“No! No! No!” I woke up swinging my arms and kicking. Where was I? I knew I was saying something, but I didn’t know what I was saying.
“Chloe! Chloe!” A man said holding my hands. “It’s okay. It’s all over. He’s down.”
Huh? What’s he saying? I have to get out of here. I was still fighting him. Who was that?
“Chloe! It’s me, Cody. Wake up, Chloe.” I finally focused and saw Cody was kneeling down beside me with Rick holding my hands.
“Where is he? We have to get out of here. He’s…he’s,” I said breathing hard and yelling.
“Chloe, listen to me. He’s not gonna hurt you,” Rick said, making me look him in the eyes. “I shot him. He’s not dead, but he’s not going anywhere.”
I calmed down by taking several deep breaths. I looked around and said, “Okay, okay. But wait, the treasure or whatever the painting was trying to tell us is here. I know it is.”
I was still being held down so I couldn’t move but I was able to look around. Standing to the side of me was Lt. Anders, Dick Weed, Rosy and a bunch of sheriff deputies I didn’t know. Oh great. I would never live this down. I not only got myself held hostage but knocked around. Maybe I’d pay someone to beat up Dick Weed to shut him up. I didn’t know how I was going to shut the others up. Wait a minute, Dick wasn’t laughing. He actually looked upset. Oh Jeez. I was in worse shape than I thought.
“Why are ya’ll here?” I asked my audience.
“Rick called and told us you were here with the man that had been stalking you. We came,” Lt. Anders said with a sad smile. “These others are from the Shloe Parish Sheriff’s Dept.”
“Oh, alright.” What could I say to that? Of course, Rick had called his boss, and since it wasn’t his jurisdiction, he had also called in the Calvary.
“Okay, just help me up,” I said taking my hands away from Rick’s. My adrenaline was sky high, and I had to take advantage of that.
“Wait, before you get up, I’m taking a picture of you.” He reached into his pocket for his cell phone. “The next time you want to go off on your own without waiting for backup I’m showing you this picture.”
“Fine. Take the picture,” I said. “But if I see it floating around YouTube I’m gonna be pissed.”
He smiled and took the photo, and that was when I noticed someone had given me his jacket to wear. I had forgotten my shirt was sliced open and moving around would have had me flashing my goodies to my audience.
I was helped up and held a minute to make sure I didn’t fall down. I was dizzy, but I wasn’t about to stop now. I would have crawled if I had to. I wasn’t shot and beat up for nothing. I was finishing this. But first…
“I need to do something.” I moved Rick’s arm from around my waist and swayed but caught my balance before I fell over.
I walked over to where Frank was being taken care of by two EMTs. He had been shot in his right shoulder, near his collar bone. I kicked Frank’s legs apart and looked at him to make sure he was awake. In fact, I asked him, “Hey, Little Frank, you awake?”
He didn’t answer; he just looked at me helplessly. Helpless my Aunt Fannie. I straddled his left leg walking up to his thigh. I smiled and asked him, “Hey asshole, do you remember what I said to you earlier?” I brought my right leg back and kicked as hard as I could.
The grunts and groans in the barn were said simultaneously. I looked around, and every one of them was holding his crotch. Frank’s eyes had rolled back, and he had quit breathing.
I held one of Frank’s eyes open and asked, “Do you remember when I said, ‘When I was untied I was gonna kick your gonads between your eyes so you could watch yourself pee?’” I smiled and added, “Well, let me know what that looks like.”
“Ouch,” Lt. Anders moaned.
“Oops. She must have tripped,” Dick Weed said smiling at me. Wow. Reed took up for me. Oh, my God. I felt a chill. Hell just had a cold front move through.