CHAPTER 32 – Ink
The hospital had been my home for over a week now, I hadn’t left, a part of me feeling an irrational fear that if I did, something would happen to Gracie. I needed to know she was going to be okay before I could face what was happening outside the front doors.
Today was that day. She’d opened her eyes, she purged tears then, she smiled. That smile offered me the strength I needed to take the first step in our future. Pushing open the front door, I shivered at the icy chill in the air. The sky was blue though, the sun touching everything it could possibly reach. The ground before the hospital which was turned into a bloody mess a week ago was now covered in a thick layer of snow, all signs of death buried.
None of Harrigan’s men had been killed, their injuries superficial in comparison to Gracie’s. Only a slight limp was proof that a week ago I’d been shot in the thigh. Bruises decorated my body like a grotesque patchwork quilt, and I sported a few stitches which would leave scars. My body was stiff, and I couldn’t remember feeling so goddamned tired, but the stress of Jebediah’s attack was disappearing, leaving behind a much more welcomed feeling of calm.
Ice crunched under my feet as I headed for the open garage on the other side of the small field that Jebediah had tried to turn into some sick and twisted gladiator arena. Although the atrocities on this ground had also been buried under snow, a haunting chill filled the air, one not caused from the winter we were embracing. A place considered somewhat sacred to the people of Liberty had been tainted. I needed to figure out a way to fix that, and soon.
Harrigan stood at the doors to the garage. He stood amongst his men, a good head taller than everyone who surrounded him. His salt and pepper hair was a mess, and he looked tired, but it didn’t detract from the power he exuded. When he saw me approaching he immediately stepped away from his men and strolled toward me.
“She’s awake.”
It wasn’t a question, Harrigan knew I wouldn’t leave her side unless she’d made a considerable improvement. The tension in the man’s shoulders seemed to disappear with my nod. He truly cared for these people. Their wellbeing was as important as his own, even more so. Freeing the innocent people trapped in the Underworld had taken years of planning, and keeping those people safe was now an ongoing mission. Liberty’s invasion hurt him as much as it hurt us.
“You ready to visit Sean?”
The use of Trigger’s real name was like a punch to the gut. It reminded me he was a real person, someone’s son and brother, and once my best friend.
Was I ready to see him? Not even close.
Did I need to see him? Fuck yes, I did.
“Gracie had a suggestion.” Harrigan arched one graying brow in curiosity. “The Underworld.”
He grunted and smiled, the rarely used emotion softening the staunch commander. “I have contacts, we can get him in. It’s perfect, he betrayed the innocents, so we’ll give him a lifetime of what they endured. She’s strong, that girl of yours… smart, too.”
“You have no idea,” I agreed.
She was everything I could never be—compassionate and understanding, forgiving, generous, gentle. Some might suggest my gruff exterior and cold heart was too hard for her soft one, but the truth was, under all that supple kindness was an unbreakable strength. We fit each other perfectly.
Harrigan didn’t say anything else. Instead, he turned on his heel and began walking. I followed, each step becoming heavier and harder the closer we got to the storage facility where Trigger was being kept. A few people wandered about, fear evident in their weary faces. I offered what peace I could in the way of nods and smiles which probably resembled more of a grimace, but I didn’t have the right words to soothe them. Gracie would though, and once she was up and about, we’d begin fixing the damage Jebediah had done to our people.
Stepping into the large building, I followed Harrigan across the cement floor and through the wide open space. At a doorway, on the opposite side of the room, Harrigan pushed through and took the stairs leading into a narrow corridor with steel doors lining it. This was our form of a prison, five rooms we could use to isolate troublemakers. Until now, it had never been used. At the last door, two soldiers stood to attention. A key was offered, and with a sturdy hand, Harrigan unlocked it, then he moved aside.
Neither of us had spoken, but there was no need. We were both men of action rather than words, and comfortable in our silence. Turning the handle, I stepped into the room, closing the door behind me. The space was small, the only furniture a mattress against one wall and a bucket in the corner. The artificial light was stark and almost too bright, coming from the fluorescent tube in the ceiling. There was no window, no fresh air, and it stank. Adding to the despair of the room was Trigger, sitting on the end of the mattress, one leg outstretched, the other bent and an arm resting over his knee. He wasn’t chained, but he knew he was trapped and wouldn’t escape. He looked calm and unaffected by the fact he was a prisoner.
“Wondered if you’d show up. Actually, I thought you’d pussied out.”
Dark shadows rested beneath his eyes and he’d lost weight, but otherwise, he looked like the same ol’ Trigger. No injuries marred his body, unlike mine… unlike Gracie. Edwards had explained Trigger had been through the worst of the withdrawals from the NIM he had become addicted to. He’d also told me that during those withdrawals, Trigger had spilled many of his secrets. Apparently, he’d been contacted during one of our trips to Nelson by an associate of Jebediah’s. They wanted access to our compound, and Trigger was only too happy to oblige in exchange for money. What he intended to do with that money, none of us knew. He’d broken our trust, and he’d betrayed Liberty. Good people died because of his selfish choices.
“I talked to Gracie this morning,” I began, ignoring his attempt to taunt me. Trigger arched one brow but otherwise kept silent. “I wanted to kill you. Harrigan suggested a hanging. I felt like there was no punishment more deserving, after the lives lost because of your betrayal. It felt justified.”
Trigger smiled. “She won’t let me be killed, will she? Her heart is too soft,” he sneered, almost mockingly.
Chewing on my bottom lip, I allowed him a moment to think his freedom would somehow be granted because of Gracie’s compassion. He was expecting it. He exuded a strange kind of nervous, but at the same time excited energy which he was trying hard to conceal. Even though my girl was known for her kindness, she was also a fighter, a warrior, and that was something Trigger didn’t understand and completely underestimated.
“The Underground,” I murmured, the two words hanging over us in the otherwise silent room. Trigger’s smirk fell. His surprise, quickly followed by fear, was unexpectedly soothing on my battered soul. I wasn’t sure how Trigger’s punishment would affect me. We’d been as good as brothers for so many years, enduring all the trials soldiers bear together. Thinking of Gracie lying in the hospital, a hole in her chest which almost took her away from me, I grinned thinking of Trigger’s future. The prison was miles underground, and he’d be buried with the worst of the worst. Every day would be a battle, and he would never see the light of day again. It was poetic justice.
I’d come to Trigger thinking I needed to say something, to ask questions and try to understand why he did what he did. It wasn’t closure I needed, though. It wasn’t a goodbye or a speech packed with hatred and revenge, it was Gracie. I needed her and being away from her for just this short time was torture on my beaten soul. Turning, I reached for the door handle.
“That’s it?” Trigger spat out from behind me. “You’re not even going to ask me why?”
No, I wasn’t, I really didn’t care. The reason for his betrayal wouldn’t change anything, it wouldn’t bring back the lives lost. At one time his friendship had been true, but that was gone, and I was pleasantly numb toward him now.
“To be honest, I don’t really care. Enjoy what light you can find, Trigger, because the rest of your days will be spent in darkness.”
His shouts were muffled as the door slammed shut behind me. Harrigan fell into step beside me as we made our way out of the storage facility. With the sun once again on my skin, and Trigger’s temporary prison far behind me, I paused. The field before me was filled with the sound of laughter. A small group of children were taking advantage of the fine winter weather, the sound of their innocence and happiness wiping away the violent memories. Parents stood close by, looking as nervous as deer ready to bolt at the first sign of danger. But the children, they played without a care in the world.
“Ink!” Gracie’s little friend Jed broke away from the small gathering and took a few running steps toward me. “Where’s Grace?” he asked, pulling to an abrupt stop. His cheeks were flushed red from the sun, a small frown on his lips, his brows furrowed.
“Still in the hospital, but she’s feeling much better.”
“Maybe I could visit her.”
“I think she’d like that.”
Stuffing his hands in his back pockets, he shuffled in place, pushing slushy snow about with his worn shoes. “Is the ghost man really gone?” he asked, his voice low and cautious.
“He’s dead.”
Harrigan huffed out a breath of air from beside me, something that sounded like a cross between laughter and disbelief. Perhaps I shouldn’t have put it so bluntly, but as far as I was concerned, knowing the boogie man had been killed was the perfect way to pacify a child’s fear.
Jed nodded, still looking far too serious for his six years. “That’s good,” he simply said, turning his back on me and returning to his friends. Pausing a few feet away, he glanced back over his shoulder. “Tell Grace I saw a woodpecker today. I think it’s building a nest in the trees behind her cabin. We might have babies in the spring.” With that, he ran back out into the field.
“A child’s spirit is strong, they’re hard to break.” Harrigan’s words caught my attention, and I cast him a sideways glance. “They are the key to your future. They will help heal the heart of Liberty.”
My gaze drifted back to the field before us. A ground that had been bathed in blood, a war battled upon its icy cover. Those memories would fade, the wounds would heal, and though the scars might remain, they wouldn’t hurt anymore. Liberty was resilient, we would prevail. I wouldn’t allow it any other way.