Garwood Village - Robert F. Clifton (free novels .TXT) 📗

never thought that he would be caught like this, trapped in Garwood Village and surrounded by the police. The longer we wait, the more upset and unstable he'll become, that's when he could kill.”

Wallace looked at his wristwatch and when the two minutes were over he signaled to the Sergeant commanding the S.W.A.T. Allowing him to proceed. He watched as one uniformed officer advanced carrying the tear gas gun, saw the man kneel, aim and fire, sending a large projectile through the picture window. There was the sound of glass shattering, a loud thud and soon visible white vapors of gas could be seen filling the room. Lionel Horton turned and moved away from Garza and the window.

The man held hostage placed his head out through the broken window. Then, sensing that his captor had left the room smashed the remaining glass with his bare hands and jumped, landing on the small lawn. He got up, his hands bleeding and ran towards Wallace and the police.

Wallace yelled, “Run! Run!” Then, he saw Horton appear at the broken window again. He saw the crazed look on the killers face, the hatred in his eyes and the thirty eight caliber revolver in his hand. Robert Wallace reached for his own weapon, but before he could get it out of the holster he heard, pop, pop, pop. Then the blow of two bullets striking his body, one bullet hitting him in the left hip with the force to knock him off of his feet. The other entering his abdomen. Then the pain came, a burning sensation began in his stomach and another in his lower back. Just before he lost consciousness he heard five shots fired rapidly.

He heard voices. Everything was dark. Voices were saying, “Will he make it? How is he?” Then a sound that seemed far away as a stretcher was pulled from the rear of an ambulance. He felt his body move. He was lifted then lowered. Suddenly he felt himself moved backwards, “Weird,” he thought to himself. The last thing he heard was the sound of a siren screaming over an over and then he passed out again.

Wallace tried to move his right hand, but he couldn't. His hand refused to move. Then, he tried moving his left hand and the same thing happened. Then, there was a sound, a humming. To him laying in a hospital bed it came as a noise that a small electric motor would make. As he laid there his mind worked, attempting to understand just what the sound was.

There was something in his nose, something that irritated him, something that he wanted to reach for and remove, but his hands wouldn't move. Then, he felt a soft, warm hand brush the hair back away from his forehead and he heard her voice. “Robert? How are you feeling dear?”

He struggled to open his eyes and when he did light gradually allowed him to focus. First there was a blur. Then shapes of things came into view. Looking straight up, he saw the white ceiling. Turning his head he saw Mary. He smiled and tried to speak.

“Don't talk dear. There's a tube that they ran down through your nose and into your intestines to remove bile. You kept trying to pull it out when you were unconscious or asleep. That's why your hands are tied to the bed rails. If you talk all you'll do is aggravate your throat and it will get sore. The doctor who operated on you will be in later to let you know your condition and what you have to do to get well again. I can tell you this. One bullet struck and broke your left hip. That's why you're in a cast. They think that after striking your hip the bullet then tumbled striking your small intestine. The second bullet went into your abdomen and out your back. They're most concerned about the wound to the intestine”.

Wallace nodded his head indicating that he understood.

“Do you have any pain?”, she asked.

He shook his head indicating no.

“Here comes the doctor. I'll get out of his way so he can talk to you”.

He looked up to see a man dressed in green scrubs looking down at him. “How are you feeling Captain? I'm Doctor Fisk”. Wallace gave a thumbs up.

“Good, don't talk. I'm sure this lovely lady told you about the tube in your nose. The tube is hooked up to what we call the Wagensteen suction pump. It's pulling the bile out of you intestines. The tube will be there for a couple of days. You keep trying to pull it out, so I'm sorry to say that your hands are tied to prevent you from doing it. Now, your hip is broken, but we have put pins in it and you should heal quickly and be up and around. However, the bullet that hit you in the hip also broke off a piece of bone. The shot you took in the abdomen fortunately didn't hit any vital organs, It missed your liver and your left kidney. That's about it Captain. All you have to do is let us take care of you and get well. If you need anything write it down on the pad we placed on your table. I'll see you later”.

When Doctor Fisk left the room Mary returned to the bedside. “Now you know that your injuries are serious I hope that you are going to follow their directions. You will have a long recovery Robert. I'm making arrangements for when you get out of the hospital. You'll come to my place. There, I'll be able to take care of you”.

Wallace shook his head, indicated, “No”.

“Shut up Robert. I don't want to hear it. How are you going to take care of yourself at home? You won't be able to cook for yourself, feed yourself or dress yourself, drive to the doctors or change your dressings if necessary. Do you know that you were unconscious for a week? So make sure that you understand me, you will stay with me”, she said as she held his hand. Wallace smiled.

“It's nice that they tied your hands. Now, I can hold it as long as I want”.

Another face appeared beside the bed. Wallace turned his head and looked at Frank Stiles.

“He can't talk Frank”, said Mary.

“No problem Cap. Just listen. I've been here along with Mary checking to see how you're doing day after day. You're looking better. I'll say that. Now, if you want, I'll bring you up to date”, said Stiles. Wallace nodded his head.

“Great. Well, the commissioner went on television and said what a great job Chief Monahan did by removing the cold blooded killer, Lionel Horton from Nautilus Beach and Garwood Village. Excellent police work”, he said.

“The person who removed Horton was Carol Myers. When you went down she stood up, raised her revolver and pumped five shots into the son of a bitch hitting him in the high chest area. Cap, you could have covered the hits with a deck of cards. Come to find out Myers qualifies every year as a distinguished expert on the range.” Wallace smiled and gave the thumbs up sign.

“You might want to make sure she gets a commendation”, added Stiles. Wallace gave a nod of his head.

“Chief Monahan has put me in charge of the Major Crime Squad until further notice. I hope you don't have a problem with that”. Wallace again gave the thumbs up sign.

“OK. Unless you need anything or any orders for me I've got to go”, said Stiles. Wallace nodded his head again in understanding.

Stiles walked up along the side of the bed and placed a hand on Wallace's shoulder. “See you later Cap. Get well and get your ass back to work”, he said, then turned and left the room.

Chapter Eleven

The first week of May, Wallace stood in Mary Wagner's living room and as she stood in front of him he handed her his crutches. He then took a slow step forward. Then two, two more and with no pain and with balance he turned and walked from the living room to the kitchen and back.

“Made it. I don't need the crutches anymore”.

“No, you don't”, Mary said sadly.

“Why so glum? I thought that you'd be happy for me”.

“I am happy that you can walk again. I'm unhappy because now you'll leave me”.

“You can't expect me to live here forever”, said Wallace.

“Why not?”

“Here we go again. We've been over this a thousand times”.

“You're right Robert. I'm tired of it. Tired of asking you to stay, tired of asking for your love and tired of waiting for you to change your mind. Doc and Sharon are coming for dinner tonight. They'll be leaving for Australia soon. For their benefit let's pretend that we're the happy couple. You can tell them by letter later, that you dumped me again”.

“Don't use the word dump. It implies that I used you and cast you aside”.

“Oh, I'm sorry. Do I hurt your feelings? Poor you. Poor, poor you. Excuse me, I have to put a roast in the oven”.

“Besides, it must be time for you to go back to work again. It's been over a month since you took off to take care of me”, said Wallace.

“There's nothing to go back to. I quit the paper a month ago.”

“You quit? Just what the hell are you going to do to make a living?”

“Well, since you won't marry me or live with me I guess I'll just have to fend for myself. Don't worry about it. I can make it as a freelance writer”.

“You're that good?”

“Yes, yes I am”.

“What will you write about?”

“Anything I want. That's the beauty of freelancing . For instance, right now Nautilus Beach wants casino gambling. There are those who support it and those who are against it. I see the possibility of say, two or three articles for a few magazines”.

“What magazines?”

“Oh, let's see. There's Casino life, Casino Gambling International and Casino world, just to mention a few”.

“Got it all figured out, don't you?”

“Yep”

“Do what you want. I need to use your telephone”.

“Go right ahead, like I said, I've got to attend to a roast.”

That evening, Mary served salad of orange and endive, a crown roast of lamb with garlic potatoes, carrots and glazed onions. For desert there was crème brule. “I hope everyone enjoyed their dinner”, said Mary.

“Thank you for choosing lamb Mary. That was very thoughtful of you”, said Sharon.

“I wanted your farewell dinner to be something special”, Mary replied.

“Let's not say farewell. Hopefully we'll see each other again”.

“Hell yes. Maybe this hardheaded son of a bitch will wise up and ask you to marry him. You could spend your honeymoon in Australia”, said Doc Edwards.

“Don't go starting an argument, you old goat”, said Wallace.

“You know, it's a shame that killer didn't shoot you in the head instead of your hip. If he had the bullet would have just have bounced off”, Edwards replied.

“I suppose that you're anxious to get home”, said Mary changing the subject.

“Actually, yes. I have my patients to consider, although they have been seeing an associate of mine. Then there are times when the Western Australia Police ask for me. At the same time Manfred has to get established in Rockingham”, explained Sharon.

“Have you figured out what you are going to do there Doc?”, asked Wallace.

“Hey, Australia is kind enough to let me enter as a pathologist so I'll take whatever job I can find in that field of medicine. At the same time I'll refresh the old brain and catch up on geriatrics, take the test and open a practice”.

“It must be nice to know what the future holds”, said Mary sadly.

“I hope the future has a quick sale of our house here. Manfred was lucky enough to sell his old automobile. He won't tell me just how much he received, but I know he got more than what the car was worth”, said Sharon.

“I got