Fractured Eden (28 page)

                                         
Chapter 54

Earlier that night, someone was screaming outside. Buck Bogarty opened his eyes.
Was that a nightmare?

He sat up in bed and listened.
No, it’s not a dream.

Buck got out of bed, threw on clothes and shoes, and met his mother in the living room.

“Someone’s outside,” Buck said.

Sandra pulled her robe tight. “Are you going out there?”

“I’ll check it out.”

“Please be careful.”

Buck opened the front door and peered out. “Somebody help us,” a woman yelled.

Buck ran out into the front yard and saw two women standing in the street, several houses away. As he sprinted toward them, he saw one of the women gesturing and talking on a cell phone, and then he spotted flames shooting through the roof of a house.

“Please help me. My child and husband are in there,” a woman said to Buck. She coughed after she spoke. Her nightgown was burned black in several places and her hair was singed.

Buck ran to the house, stopped at the front door, and turned to the woman behind him. “Where are they?”

“To the right and down the hallway,” the woman said between coughs. “The two rooms off the hallway.”

Buck took a deep breath, lifted the bottom of his shirt over his mouth and nose, and ran in through the front door. He danced around a burning couch and avoided falling chunks of ceiling. His eyes burned from the hot smoke, and he coughed as he made it to the hallway at the right of the living room. Holding his breath, he turned into the first room, which was filled with smoke. Feeling his way to a bed, his hand came across a small leg on the mattress. He forced his arms under the body of a child and jogged out of the room, bouncing off walls along the way. He dodged falling flames and weaved his way back to the front door and outside to the yard, where he stopped and gasped for air. As the woman took her child from Buck, the second woman ran up behind him and beat his back with her hands.

“Your shirt is on fire,” she said.

“Thanks.” He turned to the woman with the child. “You said someone else is in there?”

“My husband, in the next room over.” Buck jogged back to the front door.

“God bless you,” she said.

Buck took a deep breath, covered his mouth and nose with his shirttail, and plunged once more into the house. Smoke now filled the living room, and he could no longer make out objects in the room. An acrid smell burned his nose and eyes. Squeezing the shirt over his mouth and nose, he charged forward, trying to follow from memory his previous route. He banged against furniture and walls several times before feeling the doorway opening to the child’s room. Groping his way further along the wall, he tripped and fell through another doorway and landed on the floor on his stomach. He heard a siren outside approaching the house.

I need to breathe.

He rolled over on his back. Through watery eyes, he saw a flame falling toward him and then he felt a heavy weight crushing his chest . . .

                                         
Chapter 55

Aaron knocked on the door of Sandra Bogarty’s house the day after the fire. Several other cars were parked outside along the street.

“Come in,” she said and opened the door wide. Her eyes were red from crying.

Aaron stepped inside. “I’m so sorry about Buck.”

She started to sob into a tissue, and Aaron put his arm around her shoulders. They walked to a couch nearby.

“He had just joined the Army.” She could speak only a few words at a time between sobs. “He was so proud . . . He didn’t want to be like his father . . . He wanted to do good.”

“He was an amazing young man. He will be missed.”

“The firefighters said . . . they’re going to give him . . . give me . . . a medal for his courage.”

“He so deserves that honor. He was a true hero. He saved a child’s life.”

She nodded and smiled. “That’s just like Buck. He was my hero.”

Aaron leaned closer to her. “I think a lot of people are better for having known Buck Bogarty.”

Aaron walked out to his car through a light rain with his head down.
Could I ever do anything brave like what Buck did?

Race Taggett’s eyes appeared before him, and a chill went through his chest.

Can I possibly be brave against him?

      
That night, Aaron lay wide awake on his bed. At times, he sat up and paced around the room. An owl hooted outside.

Why am I doing this? I should clear out of here.
He nodded.
I’ll take Rachel with me. We’ll start a new life.

He sat on the edge of the bed with his head in his hands.
Face the truth, you idiot. You’re not brave like Buck Bogarty.

He slapped his thighs.
Damn it, I went to medical school to be a doctor. I just want to be a doctor.

He moaned and clenched his fists.

What did I get myself into? I don’t want to die here.

                                         
Chapter 56

Two days later, Aaron had made his decision. He called Rachel, who was home from the hospital.

“How are you recovering?” Aaron said.

“I feel fine, just a little weak still.”

“I’ve made a decision. I have to get out of here.”

Rachel was quiet.

“Since I moved here, I’ve been shot at and almost killed with a machete, and I even lost my mind for a while. Then you almost died because of me, and that was the last straw. This place isn’t good for me.”

“You must do what you think is right,” Rachel said.

“It’s not about being right or not. I just don’t want to die. I’m not a match for Race Taggett. You understand that, don’t you?”

“I understand that many people would react the same way.”

“Please come with me, or join me later.”

Rachel paused. “No. I can’t do that. My place is here. This is where I belong.”

“But I want to be with you.”

“I know.”

Aaron sighed. “All right, but I’m coming back for you. I’ll call you later.”

That afternoon, Aaron left a voicemail message for Stella that he wouldn’t be in to his clinic the next day and that he’d call her later with an update. After boarding his dog, Red, at a pet hotel, Aaron fled from East Texas in his packed car, heading in the general direction of Connecticut. In the rearview mirror, he saw the Piney Woods recede and then disappear.

“Goodbye, Big Thicket, and good riddance.”

He left the radio off, as his mind was preoccupied.

I’m doing the right thing. I’m okay. Even Rachel said this may be something I should do. Isn’t that what she said?

He shook his head.
She didn’t sound exactly excited for me. Maybe that’s because she’ll miss me?

After sunset, when the Big Thicket was far behind him, Aaron pulled into a roadside motel somewhere in the Midwest. His head was in a fog from recent sleepless nights as he jogged through a misty rain to the lobby door, 

“Are you checking in for the night?” the registration clerk said.

“Yes, one night.”

The clerk studied Aaron as she typed on her computer screen. She leaned over the counter toward him.

“Can I ask you a question?”

Aaron glanced up. “Sure.”

“What are you running from?”

Aaron’s eyes flew open.
Wow, I’ve heard that question before. It must be obvious.

He coughed into his hand. “A bad situation.”

“In my years here, I’ve seen many a person running from something.”

“I’ll bet you have.”

“Do you want to know what I’ve learned?”

Aaron cocked his head.
What if I said no?

“Sometimes it’s for the best. Most of the time it’s not.”

Aaron checked into his room and fell onto the bed. He lay there for hours, staring at the ceiling. Faces of people he’d met in East Texas floated across his vision.

He sat up and placed his hands over his ears.
But I can’t go up against Race. There’s no way I could win.

His thoughts kept coming back to Buck Bogarty, dying in the fire to save a life, and Rocky Donnigan, shielding Preston Benningham from a hail of bullets.

After staring at his reflection in the bathroom mirror for a while, his legs wobbled, his head started to spin, and he fainted onto the floor.

Aaron opened his eyes to the morning housekeeper shaking his body. “Sir, are you okay?”

He raised his head from a pool of clotted blood that spread over most of the tile floor in front of the toilet.

“I need to get you to the hospital,” she said.

Aaron stood and looked around the bathroom and felt his pulse. “No, I think I’m all right.” In the mirror, he saw the scar on his jaw oozing blood and pressed his hand against it. “I must’ve passed out and hit my face on the toilet. At least, the bleeding has slowed.”

“Don’t worry about the blood. I’ll clean everything up. Stay here, and I’ll bring you a bandage.”

Aaron changed into clean clothes, and the housekeeper returned in several minutes with a first aid kit and bandaged his jaw wound.

“You might need to see a doctor. I can call the ambulance for you, no problem,” she said.

Aaron studied the look of concern in her eyes. He smiled and shook his head. “That won’t be necessary. It’s not an emergency. You see, I’m a doctor. I know it looks like a lot of blood, but the bleeding has stopped and I feel all right. I’ll drink a lot of liquids today.”

She led him to the bed. “Well, you rest here while I clean up the room.”

Aaron watched as she mopped and wiped down the bathroom. She brought him water and checked on him at intervals.

When she was done, she gathered her supplies and stopped in front of him. “I don’t know what happened to you last night, but if you’re in trouble, I pray you’ll be okay.”

       Aaron nodded. “Thanks for helping me. You didn’t panic or wimp out or run away. You did the right thing, didn’t you? You did what needed to be done.”

She smiled. “I always try to.” She stepped toward the door and then turned back to him. “You take care. If you need anything, call the front desk and ask for me, Hazel.” She pointed to her nametag.

After the housekeeper left, Aaron paced around the room for a while and then sat down on the edge of the bed. He mumbled and groaned and rocked his body.

As time passed, he nodded or shook his head at intervals. Then his body became still, his head bowed.

Aaron slapped his thighs and walked to the bathroom mirror.
All right. Running away won’t help. It would just make everything worse, for me, for my life, maybe even for Rachel.

He sighed.
Besides, my enemies always seem to find me anyway.

Aaron stared at the man in the mirror. “I know what I have to do.”

                                         
Chapter 57 

Later that afternoon, Aaron arrived early to Buck Bogarty’s funeral.

He surveyed the crowd and chose a spot on a pew toward the back of the church sanctuary. So many people showed up, the church had standing room only, and some folks couldn’t get in through the entrance doors. As Aaron had expected, the service was moving and many people cried.

At the end of the service, Aaron bowed his head and tightened his jaw.
I’ll be strong like you, Buck Bogarty.

As he filed out with the crowd, someone tapped his shoulder from behind.

“Were you in a fight?” It was Grant Belkin.

Aaron touched his jaw bandage. “Oh, no. Just a minor accident.”

Grant walked with him along a short stretch of the sidewalk. He touched Aaron’s arm again and they stopped.

“There’s somethin’ different about you, Doc.”

Aaron nodded. “I hope so.”

“Well, I sure wouldn’t want to get into a battle with you.” Grant smiled and walked away.

Daniel walked past Aaron, staring at the ground.

“Daniel,” Aaron said as he caught up with him. “This has got to be hard on you.”

Daniel stopped and looked at Aaron. His eyes were reddened. “It’s just not fair. So much isn’t fair.

“You can carry on for him.”

Daniel put his hands into his pockets. “Do you believe in God?”

“Sure, I do. That’s the only way things make sense to me.”

Daniel threw out his hands in front of him. “What about any of this makes sense?”

Aaron sighed. “I don’t pretend to have the answers.” He leaned toward Daniel. “But I do know this: you’ve got to carry on for Buck, to honor his memory.”

Daniel gazed up at the sky. As people filed past them, the two men stood side by side.

After several minutes, Daniel turned to Aaron and straightened his back. “You’re right, sir, and I will.”

Aaron thought of the oath Daniel had sworn with his boyhood friends. “Remember: ‘Follow your dreams and live with courage, so you can die with dignity.’ ”

Daniel saluted.

Aaron smiled at him.
Daniel will follow his dreams with courage, all right. I don’t think PTSD will hold him back.

He watched Daniel walk away. “I want to honor Buck’s memory, too,” Aaron said under his breath.

That evening, Aaron knocked on Rachel’s door. He’d decided to pay her a surprise visit.

His heart raced as heard her dogs barking.
I hope she doesn’t boot me out of here.

Rachel opened the door and her jaw dropped. “Aaron.”

He took a deep breath. “Will you have me back?”

She smiled, her dimples deepening. “Come on in.” She closed the door after him. “You’re hurt. Are you all right?”

He swelled his chest. “Never been better.”

“How did you get injured?”

“I had a fall. I think it knocked some sense into me.”

She grabbed his arm. “I’m glad you’re back. I like that look in your eyes.”

“There’s something I have to do.”

“I know.” She leaned closer to him. “We’ll both be ready.”

“Remember, he wants me, not you, but we have to wait it out.” Aaron sighed. “Race Taggett is playing games with me.”

“We’ll just live like normal until it’s time.”

Aaron looked down. “I might not live through it.”

Rachel shook his arm. “Don’t think about that. I can tell; you’re stronger now.”

Aaron nodded. “I feel that way, but I’ll need some help, from deep inside me, and from outside me, too.”

Rachel hugged him. “I have faith in you and your outside help. And anyway, there’s still hope that the Texas Rangers will get him first.”

“I’m not holding my breath.”