The Enforcer Ch. 16

Snake had his Ruger pointed at my head and was trying to lock onto it. I quickly cartwheeled out of the way as he fired and the shot whizzed over my head. I swiftly recovered, aimed at his weapon, and fired both eagles. Unfortunately, he had already begun to move his weapon and the shots missed it. One hit him in the side of his forearm, while the other missed him altogether. He quickly corrected his aim. I noticed that he was also wearing a bullet-proof vest so I decided to just try and knock him over; I had twice the firepower he had. I aimed mid-chest and fired. Luckily the blow threw off his aim as his gun fired again. I knew from experience that a good vest would have absorbed enough of the impact that he would be getting up pretty soon.

I quickly ran towards him. He was recovering quickly, and I knew I would not close the distance before he was back on his feet; I motioned to my guys to fire their riot guns at him. Their aim was true and a lucky shot knocked the gun from his hands. I was able to close before he could get his gun and kicked it away from him. It landed in the mud a few feet away. Snake turned and saw that I was the one who kicked his weapon away. I shouted angrily: “Why the fuck are you here?!”

He spat back: “I am here to kill you, asshole! You took my gang, my bitch, and my way of life from me.” As he said the last words he pulled a gun from his right boot: “Now you will die.”

I jumped back to avoid being shot, but something went wrong with Snake’s gun and it exploded in his hands. I felt something hit the front of my vest as I flew backward; I was lucky and the shrapnel from the explosion didn’t hit me anywhere else, however Snake was not as fortunate. I sat up slowly, noticing that a piece of Snake’s gun was lodged firmly into the front of my vest. Blood was spurting from Snake’s neck; I quickly got up to check on him. When I reached his feet I saw that most of his neck and face were gone. He was beyond saving; if he wasn’t dead yet, he wasn’t far from it. Three more spurts gushed from his neck, then nothing. He was dead. I walked away.

The boys came over and I said solemnly: “He’s dead. His gun blew up. There isn’t much of his head left.” My boys walked up to me, dropped their weapons and shields, and patted me on the back. I was happy it was over. I just wished that Snake could have learned. Alas he could not and ironically his own weapon killed him. We headed towards the infirmary, to check on my friends. The boys in the house called for a few ambulances while I got on the horn and arranged for a few paddy wagons and a coroner to be covertly sent to pick up the invaders and Snake’s body.

As the ambulances were arriving I heard the roar of the gang returning. Seems they had been successful also. As they pulled in following the ambulances I stood in front of the house waiting for them, they saw me and quickly headed over. I loudly said to the medics: “The injured are in the back.” I turned to my gang and said in a loud voice: “While you were out a large insurgency force took over the camp. We were able to neutralize the threat and I don’t think we lost anybody, but there are a few badly injured.”

They all cheered the victory. One of them headed towards me and said: “We were also successful; we did not suffer any losses, and no major injuries.” He turned to the crowd and added: “And the sheriff in the next county has about three hundred visitors locked up in his jails.” The gang cheered him.

I laughed hard, then paused and added sadly: “I am sorry to say that there was a fatality in the opposing force.” They grew silent. I added: “Their leader was Snake. He tried to kill me, but his gun exploded and the shrapnel killed him.” They all bowed in silence, and then we broke the meeting and started to clean up. Since we were now back up to full strength the ninety-four surviving men were quickly gathered and, by the time the paddy wagons arrived, all our visitors had been stripped of their weapons and armour. I arranged for them to be jailed in the same county as the rest of the posse who had attacked us.

It took us less than an hour to completely clean up the mess. When all was said and done I retired to the house where Max and Adolph were being cleaned up by Maya, Candy, Sarah and Kimberly. I checked on Max and asked: “Are you ok my friend?”

Max smiled as he replied: “I am quite happy; these two lovely creatures have been very nice to me. I can hardly feel any pain anymore. My wounds will heal in a couple days.”

Maya added: “He has many bruises and a few cuts, but he’ll be fine.”

I headed to where Adolph was and asked him: “How are you?”

He replied firmly: “I am fucking pissed! Goddamned assholes hurt my boss!” He was fuming. I looked at Sarah.

She said: “Oh he’ll be fine, he doesn’t seem to even notice what happened to him.”

Adolph replied: “Fuck yeah I notice! I was tied up, and I could not protect my friend Max. I am so angry with myself; I should have been able to protect him better.” The blood on his body was being removed as we spoke and he didn’t even flinch as Kimberly removed a metal spike that was stuck in his back.

I knelt down close to his ear and said: “I feel better knowing that Max has you by his side. You are a loyal friend and I appreciate all that you have done for him. He will be fine thanks to you. They beat you ten times worse than him. Seeing your strength they probably tortured him by threatening to hurt you. Be happy, you might have saved his life with your bravery and strength.”

Adolph smiled as he said: “You are being honest, not just trying to make me feel better?”

I smiled and said: “I am always honest. Now let the girls finish cleaning you up, then you can help your boss to his room.” Adolph smiled and waited for the girls to finish patching him up. When they were done Adolph went over to Max.

Sarah and Kimberly’s eyes filled with tears as Sarah said: “I think we need a hug.” I hugged them close. They stuck to my sides as we headed back to where Maya and Candy were.

Candy got up and gave me a hug also and Maya soon followed. The girls were a little down, but their spirits seemed to rise as they hugged me. I softly asked: “Where are Mandy, Amber and Lynn?”

Maya replied softly: “Mandy is in charge of the clinic; Amber and Lynn are doing the triage.”

I lovingly said: “Let’s go and help them, then maybe later we can climb into a bed together and try to get a little sleep.” They all agreed and we headed out to the infirmary. On the way to the clinic we crossed paths with Sarah and Kimberly’s dad, who looked very upset; actually he was fuming. He saw Sarah and Kimberly and made a beeline towards them, when they saw how upset he was they hid behind me.

He hollered: “I can see you two! You think any man can hide you from me?” He was a mere three feet in front of me, too angry to look into my face and so had not yet recognised me. Seeing that I was not moving he spat loudly as his head lifted: “Get out of my fucking way. My daughters are none of your fucking business, asshole!” At that point he realised who he had just insulted, and his complexion paled as he froze.

I casually said: “I remember kicking your and three of your rather large friends’ asses. If my memory serves right you all ended up in the hospital last time.”

He was scared shitless and was barely able to stutter: “V-V-Vinny?”

I replied mockingly: “That’s my name. And I know for certain that you have sworn a vow of loyalty to me. Now I am willing to forget what you have just done. I mean it’s not easy to find out that your daughters have gone against your wishes and are still lovers, but I do expect you to show me respect.”

His voice was filled with fear as he replied unsteadily: “I am sorry Vinny. My actions were rash; I should not have assaulted you verbally. I promise not to do it again.”

I looked at him with scorn and said roughly: “Apologise to your daughters,” I raised my tone as I said: “now!”

He looked at me incredulously, and upon realising I was serious turned to his daughters and said: “I am sorry for yelling at you.” He then looked at me and said confrontationally: “Happy?”

My eyes filled with anger as I bellowed: “No! Your daughters are now under my protection, and by that fact alone should be treated like Maya and Candy. I expect nothing less from you. I love them and I have promised to protect them.” His face filled with fear and surprise. I added in a casual tone: “I am willing to talk to you and their mother, and discuss their future, but realise that I have sworn to protect them from harm, especially at your hands so please treat them with love and respect until then or our meeting may not be as pleasant as I would like it to be.” He nodded his agrement. Sarah and Kimberly were dumbfounded. I then added: “We have to go, there are injured men in the infirmary, and I would like to help them. We shall speak again tomorrow.”

He replied submissively: “Yes Vinny. I shall await your visit tomorrow.” With that he left us.

Sarah softly said: “That was unexpected. I guess we will have to wait till tomorrow to see what will happen but I am optimistic.”

Kimberly added: “I have no doubt that everything will be ok.” With that said we resumed our journey. When we arrived Mandy was busy coordinating the volunteers. Amber and Lynn were finishing up the triage. When they saw us they motioned for us to come to them.

As we got closer Amber asked: “Any of you have medical training? We have a few people with first aid training, but we could use a little more help, and we only have one person who has medic training. There aren’t any life threatening wounds but we still have a dozen men who need stitches and won’t go to the hospital.”

Candy said: “Maya and I can act as nurses, we have first aid training.”

Sarah added: “Kimberly and I can also help; we have a little nursing experience.”

I smiled as I said: “I’ll go and stitch up the men; before dad joined the military he received his medical licence and he taught me how to do a few things. Heck, I remember sewing him up a few times with a needle and regular thread!”

Lynn said: “Damn, is there anything that father of yours didn’t teach you?”

“The only thing that comes to mind is fucking, and I think I know my way around a woman, don’t you?” They all laughed as I headed towards the men in need of stitching.

One of them saw me and asked: “Vinny, are you here to check up on your troops? Or maybe you are here to help raise moral.”

I looked at his bloody arm and said: “No, I am playing doctor today; looks like you will be my first victim.” His face filled with surprise as I asked the other guy patching people up: “Ivan, do you have some extra supplies? I’d like to help stitch up the boys.”

Ivan pointed to a medical pouch and said: “There’s a medic’s kit there, you can use it, nice to get a little help.”

I replied: “No problem.” I turned to the stunned gang member and asked: “Local?”

He looked at me and replied: “What?”

I was putting on a pair of gloves, and already had the kit opened as I replied: “Do you want me anaesthetize your arm before I stitch you up?”

He looked worried as he said: “I don’t want to look weak, but I’d really prefer to be numbed first.”

I replied: “No worries, but it will take a few seconds for the anaesthetic to work, so while we wait for it, I will check on the next patient.” I jabbed his arm with the needle and emptied the syringe. “I’ll be back in five, just relax.” He sat there dumbfounded as I moved to the next guy. I looked at him and said, while holding a new syringe: “Same question.”

He replied: “I’ll take the anaesthetic too.” I injected him also and moved to the next one.

He answered without being asked: “Same as them.” I continued to yet another one, who also opted for anaesthetic; I figured four was about the max I could get done before the anaesthetic would start to fade.

I went back to the first, cleaned his wound and the skin close to it with saline, and then started to sew him up. He winced and said: “I am not completely numb yet!”

I stopped sewing and asked: “Do you want me to wait, or can you stand the minor discomfort?”

He replied: “Go for it, it’s not that bad, it’s fading quickly too.” I sewed his arm up within a few minutes, just a dozen stitches, nothing much.

I then turned towards the girls and said: “Can I get a nurse to bandage his arm up?”

Lynn sent Maya. While she was walking towards me the guy I had just patched up said: “Thanks boss, that’s really good looking work.” I shook his good hand and headed to the next guy. He was completely numb and so I stitched him up quickly too because he needed only a few stitches; when I was done he thanked me.

I motioned to Lynn for another nurse, Candy was sent. I walked up to the next guy and quickly cleaned him up; he had a good gash in his lower leg. I started to stitch him up and realised that he would need a few absorbable stitches too, and so I looked in the bag and found some. I stitched up his muscle, it had a minor lesion. I then closed the wound. It took me a good fifteen minutes, and just shy of fifty stitches, but I did it and he thanked me. Maya was done with the first one and started to bandage his wound.

I moved to the last guy who I had anaesthetized. He looked at in awe and said: “Damn you’re pretty good at this!”

I replied: “My dad would have it no other way.”

The other medic looked over and, noticing that the guy who had a gash in his leg was patched, said: “I am surprised that skin stitches were enough to close his leg.”

I replied: “No, he needed a few muscles stitches too.”

He looked at me and said: “But he’s closed, how is he going to get them?”

I replied in a defiant tone: “What do you mean? I stitched up his muscles with absorbable silk, and then closed.”

He looked at me surprised and said: “But that’s not normally something a medic learns to do. Heck I don’t know how myself and I have been at this for five years.”

I replied: “I am not a medic. My father was a doctor and he taught me how to stitch up just about any wound.”

He replied: “He sounds like a good teacher; maybe he’ll teach me a few things.”

I replied: “You can ask him yourself, I sent the majors to rescue him, he should be here in a few days at the latest.”

He smiled: “I will definitely talk to him.” We both went back to work and finished about an hour later. I was getting very tired and decided that I should get a little shut-eye. I removed my bloody gloves and checked on the girls.

Amber and Lynn came over to see me. Lynn said: “Thanks Vinny, you’re pretty good with a needle; you really came through for us.” I just smiled.

Amber added: “I know I personally hold you in very high respect, and have for a while, but what you did today will greatly increase the gang’s opinion of their leader. Mind you, I am certain you didn’t really need it to go up. But fuck, you saved the women, and freed the captured men, then after playing in the front lines you patched up the casualties. I am really having a hard time believing you are real.”

I smiled, and in a casual tone said: “My father taught me most of what I know, and if you think I am good, you will have to meet my old man. He’s got a good sixty years experience over me. He is an amazing man. You will like him, I am certain.”

Lynn asked in a sensitive tone: “Have you gotten any news about the rescue mission yet?” I shook my head.

Amber then added in a comforting tone: “I am certain everything is going to be OK.”

I hugged them to me and said: “I know it will be, but I haven’t seen him in years. My mother is scheduled to arrive tomorrow also. I would love for dad and her to be together again, I know she has missed him greatly.”

I felt a pair of soft hands running down each of my arms, I looked and saw Maya and Candy. Maya said: “We are finished, everyone’s patched up. The sisters are getting cleaned up, but they should be here soon.”

Candy then added: “I think we all had a rough evening.” She looked at me and added: “Mind you, I am certain your night was even worse Vinny.”

I hugged her close and said: “I had a pretty good night. Nobody’s dead, that I really care about, that is. I would have preferred that Snake not be killed, but there was nothing I could do to prevent it.”

Kimberly and Sarah arrived; Kimberly looked at the bullet hole in my jacket and said: “Vinny, did anybody patch up your arm yet?”

I replied in a casual tone: “No, I had forgotten about that scratch.”

Sarah added in a concerned tone: “There is no blood gushing, but we really should have a look at your wound.” All the girls showed concern for me.

I acquiesced and said: “I don’t really think it’s needed, but to make you happy, you can all give it a once over, then one of you can put a bandage on it.” They all smiled. I removed my jacket and they all gasped when they saw that a chunk of my arm, about twice the size of the bullet, was missing, however, the wound had been cauterized by the bullet, so there was almost no blood.

Maya blurted: “Vinny, there’s a chunk of missing flesh!”

Candy added: “Doesn’t it hurt?”

I coyly replied: “No. I felt it when it happened, but that’s about it. I’ve had worse.”

Amber said in a concerned tone: “Maybe we should take you to the hospital?”

Lynn added: “Yeah I agree, you’ve been shot.”

I softly said: “If I had gone to the hospital every time I’d been shot I would have spent more than half my life in there. I don’t need a doctor to tell me it will heal.”

Kimberly added: “It’s not that bad.”

Sarah added: “He’ll be fine.”

Just then Mandy joined us, and upon seeing my arm said: “Nice one Vinny.” She looked at the girls and asked: “Can I put a dressing on his wound? I still owe him for the care he gave me all those years ago.”

All the girls agreed. Mandy started to dress my wound. Maya asked in a friendly tone: “Talking about the care Vinny gave you, do you think we could get a few more details on what happened between you two?”

Mandy continued to dress my wound as she asked me: “Vinny, do you want to tell them about it, or should I?”

I replied casually: “I can do it if you want me to.” She nodded. I looked at the girls and said: “Let me tell a story of sorrow, pain, healing, love and friendship.” They all ohed and ahed, I then continued: “Ok, enough of that. You heard how Mandy came to be in my care. I took care of her body, cleaning her, and keeping her comfortable. Just being a good nurse really. But that was the easy part. For you see, I also had to help her get over the tragic loss of her parents and give her a will to live. I spent every day talking with her, reading her stories, and when she was asleep, writing stories to read to her. I didn’t have many books with me.”

“Slowly as her body healed, she came to trust me, and we grew closer together. I was learning how to meditate properly at the time, my father was teaching a variation of Zen. Mandy and I talked many hours about how she felt and how I felt; it helped me understand my emotions, and hers, better. But we both avoided talking much about love. My father noticed this and one day pointed out to me that my patient was falling in love with me, and he knew I was starting to fall for her too. We kept talking, still avoiding discussing our mutual attraction. I kept on taking care of her with all my heart, rapidly realising the truth in his words. He told me that he would support me either way because he believed in true love, and that when you were in love, age really did not matter. But I decided that I could not permit myself to become romantically involved with her. I felt strongly for Mandy, but I felt that it would be wrong to let it progress too far; she was emotionally weak, and I did not want to take advantage of her.”