Marty connected with the man with a satisfying crack. It must have been bone, but he wasn’t sure where he hit him. The figure went down, and Marty hit again before running out of the room. “Eddie!” he called, trying to find him. He was only half dressed, and the air outside was damp and cold, but he didn’t care. He was out of there. Marty called out again as sirens sounded and grew closer.
Brian was the first to arrive, followed by a group of squad cars. “Are you all right?” Brian asked.
“Yeah. I hit the guy with a baseball bat and left him in the bedroom, but I can’t find Eddie.” His anxiety began to shift to panic.
“We’ll find him. You get in the car where it’s warm,” Brian told him, and Marty got inside as officers fanned out, gunsready. All he could do was watch out the window, hoping that Eddie was okay.
An ambulance pulled up. Marty began chewing his fingernails as he continued to wait. The paramedics went into the house, escorted by officers, and brought out someone on a stretcher. It must be the guy he hit because it definitely wasn’t Eddie. Finally, Brian came out of the house, propping up Eddie.
Marty opened the door and dashed across the yard. “What happened? Where are you hurt?”
“He’s going to be okay. We’re going to take him to the hospital so they can check him out. He got hit in the head, and they are going to want to check for a concussion,” Brian explained.
“I’m fine, just a little woozy,” Eddie said as he tried to get away from Brian. “You don’t need to mother hen me.”
“Fine. Then I will. You gave me one hell of a scare. I couldn’t find you anywhere.” He took Eddie’s arm and guided him to a second ambulance. “Where were you?”
“He surprised me in the garage. I had my gun, but he knocked me out before I could get a shot off. I suppose I’m lucky he didn’t kill me.”
“He was looking for me, I think. I hid in the bedroom and used a baseball bat on him when he got close enough.” Marty was still shaking.
Eddie let the EMTs put him on the gurney, and they loaded him into the ambulance. They explained where they were taking him, and Marty nodded, intending to finish dressing and to head right over. They closed the doors, and the ambulance headed out.
“Nice hit, by the way,” Brian told him.
“Huh?”
“The intruder. You took him out with one blow. His gun went under the bed, and apparently you whacked him a second time for good measure and got him in the back.”
“I hope I didn’t hurt him too badly,” Marty said. “I mean, I wanted to stop him but not kill him or anything.”
“You did that. He has a broken arm, probably a concussion, and you got him in the kidneys pretty good. He’s going to be black and blue, and his bones are going to take a while to heal, but the bastard will live long enough to stand trial. We’ll get DNA from him and make sure it matches to our samples taken from the murder scene, but you got him for us.”
All Marty had been able to think of was protecting himself and getting to Eddie. That had been all that mattered.
“Go get dressed, and I’ll meet you at the hospital once we’re finished here.”
Marty hurried inside and got a shirt and shoes. He pulled them on and grabbed his jacket off the back of one of the kitchen chairs. Then he made sure the officers knew what he had done and left them to their work. He took Eddie’s truck to the hospital and hurried inside. Eddie was in the ER, so he hurried in.
He didn’t need to ask where Eddie was—the group of officers nearby told him plenty. “Are you okay, really?” he asked, taking his hand.
“Yes, I’m fine.” His words were soft and a little halting.
“You are not. You have a concussion, and we’re going to keep you here for a while until we’re sure you don’t have any ill effects,” the doctor scolded lightly.
“No giving him a hard time,” Marty said. “That’s my job.” He glared at Eddie. “You’ll do whatever the doctor says, you understand me? You scared the crap out of me.” Marty held his hand and didn’t let it go.
“I’m sorry,” he said softly.
“Good. You should be. Now let the doctor help you so I can take you home as soon as possible.” He sighed and closed his eyes. Eddie was going to be okay, and hopefully, all of this was going to be over.
“It will be all right. I’m a tough old bird, and I’ll be home soon.”
“Let’s hope so,” the doctor said. “I’m going to order some tests, so we’ll know the extent of any brain issues.”
“Okay. He’ll be ready.” Marty intended to stay right where he was and make sure Eddie did as he was asked.
“What happened to you? I heard one of the guys say that you took him out.” Eddie closed his eyes, and Marty squeezed his hand.
