Broken Mind Chapter 9
Read CH 8
Now, Chapter 9
Zach laid Carla's unconscious body on the couch. He looked at her lips, her hair, her body. He would enjoy seeing her naked again. But what if she didn't want him? What if she looked at him like Micki did? That look of disappointment, the one that wouldn't even give him a chance to be better.
"Stop," he spat, muttering to himself. "It's going to be fine. This was meant to be. It was meant to happen like this."
Zach's hand caressed her pant leg and before it got any higher, he stayed it reminding himself that she wasn't like the others. This was the original and he would need to treat her with care if he had any kind of a chance to win her back. He gently removed her side arm from the holster, putting it in the waistband behind his back. Seeing the cuffs a little farther back, Zach gently lifted Carla's hips and removed them as well.
He stood back and looked at her, the woman he should have loved more. Finally, it was all going to work. He would get his chance.
* * *
Grayson was insistent on riding along when he heard the news about Carla's car and Carl didn't have the time to argue against him. When they arrived at the scene, they both got out of the car, with Carl making a bee line to the tape ducking beneath it after flashing his badge. Grayson met with some resistance as he tried to do the same.
"He's with me," Carl bellowed at the officers holding Grayson back as he conferred with an officer.
Grayson trotted over to the two of them.
"We have a few witnesses, one of whom insisted that the man's car intentionally rear-ended Agent Genny's. The suspect then got out and stood in front of the driver's side window for a few moments."
"Was she conscious?" Carl asked.
"No one was able to say but a gentleman, that guy over there, claims he told the suspect that he better not move her in case she had some sort of neck injury. He said the guy turned dark on him, saying, quote," the officer looked at his notes, " 'Back off. She's mine. I'll take care of her.' "
Grayson didn't bother to hide his concern as he folded his arm and put his hand over his mouth.
"Let me talk to the guy," Carl insisted as he walked towards the man the officer pointed out.
Grayson moved to go with him and Carl put up his hand. "You stay here" he ordered.
Not about to argue, Grayson held up his hand in compliance as the other officer turned and walked away. He watched the interaction with Carl and the witness, assessing it with a critical eye, which helped to stem his worry. What didn't help was the look of genuine concern on the man's face as he seemed to reenact the scene he witnessed. Grayson rubbed his brow and calmed himself. Carla was a professional. She did this for a living and was one of the best. Zach may have gotten the drop on her but there was no way it would stay that way.
"Alright," Carl uttered as he walked back to Grayson. "It looks like the car was headed in the opposite direction of the hospital, which is what prompted Mr. Landers to call the police."
The young officer who briefed Carl came back and handed him a paper.
Carl eyed it and nodded. "Thanks officer--"
"Bailey, sir."
"Officer Bailey."
Carl signaled for Grayson to follow him back to the car.
"Zach's address."
"Good." Grayson responded as they got into the car and drove off.
* * *
Carla's head felt jumbled as she opened her eyes slowly, trying to blink away the haze. It took her body a minute to register the multiple points of pain as she remembered a little bit of what caused them. She was in her car, looking at notes one minute and the next, she was here. Despite the fact that she couldn't remember what happened in between, her body still registered that acute alertness that took over when someone or something was wrong.
There was a figure in front of her. A man from the way the body was positioned and held. It couldn't be Carl, could it?
"Finally, you're awake." his voice responded with relief.
It was a familiar tone. Carla quickly shook her head hoping it would force her eyes back in focus but all it did was awaken the pain in the middle of her forehead that felt warm. She lifted her hands to it and winced at the tenderness.
"Sorry I ran into you like that. I had to find a way to get your attention."
After a moment, a slow wave of realization washed over her.
"Zach?" Carla whispered harshly, trying to get up. She fought the pain that was dragging her back down to her initial repose but she couldn't afford to be on her back right now.
"I missed you, Carla. I—So many times I wanted to tell you I was here."
His voice was the same but his speech was a little altered, mouthier. Her vision was returning and she could see his face. It was Zach. After all this time.
"What the hell do you want? Where are we?"
Carla heard the anticipation in his voice as he spoke."It's been so long since I've seen you. I remember when you came to me at the hospital and took care of me after I got sick. You were so good.
"Hospital? Sick? What are you talking about? I never went to the hospital for you."
"You don't need to lie, Carla. I know you still loved me even though I treated you so badly. I know you wanted to come back to me but you were just scared."
Carla's head was still pounding as she listened to the dreaminess in Zach's voice. She had no idea what he was talking about. The last time she laid eyes on him was the day her friend Jana slammed the door in his face. The only time she had to borrow the courage of her friends to end things with him.
"Scared? I was never scared of you, Zach. You remember the last words you said to me, when I left you that day? You said I would never measure up. That was the last day I set eyes on you. Or even wanted to."
"Why are you lying, Carla?" His sharp tone made her head jerk up. "You came to me at the hospital, after I had my stroke. You came to my room, you took care of me. I saw you."
Stroke? Carla mused. When she left Zach she closed herself off from any and all of their mutual friends both for her personal safety and sanity. She didn't know anything and to convince him otherwise right now would be like trying to stop a merry-go-round on full speed. She would have to play along.
"You told me I didn't measure up. Would never measure up to her."
He rushed to kneel before her. "I know. I'm sorry. I--" he pursed his lips in contrition. "Jessie was, I should have known it was you. She wasn't who I thought she was. After you left, I found out she was...let me just say it. She was a whore. To think I loved her and gave up on you, when I realized, you stopped coming to visit me I had to find a way to get you back."
The way Zach was crowding her made her claustrophobic. She tried to get up.
"No no, don't."
"Zach, I have to. My legs are asleep." She lied.
He got up from his kneeling position and helped her to her feet. Carla looked up at him and gave him a weak smile. Her strength was slowly coming back but she needed more time.
"So you came here."
"I wanted to find a way to get you back. Dex told me you had moved here. He said he tried to convince you to stay but you had gotten it in your head."
Her older brother Dexter had always been a bane. All macho and no sense, especially when it came to emotions. If it wasn't about his balls or a gun, he didn't have any use for it.
With Zach holding her arm for support, Carla walked around for a bit. While she did need the movement, she also needed to assess her surroundings. No phone was readily visible and from what she saw there were only two points of entry, the closest being the front door. Her left side felt lighter which meant her firearm was gone. Zach may have a few screws loose but he was no idiot, she thought.
Carla looked at his face, which showed genuine concern. She tried to remember any such moment with him and came up blank. He was always more interested in his own thoughts and feelings and Jessie than he was about her. She was too young and in love to see him for what he was until her self-confidence and esteem were nothing more than shreds.
"I can see it in your eyes," Zach said dreamily. "You do still care. All the others I met here, they didn't do you justice, Carla."
She seized on that. "Others? So you were seeing other women while you were here for me, Zach."
"No it wasn't like that. I didn't love them. They were too...one woman was just so vulgar. She kept swearing at me every other word. Then there was this lady who was married. I had no idea. She invited me over to her place and then her daughter found us...None of them compared to you. I just couldn't be with them..."
Carla walked a bit straighter now.
"How many were there, Zach? How many women did it take for you to realize I was the one?
"It doesn't matter, Carla. Besides, you weren't exactly a nun. That tall guy with the black hair and blue eyes." Carla stopped dead. Zach had been following her and saw her with Grayson. For how long, she had no idea. "You two looked cozy."
"How did you--"
"He likes you. A lot, but I can tell you aren't into him as much."
That last statement hurt, especially since she remembered turning down Grayson's proposal.
"I can tell you aren't as committed to him as you were to me."
Now was her time.
"Maybe not but at least he treats me well. He sees me. You've never seen me, Zach."
Zach stopped and stepped in front of her. Carla could see the confusion in his eyes.
"That's not true."
"You told me you came here for me then you tell me about all the women you went out with only to realize they weren't me. You never saw me, Zach. You saw Jessie. You lived for Jessie. You only cared about me when you found out who she really was and had a few bad dates with those others. You never once let me know you cared. Even when I visited you."
"No. I do...I do care. I just...I sometimes get things confused. Since the stroke, things get mixed up in my head."
"Don't use that as an excuse Zach. You never gave a shit about me and now that you're all alone and desperate, that's when you decide to find me. To reach out to me.
"No."
"When I left you, I should have stayed gone. I wasted my time caring for you and now that I've met someone, now you want me. Well, it's too late."
"Don't say that. We can work things out, Carla."
"No. I've met a real man, Zach. A man who's good to me and for me."
Zach was shaking his head, his breaths were gulps. "You don't mean that. You love me. You've always loved me. Why are you saying all those things?"
"He's more of a man to me than you ever were and he has the ring to prove it."
Zach scrunched up his face and used his hand to cover his ears. He was shaking, his lips tight as he stepped back and swung his head from side to side.
"Not again," he muttered. "I can't lose again." And then he screamed with such a shriek that Carla was momentarily caught off guard.
He looked at her, tears in his eyes that were bitter and cold.
"You shouldn't have said those things to me. Take them back."
"No."
"Take them back," he repeated like a child having a tantrum.
"Never." Her voice was like a thorn.
The minute she said it, she saw his body shift. His left hand slipped behind his back and that was when she made her move. With whatever strength she could muster, Carla rushed Zach knocking him off his feet. She wobbled but didn't fall down, thankfully. As he tried to get his bearings, she kneeled down and punched him. His head fell back heavily.
Her energy was low but her will to survive, to see Grayson again, propelled her to the door.
She needed help.
* * *
Carl knocked on the door heavily with the bottom of his closed fist.
"Open up, Zach. It's agent Weatherly."
He knocked repeatedly until he heard a small, tender voice behind him that made him stop.
"Excuse me?" he asked.
"I said, he's not home yet." She was a blonde girl, no more than twenty, maybe twenty-one. Her hair was straight and thin and she wore orange lipstick that made her skin look paler than it already was. "Zach keeps late hours, sometimes. But he's been home early for the past couple of weeks. Except for today."
"Um...thanks." he responded awkwardly.
She walked back and then turned to him mid-stride. "Are you here about that position he applied for?"
"Er, Yes," Carl lied, seizing on the opportunity before him. "We really need him right away to help on a case." Well, it wasn't a complete lie. "That's why I'm desperate to get in touch."
"I knew it," she beamed as she clapped her hands. "I told him it would happen. I just knew his luck would change. He's really special and I just have a feeling about him."
Hearing her obvious affection for Zach, Carl couldn't decide whether to laugh or shake his head. In any case, his first attempt to find Zach and his partner was a bust.
"Yes, so if you see him, please let him know we need him immediately. We have a few cases ready for him."
"I will."
Carl nodded thankfully and strolled away.
Carl thanked her silently for saving him the paper work of explaining a busted door to an empty apartment.
* * *
Grayson got out of the car to stretch his legs and work off some of the tension he was feeling. Carl had insisted on going up alone as he called for backup, which was stretched thin across at least two crime scenes and God knows where else.
Seeing Carl emerge from the door of the complex, Grayson practically jumped.
"He wasn't home. According to a neighbor. Who I think has some girly crush on him."
"Now what?"
"PD413, PD413, come in," the car radio sounded. That was his call sign.
They both stepped into the car and Carl grabbed the receiver.
"This is PD413, over,"
"We have a report of shots fired. Male chasing female who seems to be bruised."
"That sounds like a domestic gone bad. Any other units."
"Negative. The house belongs to one Officer Caleb Johnson. We believe this is related to your case."
Grayson and Carl looked at each other.
"On the way," Carl responded as he roughly hung up the receiver. "Dammit, I should have known he would go there."
Carl put on the lights on top of the car and sounded the siren.
Grayson hung on to the side of the car as it lurched into a turn and sped down the road. He had never been religious but when it came to Carla, he found himself praying more for her than for himself.
This time even harder.
* * *
Realizing that knocking on houses was an effort in futility, Carla ran to a local playground, finding a hiding place behind a brightly colored tube. Her head pounded and her breath was more laborious than normal, thanks to the sudden lurching from the impact. Her skin burned along the diagonal path across her chest and her hips ached.
Zach calling her name reminding her of where she was took her mind off her own discomfort.
"Carla, come out. Take back what you said," he cried.
She quickly darted her head around the round bulge just to see if she could get eyes on Zach. She thanked God she hadn't yet switched to the Beretta yet, which was slowly becoming the MBI standard issue. It was a great shooter with twice as many bullets which right now would make this situation worse. Her beloved Colt was only a seven-shot and Zach had zealously used up five. That meant that if she could get him to use up the last two, she would have more than a good chance of overtaking him. She still had her Tanto sheathed around her calf, but she hoped she wouldn't need to use the blade here.
Zach was no ordinary suspect and the for the first time in a long time, she felt a touch of the affection she once felt for him mixed with sympathy. He was clearly not well and if she could take him down without blood, maybe he would have a chance to get better. Someday.
But first things first. Zach needed to be dropped.
"Like hell I will," she yelled back. Taking a deep reinforcing breath she made a quick run for the metal slide that was less than twenty feet from her.
One shot fired.
One left.
Carla continued her verbal assault. "I met someone who showed me what a real man was and what I was missing by being with you."
Zach's yell slowly crescendoed to a howl. Carla tried to catch a glimpse of him and saw that he had his hands over his ears. Her taunts were working but she needed to hear one more shot.
"I could never want you again. Not after him."
There was no other structure to hide but the merry-go-round. It was closer to his position but was open and low with the potential for ricochet. She had to take the chance.
Carla ran to the structure and dipped low. No shot. She looked at Zach who was still covering his ears, breathing heavily, spittle flying from his lips. She needed him to fire off one more shot. Her hands felt for pebbles. They were small but if she aimed properly, they could annoy him enough.
She quickly got on her knees and threw them one at a time, covering herself after every throw. Zach flinched when one pebble made impact. Carla continued her mini assault and was rewarded.
He finally broke out of his stupor and squeezed off the last shot.
That meant the slide was now in the rear position and no matter how he tried...Carla smiled.
Walking closer to the merry-go-round, Zach tried in vain to squeeze off a shot with the dead trigger. He pushed the gun forward, shook it, unwilling to accept the futility of his actions.
Now, that little voice inside her insisted.
She ran at him and tackled him head on dropping him to the ground. He was on the ground slowly writhing from the impact. Carla tried to turn him over but Zach wasn't as dazed as she thought. He swiftly kicked her legs from under her and the impact with which she hit the ground should have hurt or at least stunned her. But the flush of adrenaline muted any pain or discomfort she felt and replaced it with anger at having been caught off guard. They tousled on the ground until Carla's had enough power to smash her elbow into his jaw.
Zach let out a grunt and fell back from her but he still wasn't downed. She quickly turned and with one decisive blow, Carla punched him to the face.
Zach was finally still.
Not about to take any more chances, Carla quickly turned him on his stomach and placed his arms behind his back. She reached for her cuffs only to be reminded that they were gone, probably back at that house.
"Great!" she muttered annoyed. It took a second but when she looked at her belt. Shrugging, Carla took it off and bound Zach's hands as tightly as she could. When she was done, Carla sat heavily on the ground, letting the recent events wash over her.
As she looked at Zach, she couldn't believe that she had once loved him so much that she would have sold her soul just to have him back in her life. She loved him but it wasn't in a way he understood. It took her a while to understand that and when she had, she let him go.
With Grayson, it was so easy and comfortable that she didn't completely trust it. She was waiting for something to hurt because that was what she knew. He was right when he said she needed proof because that's how her mind worked. She wanted to feel the pain but with him, the fact that the proverbial shoe hadn't dropped was all the proof she needed, wasn't it?
The simplicity of the realization startled her and she just chuckled.
It took all of this for her to come to terms with the knowledge that it was time.
Finally.
* * *
The siren wailed as the car screeched to a halt. A woman ran out of a house and yelled something pointing to a small park. A few other residents peered cautiously from curtains. Carl and Grayson got out of the car. Carl pulled his gun, readying himself.
"Stay here," he barked at Grayson
Grayson was about to open his mouth.
"Get on the radio and let them know that we need backup fast. Shots fired, officer in distress. Use those words exactly."
Grayson sat back in the car and picked up the receiver as Carl made his way to the grounds.
He found a small thin tree to shield himself, holding his gun at the ready.
"Zach," he called out. "It's Agent Weatherly. I--"
"Carl," a voice answered tiredly. "It's fine."
"Carla? Are you all right? Hurt?"
"Zach is down."
Carl slowly emerged from behind the tree and trotted slowly to the direction of Carla's voice, his gun at ease at his side. When he saw Carla sitting on the edge of the merry-go-round, elbows on her thighs and Zach unconscious with his hands bound by what looked like a belt, he holstered his Beretta.
"I need your cuffs. He took mine." was all she said.
Carl shook his head as he looked from Zach to Carla and back again. He knelt and properly secured Zach with his cuffs.
They both turned towards the footsteps that were coming from behind them. It was Grayson.
Carl sighed, exasperated.
"Christ, Baxter, what part of 'stay here' didn't you get?"
"I didn't hear shots, so I thought..."
His eye caught Zach, who was still out and moved to Carla, who looked just as energetic. He ran to her.
Seeing him, she got up slowly, using one of the handles of the merry-go-round to give her some strength.
Grayson hugged her forcefully, which caused her to wince.
Her adrenaline had completely worn off and she was now feeling the full force of what had happened to her body within the last few hours.
"Babe, I'm sorry." he lamented putting his forehead against hers.
"It's okay, I just need a breather."
"Take as much time as you want." Grayson squeezed his eyes and pressed his lips against her forehead in gratitude for being able to indulge in such a simple pleasure. "Do whatever you want. Marry me, don't marry me. I don't care as long as you stay alive long enough for me to love you for the rest of my life."
Carla looked at the raw relief in his eyes and smiled. "Yes."
"Good," he responded with a chuckle. "Because you staying alive is very good."
"No," she responded and caught herself when she realized what she was saying. "I mean yes, but I also mean Yes, Gray. Yes."
It took Grayson a moment to grasp her meaning but when he did, a radiant smile bloomed across his face and he pulled her into a sweet kiss.
Lifting up an awakening Zach, Carl rolled his eyes as he looked at the two of them. He pushed a stumbling groggy suspect forward.
"Jesus, you two, get a room," he taunted over his shoulder, trying hard not to grin as he walked the suspect back to the car.
He wasn't sure if they heard him but what he was sure of was that neither of them seemed to care about anything else.
Zach tried to turn his head back.
"Eyes front, lover boy." Carl bellowed, harshly turning Zach's head forward. "Nothing for you back there."
