Yesterday's Gone: Season One

questions or asking us to go with them, to say nothing, and escape the second we got the chance. One day he was at the office, and went totally ape shit. Didn’t just shoot one person, but four.”
    Teagan’s tongue wouldn’t work while her brain tried to make sense of what Jade was revealing.
    “It was all over the evening news. On a Friday afternoon, right there in the parking garage, he killed four people. He told my mom they were secret agents, but that part wasn’t reported. His lawyer claimed it was a psychological collapse caused by Post Traumatic Stress Disorder from when he was in Iraq. It never went to trial. He copped an insanity plea and was placed in an institution.”
    Teagan found herself suddenly staring at her recent life through a new filter — had the men in the store been a genuine threat? What about the helicopter and the people aboard it? She’d had a hard enough time accepting that Ed had killed so many people to protect them from possible threats. But what if none of the people were really a threat to begin with? What if all the people he’d killed were innocent? All the people he’d killed for her? Her headache went from dull throb to roaring thunder as she sifted through what Jade was saying.
    “Oh my God. I don’t even know what to say... Did you and your mom visit him?”
    “We did at first, but then he ...”
    The bedroom door opened, it was Ed and Ken, severing Jade’s words mid-sentence.
    “We’re back,” Ken said. “We found a few guns, but not a whole lot of ammo.”
    Ed said nothing, eyes on Teagan, as if he sensed they’d been discussing him, that maybe his daughter gave him up.
    “So, what’s the plan?” Jade asked.
    “I’ll go out there,” Ed said, “See if I can get to the SUV, and bring it as close to the front door as I can get. If they come at me, we’ll see how strong they are and adjust our defenses accordingly.”
    “What if they kill you?” Jade asked. “I don’t think you should go out there.”
    “We can’t wait here and see what they’ll do,” Ed said. “Better to act than react.”
    “It’s too dangerous, Dad.”
    “I’ll go,” Ken offered.
    “You ever fire a gun?” Ed asked.
    “Well, um... no,” Ken said.
    “Then you’re not going anywhere. That bat won’t be enough.” Ed said matter-of-factly, no insult intended, though the kid’s face went crimson all the same.
    “I haven’t seen you in three years and you’re just gonna run out and get yourself killed?” Jade said, voice going from serious young woman to scared young girl.
    “I’m not gonna get killed. I can handle myself just fine.”
    “You don’t even know what those things are; how can you say something like that?!” Jade turned, pouting.  
    To Teagan, Ed looked like a beaten man, too tired to muscle through the motions of an old and weary fight reminiscent of ones he’d had too many times in the past, if not with Jade then surely her mother. Teagan wondered why he didn’t go to his daughter and give her the hug she so clearly craved. For all his so-called talent at reading people, he sucked at reading women. Or perhaps Iraq had rendered him incapable of showing emotion outside machismo.
    “Trust me,” Ed said, “I can handle anything that comes my way.”
    Jade shook her head and Ed left the bedroom.
    Jade stared at her lap, trying not to cry, slowly failing. Teagan felt uncomfortable, but forced herself to lean over and hug the girl.
    “I’m sorry,” Teagan said.
    “He’s so fucking stubborn,” Jade said, surrendering into Teagan’s embrace. Ken, also uncomfortable, left the room, closing the door softly behind him.
    Jade pulled away, “He always does shit like this.”
    “What do you mean?”
    “He takes unnecessary chances, puts himself at risk to be the big fucking hero.”
    Teagan was confused, “What do you mean?”
    “Even though he wasn’t a cop or agent or whatever the hell he told you he was, he was always stepping in whenever someone was in danger or if someone had done something bad. Like when I was nine and we all went out to eat in New York City. We were walking back to our hotel when some guy snatched a woman’s purse right in front of us. The guy took off running while everyone on the street just stood around. Well, everyone except my dad, who, without a word to my mom or me, took off running, chased the guy down the block, caught him, and then beat the hell out of him. He came jogging back a few minutes later with