Paul McKellips - Jericho 3

LOVE YOU TOO… JUST WANTED TO SAY GOOD-BYE… MY LIFE IS NOT WORTH IT ANYMORE… TONIGHT I WILL MEET GOD… PEACE BE WITH YOU.

Miriam hit the send button and sat down on the chair next to Eileen. A minute hadn’t passed before Eileen’s phone started ringing. Miriam answered but said nothing.

Old Town Alexandria, Virginia

Raines had fallen fast asleep on Camp’s chest after a series of long flights in from Lyon, France. Camp’s 1,500 mile round trip “mission” left him sleep-deprived as well. But all he could think about was his father.

“Alzheimer’s,” his thoughts kept echoing the words his father had spoken.

The vibration from his iPhone startled him. It was another text message from Eileen.

LOVE YOU TOO… JUST WANTED TO SAY GOOD-BYE… MY LIFE IS NOT WORTH IT ANYMORE… TONIGHT I WILL MEET GOD… PEACE BE WITH YOU.

Camp struggled to open his eyes though his mind was still racing. He read the message a second time. He jumped out of bed jolting Raines awake from her deep slumber. He pressed Eileen’s speed dial. Eileen’s phone was answered, but no one spoke.

“Eileen? Eileen! This is Camp.”

Raines threw her shirt back on and walked out into the kitchen where Camp was frantically redialing the number.

“What’s going on?” Raines asked through the groggy fog.

“Eileen… good God, Les, she sent me a text and said she’s killing herself.”

“What?”

“She won’t pick up the phone. I gotta drive out there.”

“I’ll get dressed,” Raines said as she ran back to the bedroom.

Lightner Farms

Gettysburg, Pennsylvania

Miriam hung up as soon as Camp called Eileen’s phone.

The phone rang again. Miriam connected the call then hung up when Camp spoke. Eileen’s phone rang 20 more times in the next 90 minutes. Each time Miriam let the call go to voice mail.

Eileen started to stir so Miriam gave her another fresh shot of ether.

Miriam pulled out the Smith & Wesson Bodyguard 38, a.38 caliber used hand gun she paid a man to purchase for her at a Pawn Shop in Annandale, Virginia and put the gun in her right hand. The revolver was heavy to hold, and though five rounds were chambered, she had not fired a gun since she lived in Afghanistan. Miriam walked to the side door, opened it slightly, and then turned the button in the handle to the locked position. She looked at the clock on the wall in the dining room above the long wooden table. US Navy Captain Campbell should be there soon, and finally she could thank him for his heroics in person.

Camp’s Defender 90 drove down the Baltimore Pike at speeds well over the posted limit and turned on to the gravel road leading up to Lightner Farms with emergency lights flashing. The Defender slid through the loose rocks spraying gravel in all directions before coming to a stop next to a visitor’s car.

“Should I come in?” Raines asked with grave concern.

“Hang in the car for now… let me see what’s going on first,” Camp said as he got out. Raines watched through the windshield as he ran to the side door by Eileen’s kitchen.

Miriam heard the gravel and the vehicle as it braked for an urgent stop. She got up quickly from the oversized leather chair next to Eileen, walked to the kitchen then went inside Eileen’s walk-in pantry next to the side door.

Camp opened the door and slammed it shut behind him then went running into the lodge.

“Eileen!”

Miriam walked out of the pantry behind Camp and followed him as he ran over to Eileen who stirred when Camp yelled.

The lodge echoed with the thunder of the first gunshot that hit Camp in the back of his left leg. He fell to the ground writhing in pain. He turned to look at the shooter.

Raines jumped out of the car when she heard the sound of gunfire and over to the side door. It was locked.

Miriam walked closer to Camp as the muzzle of her 5-pound .38 smoked from the first round. Camp squinted through the pain and the discharged smoke in the lodge to see the shooter.

“Miriam?”

“Get up… sit in the chair.”

Blood was pouring from Camp’s wound, but he pulled himself up into the oversized leather chair and next to Eileen who was now somewhat awake, bound and gagged.

“You took away everything I loved Captain Campbell… my husband… my son… my appointed mission… and now my life.”

“Your son is alive, Miriam.”

“That’s a lie.”

Raines ran around to the back of the lodge and looked in through the French doors leading off to the patio from the dining room. The doors were locked. But the images she saw were more terrifying than the sound of the gunshot she had heard.

Eileen was taped and bound to the chair. Another woman was holding a gun pointed at Camp’s head in the chair next to Eileen. Raines looked for a rock or something to break the glass. Then she remembered the walk with Camp and General Ferguson after Jane’s funeral. She sprinted to the tree line even though her legs felt like they were encased in cement. She pressed the button on her phone for illumination and searched tree-to-tree for the birdhouse.

Think woman, where did he put the Browning?

Raines crossed to the other side of the bark chip path, three trees in she saw the birdhouse. Opening the clasp, her heart stopped beating. Reaching in she felt the cold steel of the Browning 9mm wrapped in cobwebs. The magazine clip was in.

God I pray this thing is loaded.

“You took away the ones I loved… so now I’m going to take away the ones you love.”

Camp tried to think quickly. His leg was too badly wounded to jump her.

“How did you find us Miriam? I thought we had hidden ourselves more carefully.”

Miriam pulled the envelope from the letter Eileen had mailed to Camp at FOB Lightning.

“Mail call makes things very easy,” Miriam said as she tossed the envelope on the ground and took a step back. She raised the gun toward Camp’s head as he winced.

“I want you to watch her die first. I want you to feel the same pain you gave me.”

Miriam slowly moved her gun toward Eileen whose eyes opened wide with terror.

Gunfire ripped through the lodge again. The second bullet hit Camp high on the right side of his chest. He screamed in pain as shattering glass bounced on the wood floor.

Miriam looked at Camp with genuine surprise as blood pooled and drenched his shirt. Miriam turned toward the sound of falling glass behind her and squinted.

Raines pulled the Browning’s trigger a second time. Miriam clutched her throat as the bullet pierced her neck. Her Smith & Wesson 38 fell to the floor first. Miriam’s body fell a second later.

Raines kicked through the glass and unlocked the French doors. She ran first to Eileen’s landline phone and dialed 9-1-1.

“Shooting with injuries at Lightner Farms, Baltimore Pike,” she screamed laying the phone on its side and rushed to Camp as dispatchers heard the chaos at Lightner Farms.

He was struggling to remain conscious.

“Nice… shooting,” he gasped trying to breathe.

Raines put immediate pressure on the chest wound with the ether soaked hijab that was lying next to Eileen and pulled Camp’s left arm up to hold it in place.

“Pressure Camp. Keep pressing.”

Raines grabbed the sewing scissors on the table between the two leather chairs and started cutting the tape off of Eileen. She reasoned that it was better to have a half-drugged ICU nurse at her side than to wait for an ambulance all alone.

Eileen and Raines managed to get Camp to the floor next to Miriam. They put a pillow beneath his head and tied his belt around his upper thigh. Raines applied pressure to his chest as Eileen kept pulling him back from the unconsciousness his body was desperately trying to find.