Jeremiah by Kris Michaels

Chapter 19

His eyes were irritated with dirt so he couldn’t see shit, but he knew when he’d reached the end of the boardwalk. The sheets of rain hit him as he made his way out and flattened himself against the side of Gen’s cafe. Carefully, he wiped his eyes and blinked the world back into focus.

The wrenching screech of metal grinding against metal rent the surrounding air, penetrating the almost untenable decibels of the tornado’s destructive roar. He shifted enough to see Phil Granger’s garage door fly into the sky like a piece of paper. Jeremiah pushed back and crawled along the side of Gen’s cafe, the siding on the building grating against his arm like sandpaper.

When he reached the end of the building, he took in the damage. The wild wind had flipped Gen’s truck on its side and over the root cellar door. There was debris everywhere. There was no sign of Eden, Gen, the man from Guardian—or Cyrus. He grabbed the corner of the building as the wind screamed. He pinned himself and prayed like he’d never prayed before. Explosions punctuated the never-ending roar as he let the wind crush him against the side of the building.

Almost as suddenly as it had started, the storm abated. The wind buffeted still, but he could peel himself off the exterior of Gen’s building. Rain pelted him as he took in the mounds of debris. “Eden! Gen!”

“Remi! In here!” He heard Gen’s yell from the root cellar.

“Gen, are you all right?” He weaved through the debris, searching for any signs of Eden or that fucker Cyrus.

“I am. The Guardian guy pushed me in and went after Cyrus. He took Eden!”

“Gen, your truck’s blocking the door. It’s going to be a while before we can get you out.”

“I’m fine! Find Eden!”

He stopped and turned around. The totality of the devastation resembled the hurricanes the south had gone through when he was growing up. Where the hell to start? Cyrus couldn’t have made it through the storm. They had to be under the debris.

He lurched forward and peeled back boards, yelling for Eden over and over. Ace appeared by his side and grabbed his arm. “Any sign of that son of a bitch?”

He pitched boards as he answered. “No. Gen is in the root cellar. Your man pushed her in and went after Cyrus.”

Ace let out a string of curse words. “We have thermal imagers. I’ll get one of my men on top of a building.” A low call snapped their attention to the right. They raced to the spot and started pulling off debris. Shingles, boards, window frames, some with the glass still intact.

They worked together and hefted a large piece of corrugated tin. Remi braced it as high as he could as Ace ducked under and chucked smaller pieces of wood off his man. Remi could see the man’s head and chest. Blood trickled from his ear and nose. The buried Guardian grabbed Ace. “The target, he’s got the other woman.”

“Okay, we’ll find them. Hold on, man, we’re going to prop this shit up and get Coaster over here to look at you.”

“Leg’s done for, man. I’m looking at the sole of my boot. Something hit me and sent me flying.”

“Zeke is with the group in the garage next door. He’s a doctor, too.” Remi strained under the weight of the tin and the debris that remained on top of it. “Go get him. I’ll hold this up.”

Ace flew out of the hole they’d dug. Remi adjusted his grip and talked to the man. “So, sleeping on the job, huh? What’s your name?”

A huff came from the man. “Keys.... I mean Mark, and I’d tell you to fuck off, but it might get me in some serious shit with Ace.”

“Nah, dude, didn’t you know when you’re injured nothing you say can be used against you?” Jeremiah glanced over his shoulder and stared at the debris. He had to find Eden. Had to make sure Cyrus couldn’t hurt anyone. He adjusted his grip again.

“I tried, man. I had her, I put that bastard on the ground with one punch. Next thing I know I’m flying with part of a building at my back.” The man moved and groaned. “Damn it. My wife is going to kill me.”

“A tough one, huh?” Jeremiah scanned the debris he could see without shifting and sending more crap down toward Mark.

“Dude, she’s not even five feet tall, but she’s strong.” The man shifted again and sucked a sharp breath in.

“Try not to move. They’ll be here in a minute.” Remi focused his attention on the man. He couldn’t tell how bad the injuries were from his position.

“Jeremiah?”

“Here!” he responded to Zeke’s yell.

Zeke appeared on the far side of the cafe, carrying Eden’s medical bag. Two of the Guardians followed him.

One took over bracing the tin and the other went to work building a temporary hold for the metal. “Ace is getting to a place to use the thermal,” the one holding the metal spoke.

Jeremiah nodded and headed away toward the piles nearer the alley where they’d disappeared.

“Eden?” He called her name over and over as he pulled material off the pile. The rain had stopped. He threw a 2x4 off the pile and stopped to listen after he called her name again. “Eden!”

He cocked his head. Had he heard something? He glanced over at the propped-up metal. Zeke and the two Guardians were removing the other man using a mylar blanket wrapped around two boards as a makeshift stretcher.

He filled his lungs and called again, “Eden!” Nothing.

“Wheeler!” Jeremiah whipped his head around and looked up. Ace was standing on the porch he’d built for Gen. “About two hundred feet to your left, just past whatever is sticking straight up.”

He moved as fast as humanly possible through the jagged edges and shards of wood. “Here?”

“Up about ten feet,” Ace yelled back at him. “Now to your right about three feet!”

He moved up and halted when Ace shouted for him to stop. He pulled crap off the pile. His hands were bleeding; the cuts didn’t matter. The only thing that mattered was finding Eden. Another set of hands joined him, and then another. Phil and Doc Macy worked alongside another Guardian. Carson Schmidt joined them, handing out gloves. Jeremiah didn’t stop to put them on. The person under the rubble was either Eden or Cyrus. He’d kill that bastard with his bare hands, nothing between them, and if it was Eden, he needed to touch her.

Phil lifted a piece of siding and Jeremiah dropped to his knees. With shaking hands, he felt for a pulse. He found it, and it was steady. “Get Zeke back here. Tell him we need a neck collar and a backboard.” He picked the smaller pieces of debris off her. Eden laid on her stomach, one of her arms bent at an angle that could only mean it was broken, but there was no blood he could see so the bone hadn’t gone through the skin. He examined her as he pulled rubble off her and talked to her, letting her know he was there. She had numerous cuts and abrasions. A wicked lump on the side of her head had bled and clotted her blonde hair to her skull. Caked blood and dirt under her nose could be from being hit with something, or it could be from the blow to the head. Either way, he wasn’t taking any risks.

Zeke crested the top of the pile and sat Eden’s bag down. “We don’t have a backboard. Most of the clinic is somewhere in the next county. We’ll use a piece of plywood. I have a collar.” He moved down to where Jeremiah was. “Status?”

“Pulse is regular. The arm is broken, but no signs of an exposed fracture. I’m worried about the contusion to the head and the blood from the nose.”

“All right.” Zeke twisted and looked around. “Carson, we need that board.” Zeke pointed to a large piece of plywood. Carson and Phil made their way through the rubble and worked the board out. “Bring it over here. This side.” Zeke moved and put the board next to her. “Jeremiah, you have her head. Phil, over here. You’re going to help me roll her. Smooth, no sudden movements. Carson, that arm is going to drag when we roll her. I want you to keep it in line, don’t let it drag. Like this. Now, slip your hands under her elbow and wrist and move with her body. Everything is slow, got it?” Zeke looked at all of them as they took their positions. “All right, Jeremiah, on your count, we go at three.”

Jeremiah placed his hands in position and counted it down. “One, two, three, and slowly now…”

They rolled her over and he winced. She’d been torn up in the storm. Minor cuts and swelling contusions littered her body. He and Zeke put the spinal collar on her and the four of them carried her out of the tornado’s refuse.

Ace was there to help as they moved to uncluttered ground. “We have no more heat signatures in this mess.”

“We’re taking her to the garage. It still has a roof.” Zeke coordinated movements, which he was thankful for because his mind was on overload. He wanted to stay with Eden, yet they needed to find Cyrus.

When they moved through the small space between the cafe and the garage, Jeremiah got the full extent of the devastation. It looked as if the tornado had skipped several buildings and then wiped out three or four and jumped over the cafe and the garage on one side of the street. The clinic and Eden’s apartment were gone; only framing and the exam table remained.

They moved her inside. Phil handed his side off to a Guardian and rushed to grab two sawhorses for them to place the plywood that Eden was lying on.

Jeremiah kneeled beside her and stroked her cheek. “Wheeler, our objective is still out there.” At Ace’s statement, he closed his eyes and said a prayer for Eden.

He stood, still holding her hand. “Phil, do we have a count on the people still here?”

Phil nodded. “Yeah, we’re unburying my tractor and then pulling Gen’s truck off that door to get her out. We have ambulances coming for these three.” He nodded at Eden, Mark, and Kerry.

“I don’t need an ambulance,” Kerry grumbled, although he was still laying on the concrete floor.

“You took a crack to that brain of yours. Don’t damage it any more by declining treatment,” Phil grumped right back at him.

“Zeke?” Jeremiah glanced down at the doctor who was examining Eden.

“I’ve got this.” He looked up at Jeremiah. “You know I’ll take care of her.” The silent conversation between them said so much more. He nodded and placed her hand back down. “I’ll be back.” He leaned down and kissed her forehead.

As he straightened, he rolled his shoulders back. He had a fucking psychopath to catch.

They emerged from the garage and Ace took charge. “Hondo, you’re watching this position. If that fucker shows up here, take him out. Those people are your mission, copy?”

“Roger that.” The man nodded and spun away from the rest of them.

Ace placed his hands on his hips and stared at the damage. “If you were a serial killer, where would you go?”

Jeremiah sent his eyes down the street to the meat processing plant. “There.”

Ace followed his gaze. “What’s that?”

“A meat processing plant. If I wanted to kill someone, I’d go there, lure whoever I wanted to kill in. He could string up his prey and work on them without hurrying. That’s what he enjoys. Taking the time to make his victims suffer.”

“Jesus. What are we dealing with?” one of the other Guardians spoke up.

“A man that has no remorse,” Jeremiah answered.

“Stud, get up on the top of the cafe and see what you can see.” Ace slapped the thermal imaging device in the guy’s hands.

“Roger that.” The man took off.

“He knows we’re here now.”

Jeremiah shook his head. “He knows you’re here. He doesn’t how many others.” Ace was the only one with him when Kerry was knocked out. They stood in silence and he scanned the darkened street of the small town he loved. They’d have to rebuild again. For some, it would be too much. The ones without insurance would probably move on, find another place in another small town.

A short whistle caught their attention. Ace put his earpiece in. “Shit. All right. The main door is open. Everything else is shut tight. He’s not close enough to get a heat signature from the building, but other than us, he can’t see anything else in this part of the town. Nothing is moving.”

“Then we go to him.” That’s what Cyrus wanted, after all. What he’d wanted in the prison. For Jeremiah to give himself over.

Ace nodded. “We’re going to put you on the end of a hook and use you for bait, Wheeler.”

He sent a sideways glance at the Guardian. “Under one condition.”

“And that is?”

Jeremiah crossed his arms. “If I get a bite, I get first shot at taking that bastard down.”

“No way, man. You pull him out into the open and we’ll take the shot.”

“Have you ever craved revenge, Ace?” Jeremiah stared down the street.

“On more than one occasion, but that isn’t what this is about. This is about taking down a serial killer. You put revenge into the equation and that bastard has an edge.”

Jeremiah cocked his head. Ace was right. He needed to go in emotionless. A tick of a smile tweaked the side of his mouth. That would infuriate Cyrus. So be it. “If you get a shot, take it. If I get a shot, I’ll do the same.” He took his weapon from his holster and handed it to Ace. “I won’t need this if you have my back.”

“Thank God. Civilians with weapons scare the fuck out of me.” Ace chuckled and checked the safety before he inserted it into loops on his vest. “All right, here’s the plan. The three of us are going first. Give us ten minutes to get set up. Then you walk down the middle of the street and call to him. Distract him so we can enter the building. We’ll locate him, take him out if possible. If not, we’ll always have one sight on you while the others move through the facility and try to find him. Now, tell me as much about the inside of that building as you can.”

Jeremiah told him as much as he remembered of the building. He’d been in there twice and it was a basic design, but he went into as much detail as he could remember.

“All right. Ten minutes, Wheeler.” Ace slapped his arm, and he and his men filtered into the darkness.