She could stop it. She had to try. All at once, the world sped up again.
“Behind you!” Jessie shouted as Gilliard lunged at Karen.
Her partner turned around and managed to get her arm up in time to block the knife as it came toward her. But the blade embedded in her arm and the gun dropped from her hand. Karen let out a bloodcurdling scream.
Jessie tried to ignore it as she ran toward Gilliard, who was attempting to yank the knife out so he could stab Karen again. He’d just ripped it from her flesh when Jessie dove at him from behind, slamming her shoulder into the small of his back. As he lurched forward into the hedge, his body bent back in an unnatural “U” shape. Now it was his turn to scream.
His arm, knife included, was tangled in the branches of the hedge. He seemed unable to extricate himself. Jessie got to her feet and punched him in the kidney. He groaned and dropped to his knees. As he did, his face slid down, scraping along the hedge. But he was still holding the knife.
“Drop it,” she yelled.
He wouldn’t let go. Suddenly all the pent-up fury that had built up over the last few days spilled out of her. She would not allow someone else to be hurt on her watch. She would stop this, no matter what.
She didn’t have a weapon on her so she proceeded to punch the arm holding the knife, first the triceps, then the elbow. When he still wouldn’t release the knife, she began pummeling the same spot at the elbow junction over and over again. She lost count after a dozen blows. Finally he loosened his grip and the knife fell to the ground, too deep in the hedge to be reached.
“Step back, Jessie.”
She looked to her right. Karen was sitting on the ground with her knees up. Her right arm was propped on her right knee, aiming her gun at Gilliard. She used her left arm to steady her right.
Jessie did as she was instructed. She was breathing heavily and her right arm felt like it was about to fall off. But Karen looked worse off. Her eyes were opening and closing slowly as if she might pass out.
“Mind if I hold that for you?” Jessie asked.
Karen glanced over at her, her eyes cloudy.
“That’s probably a good idea,” she said.
Jessie stepped toward her, taking the gun with one hand as she eased Karen back with the other. Her right forearm had a massive gash in it. Jessie thought she saw bone. She wanted to attend to the wound but couldn’t do anything until Gilliard was secure. So she did all she could for now. Pointing Karen’s gun at Oscar-winning actor Paul Gilliard, she yelled as loud as she could.
“Here! We’re in here!”
*
Jessie almost enjoyed the ambulance ride.
This was the rare time that she’d been in one where she wasn’t the one being attended to. Though her head hurt and she was told she’d need a CT scan at the hospital, the EMT was pretty sure she didn’t have a concussion. So she was able to sit beside Karen and offer moral support.
The detective had been stabilized. She had an IV in one arm. The other arm, where she’d been stabbed, was heavily bandaged. She’d need surgery at the hospital. But for now she was doped up on pain meds and smiling woozily.
Somewhere behind them, Jasper Otis and Paul Gilliard were in their own ambulances. Otis had lost a lot of blood and was still unconscious, but he would survive. Gilliard would eventually recover too, maybe in time for his trial. But it wouldn’t be easy.
They’d later learn that his diagnosed injuries included a fractured vertebrae in his lower back, facial lacerations, and, most surprisingly to the doctors, a broken arm. Apparently Jessie had punched him so hard and so often in the same place that the bone had cracked.
Jessie was just allowing herself to close her eyes for a moment when her phone rang. She looked at the screen but didn’t recognize the number. Deciding this wasn’t the time to be cautious, she answered it.
“Jessie Hunt,” she said.
“Ms. Hunt, this is Officer Marie Gattis. I was assigned your sister, Hannah.”
“Is she okay?” Jessie demanded immediately.
“She’s fine,” Gattis assured her quickly. “But we did have a little excitement.”
“What does that mean?” Jessie asked, trying not to lose her cool.
“She’s with me now. I’ll let her fill you in on the details. But