“Why not? She shot my son, Margo!”
“And she shot my daughter with a deadly malaria parasite. And she shot at all the children and hit Creed twice and heck—she even hurt Maze. But Theo, we can’t just leave her out there to die. That’s what Williams would do. That is wrong, and we are better than that.” Margo remained standing, shoulders back and resolved.
Evan and Alik quietly stood during the exchange and were now on either side of their mother, protectively.
“Don’t worry, Dr. Andrews. We’ll bring her back safely.” Alik’s voice was steady. Evan nodded in agreement.
In that moment, the two human men, Paulie—who had stayed out of the most recent conversation—and Theo, were both struck by the magnificence that was Evan and Alik. They were both so much stronger than their mother. Alik looked like he could squash the life out of anything that stood in his way—so tall and built like a bodybuilder’s trainer. Evan had been growing like a radish seed. He stood nearly as tall as his brother now, and had a naturally athletic, runner’s body. He was lean, but muscular with chiseled facial features that were beginning to need a good shave.
Paulie and Theo said nothing more, so struck were they by the gravity of the moment.
Margo looked up at both of her boys who followed her without question and smiled. “Let’s go find her, boys.”
The three walked out of the house and closed the door securely behind them.
“I don’t know about you, but I have a wicked headache coming on.” Paulie stood slowly and stretched, looking suddenly, all of his sixty-six years of age. “Gotta go get some medicine or it’ll turn into a migraine.” The old doctor shuffled out of the room leaving Theo alone.
He held his head in his hands and tried to breathe deeply. How could he get her to understand he only wanted to protect her? Sighing deeply, he stood and walked to the window, hoping to watch for her to return soon because he wasn’t going to be able to think about anything until she did.
Outside, the sunlight was fading fast. Not sure how to proceed, Margo lead the boys to where the gunfire originated the night they brought Meg home. You didn’t have to be a tracker to see the bullets stuck in tree trunks and remnants of a makeshift nest where the shooter had stayed. Nor was it difficult to conclude she had been shot. There was a bloodstained, army-green cloth tossed carelessly to the ground nearby.
“She’s hurt. I must have hit her that when I shot blindly into these bushes. Oh my goodness, I hope she’s not—” Margo’s voice caught in her throat.
“She’s a meta, mom. Wherever she was shot, she has a much better chance of survival just because she’s stronger and probably a faster healer than a human,” Evan said encouragingly.
“We’ll find her,” Alik said confidently. “She’s a soldier, trained to survive. She probably had a campsite with supplies hidden not too far from here. Didn’t you say the sniper’s shots came from up there?” Alik pointed to the hill north of Paulie’s house.
“Yes, I think so from the angle Cole was shot,” Margo nodded.
“Okay, let’s try that way.” Alik began walking toward the hill.
Not wanting to draw attention to themselves, they decided not to call out to the injured girl. If she were okay, then she surely wouldn’t answer their calls anyway. If she were seriously hurt, she was probably unable to answer their calls. Either way, yelling “Farrow, where are you?” across the hills of the Big Island smacked of a bad idea. So instead, the three kept watching for signs of the girl.
They didn’t have to go very far.
Twenty yards from the first nest they found was a second—except, this one was more like a ditch between a large boulder and a tree root. There was the girl, still dressed in camo fatigues, curled up in fetal position.
“Oh, dear God,” Margo said softly.
Evan and Alik exchanged worried looks.
“Farrow? Honey, are you okay?”
Leave it to mom to act as though she found a lost camper instead of a deadly assassin, Alik thought but said nothing.
Farrow didn’t move.
Margo climbed down closer to the girl and tried to rouse her again.
“Farrow? Farrow, wake up. We’re here to help you.”
Again, there was no response.
Evan and Alik climbed down in to the crevice to help. Evan, ever the doctor, reached down with his two fingers and tried to find a pulse in the girl’s neck.
“Her pulse is weak, but it’s there,” Evan said.
“Look at her stomach,” Alik cringed sympathetically as he could see from his angle a blood soaked area on the front of her fatigues. Her hands were holding her stomach, as though she did her best to stop her own bleeding.
“Oh, goodness. She’s a mess!” Margo breathed worriedly. “Alik, can you carry her?”