All She Wanted
By Mia Bailey
Chapter 6: Saving the Day
The days that followed were routine and quiet. She loved it. Her life had never been either of those things and the steadiness of Haven was a comfort and refreshing. She spent her days on the beach or hanging out on her couch; she spent her evenings at The Gray Gull watching the locals party and making small talk with Duke.
The police investigation had been dropped by the local police department. The suspects had fled town the morning of the incident and it was now in the jurisdiction of the feds. In Haven, the police had more local matters to worry about. If hard pressed, the cops might even let slip that the death of an apparent thug wasn't high on the investigation priority list anyway.
Hannah didn't talk much with Nathan or Audrey in her first month in Haven. She liked to play cards with Duke and some of his less than reputable friends occasionally but for the most part she kept to herself. As far as she could tell her false trail was still leading the bad guys around, far away from where she actually was. In another month she could stop leaving trails altogether and be permanently erased- as long as she was careful.
On her one month anniversary of staying in Haven, Hannah felt a pull. It was the first intuition she had since driving back to Haven from the bus station. On auto pilot, Hannah followed her instincts until she reached a bluff overlooking the town. There was no one there at the moment but that didn't mean anything. She found a dry spot of grass and sat down to enjoy the view and wait patiently.
A lot of her job had been about waiting and using her senses. Part of what she could do was extend her senses beyond what a person could normally do. It wasn't anything superhero-esque; she could differentiate between more smells, see things far away crystal clear, hear things out of earshot better than most people. She wasn't magic or a mutant, just practiced. Waiting didn't bother her either; she was used to it. She didn't have to wait long this time.
Footsteps up the path behind her were placed carefully. She heard them despite the fact that whoever was placing them was trying to be silent.
Stealthily, Hannah slid into the shadows of the trees nearby. She heard the quiet footsteps come to rest and some rustling as whoever it was sat down or squatted low. She couldn't see the person but she smelled sandalwood and fresh cut grass. It was strangely appealing.
A crashing sound cut through her wandering thoughts. Her eyes snapped to a man coming from the opposite direction of where she heard the previous footsteps. He was dragging a young girl, maybe fourteen or fifteen, behind him. She looked scared and he looked wild eyed. Great, some sort of kidnapping/hostage situation. Couldn't she ever get a break from her job?
She watched as he pulled her close to the edge of the bluff. "Yer mom was wrong, ya know. She was dead wrong." He was muttering quietly but Hannah could still hear him.
"Dave, you don't have to-" The teenager tried to calm him but he just shook her harder.
"She's gonna learn, one way or another. I'll learn her but good." His words were slurred enough that he had to be drunk or drugged up. Either way, he was dangerous. There was a pistol in his free hand and he began waving it toward the girl's face. "Never loved me, yer mom. Always givin' me trouble. Now she wanna kick me out when she knows I ain't got a place to go. Not good for you, she says. Well, if I get riddaya, then she won't have nuthin' to complain 'bout, right?"
"You're not making any sense." The girl's voice was shaking. It was obvious he wanted to do more than just hurt her; he was there to kill her.
"Dave!" The shout came from Hannah's right, the direction the quiet footsteps had come from. She recognized Nathan immediately. He had his gun out and trained on the drunk man. "Let's talk about this, Dave." Nathan said calmly.
Dave's eyes grew wide and he pulled the girl to his chest, using her as a shield. He stuck the gun to her temple. "I have no problems killin' her, Nathan."
"There doesn't have to be any killing today, Dave. Let's talk this out." Nathan was trying his hardest to negotiate but Hannah could see the situation was already out of hand. The man had escalated and currently had nothing to lose. The girl was going to be toast and even with a gun Nathan couldn't do a thing about it.
But she could.
With a deep breath she didn't give herself time to second guess her decision. She pulled her gun from her pant's waistband; she always kept it in the car and her instincts had told her to bring it up to the bluff with her. She trained it on Dave, looking for a spot to bring him down but not kill him. Unfortunately for Dave, he was blocking all the good take down points with the girl.
It wasn't a matter of accuracy; she could shoot him at any point on his body that she wanted. The girl was only a variable in that she concealed parts of his body that were needed for a non lethal solution. She would give Nathan a few more minutes to negotiate. If he didn't get anywhere, she would take him down before he hurt the girl. The man had crossed the line into 'bad guy' in her book so she wasn't afraid to kill him.
"Doesn't matter, Nathan. Becky kicked me out. Said I was no good." The man seemed sad at his own words. Hannah couldn't blame Becky; he did seem worthless.
"What will hurting Sara do? It will only make Becky angrier." Nathan tried logic. Good luck with that one.
"If Sara's gone, she'll need someone to take care of. Becky likes takin' care of people." Dave's logic was less than sound but it obviously worked for him.
"She does. Becky's a good person. She's taken care of you for a while."
"But she won't now! She says I'm no good for Sara to be around." Dave was practically sobbing. His gun hand shook. Still he didn't move Sara in any way that helped Hannah get a better shot. She clicked her safety off.
"Well, why don't we talk with her about that? I am sure we can work something out. What I do know is that Becky won't forgive you if you hurt Sara. So let's put the gun down." Nathan's voice was slow and steady. She had to give him credit, he didn't sound like he was panicking.
Dave seemed to be in thought. Hannah stared in awe, wondering if Nathan's words really made an impact. "Put your gun down." Dave demanded. Hannah was impressed that the drunk was thinking clearly enough to make a fairly smart request.
Nathan didn't comply right away. "Dave, I really can't do that."
"I'll let her go, if you put the gun down. If you keep it on me, you'll just shoot me when I let her go."
"As an officer of the law, I cannot shoot you if you let your hostage go."
"You can shoot me if I have a gun in my hand. Put yours down and I'll let her go."
It was a tough one. Drunk as he was, he was probably lying. But Nathan couldn't gamble on that choice, he was in this to get the hostage to safety. Hopefully he had backup right around the corner. Little did he know he had back up right now. Hannah was holding herself steady, waiting for her opportunity.
Nathan sank slowly, setting his gun on the ground in front of him. Dave had him kick it to the side, well out of reach. When Nathan had done so, Dave flung Sarah toward the edge of bluff and pointed his gun at Nathan.
Many things happened in that instant. The first, that was forever burned into Hannah's brain, was Sara's face as she lost her balance and slid over the edge of the bluff. Next, was the process of Hannah trying to decide whether to follow her revenge instinct and kill the man or do 'the right thing' and try to take him in alive. Either way, he was pulling his gun on Nathan and was probably going to shoot him. Those thoughts took less than a second to cross her mind and it took her even less time to react.
Hannah stood forward and shouted, "Stop!"
Dave was startled; Nathan was startled; Hannah was calm. The men looked at her as she stepped forward, gun aimed at Dave's head. He kept his own gun pointed at Nathan's chest. Somewhere in the back of Hannah's mind she realized this was very time sensitive. If Sara's fall hadn't killed her they needed to get her to a hospital immediately. "Put your gun down."
Dave sneered at her. "Sorry if I don't find pretty little girls playin' at bein' cop scary."
"Hannah, I don't know what you're doing but don't-"
Hannah ignored Nathan and continued her conversation with Dave. "Dave, you are a very, very bad person. You're a drunk, a bad influence, and now possibly a murderer. I have no sympathy for you whatsoever and no badge to keep me accountable. I will shoot you. My aim is flawless but I have two choices. I can hurt you or I can kill you. Either choice sounds good to me, I don't have a preference."
He blinked at her, unsure of whether or not to believe her. His shaky hand kept the gun trained on Nathan.
"Since Nathan here would rather have you alive, I'll give you ten seconds to make your own choice. You can put the gun down, or I can shoot you."
"You can't shoot me before I shoot him." Dave didn't sound very confident.
"Eight seconds."
"Hannah," Nathan's voice was a warning.
"I don't believe you," Dave decided.
"Five." She warned.
Dave looked unsure. She was tired of waiting. With a movement quicker than the human eye could see she tilted her aim and shot him in the arm. The way the bullet hit caused his hand to release the gun as he cried out in agony. Nathan grabbed the gun as it hit the ground near him. Dave was cradling his injured arm, trying to stem the blood with his other hand. He was crying and cursing and screaming in pain.
Hannah didn't concern herself with any of it. Holstering her gun back into her waistband she jogged to the edge of the bluff to look down and find Sara. Amazingly, the girl was on a ledge less than ten feet down. She was actually struggling to climb back up toward the top.
"Sara! Hold on, we'll get something to help you." Hannah called down.
The girl looked up at her. "Rock climbing is my hobby. I'll be up in a minute. I heard a shot, is Dave dead?"
Hannah looked over her shoulder. Nathan was on his cell phone and Dave was keeling over, complaining loudly, but very much alive. She looked back down at Sara. "No, not dead. But definitely going to jail for a long, long time."
When Sara was safe home with her mother and Dave was patched up at the hospital and sent to a jail cell, Nathan finally found a moment to confront Hannah at the police station. He drug her by her upper arm into his office and slammed the door closed, sliding the lock into place with a very audible click. It was just him and her.
He glared at her with those icy eyes and she remembered back when she thought she ought to get him angry more often. It was still true; he was sexy when pissed. She fought back a smirk and looked at her toes instead.
"What in the hell was that?" He asked her.
"You'll have to be more specific." She couldn't help it; it was in her nature to be vague.
He took a deep breath. "You know what I mean. First, what were you doing up there?"
"It looked like a pretty spot. Nice view of the town." Hannah looked up to meet his eyes as she lied.
"I didn't see you there when I showed up. So you were already hidden."
Hannah nodded. "I heard footsteps. I like to see who's around before they see me."
"That's weird."
"Is it a crime?"
He paused then crossed his arms. "No." He admitted. "The gun?"
"Mine. I have a license for it. It's very legal."
"Why did you have it up on a "pretty" bluff for sightseeing?" He was sarcastic now. Perfect.
"Wild animals." She replied simply.
"A hand gun?"
"My rifle is in the shop."
He shook his head. He decided to move on. "So you chose to stay hidden."
"I had you covered." She agreed.
"Are you a cop?"
"No." She replied truthfully.
"Army? Navy? Coast Guard?"
"None of the above."
"You talk like a cop." He raised an eyebrow at her.
"Too many TV shows."
"Is it true what you said?" He asked.
"Which part? I've said a lot of things."
"About your 'flawless' aim?"
She tilted her head, considering him. "What do you think?"
He paused again. He took a few steps closer to her, stopping less than a foot away. "I think that shot you made was perfect."
"Thank you-"
"Too perfect. According to the doctor you hit the nerves just right to make the hand spasm open instead of closed."
"Lucky shot," She didn't like where this was going. She tried her best to glare at him but his smoldering eyes made it hard to concentrate on being upset with him.
"Very lucky." He agreed.
"You don't think that I could aim for nerves, do you?" She scoffed, though that had been exactly what she had done.
"No, but I don't know anyone who would know precisely where to hit to make something like that happen. Hell, I don't know many people that could aim a gun and shoot such a small target."
Hannah pressed her lips together. "Is there a point?"
"You're keeping stuff from me."
"We don't know each other. Can't you just say thank you for saving my life and we can move on?"
"I don't like that you're keeping stuff from me."
"You don't know me." She replied, giving him a strange look. "Why would I tell you anything?"
He reached up and scratched under his eye. He looked away from her for a moment, thinking. He looked back at her with a different look in his eyes that she couldn't quite place. "Thank you." He said quietly.
Startled, she replied automatically, "You're welcome."
"Look, I don't want to be unappreciative. But the fact is, if you're not a cop you can't go around pulling a loaded gun on people. It's technically against the law."
"Even to save a life?" She knew the answer but she didn't agree with it.
"Even." He replied with a sad smile.
"Well, okay then. Next time, I'll let him shoot you." She raised her eyebrows with a shake of her head.
"Next time?" His voice held a hint of a tease.
"Oh, this is not the last time someone pulls a gun on Nathan Wuornos, I guarantee."
"The life of a cop." He conceded.
"But today I'm not arrested, right? Saving your life squares me up on the shooting of a felon?"
Nathan looked abashed. He reached up to scratch the back of his neck. "Yea, about that, don't go around saying you did the shooting, okay. That's going to be our secret."
"What?" Hannah squinted at him. "You didn't put that in your report?"
"No, in the report I shot him."
"Nice shot." She replied sarcastically with an edge of venom.
He held up his hands in defense. "It was the only way I could figure to keep you from being arrested. You'd have to go to trial for shooting him, even if it was to save my life."
Hannah sighed loudly with a little huff at the end. "Justice system bites," she murmured.
"Yea well, we're just lucky we're the only two witnesses. Dave was so drunk he doesn't even remember most of what happened on the hill. As far as anyone knows, you got there in time to help Sara up over the edge. I shot Dave before he could shoot me. Can you go with that story?"
"It's keeping me out of jail so it's now the truth." It was her turn to pause for a thought. She glanced up at him. "Thank you." She seemed as surprised as he was that she said the words. She pushed up on her tiptoes and gave him a quick peck on the cheek. "You're a good cop, Wuornos, don't let anyone tell you otherwise." She gave him a small smile. He was startled by the gesture and she wasn't willing to stick around to talk about it. She walked past him, unlocked the door, and left the police station.