Hernandez stroked the handle of the gun and pointed it directly at Maya’s head.
CHAPTER 51
Time was running out. She had to do something quick before she became this pitiful
creature’s next victim. Maya tried unobtrusively to reach her bag where it lay near the chair leg.
She didn’t believe in guns and refused to take the lessons Mark wanted her to take, but she had a can of mace attached to her key chain.
The keys sat on top of her bag, and she casually reached over the small distance to
capture them, along with the mace, as Jaime stroked the small weapon.
When he glanced over as she was bringing her hand back into her lap, his eyes narrowed,
and he slowly advanced on her.
He stood less than a foot away, when shouts outside the locked door made him snap his
head in the direction the noise originated from, and Maya wasted no time. She unsnapped the leather top and stood up, knocking her chair backward as she did, and sprayed the contents
directly into his face.
Most of the spray landed in his mouth and nose, however enough reached his eyes so that
he yelled out in surprise and pain. Maya reached for the gun in his hand, and although he was in obvious pain, Jaime maintained his hold. As they struggled over the gun, it went off, and the sound of two gunshots exploded.
* * * *
“He’s down, but he’s breathing!” Jordan shouted. He bent over the second fallen guard,
this one laying on the porch.
“You two go inside, I’ll wait for the paramedics,” he said to Mark and Nicolai, when the
approaching sounds of sirens rent the air with their wailing cry.
Mark and Nicolai burst inside the house, looking around as many of the women stood
clutching their robes in fear. The sound of two gunshots polarized the men into action.
With a primal cry of denial, Mark bolted toward Maya’s office with Nicolai close on his
heels, both men drawing their weapons as they ran. The door of the anteroom, which served as Dalia’s office was closed and locked, yet was no real barrier for Mark.
With the amount of adrenaline coursing through his body, he broke the door open with
little effort, and rushed into the room. His long strides took him to Maya’s closed door, and once again, he shattered the door open.
He stood still for one heart agonizing nanosecond, transfixed for that brief moment in
time. Maya lay still on the floor beneath Lieutenant Hernandez and blood was covering both of their bodies.
“No, baby, no. God please not Maya.” He rushed forward, roughly moving the
lieutenant’s body off Maya’s, and knelt down to cradle her head in his lap, tears streaming down his face.
Mark frantically felt for her pulse and nearly fainted in relief when he felt the strong
steady beat signaling life in her small helpless body. He moved his hands gently over her body, and searched for injury. He inadvertently came into contact with her injury, and her eyes
fluttered, trying to open as a moan escaped her closed lips.
“You’re okay, baby. Oh God you’re okay, Maya.” He gently hugged her, kissing her on
the top of her head as the tears continued to flow unashamedly down his face.
* * * *
Nicolai rushed into the room followed by two paramedics, and immediately came to
stand beside them. Looking down at the hole in the center of the lieutenant’s forehead, he already knew the man’s fate, yet he squat down and felt for a pulse.
“Please get her to emergency, she has a gunshot wound above her breast,” Mark
demanded in a barely recognizable voice, his throat clogged with tears.
The paramedic reassured him, and Mark was moved aside so they could reach the small
hurt woman in his arms. Maya was placed on the stretcher with an oxygen mask over her nose
and mouth, “We’ll come back for him.” The paramedic said, referring to Lieutenant Hernandez.
“He’s dead.” Nicolai turned toward Mark, “You go ahead and I’ll meet up with you at the
hospital.”
Nicolai watched them leave, before turning his attention to the man who lay dead on the
floor, tissue and gray matter on the carpet beside his bloodied head.
CHAPTER 52
“How’re you doing?” Nicolai asked Maya, as he walked into her hospital room with a
box of chocolates tucked under his arm.
When he reached her bedside, he placed the candy on the table. “I thought you would
prefer chocolate to flowers.”
“Thank you. I’m doing fine Agent Montgomery. I’m sure I look a lot worse than I feel.”
She laughed hoarsely. “And chocolate is always preferable over flowers. At least they are to me,” she smiled.
“You look wonderful. I don’t think it’s possible for you to look anything else but
beautiful,” he complimented her.
“Thank you, and please sit down Agent Montgomery.” She invited, motioning for him to
sit in one of the small chairs near her bed.
“I can’t stay long,” he said, turning down the offer to sit. “I wanted to come by and say
good-bye before I leave tomorrow morning.”
“So soon?”
“Yes. I need to return to base now that the case is over. My team is waiting for me. I
admire who you are, and what you do Dr. Richardson. It takes someone very special to work
with those who are overlooked by ‘polite’ society.”
“Thank you, Agent Montgomery. I used to believe the reason I worked with the women
and men of Imani House was because of Allison. But now I know what keeps me going is how
Imani House changes lives. In Swahili, Imani means faith or belief. I want the residents of Imani House to have faith that they can overcome any obstacle life places before them.”
She thought of Lieutenant Hernandez, and how his lack of power from childhood shaped
him into the man he eventually became; unable to overcome the injustices perpetrated against him, and therefore sought revenge against those he saw as users.
“Those of us who know what it was like to
