Chapter 12

Thursday I stopped into Melissa's flower and stuffed animal filled room on my way to work. Mika was there with her, and the three of us talked for a while about the possible futures. I held little Jess and could not help but smile while she was in my arms. This was a hell of a great way to start a day. I kissed Melissa and Mika and told them that I would see them after work, either here, or if they let her go, at Mary's.

I was still tired after the long night, so it was a good thing that I didn't have much to do. I mainly supervised Dexter on a couple of installations.

Mika called just after noon, and told me that she was taking Melissa and the baby out to Mary's, so I could see them there.

That evening Melissa was holding court in Mary's family room, and Leimomi and Mandy were making dinner for everyone. It was a fun evening and the baby was smiling at all comers. She was a little charmer, and I didn't even get overly embarrassed when Melissa took out a tit to feed her. I was so pleased to see how my new friends had taken to Melissa, and how happy she was with her situation. The change in Melissa just confirmed what I had already figured out, I was in love with all of these wonderful women, and blissfully happy for the first time in years.

Friday afternoon Dexter and I were going to do one last service call before we called it a day. I was looking forward to meeting Amy at the skating rink for a late date, and I expected to have time after this stop to take a short nap to prepare for the date. The interesting thing was that this last service call was to Jennifer. She had told Sharon that the icemaker in her fridge was giving her trouble, so we were going to fix it. I owed a lot to Jennifer, but I still felt uncomfortable being alone with her, which is one reason that I had brought Dexter along. He also needed to learn how to deal with this situation. Repairing or replacing an ice maker is not a big deal, but if you screw up the mess can be extensive.

As we pulled up to her apartment there was a bright blue Ford F150 4-wheel drive pickup, with chrome add-ons and western motif decals on it, sitting at the curb. Glancing up at Jennifer's door I saw a broad back in a fringed suede jacket disappear as the door closed. Carla had pointed out her ex's truck at some point last week, and I recognized it easily. I could think of no reason for Juan to be going into Jennifer's apartment that didn't involve trouble.

"Dex! We have a problem." I tossed him my cell phone, "call 911 and get some police here." If I had to apologize or pay a fine for a false call, okay; but if they were needed, they would be needed ASAP. I was reaching into the back seat of the Dakota as I said this to him. In the compartment under the back seat, I kept a couple of tools. Under the passenger side were the tire tools and under my side were a few wood chisels, and the mallet I had made for them. It was a 14" long piece of 3" by 3" hard white oak that I had carved into a mallet. I had thought at the time that it would make a nice weapon, and now I would get the chance to prove it.

I tossed the tire tool to Dexter and headed for the door. I had heard him talking to the 911 operator and assumed that he would be behind me. I stopped at the door and checked to see if it was unlocked. It was. I turned the knob, threw the door open, and stepped inside.

The first thing I saw was a man holding Jennifer by her hair in the center of the room. She was on her knees and he had a knife to her throat. I looked to the left and saw the man in the fringed jacket. He had a gun in his hand and was turning to point it at me. Not pausing at all, I brought the mallet down on his wrist, knocking the gun loose. It fired as he dropped it and blew the TV to smithereens.

The blast caused the other man to turn around to see what was going on. The mallet had bounced up when I hit the gunman so stepped past fringed jacket, slid my right foot toward the second man, and used the momentum to backhand the knife wielder on the side of the head with the mallet. I used the far side of his head as my impact point and he went down without a whimper. I turned back to the gunman and saw that Dexter had him under control. Dex was standing on the gun with the tire tool poised to strike.

I looked down at Jennifer, "are you all right Jen?"

"Thank god you're here Walter. When they knocked on the door I thought it was you and they forced their way in. Julio was demanding money, he said that after they got done with me they were going go see about Carla and Carmelita. The one with the gun is Carla's ex Juan, Julio was my husband. I'm okay; they didn't have time to do anything before you came in."

I had heard sirens approaching and as I turned to the door, I was told to drop my weapons and put my hands up. I did this and discovered that the mallet was hanging by the strap I had unconsciously put around my wrist, and that Julio had enough time to stick his goddamn knife into my left arm. I saw that and the blood pouring down my sleeve, and suddenly felt extremely faint.

"Do you mind if I sit down officer? I think I may need some help."

"Walter!!" screamed Jennifer. The next thing I knew she was on one side and Dexter was on the other helping me to sit on the couch.

Jennifer went into nurse mode, and took off yelling at the cop, "Call an ambulance, that bastard stabbed my Walter. I hope like hell his skull is cracked good."

That son-of-a-bitch was quick; I didn't even see his hand move. If I had hesitated at all, he would have gutted me.

BLAMM!!

When Dexter had jumped to get to me he had uncovered the gun on the floor, and Juan had gone for it, probably thinking that the confusion would hide his action. Unfortunately for him, the police woman in the doorway saw him and did not yell a warning or anything, she just shot him in the shoulder. I would have applauded her quick reactions, except that by then I was about to pass out from the pain and blood loss.

Her partner was looking at her in shock, "sorry Bill, but he was about to pull on your back."

Dexter was thinking fast too. "Good shot Ma'am, serves him right for grabbing the gun after you warned him not to. You might want to secure that weapon sir," Dex said to the male officer, who was still standing there, lost and confused.