Chapter Twelve: "A Free People"
Chief Dunn and I rushed into the room, weapons drawn. I immediately located Asa Voss and aimed the shotgun in her direction. Mr. Dunn did the same, which equaled three guns pointing at her. With the hood of the ceremonial robe drawn back, I recognized Mr. Quinn. Apparently, Chief Dunn had guessed correctly and Mr. Quinn was investigating after all. He had his own gun pointed at Asa's head and was a good deal closer to her than either me or Chief Dunn.
Ben, however, was still in danger. With the knife hovering inches away from his chest, Asa looked up at us from her crouched position with an expression of pure evil.
"Take one more step or pull the trigger and your friend is dead. I will not hesitate to plunge this knife through his heart."
I looked worriedly at Mr. Quinn who hesitated but slowly put his handgun away. He then held up his hands in surrender.
"I'm disappointed in you, Matthew," Asa started telling him. "We would have made a lovely pair. That's too bad. I would've given you the world."
"The only thing I want from you Asa is for you to let the boy go. Ben came here looking for me. He never meant you any harm."
Mr. Quinn's words were doing very little to change Asa's mind. The knife still hadn't moved and neither had anyone else. It was an extremely tense situation.
"Drop the knife, Miss Voss." It was now Chief Dunn's turn. Perhaps she'd listen to him. "All we want to do is talk. If you do this, in front of all these witnesses, you will go to prison and receive the death penalty. Is that what you want?"
"You. All of you!" Her voice was lifting in volume as well as pitch, and a crazed look was now on her face. Asa Voss was insane. Positively insane!
"You think you are so important when you are nothing! Your pitiful lives are worth nothing! You have no idea what's right in front of you because you cannot see! You hear nothing because your mind is filled with constant noise. Your music, your television shows, your obsession with social interactions – these things are what influence and control you. You can't even think for yourselves. Your decisions are made for you! You are all weak and I despise you! All of you!"
I recalled what Mr. Dunn had told me about the shotgun I was carrying. I decided not to shoot because I was too far away and didn't want to risk hitting Ben. However, someone did take a shot. I was startled by the noise and watched as a bullet smacked Asa Voss right between her eyes. She was still for a second and then fell sideways onto the floor, the ceremonial knife clattering across cold stone. I glanced to my left, first at the smoking gun and then at the man who was holding it.
"What?" Mr. Dunn innocently asked. "I was sick of listening to her!"
"But…" I wanted to question him on the decision to shoot someone when they are holding another hostage, especially when the hostage was Ben.
"I had the shot, so I took it. It's over."
Perhaps I was in shock, but for some reason, I wasn't as relieved as I thought I'd be. Sure, I was glad Ben was free and Mr. Quinn was still himself, but what about the other victims? What about all the townspeople affected by this woman's tyranny? What were they going to do now?
And what if they weren't happy we had killed the woman they worshipped? What was going to happen if we had just inadvertently begun a personal war with the people of Fort Bracken?
I kept my shotgun tight in my grip, noticed Mr. Quinn was helping Ben to his feet, and then looked toward the others in the room. They were as unmoved as I and seemed to be in shock themselves. Every single one of them was staring down at the lifeless body.
Mr. Dunn noticed as well although he had lowered his weapon. Finally, one of them looked up and directly at me. I recognized him as the town's butcher who apparently carved up all the sacrificial animals. He continued to blankly stare at me until suddenly a smile slowly spread across his face. He then let out a whooping sound and quickly pulled off ceremonial garb and tossed it into the fire. When others saw what he'd done, they did the same and then they all began cheering and hugging one another.
They were finally free and they were happy, although there were some exceptions. The constable and his officers, for one, who obviously were on Asa's payroll. They had kept their robes on and had silently backed away from the joyous celebration to apparently try and sneak out. Mr. Dunn, however, thwarted their plans by rushing over to cut them off and was holding them at gunpoint. Mr. Quinn had nabbed a couple more who were Asa's personal assistants, and Ben? I wasn't sure where he was. Through the noise and scattered crowd, I'd lost sight of him. We'd have plenty of time to celebrate later, so the fact he hadn't immediately rushed into my arms wasn't bothering me.
But something was wrong with me. I just wasn't sure what it was.
After several minutes, the townspeople began to disperse. Chief Dunn and Mr. Quinn had apparently decided to walk Asa's strongest supporters back to town at gunpoint where they would be put into cells to await extradition by the FBI. That left only Ben and me. Ever since we had stepped into this wretched dungeon, I hadn't moved a muscle. The shotgun hung loosely in my grip. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Ben approaching me. He had grabbed one of the robes and wrapped it around his waist.
"Hey."
I heard his voice, but it was like he was speaking to me from the end of a long tunnel. I couldn't look at him. I was too ashamed of my feelings.
"What's the matter?"
His concern for me only made things worse. How selfish was I? I needed to speak, but finding the correct words was difficult. Or maybe they weren't really and I was just too embarrassed to voice my feelings.
"Look at me and tell me what's wrong."
This wasn't fair at all. I needed to speak up. I wasn't wanting anyone, especially Ben, to feel sorry for me.
I could feel him pulling the shotgun out of my hands and release the holster about my waist. Once I was free of the weapons, I tried to explain.
"I feel cheated," I began softly.
"What? Why?"
I lifted my eyes finally to the body lying on the floor on the other side of the room.
"I wanted to be the one!" Once I'd started, the words flowed out of me. "I wanted to kill her! After everything she's done to these people, to you? I wanted to be the one to put an end to her life! Whether by using that gun or my own hands, I wanted to be the one!"
My quivering body was slowly wrapped up in Ben's arms and I held onto him tightly.
"This is a normal reaction, Ami," he consoled me. "You're not used to this kind of violence. Believe me, on many occasions in my career, I've felt exactly the same."
"But I'm not you," I spoke into his chest.
"Man or woman doesn't seem to make any difference. You're a human being and we all share the same feelings of jealousy, embarrassment, regret, and yes, revenge. What you're feeling right now is normal."
I allowed the truth of his words to sink into my mind. They were spoken with sincerity and made me feel better. He was right. I needed to accept these feelings as normal and then let them go. It was going to be a process though.
For the moment, I needed to stop focusing on myself and concentrate on Ben. He'd already been through so much.
"Forgive me," I told him earnestly while lifting my head.
"There's nothing to forgive," he told me with a playful smirk. "In fact, you've done me a favor. I was beginning to believe you were perfect and I was wondering how I could ever live up to your expectations.'
"All I expect from you, Mr. Noble, is honesty. Just promise you'll always be the way you are now."
He smiled and kissed me, but then pulled back abruptly.
"I would, but I have one problem with that."
I wasn't sure if he was joking or not. Was he worried about not sharing case information with me or some bad experience he'd had with an investigation? Surely, he knew that wasn't what I was talking about.
"And what's that?" I was forced to ask.
"Well, you see; right now, I'm single. Hopefully soon, I won't be. In fact, I'm hoping I'll be an old married man."
"Really?" I replied, a smirk of my own lifting one corner of my mouth. "Who's the lucky lady? Have you set a date yet?"
"Funny."
I received a longer kiss this time as well as an embrace. I held on tightly. He had no idea how much I loved him and needed him.
Without releasing me, he began speaking softly in my ear.
"I realize we've just been through a rather tense situation and emotions are running high, but I've had plenty of time to think and I've come to a decision."
I was holding my breath. If he was about to say what I think he was, I didn't want to interrupt him.
"I realize we've made jokes about getting married in the past, but I want to make it official. I want to ask if you'll marry me. I don't have a ring, but I will get one as soon as I can."
I cried no tears for Asa Voss or the lost townspeople of Fort Bracken, but I did feel tears falling onto my cheeks. In fact, I was crying so hard, I couldn't speak. Obviously worried about that, Ben pulled back to look at my smiling face.
"Can I take that as a yes?"
I swallowed the lump in my throat before throwing myself back into his arms.
"Yes!"
