Ill Intent: A Medical Thriller (Brad Parker and Karen Richmond Medical Thrillers) by Geoffrey M. Cooper

Author:Geoffrey M. Cooper [Cooper, Geoffrey M.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Maine Authors Publishing
Published: 2021-11-14T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 23

By the time we reached Millie’s and found someone who could let us into a room, I was overcome by exhaustion. Partly physical, but mostly emotional. As hard as I tried, I couldn’t clear my head of the image of Horton falling to the ground with my bullets in his chest.

I collapsed onto the bed, still dressed, and closed my eyes, hoping for sleep. But Horton kept dying in front of me, again and again. By the time Karen had used the bathroom and was ready to join me, I was about to give up on sleep and go find a drink somewhere. Maybe alcoholic oblivion would do the trick.

She sat next to me and stroked my head. “I know what you’re going through. But you have to remember, he didn’t give you any choice. There wasn’t anything else you could have done.”

I rolled over to look at her. “Aren’t there always choices? I could have stayed in the car like you told me to.”

“And then what? He might well have killed all five of us down there. We were trapped, and you saved us.” She bent over and kissed me gently. “You’re a good man, Brad Parker. And I love you.”

I knew she was right. And it helped, but not enough to dissipate the horror I felt at what I’d done.

“I never asked you this before,” I said, “but did you ever have to shoot anyone?”

“Once, when I was in the Boston PD. I’d only been on the force a year, and we got a call complaining about screaming and fighting in an apartment building. When we got to the scene, we found a man with a knife threatening his wife, who was curled up in the corner, beaten and crying. When the guy saw us, he grabbed a little girl, maybe ten or so, and held the knife to her throat while he screamed at us to leave him alone. My partner and I tried to talk him down, but suddenly he threw the girl aside and went for my partner with the knife. I yelled at him to stop, but then he was on my partner, and I had no choice.” She paused for a deep breath. “The only clear shot I had was at his head, and I took it.”

“He’d have killed your partner if you hadn’t,” I said.

“Yes, but that didn’t make it any easier for me afterward. I was devastated, like you’re feeling now. It’s a terrible thing to take a life, not something you can just shrug off. And the man I killed wasn’t evil, just drunk and out of control. At least with Horton, you know he was a hired killer who’d murdered at least two innocent people. He deserved to die.”

“How’d you deal with it? Does the guilt ever go away?”

“Eventually. I went into therapy for six months. The department had someone who handled these cases. The Bureau does too, and I’m sure I can arrange something like that for you if you’d like.

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