Code Breaker

8

Tanner's pov***

   Watching nerd's interaction with her family is making me understand why she tried so hard to get home. Why she hardened herself. It was to protect her heart. And protect her family. She doesn't want to let them down or disappoint them. There's a lot of love in the small family.

   I completely understand how it is. I had to do that a lot when it comes to work and family. You keep them at a distance to protect them. I need to find out what damage was done by the shot. I just don't want to upset her further. Nobody has said anything about where she was shot. They seem to be dancing around it.

  As Sherri was telling her that she will understand when she has babies of her own. Bethany's face paled a bit. That's curious. It makes me wonder if the shot did damage that would cause a miscarriage? Was she pregnant  and lost a baby? I saw the fake smile that she gave her family. I understand that too.

  Brian tells his step-sons to take their mom home then he talks to Beth.

  "Alright, baby. Your mom and brothers are gone. I talked to the boys about what they know. Which happens to be very little. I want the entire story from you. I know about the fight and that you guys sat around the fire for a while afterwards and talked. They said that you went to sleep in the truck on the cot. You can pick it up from there."

  "I called Demo and left a message about the fight. Then I tried to sleep, but I couldn't. Then Demo called me back and we talked for a while. I was too uptight to sleep. So I decided to go for a run. I came back and sensed something was wrong. I knew that there was a pistol in the truck. I unlocked the door. As I reached for the door handle, I heard someone running at me. I turned and he hit me with the butt of his gun. It landed behind my temple. I fell against the truck. He was aiming at my heart. I figured the best thing to do would be to get him to start yelling. Maybe it would wake someone up. It worked. Just not as fast as I had hoped. Seems like everyone was sleeping heavy. I noticed that he was getting too agitated. He was waving the gun around. I didn't want him to shoot wild and hurt an innocent person. So I swung my arm against the hand holding the gun and swung my fist at his nose. Both connected. The gun went off and got me. I felt the bullet enter my lower right abdomen. I grabbed the hand holding the gun and just kept swinging a fist. I think people were trying to decide what to do. They may not have seen the gun. I don't know. I saw the boys coming at a dead run as I raised my knee and killed any chance of Kevin wanting sex today. He went down and someone tied him up as the boys called you and the police. They took me to the tailgate. Someone grabbed a towel and applied it to my stomach as I laid on the tailgate."

  "What damage did the shot do?" I asked.

   I saw that they were holding hands. "My right ovary is gone. The bullet hit it. The doctor had to do a partial hysterectomy." She finished in a whisper.

  Holy fuck! That is why she has been off. She will have a hard time having a baby. But all it takes is one egg.

   "What are the charges against Kevin?" I ask her dad. Giving her time to recoup.

  "Assault with a deadly. Assault causing bodily injury, while committing a felony. Felon in possession of a gun. Felon in possession of drugs. Possession of stolen merchandise. Burglary of a business. When the police went to his house with a search warrant, they found thousands of dollars of stolen merchandise from several businesses that had been broken into."

  "Hopefully, I will be back on base by the time he gets out. I'm sick of dealing with him." Bethany said quietly. I see that she is struggling to hide her emotions.

  "I will be here to watch your back until you go back to base." I tell her. I don't know why I volunteer, but it happened.

  "No! I want you to go on with whatever you would normally do. I will be fine. I'm just going to take it easy and enjoy the rest of my holiday. Enjoy my family. You should go enjoy your family at Christmas and the new year. January, we can start working on codes and keeping you guys safe."