Key West Gone into the Night Elizabeth Hilleren (if you give a mouse a cookie read aloud txt) 📖

officer. “Read him his rights and book him into the jail.”  He ran to Javier, who was groaning on the floor.

“Get me a medic. Now.” Sharkey said.

That’s when Harris came through the door. “What the hell?” He moved quickly to Javier’s side. “Hey, kid, you hang in there, you hear me?” He took hold of Javier’s hand. “Come on, buddy.”

Javier was pale.  “He’s beautiful,” Tears filled his eyes.

“Yeah, that’s what all good dads say. You hang in there.  He needs you.”

Max Sexton stepped through the door and went straight to Javier. “Let me take a look.”

“Let’s stop the bleeding. Harris, hold this over the wound.” Max called to the hospital to set up for a gunshot wound.

“Stay awake for me,” Max said. “Keep him with you, Harris.”

“Will do. Hey, Javier, look at me…keep looking at me. You’re going to be just fine.  That’s the way.  You and me, we make a good team, if you don’t get in the way of a bullet. You did good, kid. Now you gotta stay with me.”

“Okay.” Javier tried to smile. “He’s beautiful he…Susan’s smile…”

“I can’t wait to see him. He needs you, so you fight to stay with me…Okay?”

“Okay.”

“They’re ready for him in surgery. Let’s move him out. Harris, are you coming with us?”

“Yeah. He’s family.”

Sharkey got on the radio. “I need a team to go through this house looking for a seven-year-old. Blond hair, blue eyes.”

“Roger that.”

Two officers entered the house and headed upstairs. And two others went through the first floor.

*    *    *

The scene at the emergency room was chaotic, “That guy dead?” Harris asked.

The charge nurse was on duty. “The first man is a heart attack. They just brought in a D.O.A. The one that just arrived with you is on his way to surgery.”

“He’s family. You gotta save him.  He’s all I have left of my daughter. His son needs him.”

The nurse didn’t try to understand what he meant but was more concerned about Harris being so upset.

“We’ll take care of him. You need to come…”

“No, I ain’t goin’ nowhere till I know he’s all right.”

The nurse looked at Harris. “You’re Amy’s guy. Where’s Amy?” She said softly, still holding his arm.

“She’s at home.”

“I’ll call her. You can wait here for him to be moved to surgery.”

Amy headed for the door as soon as she got the call from the nurse.

“Oh, Burt. God help him.” She said as she ran for her car. A few minutes later she emerged through the emergency room doors and found Harris.

“Burt, how bad is it?”

“He got shot.  But he’s hanging in there.  The baby is fine and that’s all I know. Sharkey and the baby are on their way over.”

“I’ll get you some coffee. Sit right here.”  She pulled up a chair and he sat down.

She returned just as the curtains opened and they wheeled Javier out.

He was pale but his eyes were open. “Harris…Mateo?”

“He’s in good hands. Manuel is in jail and Vasquez is dead. They will never hurt you again. That’s a promise. Now you concentrate on fighting your way through this surgery and back to seeing your son and me again.”

“We need to move him now,” the nurse said softly.

“Yeah.” Harris felt a lump in his throat as they wheeled Javier into surgery. “God be with him,” Harris said under his breath. Amy guided him to the waiting room.

*    *    *

It was late now, and Billy had drifted off to sleep.  He was rudely awakened an hour later with someone kicking at his shoulder.

Billy’s eyes flew open and he looked into the face of Hank.

“What are ya doing?” Hank asked, his breath smelling of beer. “I just wondered if you got a kid in there.”

“None of your business. Get out of here,” Billy said.

“What you doing with a kid?”

“Look, you leave now, or I’ll call Officer Fitzpatrick.”

“I just want to see him.”

Billy pulled out his phone. Hank backed up. “You wouldn’t do that.”

“Get out of here or I will.  And I will press charges this time.” He started to dial Fitz’s number and Hank charged forward.

“No,” Billy yelled as Hank pushed him aside and yanked opened the door of the shed.

“Damn you, Hank,” he said as he picked himself up off the ground and reached for his bat. “I’ll knock your head off.”

Hank stepped into the shed and Billy followed with his baseball bat.

Hank reached for Tyler and pulled his shirt off just as Billy’s bat came in sharp contact with Hanks head.

He slumped forward onto the bed and Tyler scrambled off the end of the bed and hugged Billy. “Who is that?” he said, holding tight to Billy’s legs.

Billy hugged Tyler back.  “It’s okay, Tyler. It’s okay,” Billy said.  “He won’t hurt you. I won’t let him. “Here, put this back on,” he said, pulling the night shirt over Tyler. “Come on, let’s go outside and I’ll get you a coke.”

Billy punched the number five on his phone and waited. The call was answered right away by Fitz.

“Hey, Billy, what’s up?”

“I got trouble here at the shed.  You gotta come right away. Call for an ambulance too.”

“Okay, hold on, I’m on my way.”

Billy saw that the wound was bleeding but he was still breathing. He took some washcloths, got them wet, then put pressure on the wound. When it slowed the bleeding, he got dry ones and put them over the wound and duct taped them on. The wound stopped bleeding. It was only a few minutes later a police car pulled into the lighted area of the shed.

Billy turned to Tyler and told him to sit down in the chair until he got back.

Fitz got out and