Galen's Gemma - Dale Mayer Page 0,60

weapons secured, he climbed the ditch and wrapped her up in his arms. She hugged him tight. “It’s over now,” he said. “I’m so sorry you and Becky were snatched out of that cabin.”

Nodding, she smiled. “Oh, but Becky was brave and did a great job of getting me untied.”

He crouched in front of her. “Now that was an awesome job. Thanks for helping Gemma.”

She beamed and smiled up at him. “Thank you,” she said. “I wanted to help.”

“You were a big help,” he said. He chuckled when she threw her arms around him. He picked her up and held her close. “Soon this will just be a bad memory.”

She looked at him solemnly. “I won’t see my mommy again, will I?”

“She’ll spend a lot of time in jail,” he said. “But that doesn’t mean you won’t be able to see her.”

“Or not.” Her hard voice came from down below. And there was Rebecca, holding a gun on Zack. “You guys all just move away from that vehicle, and Zack will drive me a long way away. We’ll have nothing to do with each other, and I’ll be able to live some kind of a life. I am not going to jail. That would kill me.”

Becky looked at her and trembled. “But then we won’t see each other. If you go to jail, I can see you.”

“Nope. We won’t see each other. You’ve already made a choice to be more like Gemma,” she said in disgust. “There’s no hope for you anymore.” Her voice was cruel and cutting and brought tears to her daughter’s eyes.

Immediately Gemma stepped forward. “That’s not true,” she said. “She’s already a way better person than you ever were.”

“Oh, you’re such a goody-goody,” she said. “Just shut up for once, won’t you.”

“Put the gun down,” Galen said. “You’ve got no reason to hurt Zack.”

“Of course not,” she said. “Zack was my lover once. He’s also the only one I couldn’t manage to keep on a string.” She glared at him. “Why the hell was that?”

“It took me a while,” he said, “but eventually I did see through the sparkly veneer to the poison beneath.”

With a quick and seamless move, he reached up, smacked her hard across the side of her face, then grabbed her wrist and took the gun from her hand. While she stood there sputtering, he pulled her arms behind her, secured her, and sat her down beside James. “You’re going to jail, whether you like it or not.”

Glaring at him, she screamed obscenities.

Finally James looked at her and said, “Shut the fuck up.”

Stunned, she collapsed against the vehicle, weeping.

Zack looked at Galen. “If there wasn’t a cure before, this has been one hell of a good cure now.”

“You were already pretty free and clear,” he said. “That just put an end to all the last little bits and pieces.”

“Can we get some bloody help now?” James called out. “I’m not climbing up on my own. My wrist is killing me.” He chuckled, though his mirth was short-lived because another vehicle came up the road. He waited for it to pull by, but it slowed.

Galen was tense until he realized who it was. Tim hopped out and looked over the group. Gemma walked over to him.

“Do you guys always leave a trail like this?” Tim asked.

“Thanks for coming,” she said. “And I promise this is all of them.”

He nodded and said, “Well, I’m bringing in the cops too,” he said to the group as a whole. “I sure as hell don’t want them at my place very long.” He looked back at her and said, “You are welcome to visit again, but you can leave the rest of them behind.”

With a smile, she walked closer and gave Tim a hug.

“You can bring Becky, though.”

Galen watched as the two embraced gently. An obvious affection and respect were there. He heard an exchange between them but didn’t know exactly what was said. Still, he was grateful their relationship would survive this violent intrusion into Tim’s peaceful oasis.

It took another forty minutes for the cops to show up, and, when they did, all kinds of hell broke loose. It took time for the statements and the ambulances. By the time the prisoners were taken away, the cops followed the rest of them back to the cabins to look for forensic evidence. One team broke away to investigate Joe’s cabin.

By the time everything was cleared away, it was just Galen, Zack, Gemma, and Becky. The only reason Becky