For The Least Of These (32 page)

Terry
whirled around in a flash, but he was too slow. I already had a bead on him, and I had backed up out of his reach.

“Okay, Terry. The shoe
is on the other foot now. You need to untie my friends before I put a hole in you.” I remained amazingly calm, but I was praying under my breath. God was in control, and I was so thankful that it wasn’t me.

“Come on, Brandy. Give me the gun back and I won’t have to hurt you.”

I aimed above Terry’s head and squeezed off a round. I was certain he could feel the breeze off of the speeding bullet. “I said untie my friends.”

Terry kept walking towards me. I didn’t want to kill him, but I wasn’t going to let him get the gun. I was a decent shot; Vince had insisted I practice at the shooting range after Sam had been vandalized. I moved the nozzle of the gun down and aimed for his right shoulder. “I will shoot, Terry. Please don’t make me.”

Terry wasn’t buying my act. He was getting way too close and I was almost against the wall. I prayed that I wouldn’t kill him, and then I pulled the trigger. The bullet tore into Terry’s shoulder and he fell to the ground, shocked and in pain. I started to move passed him, and Adam said, “Brandy – here.”

I looked in his direction and he was holding the handcuffs in front of him. He then moved his hands down and tossed the cuffs onto the floor in front of me. I grabbed them and turned back towards Terry. Terry was now in a sitting position and trying his best to get up. I turned the gun on him and said, “Don’t move, Terry. Put your hands behind you.”

He glanced over his shoulder and saw the gun aimed at him. He gave a defeated sigh and put his hands behind his back. I quickly locked the cuffs on him as tightly as I could. While still holding the gun on him, I went into the edge of the kitchen to locate a knife so I could set everyone free. The knife block was sitting right on the end of the counter, so I was able to locate a sharp knife and still train my gun on Terry.

I cut Alicia loose, and then Adam. I contemplated leaving Rick tied up, but he looked so pitiful that I decided to go ahead and free him. I longed to fly into the safety of Adam’s arms, but I knew we still had to make sure Terry was secure and then we had to get away from the house.

Adam and Rick lifted Terry to his feet and laid him down on the sofa. Terry was clearly in a lot of pain and he was bleeding profusely. All of the fight had gone out of him, and I was afraid he was going into shock. As best as I could, I tried to alleviate his bleeding and Alicia found some Ibuprofen to give him. I was sure it wouldn’t help the pain, but Alicia wanted to try. Even though Terry had wanted to end our lives, we were desperate to save his.

I picked up our house phone to call 911 for an ambulance and the police. The phone had no dial tone. Earlier I would have imagined that Terry had cut the line, but now I could just as easily blame the storm. We were going to have to take Terry out of here ourselves.

I wasn’t sure how long it had been since Terry forced me to leave Alicia’s with him. It was dark outside, but I didn’t know if that was because night had fallen or because of the storm. “We’ve got to get out of here. The phone is dead. Terry is in bad shape, and we will be too if we get caught up in this storm.”

Just then, there was an earsplitting crash out in front of the house. Adam rushed to the front door, switched on the porch light, and jerked the door open. We were all horrified to see that a huge pecan tree had split almost in half and fell, landing squarely on the
Meyers’ truck. The windshield was shattered and the cab was crushed. My heart sank when I realized we were now faced with another obstacle.

“It will still run, won’t it?” Alicia asked.

“No, Alicia, I don’t imagine that it will,” Rick answered. “And even if it would, there’s a several hundred pound tree lying on top of it. We wouldn’t be able to move it in that wind.”

“We’re all going to die, aren’t we?” Alicia remarked. As she began sobbing, Rick took her in his arms and tried to comfort her. I was touched by his show of concern for someone other than himself.

Adam was trying to figure out a plan to keep us safe. We couldn’t possibly walk out of the neighborhood the way Terry and I had walked in. Apparently Alicia and Adam had walked in too since there were no other vehicles in sight.

“We’ve got to get the doors blocked while we still have power. The wind is getting strong enough to blow them open. We won’t be able to stop the flooding, but hopefully we can climb up on something to keep us dry. I’m hoping the water won’t get too high, but I saw some crazy high waves on the bay earlier. They are bound to be worse now, and this house isn’t too far from the water.” Adam was acting calm, but I knew he was worried about all of us. He asked Rick to help him move some of the heavier furniture in front of the doors, and they soon had them secured
– unless, of course, a tornado struck. Then all bets would be off.

We moved Terry into his bedroom and placed him on the bed
. He had completely passed out, but we still cuffed his left arm to the bedpost. His wound wasn’t bleeding as much, but I covered it with a fresh towel. When we were satisfied that he wouldn’t be going anywhere, we left his room and started back into the living room.

Without any warning, the power cut off and we were left in darkness
. Alicia let out a shrill little scream, but I tried to remain calm and optimistic. As my eyes adjusted to the darkness, I saw that Rick had sat down on the sofa and Alicia was right beside him. He was holding her very close, and she wasn’t attempting to get away. I looked around for Adam. He was beside me, and he took my hand and pulled me towards the back of the house.

When we reached my bedroom, he took me inside and said, “I need to talk to you.”

Terry had done a good job boarding up the windows. The room’s double window was completely covered and hopefully impervious to the storm. I did feel a shiver run down my spine when I thought about the huge wave surge that could result from this strong storm. I had no idea how high the waves would be in the bay, nor did I know how far the water could travel. I did know that storm surges were responsible for most of the deaths during a hurricane, and even a small surge was extremely powerful since it was propelled by the speed of the moving storm. I tried to focus on Adam and forget what was going on outside. 

Adam said, “Brandy, you can’t imagine how scared I was when I got to Alicia’s house and that cop was dead
. I feared the worst. Thank God you weren’t hurt.”

“God has truly answered my prayers today, Adam
. He protected all of us. And He will continue to protect us, I know He will.” I wasn’t quite as certain as I tried to sound.

Adam agreed with me, and then he said, “I know this is a crazy time to do this, but it has to be now
. If we don’t all survive this storm, I want you to know exactly how I feel.”

“I know you love me, Adam
. And you’ve made me so happy these last few days. Nothing can ever take that away.”

“Yes, I do love you, but there’s more
. I was wondering – if we make it out of here alive…Brandy, will you marry me?”

To say I was stunned would be a gross understatement
. Never in a million years had I expected Adam to propose to me. Level-headed, practical Adam would never do anything so rash. I had envisioned him wanting to date for at least three or four years, and then our engagement would be for at least a year – just to make sure I was completely over Rick. I had to wonder if he was just doing this because he thought we were going to die. So I asked him, “You aren’t proposing because you think we’re going to die, are you?”

“No, not at all
. You know the errand I had to do this morning? I had planned to buy you a big expensive ring. But then I got to thinking, what does she need with a ring? A guy like me can give her all kinds of excitement – a ring would be unnecessary.” I couldn’t see Adam’s face clearly in the dark, but I knew he was smiling his winning smile. 

I wanted to marry Adam more than anything
– except get out of this storm alive. “Well, knowing you is rather exciting, but you are still going to have to get me a ring. And yes, it has to be big and gaudy so everyone will be jealous of it. After you get the ring, I’ll consent to marrying you.”

Adam started laughing and said, “Okay, I’ll get you a ring.”
Then he pulled me into his arms and kissed me.

Alicia called out from the other room, “Brandy, are you looking for candles?”

I wasn’t, of course, but it was a good idea. I searched around my room until I located some candles. I carried them back to the living room where Rick lit them with some matches from his pocket. We all tried to pretend that we felt better having lights again, but I could tell from everyone’s face that no one was feeling very hopeful about the situation.

“What are we going to do?” Alicia finally asked. “We can’t just sit here and wait to die. Do we even know what time it is? Has the hurricane made landfall, or is it going to get worse.”

“I have no idea what time it is, “Adam said. “My watch got ruined this morning when I was walking in the rain for so long. As for what we are going to do, I’m open to suggestions.”

“Maybe one of us should go out and try to find out if anyone else is in the neighborhood,” Alicia said. “Maybe someone’s phone is still working.”

“Alicia, it’s way too dangerous out there,” I told her.

Adam suggested that we pray for guidance, but Alicia wasn’t too happy with that suggestion. “Is that your answer to everything? And you’ve made Brandy the same way. All you two ever want to do is pray! How is praying going to help us get out of here?”

I was surprised when Rick said, “Alicia, calm down. We can’t go outside. We’ve already secured this place as best we can. We just have to wait now. I think praying is a good idea. At least maybe God can comfort us and keep us from freaking out.”

Alicia just stared at Rick, but when he took hold of her hand, she didn’t resist.

“Brandy, can I have your Bible?” Adam asked.

I retrieved my Bible from my bedroom and handed it to Adam. “First, I’m going to read a prayer from the Bible. It is the prayer Jonah prayed when he was trapped in the belly of the whale. Part of him feared he would perish, but he still had hope. Our situation is similar to his, and we need to trust God as Jonah did and have hope.”

Adam turned through the Bible and began, “This is from Jonah 2:2-7. I cried out to the Lord because of my affliction, and He answered me. Out of the belly of Sheol I cried, and You heard my voice. For You cast me into the deep, into the heart of the seas, and the floods surrounded me; all Your billows and Your waves passed over me. Then I said, 'I have been cast out of Your sight; yet I will look again toward Your holy temple.' The waters surrounded me, even to my soul; the deep closed around me; Weeds were wrapped around my head. I went down to the moorings of the mountains; the earth with its bars closed behind me forever; yet You have brought up my life from the pit, O Lord, my God. When my soul fainted within me, I remembered the Lord; and my prayer went up to You, Into Your holy temple.”

I noticed that Alicia was crying, and Rick was trying to comfort her. I had never before seen Alicia this vulnerable and it disturbed me. Rick tenderly pulled Alicia into his arms and she pressed herself against his chest. Even though I could see fear in Rick’s face, his eyes also revealed a spark of satisfaction in Alicia’s turning to him in her fear.

Adam was flipping through the Bible – stopping to read passages of comfort every now and again. I wanted to snuggle up to him, but there was no more room on the couch. My trust in God gave me a calm serenity that belied my need for Adam’s touch. This could be our last minutes together, and I wanted to be in his arms if God chose to call us home. Still, I had to be mindful of Alicia’s and Rick’s lack of trust. I had to allow Adam to try and open their hearts to God’s comfort the only way he could – through God’s Word.

Suddenly, there was a loud banging on the front door, followed by shouts that were masked by the loud rain and howling wind. Alicia gave out a little squeal and clung tighter to Rick. I looked over at Adam and he was already moving towards the door. I got up and helped him move the large desk that he and Rick had used to block the door. It was heavy, but it was soon over far enough that Adam could get to the door and open it. When he did, several people came rushing in with huge powerful flashlights. At first, I wasn’t sure who these men were, but it soon became apparent that they were law officers. Without much talk, they tried to hurry the four of us out of the house and into a SUV that was waiting beside the road. Rick took Alicia, but Adam and I remained until the officers understood that Terry was in the back room. Finally, we were inside the van and headed, hopefully, to safety. Terry would be transported in another vehicle. As we were driven to the nearest shelter, the SUV swayed and rocked in the storm, but we made the journey safely.

Once we reached the shelter, two detectives escorted us inside. They confirmed who everyone was, and then told us that we had to answer some questions. I was chosen to go first. Detective Kennedy led me to a table that was some distance away from my friends. The other detective, Redfield, stayed with Adam, Alicia, and Rick. Kennedy had a boyish look about him, but he was professional and thorough with his questioning.

“Miss Moretti, we found the body of a Gulfport, Mississippi investigator at the home of Alicia Meyers. Your vehicle was in the driveway. Can you tell me what happened?” Kennedy asked.

I told the detective everything that had happened at Alicia’s and how Terry had killed DeVries and taken me hostage. I also managed to tell him that Terry had confessed to murdering Fisher Perry in Biloxi. At length I told him how Terry had come to be shot and why we were stranded in the house. Kennedy listened intently and took notes. He asked some follow up questions and then led me back to where the others were waiting.

After Kennedy and Redfield had conferred for a few minutes, Kennedy took Adam away to question him. Although I knew God would protect Adam, I worried that he was going to be arrested. When Kennedy finally brought him back to me, nothing was said about Adam going to jail.

When Kennedy was finished interviewing Alicia and Rick, Redfield, who seemed to be the senior detective, told us that we should stay at the shelter until the storm subsided. He also told us that he might have some more questions for us later, and then he and Kennedy left. No one was arrested and no one stayed to guard us. Apparently we were all free for the time being.

The four of us compared notes, but none of us had any idea what was going to happen. For now we were content to be thankful for our rescue. We also realized that we were exhausted, so we found a place where we could get some rest and wait out the hurricane. The shelter was fairly crowded, but we found an empty spot and took advantage of it.

We were able to leave the shelter on Friday afternoon. Only then did we realize what a terrible storm Ivan had been. Whole neighborhoods were destroyed, people were killed, and thousands were homeless. The devastation wasn’t limited to Gulf Shores, A
labama (where Ivan came ashore early Thursday morning as a category 3 hurricane) and Pensacola. By the time Ivan dissipated, there had been over 100 deaths directly or indirectly attributed to the storm and billions of dollars of damage in the United States and the Caribbean. I was so very thankful that my friends and I had not been included in those statistics.

Alicia’s parents came to the shelter to pick her up, and my parents were there for me. Apparently the police had informed them of our location. They were all happy to find us unharmed and safe. Luckily, our parents’ homes were still standing. My parents had lost part of their chain-link fence, but the house only sustained minimal damage. The
Meyers home was leaking, so they had a blue tarp covering up the damage to their roof. Alicia’s apartment hadn’t faired as well since the door had been broken. Her home had flooded and most of her belongings were destroyed.

Mr.
Meyers invited everyone back to his house since he had a couple of generators and plenty of gas to keep them running. It was also closer to the shelter, so we all decided to accept his invitation. Stacy and Vince had brought our dog Destiny with them, so they didn’t feel the need to rush home. Also, driving was extremely hazardous since debris and fallen power lines were everywhere, so we didn’t want to spend too much time on the road. We all spent the rest of the afternoon and then the night at the Meyers’ house. Alicia’s mom cooked us a wonderful meal and even Vince seemed to enjoy it.

On Saturday morning, Detective Kennedy came by
. He cleared up all of our questions concerning Fisher’s death, DeVries’ manhunt for Adam, and Terry’s fate:

One of Fisher’s lady friends had found Fisher strangled to death in his room at the Rest Inn
. This woman had been questioned by the Harrison Mississippi Sheriff’s Department, and she had told them that a man had come by Fisher’s room earlier in the day and had punched Fisher, breaking his nose. Her description of the man fit a description the motel attendant gave to one of the officers. The description fit Adam, but it also fit a number of Fisher’s other acquaintances. Even when Jackson DeVries had shown them a photo of Adam, neither the desk clerk nor the woman could assert that he was the man who had hit Fisher.

DeVries and his partner were convinced that the assailant was Adam and that Adam had returned later that day to kill Fisher
. Originally their superior allowed them to follow the lead. DeVries and his partner, Fitch, had travelled to Cary to interview Adam’s parents and see if they could locate him. When that lead went cold, the detectives were ordered to start pursuing other leads closer to home. For a while Fitch and DeVries did as they were told, but they both had a hunch that Adam was the killer. They started looking at Adam as a suspect again even though they had no hard evidence against him. Both detectives were eventually reprimanded by their superior for failing to follow orders. On a whim, DeVries and Fitch had decided to follow their hunches without department sanction. They had pooled some money together and Fitch had headed back to Cary while DeVries looked for clues in Pensacola.

DeVries discovered that I was at Three Sheets on Friday night, and he had come looking for me
. DeVries had never had any authorization to involve the police in Pensacola, but he had called in a favor to one of the local deputies that he’d known in college. The deputy and some of his buddies had helped DeVries track Adam and me down to the hotel, and they were going to help DeVries arrest Adam. DeVries had figured out that I was at Alicia’s and came there to arrest me and insure Adam’s capture. Everything was going according to DeVries’ plan until Terry showed up.

Terry was now in Baptist Hospital, and he was going to survive
. The bullet had lodged in his left shoulder, but the doctors had been able to remove it. Terry had regained consciousness on Friday evening and he had confessed to everything: Fisher’s murder, DeVries’ murder, assailing Alicia, taking me against my will, and holding all of us hostage with the intent of killing us. Kennedy also informed us that Wayne and Curt were unharmed – Terry had admitted that he only threatened them.

Terry might have succeeded in killing us if not for Alicia’s dad
. About an hour after Rick had stopped by, Mr. Meyers had noticed that Alicia’s front door was open. He had gone over to secure the apartment and had found Jack’s body. As luck would have it, a police cruiser was in the neighborhood and Mr. Meyers flagged him down. Although Alicia’s dad didn’t know what had happened, he knew it had to be connected to everyone heading out to Terry’s house, so he sent the police to look for us. We had been rescued at about 8 pm, several hours before the hurricane made landfall.

I was finally able to breathe easy knowing Adam was free
. At last we could start our new life together.