Chapter 2: The Horseman Rides

And now you're up to date. We were going to go to her Company Independence Day celebration, and we were already dressed for the party when I got the call to come in and fix the fuckin' server. Latisha looked gorgeous in her emerald green party dress. We had already celebrated our Anniversary. She got me a nice watch, and I got her a pair of silver earrings.

We'd had the whole day off, of course. But then the call came from my boss, telling me that he needed me to fix that damned server.

Latisha was as annoyed as I was.

"I can't believe that asshole!" she declared, shaking her head in annoyance.

"I know, baby. It's probably something simple, so you go on ahead. Just remember, NO DRINKING," I smiled at the Love of my Life.

"Club soda only, boo," she responded with a smile of pure love. "Go to work, Daddy. But don't be too long."

"Yes, Mommy," I replied and kissed her sweet lips.

So while I drove my Fastback to the office, Latisha drove her Prius to the party. It was being held at her boss's mansion, and we'd both been there before. I knew exactly where it was.

The work on the server itself took me an hour and a half. Not too bad, and I KNEW it was shit they could have taken care of themselves. They just wanted to scoot when I showed up to do the actual work. But I bit the bullet and did it. When it was done, I tested it, and was out the door. I called my boss and told him not to call me for the rest of the weekend. After I explained everything about what was wrong with the server, he was almost as pissed off as I was. He knew that Harvey and Joe could have done the job, too. He apologized for not making them do it, and we Ended the call.

As I got into my car, I texted Latisha to tell her I was done and on my way. I also apologized for the delay.

I got no reply.

That didn't sit well with me. Latisha ALWAYS replied immediately when I sent her a text. We hadn't had an argument, and she said she understood that I had to work. I had started the big V8 and pulled out of the parking lot. When I didn't hear back from her after ten minutes, I decided to call her. Her phone rang and rang, and then went to voicemail. Now I knew something was wrong. So I put the hammer down and hit Redial.

This time, it went straight to voicemail without even ringing first. I'd already had a bit of a cold feeling in my gut, but now that cold feeling had spread to my chest, too.

Ten minutes later, I pulled up to the mansion gate and announced myself over the intercom. The gate buzzed and slid open for me, and I squealed the tires as I drove up the long driveway.

Once I was parked, I jumped out and sprinted for the door. It opened before I got there, and I forced myself to slow down. It was hard to do, since I was damn near in a panic already. Maybe her battery died? No, she'd charged it all day, like usual when we were home. We always kept our phones on the chargers when we were in the house.

I forced myself to be calm as I walked in, scanning the crowd of guests for my wife.

I didn't see her, nor did I see the 5 assholes. The cold pit had spread to my legs and arms now, but I somehow held it together. I asked some of her coworkers if they'd seen Latisha recently. None had, apparently, until I reached Cindy Newton.

"Hey, Cindy. Do you know where Latisha is?" I asked, trying to keep the panic out of my voice and failing miserably.

"Oh, I saw Jim and Jack helping her to a bedroom to lay down. Speaking of which..." she scanned the crowd, looking for the missing Frat brothers.

"Which bedroom?" I asked, my voice suddenly bone chillingly cold.

Cindy caught my tone, and the look on my face must have been something out of a nightmare, the way she was looking at me as her face paled. With a shaking hand, she pointed, and I followed her finger.

I can't really explain the change that came over me in that moment. It was like a switch was flipped in my mind, and the adrenaline I had been feeling since Latisha didn't reply to my text was now working for me, instead of making me shake. I felt strangely calm as I walked quickly to the door she indicated. When I got there, I tried the handle, and it was locked. Without even thinking, I kicked the door hard, and the latch gave way as the door slammed inward, bouncing off the wall.

The first thing I saw was the five naked men. Then I saw Latisha, obviously unconscious, laying on the bed face down. Jim was behind her, and her skirt had been hiked up over her ass. Her panties were gone, and Jim's cock was buried in her pussy from behind.

That was when the red haze descended over my vision. The only actual thought running through my head was Revelation 6:8 as my body took over. It was like my higher thought process had shut down, leaving only an avenging demon in its wake.

Jim was the first to fall, as I slammed my fist into his surprised face when he finally realized who I was. He had been so caught up in raping my wife, that his brain hadn't even bothered to register it when I'd kicked in the door.

The others were quicker to act, and I found myself in the fight of my life. Blood was pounding in my ears as I lashed out at anything male and naked. Larry fell next, when I kicked him right in the jewels. The rest became a blur.

When the blur finally faded, and the red haze cleared from my eyes, I collapsed onto the bed beside the unconscious body of my wife. It was then that I registered the screams, shouting, and other sounds emanating from the house outside the room. I looked, and there were five naked men laying on the floor in various states of disrepair. A couple of them were out cold, while the other three were moaning and holding various body parts.

Then all hell really broke loose as the cops and EMTs arrived. Someone must have called 911, and it barely registered in my brain when the cops handcuffed me and forced me down onto the floor. I didn't resist, since I was already bone tired from the fight.

"He's her husband, and those men were raping her!" Cindy shouted. God Bless Her. It occurred to me that she must have followed me to the bedroom door and had probably seen the whole thing.

I realized that I couldn't see out of my right eye, and other parts of my body were hurting like hell, too.

The next thing I remember was being put on the stretcher or gurney or whatever. "My wife?" I croaked the question to the nearest EMT.

"She's being taken in another ambulance, sir. We'll get you both to the hospital ASAP," he said with a reassuring smile.

"Thank God," I sighed as the injection they gave me took hold, and I was feeling no pain.

I awoke in a hospital bed.

"Doctor! He's awake!" the Nurse yelled when she saw that my eye was open. She rushed out of the room to find the doctor, who hadn't come running when she'd yelled.

They both came in as I was attempting to get out of bed. "Mr. Harper, I'm Dr. Lawton. This is Nurse Hatcher. You need to calm down and rest," the doc said as he and the nurse gently pushed me back down on the bed.

"Water," I croaked. My throat was drier than Death Valley.

"Right away, sir," the Nurse said as she went and filled a large Dixie cup.

When she handed it to me, I downed it in two huge gulps. Then I was able to talk.

"Is my wife ok?" I asked, my voice still a little hoarse. I had to know. She hadn't even moved that I know of when I'd been fighting the assholes. But then, I didn't know much of anything of what happened after kicking Larry in the nut sac.

He paused for a moment, as if choosing his words carefully. "She'll be fine, eventually. She had a large dose of Rohypnol in her system. It's a date rape..."

"I've heard of it," I interrupted. "How large a dose?"

"Enough to potentially kill her if we hadn't flushed out her system," he said stoically. "We got her cleaned out, though. They've also done a rape kit on her, and it came back positive for semen."

"She promised not to drink," I slurred my words slightly. Apparently, I was on some pain meds that were dripping into the I.V. line.

"We found no traces of alcohol in her system, Mr. Harper. I have some bad news, though..." he said, his voice trailing off.

The cold pit in my gut returned as I saw his concerned and sympathetic expression. Before he even said it, I knew, and I felt the tears rolling down my face as the next words came out of his mouth.

"I'm sorry, sir, but your wife lost the baby."

Now, I've never had much of a temper until now. Sure, I'd been angry before, but nothing had ever pushed me into a murderous rage until this incident. Those so-called men had raped my wife, drugged her enough to kill her if she hadn't received medical attention in time, and had now murdered our unborn child! The only thought in my mind at that moment was how I was going to kill the sorry pieces of whale shit that had done this to my wife and child! I had decided on slowly and very painfully.

This time, I pulled the I.V. out of the back of my hand and sat up in bed. I swung my feet over the side as the doctor and his nurse tried to stop me.

"Let. Me. Go," I said, my voice dropping to sub-zero temperature.

"Get an orderly and call the Detective. Get them in here," the doctor said to his nurse as he tried to restrain me himself.

At the mention of a Detective, I stopped struggling. "Doctor, I just want to know where my wife is. I need to see her," I said, forcing myself to calm down. Anger, concern, and sadness were warring in my head. I had to see my wife. I had to hold her in my arms. I had to Be There for her!

"She's still unconscious, but she should be awake in the morning," he said in a placating voice. "You have a mild concussion, your right eye is swollen shut, and you have 1 cracked rib, 4 bruised ribs, as well as bruises on your arms, legs, and back.

"And I need to see my wife, Doc," I replied as calmly as I could under the circumstances.

Just then, the Nurse returned with an orderly and the Detective.

The orderly wasn't needed anymore, so he left. The Detective stood there as I told the Nurse not to replace the I.V. drip. I didn't want to be drugged anymore.

"But Mr. Harper, the pain..." Doctor Lawton started.

"I can deal with the pain, Doc," I replied evenly.

"Doctor, Nurse, could you please excuse us? I need to talk with Mr. Harper alone," the Detective said in a professional tone.

The Doctor and Nurse just nodded, admonished him to go easy on me, since I had been badly injured, and left the room. Nurse Hatcher said to hit the Call button if I needed anything, and I thanked her for that.

"Mr. Harper, I'm Detective Rains. I'm here to talk with you and take your statement. Are you feeling up to it?" he asked as he sat in the chair next to my bed, still in a professional and even tone. I had to respect his professionalism, and just nodded at his inquiry.

"Thank you. Now, I'll be recording this, so please tell me the circumstances surrounding what went on before you arrived and what precipitated the events in the bedroom at Mr. and Mrs. Walker's house."

So I told him my side of what went on. I didn't embellish it, including the fact that I didn't remember much of anything after kicking Larry in the balls. My only concern at that time had been to defend my wife from further harm. I also told him what the Doctor had told me about my wife's condition, and how she had been poisoned with an overdose of Rohypnol, which caused her to lose our baby.

"Am I going to be charged too?" I asked, finally, as he stopped the recorder. California has some screwy laws about self-defense and defense of others. I wanted to make sure that I had options, just in case I was charged too.

"I don't think that will be necessary. I seriously doubt that any jury would convict you, and I've already recommended to the DA that he not press charges," was his reply.

"Thank you, Detective," I said with a genuine smile, the first since all the shit had happened. Rains was ok in my book.

He leaned forward with his elbows on his knees. "To tell you the truth, Mr. Harper, if I had found those men with my wife in that situation, I would have done the exact same thing that you did. As far as I'm concerned, you acted as any husband should and defended your wife to the best of your ability." He then got up to leave. "Oh, and I would hate to be them right now. The DA is throwing the book at all 5 of them, since there were plenty of eye witnesses, and Mr. Walker is doing his damnedest to avoid any kind of lawsuit you might pursue against him or his company. Also, the Tox Screen and Rape Kit done on your wife came back positive, and it looks like a slam dunk."

"Thank you, Detective. If you need me to testify, I'll be glad to," I said, shaking his hand. With that, he left the room, leaving me to my own thoughts.

I hit the Call button for the Nurse, and she got to my room in less than a minute. "Yes, Mr. Harper?" she asked. "Are you in pain, or is there anything I can do for you?"

"I would like to see my wife, please," I said. Yes, I was in pain. A LOT of pain, to be exact. The fact that it was emotional pain more than physical pain didn't matter. I just had to be with my wife!

"One moment, sir. I'll check with the Doctors over in Critical Care. I'll be right back," she said with a sympathetic smile as she walked out the door.

I checked the clock on the wall, and saw that it was after 2 AM. I'd gotten to the party around 8 PM, just before the fireworks were slated to start, and here it was over six hours later.

The Doctor and Nurse came back into my room together. "Mr. Harper, it's pretty irregular to have visitation this late," he said.

"She's my wife, Doctor. I need to see her with my own eyes. I need to be there when she wakes up. I'm going to need a bit more than this damn hospital gown, though. Where are my clothes?" I said.

"Your clothes had to be cut off of you to assess your injuries when you arrived, but we can get you some scrubs to wear," Nurse Hatcher said. "I'll be right back with some."

As she left the room, Doctor Lawton came over and sat by my bed, in the same chair Detective Rains had just vacated. "Mr. Harper, do you mind if I call you Steve?"

"Be my guest," I shrugged.

"Steve, I realize that you've been through a very trying ordeal, as has your wife. You both should make a full recovery..." he was saying, but I had to interrupt him.

"They killed our baby, Doctor," I said, my voice once again dipping below freezing on the thermometer. "I hope you're right about a full recovery, but that little life never had a chance to live."

"I ... I see your point," he said, looking down with a pained expression on his face.

"If you were planning to talk me out of going to my wife's room and spending the night there, you can forget it. Judging by the ring on your finger, you're married too. If you and your wife were in this situation, what would you do?" I asked.

He just gave me a look of determination, then said "I'd do exactly what you want to do. I won't say no."

"Thanks, Doc," I nodded as I got out of bed and went into the restroom.

I had to relieve my bladder, and when I looked in the mirror, I could see just now much of a mess I was. I had a cold bandage over my right eye, and my face was bruised all over. I tried to think back to the brawl, but I had no idea how I'd received all those bruises. I hadn't felt any pain while it was going on, probably from the adrenaline that had been coursing through my system, but now I could feel everything. My ribs were taped up, and I had bandages on my left shoulder and arm.

I also had bandages on my hands, and I considered myself lucky that I hadn't broken any knuckles while beating the shitheads senseless. They were sore as hell, though.