Weapons of Mass Distraction (24 page)

It may have been something in my subconscious, sounds that I’d heard in my sleep and not yet processed, or maybe even my sixth sense, but I felt a presence that wasn’t welcome, and knew it wasn’t Barney paying a visit. My first instinct was to throw back the covers and scream. My next instinct, and the one I followed, was to stay very motionless and pretend I was still asleep until I knew what was going on, or what I faced. It would be just my luck to assault Solomon on a surprise visit, not that he was in a habit of doing that, and certainly never while I was asleep in bed. So, I took a few seconds to allow my body to wake up while I inspected what I could see of the room from behind my eyelashes. My dresser, the cute velvet tub chair I found on sale, my day clothes folded over the arm, the open door… the pair of legs.

The legs stepped closer and from behind them came a gloved hand, and a glint of steel.

My heart thumped wildly.

Another step closer.

The body leaned in.

I sat up, and screamed as loud as my lungs would let me before belting the intruder with a pillow that I grabbed with my left hand. I watched in terrified satisfaction as my assailant stumbled backwards, probably bewildered. But a pillow certainly wasn’t enough. As I threw back the bedding and scrambled to my feet, he lunged towards me, and this time, his ski-masked face came close to mine, the head-butt glancing off my cheekbone and sending me crashing against the wall. My knees threatened to give way and my body pounded as I cried out, wincing with the pain that shot through my shoulder where I jarred it.

I kicked out as he approached, planting my foot squarely on his chest with a resounding slap, and knocking him backwards. He stumbled, grunting, and came at me again, slashing the knife. I barely heard the whisper it made as it cut through the air, but I screamed again and again. Blocking his hand with my left, I punched with my right, the blow glancing off his forehead. I dropped to my knees, however, when he landed a punch with his closed fist.

As I fell, I spied the gun. Grabbing it, my thumb scrambled at the safety, missing it once, twice… got it! I fired.

“Oh, fuck!” screamed the man, staggering backwards, his attention now on his side, which he clasped. He looked up and I saw his eyes, just the whites of them against the dark. “You bitch! You fucking bitch!”

I raised the gun, and steadied it, as I got shakily to my feet. I looked down on him, both of us frozen. “Next time it’s between the eyes,” I warned him, my voice steadier than I felt. Whether I was bluffing or not, I couldn’t be sure. Crucially, neither was he. “I won’t miss,” I cautioned him, hoping my legs would support me for a few minutes more.

He gave a grunt, walked unsteadily backwards, and started to leave the room. A moment later, he returned, except this time, he was… retreating? Despite still having the gun pointed at him, he didn’t turn around.

From my vantage point on the bed, my back pressed against the wall, I couldn’t see why he didn’t turn around to face the danger that was before him — me. Then he stepped to one side and I saw a figure in a hockey mask holding a chainsaw. He ripped the cord and the damn thing powered up, the sound vibrating through the room.

“What kind of freakshow is this?” yelled the knife-wielding assailant at the hockey-masked chainsaw guy. “Are you frickin’ nuts?”

Assailant number two stepped inside the room and waved the chainsaw at the knifeman who lunged this side and that, stepping backwards. With one last look at me, the knifeman turned and leaped through my window. One curtain ripped from the pole, and glass splintered in all directions as he escaped. He didn’t look back, but took off at a run.

That left me with a chainsaw-wielding intruder. I raised my gun again. “I shot him!” I yelled. “I’ll shoot you too!” Barney padded in and sat down. The hockey mask dipped as the figure looked down at him. “If you hurt the dog, I’ll definitely shoot you!” I screamed.

The chainsaw stopped and the man carefully set it down on my bedroom floor. He stayed low, rubbing Barney on the head as he reached for his mask. When he stood up, I could have screamed in relief if I hadn’t been all screamed out. “Aidan!” I wailed, lowering my gun.

“Barney woke me. He knew you was in trouble, I think,” he said. “He brought me a copy of my
Jason
DVD and wouldn’t stop jumping on me until I followed him. I saw someone moving in your house so I grabbed my chainsaw and came right over. I followed Barney and your kitchen door was open.”

“Oh, thank you, thank you. Barney, you brilliant dog.” I scrambled from the bed, lurching towards them.

Aidan stepped back and pointed at the gun. “I promise not to shoot,” I told him. “I’m all done shooting tonight,” I added as the police siren cut through the still night air.

“I called the police,” Aidan said and Barney’s tail gave a thump.

“I hear them.”

“C’mere.” Aidan held his arms out and I stepped into them, allowing him to fold me into his warmth for a couple of minutes, right up until half of MPD burst through the doors. They threw Aidan to the floor, diving on him. After the last man landed, Barney climbed on top and rested his head on a police officer’s back.

Daniel was the next man through the door. He looked at the tangle of bodies, then at me, then down again. I followed his eyes, feeling like I was having an out of body experience. “Sis, you’re bleeding,” he said. I responded by blinking before I went dizzy, and Daniel caught me just before I hit the floor.

~

“I didn’t faint,” I said, ten minutes later, as we sat at my small kitchen table. Daniel looked up from the bandage he was taping to my forearm and raised his eyebrows. “I didn’t lose unconsciousness,” I continued to protest. “I just wanted a ride to the kitchen. All that breaking, entering, and fighting was hard work.”

“You’re lucky this was just a surface wound. Glad you see the funny side,” said Daniel.

He didn’t get to finish because a voice behind him said, “I sure as hell don’t.”

I looked up and gave my next visitor a weak smile. “Hey, Maddox.”

“Hey, yourself,” said Maddox, squeezing through the officers, now crowding my kitchen. They’d given us a little room so Daniel could clean my small knife wound, and someone had smartly cordoned off my bedroom after ten officers, one sore Aidan, and Barney trooped out. Aidan had the third chair and Barney was safely under the table where no one would trip over him. The gun was between us. I didn’t know where the chainsaw was. Maddox rounded the table, and after checking Daniel’s handiwork, pulled me into a fierce hug. “You have no idea how scary it was hearing your address being announced over the radio.”

“I bet it wasn’t as scary as a man with a knife in my bedroom at three a.m.”

“What the hell happened?”

“I don’t know. It’s all a big blur, and it happened so fast. I heard something, or maybe it was my sixth sense. I don’t know.”

“Oh sweetheart, that’s not sixth sense, that’s common sense. If someone is in your bedroom uninvited, he’s not there to turn down the covers and kiss you goodnight.”

“Yeah, okay, well, something woke me up and there he was. How did he get in?”

Maddox looked over his shoulder. “ Anyone? How did this creep get into Lexi’s house?”

“I found tool marks on the front door lock,” said a uniform somewhere in my hallway, past the small crowd that had gathered. “Is cousin Lexi okay?”

“Siobhan, is that you?” I called back.

“Yeah, it’s me. Oh, Jord is here. Hey, Jord!”

“Hey, Jord,” the crowd chorused as my brother made his way past them.

“The kitchen door was open,” said Aidan, who was following the conversation keenly. “That’s how I got in.”

“Guess he tried the front, couldn’t get it open, then went in the back,” said Daniel, abandoning my arm to check the door behind me. He pulled on a fresh pair of gloves, opened it and examined the damage. “Looks like your lock is busted. We’ll get them both dusted for prints,” he added, retrieving an icepack from the fridge for my cheek on his way back.

When Jord finally made it to the kitchen, he was in uniform, although his days wearing it were numbered since passing his exams with flying colors. All he needed now was a spot to open up and he’d be joining our other brothers in suits. “What the hell?” he said, looking at me, then at Maddox. “There’s an ambulance out front. I thought you were dead.”

“Surface wound,” I told him, holding up my arm. I got some “ohs” and some “aws” from my audience, which abruptly silenced after a scowl from Maddox. It was nice that they all cared enough to stick around, although I had to admit, this was prime gossip material for the station too.

“She was lucky,” said Daniel, again. “She fought off her attacker.”

“I shot him,” I said, bluntly.

“Did you hit him?” asked Jord.

“You bet. I kicked him too.”

"I meant with a bullet."

I nodded. "Yep." There was a small round of applause as I confirmed my shot.

“Who processed the bedroom?” asked Maddox. There were some mumbles and a few looks around, but no one came forward. “Out!” he yelled, backing them up as he pressed forwards. “This is now a crime scene. Out. Every single one of you is corrupting the evidence here. Get out!”

“You heard him,” said another familiar voice. This time, Garrett appeared in the doorway. “This is like a Graves family convention. Hey, Uncle Dermot! Siobhan, good to see you. One shooting and they all come running,” he said, upon entering the kitchen. “I’ve seen three of our uncles and four cousins.”

My cousin, Siobhan, edged through the doorway, looking serious. “I’ve got uniforms perusing the perimeter looking for evidence,” she told us. “Uncle Dermot is going to stand guard on the kitchen door and Uncle Luke is posted at your bedroom window. I’m taking the front.”

“Who died and put you in charge?” asked Garrett, reminding me of their familiar childhood bickering.

“I put me in charge since you’re all hanging out, doing nothing,” replied Siobhan.

“Can I make you a coffee?” I asked and she nodded.

“Can I get a coffee too?” asked Garrett.

“Are you doing anything?” I asked, pausing on my way to fill the pot. “Don’t give me that mean look. Siobhan is organizing everything here. She gets coffee.”

“Dammit. I was across town, Lexi. In bed. I got here as soon as I could. You’re taking this real well, I might add. And just so you don’t think I’m mad at Siobhan, I recommended to her superior that it was about time she took her exams. She’ll make a great detective.”

“That’s nice of you, she’ll appreciate that.” I added a filter and ground beans and made sure there was enough water. “I don’t know how else to take all this. I’ve never dealt with something like it before. I don’t know what else to do.” I turned the coffee maker on and resumed my position at the table.

“Maddox, we’ll split the duties on this one, okay? Since I’m guessing you’re not planning on leaving,” said Garrett. Both men looked toward me, waiting for me to say something.

“I’m happy for Maddox to stay. The more the merrier.” I looked around my full kitchen to the dark presence of my Uncle Dermot at the kitchen door. As if realizing he was being observed, he turned and waved. I waved back. Truth be told, I wanted everyone here. I wanted the house full of people. People who would never raise a hand to me, let alone a knife. I put my hands in my lap to stop them shaking as I realized the longer people were here,  the longer I could delay the time when I would have to stop and think about what I’d been through. I hated the idea of being alone tonight. I hated the idea someone got into my home and the possibility that the outcome could have been so much worse.

“Maddox, you take Lexi’s statement and see if anyone else heard anything. Lexi, Daniel and I are going to go through your room and the house, looking for evidence until the forensic team gets here.”

“You might find blood splatter in my bedroom,” I said, pretending not to notice as my brothers and Maddox tried not to wince when I added, “Mine and his.”

“I’ll take Aidan’s statement,” volunteered Jord, and Aidan nodded his agreement. Now I thought about it, I felt the two of them would get on pretty well. Who knew that all it took to get a pair of bros together was an attempted murder and a chainsaw-wielding rescuer?

“We can go to my place. Barney has to go to bed or he’ll sleep all day,” he explained. “If you need anything, just scream your head off, okay, neighbor?” he said, nudging me with a reassuring smile. I stood and hugged him, looking up at him so he could read my lips as I said, “Thank you for coming to my rescue.”

“Anytime.” Aidan gave me one last squeeze, then Barney sniffed my knees and licked my palm and they were gone too, along with Jord. With the rest of the force outside, Garrett and Daniel processing my room, and the kitchen empty, Maddox sat in the chair adjacent to me. Lifting my hand, he took a deep breath.

“Did anything happen that you didn’t want to tell your family about?” he asked, his voice low and serious.

“Like what?”

Maddox flapped a hand and sucked in a breath. “Did he assault you in any way? Did he…”

“Sexually? No. No, he didn’t.”

“Okay. I had to ask. Okay, then.” Maddox exhaled, seeming relieved. “I need to take your statement. We’ve done this before. Try not to think about it too much. Just start from the moment you woke. Ready?”

“Is anyone ever?” I asked.

“Not always, but they usually brave it out anyway.”

I nodded, starting, “I woke up and I sensed someone in the room…” I was just finishing explaining to Maddox what happened, pausing several times to answer his questions — Did the guy call me by name? Did he issue any threats? Did he say anything? — when I looked up, and found Solomon staring down at me. Normally, he had a poker face, utterly unreadable, and though tonight was much the same, I saw the veins on his neck standing out, and his chin appeared stiff, while his mouth was set in a thin line. I had never seen Solomon looking so alarmed before, and we had endured some pretty dire situations. Maddox glanced over, following my gaze, and nodded a greeting. He turned back to the statement he’d written, studying it.