I said to myself.

He walked back onto the porch.

BOOM!...BOOM!

He fired the shotgun into the door.

"Dick head."

Bang!

"Ahhhhh!! Fuck!!!" He screamed as he went down hard after I shot him in the knee.

"Mother fucker!!! I'll kill you too!!! Come out and face me!!! I'll kill all of you!!!" He screamed as he grabbed his leg.

He picked up the shotgun and fired it once toward me and then tried to stand. He pointed the shotgun toward me.

BOOM!...BOOM!

"Enough, asshole!!" I yelled.

Bang!Bang!

I slipped the pistol back into my holster and took a deep breath.

"Shit..."

I pulled off the night vision goggles and got out my phone, and called the saferoom.

"James!" Dawn screamed into the phone. "Are you okay! We heard gunshots!"

"I'm good. It's over. Let me talk to Rachel."

"She stayed upstairs!"

"What!! I told her to go with Linda!"

"She stayed just in case. Are you okay?"

"Yes. He is down. All of you stay in the house until I tell you it is okay to come out. Don't go through the front door or anywhere else. Did you call the Sheriff?"

"Yes! They are on the way!"

"Okay. Dawn, please stay in the house."

"Okay. We will."

I hung up and called Fred at home.

"Hello?"

"Hey, Fred, it's Dr. Smith..."

"Hey, James..."

"I have a code black, my residence..."

"What the fuck happened!"

"The guy I told you about a while back that was stalking Linda Williams chased her here and shot up the house trying to get to her."

"Is he down?"

"Yes."

"Are you okay?"

"Yes. The sheriff is inbound."

"Okay. I will send the investigators as fast as I can! I will be there ASAP!" Fred said. "Is everyone okay?"

"I sent them all down to the saferoom. He was shooting at the house and started shooting at me."

"Don't worry about it. I'll call the Sheriff and tell him we are taking over."

"Thanks, Fred."

I hung up. I could hear sirens off in the distance.

All the lights came back on inside and outside, and I walked to where the Escalade was parked and waited. The windows were shot out, and I saw several bullet holes. Linda's car was smashed up badly, and the windows were shot out. All the lights came back on.

A minute later, the lights and sirens were turning down my drive. Two cars flew down the drive and pulled up in front of the house, and several deputies jumped out, guns drawn.

"Dr. Smith!"

"It's all clear!" I yelled with my hands up.

"What happened!" One asked as he ran toward me.

"Perp is down on the porch."

Two of the deputies walked up cautiously to the porch. Another walked to me.

"Are you okay?" He asked.

"Yes."

"Who is he?"

"That guy I had you all watching for a few months back. He chased Ms. Williams here, and they ran into the house. He started shooting up the house, and when I announced and told him to drop the weapon, he started firing in my direction."

"What about your family?"

"Everyone went to the saferoom downstairs."

"Good."

"I called the Attorney General. They are on the way," I said.

He radioed back to the office as I stood.

"He's gone," one of the deputies said as he walked from the porch.

More sirens, and I looked and saw an ambulance pull into the drive and stop.

"It's clear," the deputy said into his radio, and the ambulance pulled down the drive with another marked car behind them.

"Are you sure you are okay?" The other deputy asked.

"Yes. He shot up the house, and I announced, and he started firing at me."

"The cars are all shot up," he said.

"Front window, too," I said.

Another cop car pulled into the drive. When it stopped, the Sheriff got out and came to me.

"James, are you okay?" He asked.

"Yes."

"Perps down, Sheriff," the deputy told him.

"Where is the family?"

"In the house. They all went down to the saferoom," I told him.

"I need to check on them," the Sheriff said.

"Go in through the garage," I told him. "Yell "Cancel Red Cat" and that you are coming in. What for Dawn to acknowledge you."

"I will...I'm sure Dawn is armed."

"She will be...probably with a machine gun..."

The Sheriff walked off with a deputy into the garage. Two paramedics walked toward me from the porch after a few minutes. I was trying to settle myself.

"Nothing we can do for him," one said.

I heard more sirens, and two unmarked cars pulled into the drive. They came down and stopped, and four guys jumped out. It was the AG's team.

"Lieutenant Smith! Are you okay?" One asked as he ran to me.

"Yes. I'm good, Eddie."

I repeated the story to the investigators as a third one went to the porch.

"The AG will be here soon. I need your weapon, sir."

I handed him my weapon.

"James!!" I hear Dawn scream.

I looked up, and she was running to me from the garage.

"Are you okay!" She yelled as she wrapped her arms around me and held me.

"Yes. I am fine."

"What the fuck! What is this!!" Dawn screamed as she pulled her arms back. "You are bleeding! Were you shot?!"

"I don't think so."

Dawn ran her hand down the side of my coat.

"Yes, you are!! You are bleeding!!"

The two medics ran to me as Dawn looked at the coat.

"Sit!!" Dawn screamed and walked me over, and made me sit on the bumper of the ambulance.

Dawn lifted my arm as one of the medics looked.

"Can you get the coat off?" The medic asked.

I unzipped it and eased off the black coat.

"Fuck!!" Dawn screamed.

I looked, and the left side of the white T-shirt I had on was soaked in blood from the middle of my ribs down to my waist.

"You're shot!!"

"I'm fine."

"No, you're not!!" Dawn screamed.

"Calm down," I told her.

The medic began cutting away the shirt as another unmarked car pulled up.

"Let me look!" Dawn yelled and pushed the medic out of the way.

"Ma'am, let us work," he said.

"I know what I am doing! Trauma nurse..."

"James? Are you hit?" Fred asked as he ran up.

"I'm not sure."

"Get me some saline!" Dawn yelled.

She grabbed a bottle of saline from the medic and poured it down my side.

"Fuck! I need a pressure bandage! You have three big holes!"

The medic was handing her gauze as she wiped away the blood.

"How bad does it hurt!" Dawn asked me.

"You know I don't feel it."

"You should!"

"You are hit pretty bad," Fred said as he looked. "Where is the perp?"

"On the porch," I told him.

"He's done for," the medic said.

"I imagine he is," Fred replied.

"Fred, I need to keep the media out of here. I am sure it is all over the radio by now," I said. "Ms. Williams and her bodyguard are in the house. If the press gets in here and sees her car..."

"Be quiet!" Dawn exclaimed as she worked.

"I'll take care of it..." Fred replied.

Fred walked over to one of his agents and told him to drive back down the drive and block the gate, and then he came back to us.

"Thanks, Fred."

"No problem. Where is the Sheriff?"

"In the house, probably."

"I'll go talk to him."

Dawn was still cleaning up the blood.

"You need to go to the hospital," Dawn said.

"In a bit."

"Now!! Damn it!!"

"Am I going to bleed out?" I asked.

"No, but you were hit in the ribs. Can you breathe, okay?"

"Yes."

Dawn yanked the stethoscope off the medic's neck and put it on my chest.

"Breathe," Dawn said.

I took a couple of deep breaths as Dawn listened to my chest.

"Lungs are clear. I don't think the bullet went in," Dawn said.

"We will bandage it up," the medic said.

"How did you get shot?" Dawn asked.

"He shot up the house, the cars, and when I announced, he started firing in my direction with a shotgun. He may have hit me with it or the pistol."

"Are you okay?" Dawn asked calmly.

I knew she didn't mean physically.

"Yes."

"You must go to the hospital, honey."

Fred walked back up.

"Everyone is okay in the house. They want to see you," Fred said.

"We need to go over what happened," I said.

"We will. You go on to the hospital. We will be there later. I'll have one of my guys follow so none of the media get to you."

"Thanks. Tell my girls I'm okay. Can you keep your people here until things are settled down? I think the front gate is trashed and probably can't be closed."

"We'll keep someone here until you get back. You and Dawn go," Fred said.

"I'm sure Ms. Williams' security is en route. Let them take care of her and get her out of here," I said.

"Don't worry about it. I have it covered, James. Go. Now. That's an order."

I got in the back of the ambulance, and they made me lie down. Dawn got in with them, and we started moving off.

"Are you okay?" Dawn asked again.

"Yes. There was nothing else I could do."

"Are you in pain?" The medic asked.

"I'm good."

I hated it when they turned the siren on and took off down the road.

"My phone is in my back pocket. Call the girls," I said.

Dawn carefully dug my phone out and called.

"He is okay!" She said into the phone.

"Just grazed. You all stay in the house...I promise...yes...I promise..."

"Yes...on the front porch. Don't go out there."

"I'll call you when I know something."

Dawn listened for a minute.

"Yes. Just tell them what happened. Bye."

"They are worried," Dawn told me. "They are asking all of them what happened."

"They don't have much to tell them...ohh...I need to get the recording from the front porch."

"It's not going anywhere!" Dawn exclaimed.

"He shot up Linda's car and the Escalade. She is going to be pissed."

"What happened?" Dawn asked.

"I'll tell you at the hospital," I said as I looked over at the medic.

"Oh...okay..."

I was looking up at Dawn as we rode. I saw tears come to her eyes.

"Hey, I am okay...it's over."

"I hate it that..."

"I know. Call the girls later and tell them I'll be fine."

"Let's wait until the doctors check you out."

Dawn watched as they took my blood pressure and listened to my chest again. Then she listened to my chest. They then started an IV in me.

"I should have flown you to the hospital."

The medic looked at her funny.

"Right..." I said.

They asked me again if I needed anything for pain. I said no.

*****

Once they backed into the ER doorway, they wheeled me in on the stretcher to the emergency room.

"Dawn! What are you and James doing here!" One of the doctors exclaimed. "We heard there was a gunshot victim inbound?"

"James was shot!"

"What!"

They rushed me to a room and started pulling off my clothes and hooking me up. The doctor looked under the bandage and then listened to my lungs.

"I need chest X-rays, stat! What happened?" He asked Dawn as they walked away.

They came in with the X-ray machine and took some while I lay there with things beeping. Dawn and the doctor came back.

"I'll have to look at the X-rays closer, but it looks like one bullet hit between two of your ribs," the doctor said.

"How many times was I hit?" I asked.

"Looks like three. I'll be right back."

"We will give you something for pain," the nurse said.

"I don't need it. Just sew it up so I can go home."

"Not going to happen that way," Dawn said. "Give him something for pain."

"I don't need it..."

"You will...trust me," Dawn said. "Give it to him, please."

Dawn stood and watched as they did their jobs. A few minutes later, the doctor came back and pulled the X-rays up on a big monitor. Dawn walked over, and they looked for a few minutes.

"Well, James...you are lucky. One bullet went between two ribs and lodged there, not inside of you. The other ones grazed you deeply. Both ribs are fractured, and there are some bone fragments and pieces of a bullet. I'll have to take them out and sew up some tissue. You are going to hurt like hell, but you should be okay," the doctor told me.

"Just do it," I said.

"In the morning," the doctor replied. "We'll have to put you under, and I need the swelling to go down and keep tabs on your lung tonight."

"...great..." I moaned.

Fred's agent was standing in the doorway, watching and listening.

"Sir, I need you to go to the waiting room," a nurse said to the agent.

"He has to stay," I said.

"Who is that?" The nurse asked.

"Officer. I am one too."

Dawn walked off with the doctor again.

*****

I had been lying there about an hour when Fred came in.

"How is he doing?" He asked Dawn.

"I'm fine."

"They will need to remove some bone fragments and a bullet in the morning. He has two fractured ribs, but the bullet didn't penetrate his lung," Dawn said.

"What is going on at the house?" I asked Fred.

"They will clean up after taking pictures. They will be there till morning."

"Media?"

"They showed up...we are keeping them out. I don't think they know Ms. Williams is there."

"Can you keep it that way?"

"I'll try, James. Why did she come to your house?"