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BRENTON
Ifought with police officers for what seemed like hours, as patrons continued to stream out of the bar. I stopped to examine each one. None were my daughter.
“She’s still in there! What are you guys waiting for?”
I just kept screaming and they just kept ignoring me. I tried to run in myself a few times, but each time I was caught by an officer and dragged back behind the wall of squad cars they had formed in front of Rita’s.
“We have to do this strategically, so no one gets hurt,” the commander told me after my third attempt to get in.
After some discussion, they decided to call the bar, in hopes that Amber would answer and that they could talk her off the ledge. I jumped nervously back and forth on my feet as he tried to reason with her. He hung up.
“She wants money.”
“What else is new? How much?”
“A million.”
“What?!”
“You won’t be giving her a penny. Now that we know she won’t reason with us, we’ll come up with a plan to force entry and remove your daughter as safely as possible.”
I ran my hands through my hair, enraged and anxious. Suddenly, we heard a small voice coming from the back of the building.
“Dad? Dad!”
I went running. I rounded the corner and there she was. My daughter was shaking, her face red from tears, but she was uninjured. I breathed a huge sigh of relief and rushed to her side, taking her in my arms.
“You’re okay. You’re okay,” I said as I rocked back and forth.
“Dad, Helen’s in there.”
I tightened my embrace. “What?”
“Mom’s drunk and she has a gun and Helen is still in there. We have to get her out!”
I grabbed Candace’s hand and walked her back to the line of officers that had been giving us some space. A paramedic approached us first and asked to examine Candace. I let them go and went back to the commander. I looked at the lone vehicle in the parking lot, aside from the thralls of police. I cursed myself. It was Helen’s. I hadn’t heard from Helen so I assumed something stopped her from getting here. I was distracted by the danger my daughter was in, so I made a note to check back in when this was all over. I guess part of me hadn’t wanted to believe that both of the most important women in my life could be in there.
“Someone is still in there,” I said. “Her name is Helen Washington. She’s my, well she’s someone important to me and I think Amber might harm her.”
Before he could respond, a gunshot rang out. Everything felt like slow motion after that.
I turned back toward Rita’s and began running, officers had their weapons drawn and were inching toward the bar, but I had no patience for it. I pushed myself through them and burst inside. I found Helen on the ground, unconscious. Amber was standing over her, pistol still aimed. She looked up at me and that small amount of hesitation was all I needed. I hurled my body at her, catching her by surprise. She shrieked slightly as she bore the brunt of my assault. I grabbed her hands and squeezed, forcing her to drop the gun.
“We’ve got her, Brenton.”
I rolled away as the officers swooped in and took charge. But I couldn’t care less what they were doing with Amber. I crawled over to where beautiful Helen lay motionless on the filthy ground. There was blood, so much blood.
With my heart racing, I felt for her pulse.
“Please be alive. Please be alive. Helen, I love you. You can’t die on me.”
I leaned down to brush a lock of hair away from her color-drained face. I turned and screamed into the room.
“Someone get the paramedics in here now! She’s shot! Where are the fucking paramedics?”
I turned back to Helen and leaned down to kiss her brow.
“Stay with me, darling. Stay with me. You’re going to be fine. I love you, Helen. Stay with me. Please!”
