“We’re going to be okay,” she says, and she grabs hold of my hand and tightens her grip on it.
I can see lights flicking through the trees. Help is here. I keep holding my grip on Jo’s hand as the voices get closer, and then they are here, guns being pointed at us, somebody is shouting, but I don’t let go of Jo, not until I’m pulled away. I’m pushed facedown into the ground and I’m put in handcuffs and the wound in my back brings me close to checking out for a bit, but I hang on. I’m able to turn my head toward Jo and watch as they help her. There are more voices, then paramedics arrive, and they tell us the same thing me and Jo told each other a few minutes earlier-that we’re going to be okay.
A guy introduces himself to me. His name is Detective Schroder. “Want to tell me what happened here?” he asks.
A couple of officers get me to my feet. Suddenly they seem to realize I’ve been shot too.
“Not until I talk to a lawyer,” I tell him, and Kathy and Luciana would be proud, and Landry wouldn’t be. Still in cuffs, I’m carried to an ambulance on a gurney, and from there it’ll be a trip to the hospital. And then to the police station. It’ll sure as hell make a nice change from all this nature I’ve been seeing lately.
We travel through the Real Word, and Jo’s words travel with me-We’re going to be okay, she said. And after all we’ve gone through, there’s no reason to doubt her.