Road to Recovery

As he walked up to the door of his house Deputy Tomas knew that he had finally found the happiness that he had been searching for. It had been 7 years since he could say that he had been truly happy but now he had found it again. He had found her and she was making him happy. Vanessa had called him asking if he was in the area could he swing by his house and meet her, that she had something to tell him. He had been out in the county and had told her he would meet her here at the house at 9 that morning.

He looked up as he heard the door open and saw Vanessa standing there with tears streaming down her face. He went to ask her what was wrong and that is when his eyes registered the Glock in her hand coming up. His hand dropped instinctively to his sidearm as the first round struck him center mass, he felt his Glock clear his holster as he felt a burning sensation go through his left forearm and was slammed backwards by a second round to the chest. His brain and muscle memory was screaming at him to eliminate the threat in front of him while his heart screamed at him to not shoot even as his first round went off striking the door frame above her head. This had to be a horrible dream he did not want to kill the woman he had fell in love with. He felt a third round hit where his neck and shoulders meet and then he was on his back and everything was going black. The last thing he remembered was Vanessa kneeling down next to him and kissing his cheek as she told him she was sorry and that she truly loved him as she pushed a letter into his shirt between his vest and his chest. Vanessa rose up, pointed the Glock at him and pulled the trigger once more as everything went black.

Vanessa walked to the black SUV that was waiting on the street where a large man in a black suit stood outside. As she approached he slapped her, knocking her to the ground before picking up the Glock and handing it to the front passenger. He grabbed her and shoved her into the backseat of the SUV before climbing in himself. Tears streamed down her face as the car raced away. Rodrigo looked at her and sneered oh you loved that pig, well he is roasting in hell now. He laughed and opened his phone to let his boss know that the job was done. After talking with the boss and getting instruction of what needed to be done next he closed the phone and advised the driver where they were headed. After a couple of minutes Vanessa felt like she was going to be sick but swallowed the bile down and prayed that they would let her see her little boy soon and prayed for the soul of the man she loved. The SUV sped out of the small New Mexico town heading towards one of the safe houses that they had established. Rodrigo kept staring at Vanessa and all he could think about was when was the boss going to give him the green light to have her. He could not wait to do all the things that he had been dreaming about since they had been little kids but she had never given him the time of day. He was going to teach her the place that women belonged to, mostly women of the Los Muertos Cartel, and if he got tired of her he would just sell her or give her to his men, that is if she survived him. The smile that turned up on his lips was one not of good thoughts but of thoughts that were as sick and twisted as any you can imagine.

Deputy Tomas was not sure how long he had been laying on the ground but when the thought of I must be dead was met with the extreme pain he knew he was still alive. Not wanting to move more than he had to as every breath was like breathing spikes he found his radio mic and pressed it saying two words “Officer Down '' before his world went black. Deputy Sargent Trent McNeils heard those two words come out over the radio like a ton of bricks. He grabbed his radio and asked dispatch for a location on the downed officer. His heart nearly stopped when he heard the address of his best friend and he threw his cruiser into drive and floored it. All you could hear was sirens for miles around as every deputy, city police officer, and state cop in the area responded to the call for help. As Trent slid around the corner onto the street that Tomas lived on he could see Tomas's unit sitting in the driveway and saw that the gate was open to the yard. Trent slammed on his brakes and threw it in park as he bailed out of his unit in search for his friend. He ran through the gate and saw Tomas laying on his back with blood pooling beneath him. Trent grabbed his radio telling dispatch that the ambulance had better get to his location fast, that Deputy Tomas had at least two visible gunshot wounds, one to his left shoulder by his neck and the other through his left forearm. Trent grabbed his tourniquet off his duty belt and put it on to his arm to help slow the bleeding some. Trent felt for a pulse and breathing and then said these words to Tomas “You have to fight brother you have come so far and done so much but you have more to do, you are a damn warrior now fight.” Tomas's breath hitched then stopped completely as Trent began CPR yelling into the radio to get the damn ambulance here now.

Trent continued doing CPR until the ambulance arrived, using an AED they restarted Tomas's heart. They called in the helicopter to fly Tomas to a nearby city that had a trauma center and who were used to dealing with gunshot wounds. Trent began helping other deputies secure the scene as well as calling out the Sheriff and Undersheriff to come to the scene. The scene was locked down until investigators from the State Police Crime Lab arrived. Trent called his wife Sarah and told her what happened. She asked if anyone had contacted Tomas's two boys, Jake who was away at college or Wade who was a senior in high school. Trent advised her that a deputy was on his way to find Wade but the Undersheriff was contacting the campus police of the university that Jake attended to have them find him and let him know. Sarah asked Trent what she needed to do and he said he advised the deputy to take Wade to their house so just be ready for when he got there. After hanging up with his wife Trent began to assist where he could as he said a silent prayer that Tomas's guardian angel was with him. Trent was on the scene for most of the day trying to help anyway he could. The crime scene techs went over the scene with a fine toothed comb collecting any and all evidence that they could find. As they began bagging Deputy Tomas's outer carrier and uniform shirt a piece of paper that had fallen to the ground began to blow around in the New Mexico wind and the paper blew against the fence but no one was paying attention. As the techs left the scene and the scene was gone over one last time the paper that was flapping in the breeze did not move nor did anyone pick it up.