Chapter 10: Chapter 10: The Weasel and the Witch

I cursed internally. There was no way I could fire twice before one of them pulled the trigger. Reluctantly, I let my hand fall away from my pistol, a slow, deliberate motion. All while the man remained completely oblivious, his focus entirely on the grieving wreck at my feet.

"What do you mean they are dead?" Jonathan asked, his voice trembling with a desperate, childlike disbelief. His eyes darted wildly, searching mine for a different answer. “They’re fine! We just need to get them to the hospital!”

The man, Roy, finally looked up from Jonathan's misery, an evil grin creeping across his face. “Well, pig? You going to answer him? Tell him how his whole family is riddled with bullets,” he jeered. The woman beside him burst into a cackling laugh that grated on my ears like nails on a chalkboard.

I looked down at Jonathan, at the fragile hope still flickering in his eyes. Damn it. “I’m sorry, Jonathan. They are dead.” The words felt like shards of glass as they left my mouth, and I watched them shatter the last of his world. Grief washed over him like a storm surge, crashing him to the ground as the life drained from his eyes. He finally believed me.

“No!” Jonathan's anguished cry pierced the air, his sobs only fueling the couple's twisted enjoyment.

“Look, Monica! Fresh ammo to resupply and ooh, a shiny new toy.” Roy eyed the magazines strapped across my vest and the rifle slung on my back, his gaze filled with a predatory greed.

“Hurry up and kill him, Roy! Having two cops alive makes me nervous!” Monica hissed, her finger twitching on the trigger of the shotgun.

Okay, new plan. She's the primary threat. Shotgun, ten feet away. Roy is secondary, but he's unpredictable. Meth-head. Jumpy. Can't spook him. Got to separate them. Got to create an opening.

If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.

“Wait,” I called out, my mind racing. “I have more ammo and seized drugs in the trunk of my vehicle, but it can only be accessed by my fingerprint.” It was dumbass action movie bullshit. But they're junkies. They might just be dumb enough to buy it… It's all I've got.

Roy's eyes ignited at the mention of drugs, and he raised his gun to my head. “Thanks for the information. I’ll just kill you and take the drugs.”

Shit. Bad gamble. A cold dread washed over me as he started to squeeze the trigger. “Stop, idiot!” Monica snapped, twisting her head to scold him, the shotgun still leveled at Kira. “Do you want to drag his body to the vehicle and lift him up to use the fingerprint scanner?”

Roy paused, his face contorting with confusion as he wrestled with the logistics. “No,” he grumbled finally.

Fuck yes! Listen to Monica you idiot.

“Exactly,” Monica shot back, turning her predatory gaze to Kira. “But we only need one little piggy to access the goodies.”

Fuck! Don't listen to Monica you idiot.

Roy’s eyes roamed up and down Kira's uniformed form, filled with a grotesque hunger. He licked his lips, slurring, “I want to make this one squeal a little before getting rid of her.”

The world went quiet. The crackle of the burning cars faded into a dull, distant roar. All I could hear was the blood pounding in my ears. My muscles coiled, and my body took a single, involuntary step forward. I am going to kill you. I'm going to take you apart, piece by disgusting fucking piece.

“Stop, cop, or I’ll put her down now.” Monica’s voice was a shard of ice in the heat of my rage. Her sinister smile told me she knew she had me. My eyes snapped to the shotgun, to her finger resting on the trigger. The rage didn't vanish, but it was forced back, caged by the cold, hard bars of tactical reality. She shot a glance at Roy. “Disarm him. If he moves, I blast her.”