KILLED

Chapter Twenty

As soon as I speak, all hell breaks loose, and I am literally caught in the middle of it all.
Detective McCormick grabs bloodied wrist, yanking me with him as he takes cover behind one of the crates with Detective Patrick.
"What in the name of hell were you thinking?!", he exclaims. "Do you want to die?!
"I shrug. "Didn't want to leave town."
"Well, it was a stupid idea", Patrick retorts. "We could have interrogated your father."
"You would never be able to get him to talk, and he would escape before he could go to prison. He's that much of a rat."
The detective fires his weapon over the crate three times before ducking back down, pulling out his cell phone before handing it to me. "Call Tyler."
I sigh, but obey, holding the device up to my ear with my blood covered hand.
Static. "This is Tyler."
"Tyler, it's Tess." I flinch as more gunfire rings out, taking a deep breath to try and calm myself.
"Tess, what the f**k?! Where the hell are you?!"
"Call 911. I'm at the warehouse with the detectives, but we're under heavy fire. Really heavy fire. We need backup. ASAP."
"Ok. Just hang tight kiddo."
"Bye. I hang up and cock my gun.
"Nope, you are not firing that again", McCormick says, quickly taking it out of my hands. "You've done enough."
Suddenly, the pain I'm in gets worse, making me groan as my head begins spinning.
"I'm going to pass out pretty soon", I admit weakly. "Just thought you should know."
Patrick sighs. "Backup is on the way. Just keep holding on."
His partner suddenly throws his weapon at one of our attackers, nailing the woman hard in the forehead, causing her to slump to the dirty cement floor, obviously out cold.
"Why'd you do that?", I ask. "Seemed like a pretty dumb move."
"Eh. Was out of bullets", the detective answers with a shrug. "Besides, now I have a spare." He holds up Ash's gun with a crazy grin.
I roll my eyes, groaning. "You seem pretty calm about our situation."
"That's because I'm not going to die", he replies. "None of us are."
Patrick rolls his eyes. "She's right though", he points out. "That was a pretty stupid move."
"Shut up, Sam."
I hold up my hand to get their attention, my ears picking up a new noise as I grunt.
"Backup's here", I say. "Just thought you should know."
The detectives glance over their shoulders from where they're busy shooting, just in time to see the heavily armed police officers burst into the room.
I blink, and suddenly, the warehouse is quiet, with all of my father's people dead on the floor.
I groan, "Guys, I'm definitely going to pass out."
Detective Patrick looks down at me from where he's standing. "It's okay, Tess. Just close your eyes", he says from far away. "You don't have to fight anymore. Close your eyes."
I nod dizzily and shut my eyes, giving in to the urge to sleep.
I did it; I won.
>>>>--------->
Beep... Beep... Beep.
I struggle to open my eyes, and when I do, I find that I'm lying in a hospital bed, an IV connecting to my wrist.
My head is filled with cotton.
I force my body to let me sit up, but I only make it an inch before making a strangled noise and collapsing back onto a pillow.
"Take it easy, kiddo." I look to the left and manage a small smile for the forensic analyst.
"Hey Tyler."
"I heard what you did today", my friend says. "You did good."
"I killed my father", I mumble. "It all happened so fast. I shot him right between the eyes."
"I know", he responds. "It'll all be okay. It was self defense."
I blink. "Is my mom alright?", I ask worriedly. "Did the surgery work?"
"She'll be fine, Tess", Tyler assures me. "I promise. And so are you. They're only keeping you here overnight."
I nod. "I want to see her", I choke out, trying not to cry. "I want to tell her I'm okay."
He reaches over to pat my shoulder.
"Your mom knows", the man tells me. "She knows you'll always be okay."
"How can you be sure?"
"Because when you disappeared, your mother remained calm", he says. "She said she knew you would fight, that we would find you."
My eyes well up with hot tears, but I blink them away.
"Thank you so much, Tyler."