Torn Tears

"I Love You"

Lucas aims my gun between the mayor's eyes. His clenched jaw show his anger, but his slightly shaking hands, curled around the gun give away his fear.

"You bastard." He spits.

If I didn't know Lucas, I wouldn't question the quick death of the mayor. But Lucas isn't a killer. I don't think he ever could be, no matter what the man before us has put him through.

"Such harsh words from such a young criminal." Garrison chastises.

Lucas replies with a fluently offensive tongue. Jess flinches like she's never heard the words. Probably not from Lucas anyway.

"You aren't really going to shoot me. Soon enough my officers will come to my rescue and you'll all be dead." He looks directly at me. "A shame for you, Greenmark. You had such potential before you started getting sloppy seconds with that Clearwater girl."

The second it takes for Lucas to glance at me is all the time it takes for Garrison to tackle Lucas. The gun falls from Lucas's hand. Jess drops to her knees and makes a dive for the gun, successfully snatching it from Garrison's reach.

I glance down the hall behind us. Guards should be coming. Unless they secretly all despise the mayor, they should be coming.

Garrison cries out as Lucas manages to land a good blow to Garrison's jaw. Lucas throws the mayor off then launches himself on the mayor. Lucas relentlessly pounds Garrison. I look over my shoulder and swear violently. Four officers are finally coming.

From the corner of my eye, I see Jess making sure the safety feature is turned off on the gun. I can't tell if she'll have the nerve to fire at anyone. She'll only get one shot. I know how many bullets I have and how many Lucas already used.

The officers stop short as Jess aims the gun at Garrison's head. If she's a good shot, she could just miss Lucas with her aim and only hit Garrison. I have no idea if she's even shot a gun before.

"Don't think for a second I won't shoot." She warns in a firm voice.

"You don't want the blood of the mayor on your hands, little girl." An officer--one of the ones who beat me--tells her with a smirk on his face.

Jess has a phenomenal poker face, or isn't phased by the officers words, or she's beyond the scruples of killing a guilty man. I'm not sure which at all.

Her eyes are burning with rage. Her body is taut with tension. "If you think I care enough about my conscience not to shoot, you obviously do not know how I work."

A different officer tries to step past us.

Jess moves her finger to the trigger. She does not squeeze it. She does not take her eyes off her target. I assume she trusts me enough to protect her from the cops.

Apparently just noticing the newest commotion, Lucas glances up to Jess. His eyes widen and his mouth parts with utter shock. His eyes move past Jess to the cops. A new emotion takes place of his shock--fear. A screech tears from his throat as a tall cop barrels through Jess and me and fires his gun.

Lucas falls from Garrison as a second shot from a different gun rings out.

*****

The pain is immediate and blinding. I'm not sure if my eyes are open or not until someone's kneeling over me, tightly gripping my hands. My eyes open to see Jess's, streaming tears.

There should be cops around, but I don't hear any.  Just Jess telling me I have to stay alive, that she can't live without me.

"I love you." I murmur. Moving my mouth hurts, though my injury is through the front of my right shoulder.