Invasion

43

Maya wanted to be anywhere but there in that moment. With everyone staring at her, expecting her to make the toughest decision of their lives for them, all she wanted was to be alone. But she knew this was her responsibility, as the person who had been put in charge of the group.

Then Reno looked around at the others.

“Well, we’ve got a choice to make. The kids are going, but—”

“No shit, Sherlock,” Gerald said, interrupting him.

Reno smiled for a moment before shaking his head and continuing. “Two of us are going to have to stay here. How are we going to decide?”

“One of you,” Maya said. “I’m not leaving my kids and they’re not staying here.”

John shrugged. “We could draw straws, or whatever we can find that would work.”

“Are we in second-fucking-grade or something, here?” Gerald asked.

“I don’t hear you coming up with any better ideas,” John said.

“No, you know, I’ve got an idea.” Gerald pointed back and forth at Reno and John. “How about you two stay?”

Maya stood back and listened, sharing a glance with Reno after Gerald’s suggestion. Reno licked his lips and was about to respond when John jumped in.

“Screw that. Why are we automatically assuming that your name isn’t on the chopping block?”

Gerald snorted a sarcastic laugh, then turned to Laura and Aiden. “There’s two reasons for you right there, dumbass. If you think I’m leaving my children behind, then you’re crazy. And if we’re going that far, Maya’s name should be on the table, too.”

Maya felt her chest tighten, and her mouth went dry.

I’d die first, you son of a bitch.

She couldn’t trust Gerald with their safety. Although, he had kept the kids safe when all this had hit the fan. She didn’t agree with his decision to take them from her mother, but she understood that what he did and how he treated their grandmother was done under extreme duress.

“That’s ridiculous,” Reno said. “Maya’s name shouldn’t even be considered.”

“Why?” Maya stepped into the middle of the men, all of her certainty about the situation beginning to slide away. She glanced around at them before glaring at Reno. “Why shouldn’t I be considered?”

“Come on, Maya,” Reno said. “Don’t be like this.”

“Like what? I’ve done things over the past few weeks that are unfathomable. What makes me any better than anyone else?”

“Because everything you’ve done has been to save your kids,” Reno said.

“Yeah,” John said. “You didn’t fuckin’ kidnap ‘em like this guy.”

“Maybe we should be leaving your fat, worthless ass behind,” Gerald said. “Who the hell are you anyway? We don’t know if you’re really a cop, and so what if you are?”

“He’s saved my ass more times than I can count,” Reno said. “So, watch what you say.”

“Yeah?” Gerald asked, stepping toward Reno. “Or what?”

“Don’t get up in my face, man.”

“What are you going to do about it?”

“Dad, don’t,” Laura said.

“Stay out of this, Laura,” Gerald said, never taking his eyes off Reno.

“You’re nothing but a coward, and you know it,” Reno said.

Gerald gave Reno a two-handed shove to the chest.

I’ve got to stop this, Maya thought. She stepped forward to get between them, but it was too late.

Reno’s eyes narrowed. “You son of a bitch.”

And then Reno threw the first punch.

Gerald stumbled back a couple of steps, his neck twisted from the impact with Reno’s fist. He brought his hand to his face and ran it across his mouth. Looking down, he saw blood on the side of his thumb.

Reno hesitated after the punch, looking from Laura, to Aiden, to Maya. He held up his fist, his jaw slack as he stared down Gerald.

All Maya wanted to do was step in between them and stop the madness before it escalated. She went to do just that, but she did so right as Gerald retaliated by lunging at Reno. Reacting quickly, Reno raised one of his hands to keep Maya back, and he used his other to shield his face as Gerald swung—but it didn’t work.

The punch knocked Reno back onto his ass, the dirt kicking up and whirling through the air like a small tornado. Before Gerald could jump on top of Reno, John stepped in the middle.

“Stop it!”

But Gerald ignored him, landing a right-hook to John’s chin, following it with a hard jab into the cop’s gut. John grunted and doubled over, and then Gerald brought his knee up into John’s face, knocking his head against the truck. The crack of John’s nose made Maya wince.

Aiden had begun to cry silent tears while Laura watched with morbid fascination as these grown men fought in front of her. Maya spun and shouted at her ex-husband.

“Gerald, enough!”

But she could see in his eyes that he had snapped. This wasn’t the Gerald she had known, the father of her children, the man she’d fallen in love with and married. He had become unhinged—he’d become a madman. The experience at Fort Campbell had wrecked him like PTSD pulled apart soldiers. Now all she could think about was what he would do first; stop, or kill Reno.

Fortunately, John distracted Gerald long enough to give Reno time to recover. He jumped to his feet and speared Gerald with the top of his head like a linebacker, driving his shoulder into Gerald’s gut and sending both men tumbling to the ground. With the leverage on his side now, Reno pummeled Gerald with two punches to the face.

After the second, Gerald looked up at Reno and laughed.

“Is that all you got? For a bastard who’s been fucking my wife, you sure ain’t got a lot in the tank. Maya doesn’t like soft men.”

Reno gritted his teeth and threw another punch, busting Gerald’s nose and sending blood splatter into the air.

“Stop it!” Laura said, her face red and her words sharp as if Reno’s last punch had woken her from a daze. “Stop punching him!”

Maya couldn’t let it go on anymore, either. She couldn’t watch her best friend and her unhinged ex-husband fight to the death.

“Reno, you’ve got to stop,” she said.

Reno had a handful of Gerald’s shirt, his fist raised and ready to hit Gerald again, but he paused.

He looked at Maya and his mouth fell open, his eyes wide. She felt as though he was staring right through her.

A split second later, Gerald grabbed Reno’s collar, pulled him down, and head butted him.

Blood immediately ran from a gash in Reno’s forehead and he stumbled backward, falling onto his back next to Gerald. Gerald sat up, blood covering his face, and straddled Reno.

“No!” Maya screamed.

Gerald ignored her. He acted like a rabid pit bull as he landed two vicious punches to Reno’s face. Reno was nearly unconscious from the head butt. He spat blood and a tooth out, but Gerald didn’t let up. It was as if he had blacked out and didn’t even realize what he was doing. And if Maya continued to let him do this, Gerald would kill Reno.

Maya grabbed Gerald’s arms and tried to pull him off Reno. As if it was a reflex, Gerald brought the back of his hand up and across Maya’s face, hitting her with enough force to knock her back and onto the ground.

She grabbed her cheek and groaned as she hit the dirt, rolling onto her side.

Only a few feet away from her lay the wrench she’d been using to try to fix the vehicle. Maya grabbed it and jumped to her feet. She approached Gerald from behind, even as he continued spitting blood and landing punches everywhere on Reno’s face.

“I’m sorry,” she said, unsure if she was apologizing to her children for what she was about to do to their father, or to Gerald for what could happen when she did.

Then she swung the wrench.

She hit Gerald in the back of the head, and he immediately slumped over and fell into the dirt. Tears came to Maya’s eyes, but she quickly shoved them aside, knowing she’d done what she’d had to do. She pushed Gerald’s limp body off of Reno, and then checked Gerald’s wrist to make sure he still had a pulse. He did.

Thank God.

She hadn’t wanted to kill him. She’d only wanted to stop him from killing Reno, which she had accomplished.

Turning, Maya next ran her hand down Reno’s cheek, and checked his wrist to make sure Gerald hadn’t killed him. She found a pulse.

“Mom?” Aiden asked.

Knowing both men were alive, Maya rose and rushed over to her children.

“I’m so sorry,” she said. “I didn’t have a choice.”

“Is he…” Laura couldn’t finish the question.

“Yes,” Maya said. “He’s alive.”

Then she heard a grunt and turned around to see John pushing himself up to his feet. Maya went to him and braced him as he stood.

“You okay?” she asked.

“Yeah,” he said with a cough. Then he nodded at Reno and Gerald. “What about them?”

“They’ll be all right. But we don’t have much time and I need your help.”

“Yeah, with what?”

“We need to get Reno into the truck, and we need to get Gerald somewhere hidden, where the aliens can’t find him.”

John looked at Aiden and Laura, and then nodded at Maya. “You’ll come back for us?”

“I’ll try.”

And, as she spoke the words, Maya realized she had made her decision on who would stay and who would go.