This Doesn't Happen in the Movies (21 page)

I opened my eyes and saw the woman sagging onto the floor.  Her gun slipped from her hand and she clutched at her left shoulder, where a red spot grew out of her white shirt.  Maggie bent over her, trying to see where the bullet had gone.  Amanda whimpered as she cowered behind the chair that hadn’t broken.  I scrambled over and retrieved the gun, giving Georgia a wide berth.  I didn’t need to; she lay unmoving where she’d fallen and struck her head.  As I stood up, my ass hurt, even though I’d fallen on my face.  I began to tremble as I leveled the gun with my cuffed hands at the X Women.

“Freeze!” I shouted, hoping my command would be more effective this time.

To my surprise, the movie paused.  Everyone stopped and stared at me.  The pile of X Women and Peter quit bucking, and even Amanda grew quiet.  The gun wavered in my hands.  Sweat trickled into my eyes and I heaved for breath.  I wasn’t sure what to do next.

“Everybody freeze!”  Everyone looked around in confusion.  I hadn’t said a word.  Then who…?

Agents Forbes and White came running around the corner, guns held high.  A small army of agents followed them, spreading out among us.  Some descended on the X Women, yanking the two off of Peter, while others subdued Maggie and the wounded X Woman, both of whom put up little protest.

“Are you all right?” Forbes asked me.  I stared at him.  “Reed, are you okay?” he asked again.  He eased my gun down and grasped me by the shoulders, studying me cautiously.

I took a second to realize who was talking to me.  “Yeah.  I’m okay.”

“Good,” Forbes said, letting me go.  “We thought we were too late.”  He turned to the action going on behind his back.

“Hey.  Where the hell were you five minutes ago?” I barked at him.  “Do you always wait until the work is done to show up?”

He turned around and gave me a stern look, but his eyes sparkled.  “We got here as soon as we could.  If you hadn’t been so intent on losing us, it would’ve been sooner.  As it was, we had to do some quick work.  We thought you all were taken to Maggie’s house, but when we didn’t find anyone there, we came right here.  We were talking with the front desk lady when we heard the shots and came running.”

Amanda peeked from around the chair.  “It’s about time someone came to my rescue.”  She stood up unsteadily.

“You might not think that after we book you,” Forbes said.

“What?”  The innocent look on her face didn’t fool anyone.

“At least you’re alive,” Agent White said.  “Isn’t that what you wanted?  You’ll face the music now.”  Amanda grimaced, but she couldn’t argue with her own words.

My body was screaming at me, sore in too many places to count.  “I feel lightheaded.”  I blinked hard at Forbes.

“Hey, buddy, you’re bleeding.”  White, who had been helping with the other X Women, pointed at me.

I began examining myself, but didn’t see anything.

“No, back there.”

I craned my neck around, exploring my backside with my hands.  “Oh, man!  She shot me in the ass?”  I couldn’t believe it, but it was true.  My rear end suddenly hurt like nobody’s business.

Agent Forbes tried to hide a smile.  And then I fainted.

CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

Everything was white.  Puffy white clouds surrounded me.  I had wings.  And a harp.  What?  Was this what it was like when you died?  But I’d only been shot in the ass.  That wasn’t life-threatening, was it?  I saw a tunnel and white light coming at me.  I opened my eyes.

Agent White had his prodigious face inches from me.  “So, you’re awake.”  He leaned down at me, and I smelled his onion breath.

I was lying on my side, facing away from the door.  My whole body ached, but especially a certain area underneath bandages and tape that I couldn’t see.  I swallowed and my throat felt like sandpaper.  I glanced around.  Everything was white.  White light shining through white curtains, white sheets on the bed.  And Agent White sitting there.  How appropriate.

“Yeah,” I croaked at White.  I was definitely awake.

“Good.  Maybe you can tell us why you ignored a specific order to stay away from Amanda Ghering.”  He took a seat on a wooden chair with a plastic seat cushion.  The chair squeaked under his bulk, the cushion hissing loudly.

I left his question unanswered, more concerned about my well-being.  I felt like shit, and I wasn’t sure how I got here, wherever here was.  I knew who I was, who the President was, and I thought I knew what day it was.  Did they ask anything else when they wanted to find out if you were oriented?  I began to check out my injuries.  An IV-tube ran from my left arm to a bag of clear liquid hanging from a metal pole.  I reached over with my other arm to a rolling table for a water pitcher the color of puke.  I managed to pour myself a glass, groaning from the exertion.  Agent White crossed his arms over his massive chest, apparently too disgusted with me to lend a helping hand.  My elbows were scraped and bruised, and as I moved my legs, I knew that my knees must be in the same condition.  I took a long gulp of tepid water, the sandy feeling in my throat subsiding.

“So?”

“What time is it?”

He didn’t bother looking at his watch.  “After five.  Why did you keep working on the case?”

I lay back on my side, with a pile of white pillows propped under my right shoulder and head.  “I wanted to finish it,” I said.

I heard the door open and shut, and Special Agent Forbes came around the bed and into my line of sight.  “You’ve had quite a day,” he said.  It didn’t sound friendly, but then it didn’t sound unfriendly either.  He leaned against the window ledge, put his hands in his pockets and examined me.  “How do you feel?”

I squinted at him.  “Like I got rear-ended by a truck,” I said.  “Muscles I didn’t even know I had are sore.”

“You’re lucky that bullet didn’t hit somewhere else, or you might be in more trouble.  As it is, you should be grateful you have as much muscle there as you do.”

“Don’t hold back,” I grimaced.  “You can tell me I have a fat ass.”

Forbes actually smiled at that.  “You’re going to be just fine.  They removed the bullet and patched you up, and that muscle will be sore for a while.  You lost some blood, too, but you’ll be back on your feet in no time.”  I stayed silent, waiting for the punchline.  “The doctors want to keep you overnight for observation.  They’re going to release you in the morning.”

He stopped talking.  I waited a moment, then said, “What?”

“I need you to come down to our offices, so we can wrap things up.”  He pulled out his wallet and extracted a business card, handing it to me.

I reached out a hand and took it.  I read the address on it and set it on the table.  I sucked in a breath and held it for a second.  I looked at White, who frowned at me, then at Forbes, who waited for me to speak.  “The suspense is killing me.  Why don’t you tell me now what kind of trouble I’m in?”

“Okay,” Forbes agreed.  “You realize you interfered with a federal investigation.”  It seemed a rhetorical question, so I remained silent.  “You could’ve ruined a lot of work for a lot of people.”

“That’s right,” White began.  Forbes held up a hand and White clamped his jaw shut.

“I’m sure we don’t need to discuss the details of your mistakes,” Forbes said, “or how dangerous it was to continue.  I think you’re sufficiently paying for that now.”  He distinctly did not look at my wound.  “And you did in fact help bring down the leader of the X Women.  That warrants special consideration.”

“Thank you very much,” I said, maybe with a bit too much sarcasm.

“Hey, we saved your ass,” White leaned closer to me, his index finger jabbing at me.

“Excuse me, but if you saved my ass, I wouldn’t be here,” I shot back at him.

“Gentlemen,” Forbes interrupted.  “Wayne,” he said to White.  “Maybe you should get yourself a cup of coffee.”  White composed himself, gave me a last severe glare, stood up, and left the room.

“I’d say he’s more upset with your actions than I am.”  Forbes came over by the bed.  “Listen, Reed.  You’re in trouble here.”  I started to protest, but he continued.  “Look, I’m not happy that you got in the way, but in the end you did help.  If you cooperate with us, tell us what you know, testify against these women if need be, maybe I can make sure that nothing happens to you.”

“What happened to the woman I shot?”

“She’s being treated, but she’ll be okay.  You managed to take her out of action, but leave her alive.  We couldn’t have trained someone better.  Lucky shot?” he asked with amusement.

“Something like that.”  I looked down and breathed with relief.  I didn’t want to have to live with killing someone.

“Having everyone alive makes things a lot less complicated.  My offer stands.”

“I walk away, no charges against me?” I asked.

He nodded.  “I’ll see what I can do.  Come down to my office tomorrow, and we’ll get a statement from you, and have you fill out some paperwork.  There’s always paperwork.”  He sighed.

“I’ll be there,” I said.  “By the way, what happened after I fainted?”

“I never saw anybody hit the ground so fast.”  He grinned.  “We arrested all the women.  Maggie, now there’s a woman of vengeance.  She’s not telling us a thing.  She’s asked for a lawyer and is already preparing her defense.”  His eyes narrowed in anger.  “We’re trying to get the others to talk, to turn on each other.  We’ve gotten a few leads from the warehouse, but it’ll take some time to track all the women down.  I’m sure a lot of them are already on the run.”

“And Peter?”

“Peter was treated for some bumps and bruises, and released.  We questioned him for quite a while, and that’s only the start.”  Forbes shook his head.  “He’s had one helluva week, scrounging around, hiding like a criminal himself.  If he would’ve called the police, or us, he could’ve avoided a lot.”

“He didn’t trust the police, or anyone else.”

Forbes shrugged.  “We’re not all bad.”  He paused.  “Peter will be okay.  He’ll have a great story to tell his grandkids.”

I snorted.  “Yeah, how his ex-wife tried to have him killed.  I’m sure that’ll replace Dr. Seuss.”

“Okay, he can tell it at the club.”

“And Amanda?”

“She is alive and well, and in custody.  She’ll face charges for conspiring to kill her husband, and any other charge we can come up with.  You got what you wanted on that one.”

“Excuse me?”

“You didn’t let her die, but she’ll spend a good long time behind bars.”

“Oh,” I said.  He seemed to have all my bugged conversations memorized.

Forbes stuck out his hand.  “You did well, my friend.  If I can return the favor...”

I awkwardly shook his hand, totally surprised.  “I figured you'd want to throw the book at me, since I interfered with your investigation.”

Forbes cocked his head.  “I’ll get over it.”  He winked at me and left the room.

I rolled back until my rear hit the pillows behind me and the pain stopped me.  It wasn’t that bad, really.  A pain in the ass, I thought wryly.

I chuckled to myself, closed my eyes, and drifted into a calm sleep.

CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

Monday morning came with a chill in the air, but bright sunshine.  After a day and a half in the hospital, I was ready to leave.  At nine, Ace and Bob showed up.  I had arranged the night before for Ace to pick me up because he had the day off, but I was surprised to see Bob tagging along.

“Hey, dude,” Ace said as he followed Bob into the room.  Okay, so Ace was tagging along.  He nervously played with the corner of his coat, his eyes darting around the room.  “Are you going to be okay?”

I had gotten up when the nurse brought in my breakfast tray.  After picking at some runny eggs and dry toast, I had showered carefully, taking extra caution with the scrapes on my elbows, knees, hands, and especially my bandaged rear end.  I dressed in a pair of sweats and a sweater that Deuce brought over the previous evening, and combed my wet hair into some semblance of order.

The doctor told me that with the exception of a scar in a place where few people would see it, I would recover just fine.  My release papers had been signed and I was sitting gingerly on the edge of the bed when Bob and Ace came for me.

“You don’t look too bad,” Bob said.  “Are you ready?”

I glanced at Ace, who was doing everything he could to pretend like he wasn’t in a hospital room, running a hand through his ponytail.  “Yeah, let’s go before your brother dies of fright.”

Bob smiled.  “He’ll be okay.  Ace, grab his bag.”  Ace picked up the brown paper bag that contained the clothes I’d worn when I was admitted.  The nurse had brought it to me this morning.  The crumpled pair of jeans was now suitable for the trash; the seat of the pants had a dark reddish brown stain on it, and a hole that I could put my thumb through.

A nurse entered the room, pushing a wheelchair.  “Your ride is here, Mr. Ferguson,” she greeted us cheerfully.

“Is that necessary?” I asked.  I was wounded, not crippled.

“Hospital rules.”  The smile on her face didn’t budge.

I shrugged and limped over to the wheelchair and sat down, putting all my weight on my right side.  She wheeled me out of the room to the elevator, and in five minutes, she deposited me on the passenger seat of Bob’s car.  Ace, decidedly calmer now that we were outside of the hospital, chattered the whole ride over to the Colorado Bureau of Investigations, where Agent Forbes had a temporary office.  Ace mostly wanted to know if the fight I was in was anything like the one at the end of
The Big Sleep
.  He seemed disappointed when I said it wasn’t.

I arranged to call Bob on his cell phone when I finished, and I walked as normally as I could manage into the building.  After two hours of being interviewed by Agent Forbes and his team, I was exhausted, but pleased that Forbes had kept his word.  I cooperated, and the FBI didn’t press charges against me.  Agent Forbes wanted another meeting, so we scheduled that, and then I called Bob.