JUST GOT BACK ON FRIDAY… EXHAUSTED… WILL COME SEE YOU SOON. LOVE YOU!
Eileen showed the text response to Miriam, and they both smiled.
“Do you have family, Miriam?”
Miriam’s eyes welled with tears. Eileen knew that look and reached out to hold her hand.
“My husband was killed after the fire. I do not know about my son. My sister says he was probably killed as well.”
“Terrorists?”
Eileen watched as a flash of fire bolted across Miriam’s scarred face.
“Oh, yes… terrorists!”
Eileen and Miriam finished their tea, and Miriam was invited to sit in the oversized leather chairs in front of the Civil War era hearth as Eileen took the dishes to the sink. Miriam opened her bag and pulled it back closer to the fireplace.
“After the fire I was taken to Kabul to recuperate. Once I was good to travel, the State Department put me in the SIV, special immigrant visa program for refugees. I landed in Virginia six weeks ago, and they gave me a one bedroom apartment and said I could live in it for six months. Then I would need to find a job and make money to pay for my rent and buy my food. I don’t know anyone.”
Eileen sat down in the chair next to Miriam.
“Do you have any idea how hard it is to find a job when your face looks like this, Eileen?”
Eileen cringed and felt sad for the Afghan as Miriam stood up and paced behind Eileen and the leather chairs in front of the large fireplace.
“Everything I had was taken from me in Afghanistan. My husband, my son, my friends, my way of life… even my face. The only thing I knew about America was Eileen, on the Baltimore Pike, and her Lightner Farms Bed and Breakfast.”
Eileen was touched to the core by Miriam’s story. She grabbed a tissue and the blanket from the ottoman to cover her legs.
“But I will make it… I have a second chance now.”
Miriam bent down, removed her hijab, and pulled a bottle of ether out of her bag. She poured a few ounces into the hijab as Eileen started to detect the odor.
“Is that nail polish?” Eileen asked. Miriam ignored her question.
“God has given me the second chance to make things right… and I want to personally thank Captain Campbell for all he did for me.”
Miriam lunged at Eileen and covered her face with the hijab that was drenched in ether. Eileen fought her for a few seconds then her grip slipped and her arms fell limp. Eileen was fading but heard Miriam begin to tape her body to the oversized leather chair. She heard Miriam walk to the kitchen and felt a dish rag go into her mouth before she fell completely asleep.
Miriam ran to the table and picked up Eileen’s iPhone. The last text from Captain Campbell was up. She typed in the response.
LOVE YOU TOO… JUST WANTED TO SAY GOOD-BYE… MY LIFE IS NOT WORTH IT ANYMORE… TONIGHT I WILL MEET GOD… PEACE BE WITH YOU.
Miriam hit the send button and sat down on the chair next to Eileen. A minute hadn’t passed before Eileen’s phone started ringing. Miriam answered but said nothing.
47
Old Town Alexandria, Virginia
Raines had fallen fast asleep on Camp’s chest after a series of long flights in from Lyon, France. Camp’s 1,500 mile round trip “mission” left him sleep-deprived as well. But all he could think about was his father.
“Alzheimer’s,” his thoughts kept echoing the words his father had spoken.
The vibration from his iPhone startled him. It was another text message from Eileen.
LOVE YOU TOO… JUST WANTED TO SAY GOOD-BYE… MY LIFE IS NOT WORTH IT ANYMORE… TONIGHT I WILL MEET GOD… PEACE BE WITH YOU.
Camp struggled to open his eyes though his mind was still racing. He read the message a second time. He jumped out of bed jolting Raines awake from her deep slumber. He pressed Eileen’s speed dial. Eileen’s phone was answered, but no one spoke.
“Eileen? Eileen! This is Camp.”
Raines threw her shirt back on and walked out into the kitchen where Camp was frantically redialing the number.
“What’s going on?” Raines asked through the groggy fog.
“Eileen… good God, Les, she sent me a text and said she’s killing herself.”
“What?”
“She won’t pick up the phone. I gotta drive out there.”
“I’ll get dressed,” Raines said as she ran back to the bedroom.
Lightner Farms
Gettysburg, Pennsylvania
Miriam hung up as soon as Camp called Eileen’s phone.
The phone rang again. Miriam connected the call then hung up when Camp spoke. Eileen’s phone rang 20 more times in the next 90 minutes. Each time Miriam let the call go to voice mail.
Eileen started to stir so Miriam gave her another fresh shot of ether.
Miriam pulled out the Smith & Wesson Bodyguard 38, a.38 caliber used hand gun she paid a man to purchase for her at a Pawn Shop in Annandale, Virginia and put the gun in her right hand. The revolver was heavy to hold, and though five rounds were chambered, she had not fired a gun since she lived in Afghanistan. Miriam walked to the side door, opened it slightly, and then turned the button in the handle to the locked position. She looked at the clock on the wall in the dining room above the long wooden table. US Navy Captain Campbell should be there soon, and finally she could thank him for his heroics in person.
Camp’s Defender 90 drove down the Baltimore Pike at speeds well over the posted limit and turned on to the gravel road leading up to Lightner Farms with emergency lights flashing. The Defender slid through the loose rocks spraying gravel in all directions before coming to a stop next to a visitor’s car.
“Should I come in?” Raines asked with grave concern.
“Hang in the car for now… let me see what’s going on first,” Camp said as he got out. Raines watched through the windshield as he ran to the side door by Eileen’s kitchen.
Miriam heard the gravel and the vehicle as it braked for an urgent stop. She got up quickly from the oversized leather chair next to Eileen, walked to the kitchen then went inside Eileen’s walk-in pantry next to the side door.
Camp opened the door and slammed it shut behind him then went running into the lodge.
“Eileen!”
Miriam walked out of the pantry behind Camp and followed him as he ran over to Eileen who stirred when Camp yelled.
The lodge echoed with the thunder of the first gunshot that hit Camp in the back of his left leg. He fell to the ground writhing in pain. He turned to look at the shooter.
Raines jumped out of the car when she heard the sound of gunfire and over to the side door. It was locked.
Miriam walked closer to Camp as the muzzle of her 5-pound .38 smoked from the first round. Camp squinted through the pain and the discharged smoke in the lodge to see the shooter.
“Miriam?”
“Get up… sit in the chair.”
Blood was pouring from Camp’s wound, but he pulled himself up into the oversized leather chair and next to Eileen who was now somewhat awake, bound and gagged.
“You took away everything I loved Captain Campbell… my husband… my son… my appointed mission… and now my life.”
“Your son is alive, Miriam.”
“That’s a lie.”
Raines ran around to the back of the lodge and looked in through the French doors leading off to the patio from the dining room. The doors were locked. But the images she saw were more terrifying than the sound of the gunshot she had heard.
Eileen was taped and bound to the chair. Another woman was holding a gun pointed at Camp’s head in the chair next to Eileen. Raines looked for a rock or something to break the glass. Then she remembered the walk with Camp and General Ferguson after Jane’s funeral. She sprinted to the tree line even though her legs felt like they were encased in cement. She pressed the button on her phone for illumination and searched tree-to-tree for the birdhouse.