G Hopf - Sanctuary

“What?” she asked.

“I want to say I’m sorry for hitting him but it’s hard. He’s been so cruel, he’s like a bully.”

“I know, I know, but you’re younger and stronger than he is. If you had to hit him, all you needed to do was hit once. Not multiple times. My mother is so angry with you and you really disappointed me.”

“He had it coming—he hit you!”

“That was an accident. He didn’t mean to do it!” she snapped at him.

“Why are you so quick to forgive him of endless snide comments and his… he’s an asshole. I’m sorry, I can’t apologize to him. I’m sorry that you had to see that, but bullies need to be dealt with; that’s something my brother taught me years ago.”

“So you deal with family that way, you beat them?”

“Beat? He got a few love taps; what he does deserve is a beating! Again, you’re coming at me with the family bit and you let him get away with his behavior?” Sebastian asked, turning around.

“Don’t turn away from me!” she snapped.

“We need to get packed up if we’re leaving soon. Plus, I don’t have time to detail every action I make. You are so quick to forgive him but question me. You know me.”

“Do I? Do I know you? I’ve never seen you act out like that before. You are not that man. I agree you have a right to be mad with him, but he’s an old man!”

“Annaliese, let’s agree to disagree about this!”

Watching him toss gear and equipment around in the truck, she thought about saying something but stopped herself. Sebastian was right, for now they would have to agree to disagree. He was upset, she was upset, and the timing wasn’t right to find a resolution. She turned and walked back to the house.

Watching her walk briskly away from him, he leaned heavily against the truck. The stubborn Van Zandt blood ran through him and he was sorry that he had disappointed her. Making her angry wasn’t his intent; he loved her, but he also felt strongly that Samuel had it coming to him.

Tossing the small box he held in his hand, he said out loud, “This is going to be a long trip.”

Lexi’s gunshot blew off the side of the man’s head. Brain, skull, hair, and blood splattered the interior of the car. Not hesitating a moment, she trained the pistol on the woman and shouted, “Don’t fucking move or I’ll plant one in between your eyes.”

Gordon unslung his rifle and turned it on Lexi, but paused before pulling the trigger. “What the fuck, Lexi?!”

Rubio jumped, dropping the fuel can on the ground. “What the hell!”

McCamey and Jones had been quietly talking and keeping watch to the rear. When the shot broke the quiet, they instinctually took cover behind the Humvee.

“Where did that come from?” Jones asked.

“These are Rahab’s people! I recognized that piece of shit behind the wheel,” Lexi spat.

“Holy shit!” Rubio shouted. “Are you sure?”

“When you’ve been raped repeatedly by someone, you never forget their face,” she said bitterly.

Gordon still had his rifle aimed at her.

“Gordon, I’m on your side, put down your rifle. These assholes were going to ambush us farther down the road. If you don’t believe me, ask her,” Lexi said as she pressed the pistol firmly against the woman’s head.

“She’s right, there are more of us down the road,” the woman cried out. Gordon lowered his rifle.

“Get on the radio and tell them you need their help with someone you just killed,” Lexi ordered the woman.

The woman nodded and slowly walked past Lexi to the front of the car. Lexi kept the pistol pressed against her head as she leaned in and grabbed the bloody radio. She keyed the button and said, “Hi, Malcolm. We need some help up here.”

The radio crackled and a voice came over. “What happened?”

“It’s okay, we had to shoot someone. We need…” She paused out of fear.

Lexi pressed the barrel harder against her head.

“We need your help with the others. Brother Clarence has them at gunpoint.”

There was a pause before the radio crackled again. “Okay, we’ll be right there.”

“They’ll come from that direction,” the woman whispered, pointing ahead.

“How many are there?” Lexi asked.

“Um…”

“How many? Answer the fucking question!”

“Three, there’s three. Please don’t hurt me,” she begged.

“We won’t,” Gordon assured her.

Ignoring Gordon, Lexi hit the woman over the head with the pistol, knocking her out.

“What the hell, Lexi! Why did you do that?” Gordon yelled.

“We can’t trust that she won’t signal them,” Lexi shot back as she re-holstered her pistol. She grabbed the keys from the steering column and unlocked the trunk, then grabbed the woman and dragged her toward the rear of the car. “Well, are you going to help me?”

Rubio, Jones, and Gordon all exchanged looks.

“I told you she was a piece of work,” Jones quipped from behind the machine gun.

Rubio jumped up and helped her toss the woman in the back. They quickly came up with a plan, knowing that the backup was only minutes away. They decided that Jones would hide inside the Humvee and man the machine gun; Gordon, Rubio, Lexi, and McCamey all went to hide in the grove of trees. The plan was to use an L-shaped ambush. Based on what the woman had told them, they assumed the men would approach from the road ahead. When they stepped into the kill zone, Gordon and the others with him would open fire. The men would most assuredly turn toward them. Jones would then get behind the machine gun and take them out. This was textbook tactics, and if all went accordingly, it would be a relatively simple assault.

Minutes passed with no one in sight. Everything was quiet except for the occasional rustle of the trees when the cold wind blew.

“Damn it, where are they?” Gordon muttered to himself. He was getting the chills and his nose began to run from the cold air. His face was firmly placed against the stock of the rifle, his sights set on the rise in the road ahead. He kept blinking to clear his eyes and focus them.

Finally two men carrying rifles cleared the hill. The men were talking, and stopped just outside of the kill zone.

“Fuck,” Gordon said under his breath.

Lexi, positioned only a few feet away from Gordon, leaned over and whispered, “I’ve got the guy on the left.”

The radio in the car came to life. He and Lexi looked toward the car, not thirty feet away. Gordon then looked toward the men, and saw one of them holding a radio to his mouth. He knew they were attempting to reach the man or woman. “Where’s the third guy?” Gordon asked.

The radio again crackled.

The men stood talking. It was clear that they sensed something was wrong, because they unslung their rifles.

Knowing that this was not going to happen as planned, Gordon took aim on the man he saw holding the radio and began to squeeze the trigger. Before the shot went off, he said, “I’ve got the guy on the right, take the shot.”

Gordon continued to apply the steady pressure on the trigger. The 5.56-millimeter round exited his barrel and almost instantaneously hit the man in the chest with a loud thump. Lexi’s rifle followed right behind his with several shots, hitting the other man.

From the other side of the hill the third man appeared. He took a couple of shots in their direction before disappearing as quickly as he had appeared.

Lexi stood up and began to run for the Humvee. Gordon followed her lead.

“Jones, we gotta go!” she said, jumping behind the wheel and starting up the Humvee.

“Whoa, wait a minute!” Jones exclaimed.

“We don’t have time. We gotta catch that other fucker!”