Page 7 of Sachie's Hero

As Ms. Moore passed a concrete bird, Teller caught up with her. He grabbed her around the waist with one arm, bringing her to an abrupt halt.

She fought, kicking and screaming.

Teller struggled to maintain his hold on her and his gun while her bare heels battered his shins.

When he turned toward the house, the womanplanted her feet against the concrete birdbath and pushed hard, sending him flying backward.

He tripped over a garden paver and fell with her still clutched in his arm. He landed flat on his back, the wind knocked from his lungs. Though he lay stunned, his arm didn’t loosen its hold on the squirming woman.

“Let me go!” she cried, elbowing him in the ribs. “Help! Someone, please help!”

“That’s. What. I’m. Trying. To. Do,” he said through gritted teeth. Maintaining his hold around her waist, he rolled over, squashing her small frame between his big body and the ground.

“Get off me,” she murmured, her voice strangled by the weight of his body crushing her into the grass.

“I am not the man who attacked you. I’m not here to hurt you,” he said, easing some of his weight off her.

“Then why did you smash my car and then break into my house?”

“That wasn’t me. Your front door was already broken when I arrived.” He didn’t want to move until he knew she wouldn’t try to run again. If the assailant returned, Teller’s body might be the only shield protecting her from gunfire. “Jace Hawkins and his wife, Kalea, sent me.”

All the fight went out of her. She lay still, her breathing coming in shallow gasps.

He realized he was crushing her, but he didn’t want to let her up until he was certain she wouldn’t run into the attacker’s range.

“The man who broke into your house has a gun. We need to get back inside before he uses it on us,” he said softly. “Can you make it back to the house?”

“Only if you let me up,” she grunted.

Sirens screamed loudly. Teller figured the police were on her street by now and would arrive outside her home in seconds. The perpetrator would have to be insane to stick around. Teller wasn’t taking any chances. “On three, we’re both getting up at the same time. Stay low and move in front of me. Don’t stop, don’t look back, just keep going until you’re all the way inside and in the hallway. Do you understand?”

She nodded.

“Ready?” he whispered. “One...two...three.” Teller pushed to his feet, grabbed her around the waist, yanked her upright and shoved her in front of him. Hunkering down, they ran toward the house.

By then, the sirens were so loud he barely heard the pop of small-caliber gunfire. Something stung his left shoulder. He didn’t stop to investigate but ran faster, knowing he hadn’t been stung by a bee. “Go! Go! Go!” he said, urging Ms. Moore to pick up herpace. When the woman stumbled going up the back steps, he lifted her off her feet and carried her through the open back door, through the kitchen and into the hallway, out of the gunman’s range. Out of the man’s range, only if he didn’t follow them into the house.

Strobing lights flashed through the front windows. The police had arrived.

Teller remained in the hallway with Sachie Moore, his body bent over hers, shielding her from behind in case the attacker came through the back door.

The police stormed through the front door, spread out in the living room, one heading toward where they lay low in the hallway.

“Drop your weapon,” the young officer yelled.

“I’d rather lay it down.” Moving very slowly and deliberately, Teller laid his gun on the floor and slid it across the floor toward the officer.

The policeman kicked the gun behind him. “Now, raise your hands in the air and step away from the woman.”

Teller straightened, raising his hands in the air, wincing at the stab of pain in his left shoulder. “The attacker went out the back. He’s armed. If you hurry, you might catch him. He’s already fired three rounds.”

The young police officer kept his weapon trained on Teller. “I said move away from the woman.”

Teller stepped backward, keeping his body between Ms. Moore and the back of the house. “The longer you wait, the further away he’ll get.”

“How do I know you’re not the attacker?” the young officer said. “No one’s leaving until backup arrives.”

Another siren wailed toward them, dying down as the police car came to a stop in front of the cottage. Two more officers entered the house, all aiming their weapons at Teller.

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