* * *
The other two patrol cars arrived less than a minute later. Philip Pevey skidded to a stop, jumped out and ran to Ron Kesling’s door. In the car right behind him, Robin called in their location, then she and Preston got out to secure the scene and assist.
Ron swung his legs painfully out the door. “I can’t believe I’m still here,” he said. “Guy had a clean shot at my head, but he shot way low.”
Philip pulled up his pants leg to uncover the wound. “This is pretty ugly,” Philip said. “I’d say you’re looking at a few months of rehab at least, but there shouldn’t be any permanent –“ He was cut off mid-sentence as the next burst of shots rang out, and one of them hit Philip in the back of the head. Randy hadn’t fled the scene at all, he had circled the block, parked out of view, and walked to a point of cover on the side street right next to them. He was shooting from behind the house on the corner. Officer Pevey slumped to the street, and two of the next three shots went into Ron Kesling’s chest cavity. He collapsed next to his partner, and as his consciousness faded amid the sound of continuing gunfire, all he could think was the sonofabitch honeypotted me.
Robin and Preston had taken cover behind their own car, and they fired from behind the engine compartment. Randy fired back, but quickly realized that sitting still and trading shots would only get him surrounded in short order. So he loaded a fresh clip, and dedicated it to the two remaining police cars, with emphasis on the radiators, engine compartments, and tires. When he was done, he felt pretty sure they wouldn’t be giving chase in those cars at least, and he took off running back to his truck.
* * *
Elena didn’t have a clue about what was happening until Randy arrived at home. While Randy was engaged in the first official hostilities, she was busy listening to the radio and playing with the cats. Dancing around in the living room to a Mexican tune, she dragged a shoelace back and forth across the floor while Ninja tore after it with her customary ferocity. Kemo chased after it a little more reservedly, and when she collided with Ninja she didn’t even get upset. Both cats had their own toys that they treasured, but nothing took the place of good old-fashioned string.
When Randy came peeling into the driveway, she knew something wasn’t right. That wasn’t like him. She walked out the door to see what was going on and Randy came running to her. “Elena, take your car and get out of here now. Go to Vincent’s.”
“Randy, why?”
“I just killed at least four cops, and they’re coming.” Elena tried to absorb what she had just heard, but at this point she was simply unable to. “Everything we talked about, it’s happening, and they’re coming here to kill me and probably anyone else they find.” The sound of sirens reached their ears. It was distant, but gradually moving closer. Randy moved past her, and ran inside to the gun safe.
As Randy spun the dial on the safe, Elena came back to the door. Randy pointed at the keys hanging on their hook. “Grab those and get going!”
“Randy, they’ll catch me alone! What’ll happen then?” Randy opened the safe and pulled out the M1A Scout. Then he went to the spare bedroom and grabbed his shooting bag, the one that also held his tactical gear. It was heavy, as it held a lot of loaded magazines. He dragged it out toward the door, bringing the rifle too. “Randy?”
She had a point. The cops who came were going to be extremely trigger-happy, and if they caught her alone on an empty road, there was nothing he could do for her. “All right, I’ll take you there. But we’re leaving now.” On an impulse, Randy grabbed the receiver of their cordless phone. For some reason it just seemed like that might come in handy. Then as he headed for the door, Randy looked down and saw the cats staring up at him, knowing something was wrong but not what it was. He took a moment to bend down and pat their heads. “Goodbye kids,” he said. Then he and Elena headed out the door, threw everything into the truck, and left their home together for the last time.
* * *
The back road that Randy had selected to take them back into town was dark and twisty, and Randy didn’t like being on it. But it wasn’t far to Bourbon Street, and once there, Elena would have all the help she needed in getting to Vincent’s or wherever else she needed to.
“It was just like I was afraid it would be,” Randy began. “One of them tried to shoot me right here in the drivers seat, and he did it right after I told him my gun was behind the seat where I couldn’t reach it.”
“How did you –“
“I was lucky. He stood too close and that’s the only reason I’m here.”
“Are you going to give up?” Randy was almost surprised to hear the question, but he knew he shouldn’t be. This wasn’t some “what if” conversation anymore. This was really happening, and she was scared of losing him.
“It’s way too late for that,” he said. “I might have been able to after killing the first two that tried to get me, but it would have been no good. You can’t shoot a cop and plan on seeing the light of day again. And I already shot a couple more since then too.”
“I want to join you then.” There happened to be a turnout on the side of the road right in front of them, and Randy hit the brakes and pulled into it.
“Elena, that is absolutely, positively not happening.”
“Randy, you’re my only lifeline!” she pleaded. “What will happen to me when you’re gone? Will I get sucked back to my old life?”
“NO!” he shouted. “Elena, I gave you everything you need. The home is yours, and so is everything else. You make enough money to pay the bills. There’s nothing you can do to help me, all you could accomplish is to die with me. And if that happens, then that means I died for nothing. If you love me, you won’t make me go out with that on my mind. I know this is scary, but I’m trying to be brave for you, so please be brave for me too.”
Elena started to cry, and she leaned closer to clutch his jacket. Randy wanted to comfort her, but the clock was running and keeping her safe was too much more important. He put his arms around her for a moment and then put the truck in gear again.
They pulled back onto the road. Elena did as he asked and tried to be brave, but it wasn’t easy. “What if I can’t live without you?” she asked. Randy thought of giving the obvious answer, that she’d do it because she had to, that she had lived without him all her life, but his gut told him to keep those answers to himself. Her dependence on him was powerful, and this was a real question that needed a real answer.
He was thinking on that question when he rounded a corner and saw something that puzzled him at first. Up the road a ways he saw yellow parking lights. But there wasn’t one set of them, there was three, spread across the road. Suddenly three sets of headlights came on, followed by spotlights, and then overhead red and blue flashing lights. Now he got it.
Randy skidded to a stop. The three patrol cars were about two hundred yards up the road, and beside them were the silhouettes of men. “Roadblock!” Randy said. Elena was frozen in the light, and Randy was feeling a little short on responses himself.
A voice announced from a loudspeaker. “Gustin, step out of the truck now, or you will be shot!” Randy cursed under his breath.
“What do we do?” Elena asked.
“No choice. If I don’t give up they’ll kill you too.” Randy put his hands up. He had just started opening his door when he heard shouting from down the road. It was hard to hear, but they both were able to make out the words got a weapon. “DOWN!” he shouted at Elena. They both ducked and a .223 round pierced the windshield right over them.
Randy knew he had made a terrible mistake by bringing Elena with him. Now he was facing the first-round-justified, last-round-justified scenario again, only she was trapped in the truck with him. They had no choice but to fight back, and he had no choice but to let her help now because her life was on the line too. “Grab the laser!” he yelled at her, as he switched his bright headlights on to impede their aim. Elena grabbed the green laser from the glove box as more rifle rounds
zinged around them. “Start using it as soon as I shoot!” Randy grabbed the rifle and bolted out the driver’s door, across the road and down the embankment. A few shots cracked through the air right behind him.
Once over the bank, he hunkered down and put the rifle to his shoulder. Then he popped up just high enough to aim, and fired a quick five rounds into their vehicles. He didn’t hit any of his assailants, but that wasn’t the plan. He only wanted them down behind cover where they weren’t shooting, and it worked. A rifle round cracking the air right next to you is a scary sound, and it doesn’t typically inspire bravery.
As soon as the cops were down though, they were busy finding new positions to shoot from. But that’s when Elena got on them with the green laser. She rested it on the dashboard of the truck to steady it, and shined it at the eyes of anyone who looked like they were aiming. One cop by the name of Kelley McDonough tried to get a bead on her from over the top of the engine compartment. After getting dinged with the green light however, he was too blinded to hit anything in the dark for at least five minutes. Not that he’d have the chance to do it then either, Randy’s rifle was zeroed dead-on and at this range he couldn’t miss. He drilled the cop right through the forehead.
The remaining five cops saw McDonough fall amid a spray of brain matter and realized they were in more serious trouble than they had planned on. So they hunkered down and did some planning of their own. Soon afterward, four of them fired their AR-15’s from different positions all at once, while one of them named Ted Blixt bolted into the wooded area alongside the road. It was a powerful barrage, but Randy and Elena were ready and their response was immediate.
Two of the cops, Lisa Towers and Todd Hymes, fired from over their engine compartments, and Elena dinged them in the face with the laser, making it near impossible for them to hit anything. Another cop, Ken Brewer, fired from around the front end of a vehicle, and one named Jose Hernandez shot from underneath. Randy engaged them first. He used the laser sight on his rifle to blind Brewer, the one shooting from the front, then drilled him in the head. He then put the laser on Hernandez, the one underneath the vehicle, and fired. A couple rounds bounced off the pavement in front of the man, spraying him with fragments of lead and asphalt, and then one round connected high in the chest, where it traveled down the length of the prone man. He bled out within a minute
The two firing over the top ducked behind cover to reload. It was hard for Randy to see through all the lights, but he made out the foot of Lisa Towers underneath the engine. When he fired at it, he saw a dark spray come from the ankle, heard screaming and saw her fall. Todd Hymes tried to pull her up but Randy put a round into her head before he was able. Then Randy noted that the last man behind the car had moved back from the solid cover of the engine compartment as he tried to aid her. He put a few rounds through the side of the vehicle and saw him fall beside the others. It happened none too soon either, because his 25 round magazine was empty and all his spares were in the truck.
Randy stood and walked back toward the truck. Inside it, Elena was shaking. “Is that all of them?” she asked.
It wasn’t all of them. Officer Ted Blixt charged out of the trees beside the road, and headed down the embankment on the side of the road screaming FUCKING DIE at Randy and blasting his AR-15 at him. Randy’s rifle was empty and he was caught in the open, but just as he was about to get nailed, he heard Elena scream “Wero!” and a shot rang out from inside the cab of the truck. Elena had fired her .380 out the window and clipped the maniacal cop’s shoulder. He turned his rifle toward her but she fired again, scoring a more solid torso hit. The Gold Dot bullets did their work well and he reeled backward. Elena jumped out of the truck and moved in closer as he tried to retreat. Two more rounds, both on target, and then the man turned to try and run. Elena’s fifth round caught him in the kidney, which was an excruciating wound, and the sixth grazed his spine. He fell, partly paralyzed from the jolt to his spine, but still trying to bring the rifle around. Elena did as Randy had taught her, ran up close and took careful aim at his head.
“Wait!” Randy yelled. Then he ran to her and took the .380 from her hand. “You don’t want somebody’s death on your conscience,” he said to her. He was wrong about that actually. Elena had an exceptionally rough background, these people were taking away the only good thing that had ever happened to her, and at that moment she very much did want this man’s death on her conscience.
Randy aimed the small pistol, just as Elena had, and Officer Blixt spoke. “I’m down. You’ve got no justification.”
“If the first round is justified, so is the last one,” Randy replied. “Your rules, not mine.” The sharp report of the pistol ended the discussion.
The slide of the pistol was locked back, with smoke wafting from the muzzle and chamber both. Elena reached out to take it back. “Sorry,” Randy said. “Whoever holds this gets the blame for that,” he said, pointing at the last man to fall. “You saved my life with this just now. Thank you.” Randy looked at the body and noticed the handheld radio. He took it out of its holster and threw it in the truck. That was also something that could be handy.
Elena pointed toward the patrol cars, one of which was pointing straight toward them. “They got me doing it on camera.”
“Not for long.” They got back into the truck. The cab was pretty well ventilated, and both of them were relieved when it started. The pulled up to the roadblock, and Randy pushed his way between two of the cars, shoving them aside. Once they were on the other side, he got out. He shined his flashlight at the ground and saw what he wanted, some spilled gasoline. He retrieved a pack of matches from his dashboard and flicked one at the gas. There was no huge, dramatic fireball, but the gas burned back to the cruiser it was leaking from and the car began to burn. More burning gas spilled and ran toward the other cars, and the gas began burning up the bodies on the ground that lay too close to the cars as well. Vehicle fires burn hot, and Randy was quite confident that there would be no dash cam videos being recovered from any of these cars.
Randy looked over the scene and realized that the score was already ten to zero. Even if the next cop he encountered got him, this had to be a new record. This wasn’t the sort of distinction he had ever wanted. But to give up now would be to hand them another major victory, and help cement their power even further. He wanted that on his head even less.
Randy jumped back in the truck with his wife and they drove on. Then Randy pointed to the glove box. “The camera’s in there,” he said, and she took it out and handed it to him. “Don’t make a sound while I’m filming.”
Chapter 11
Choices Are Made
“We’ve lost contact with the roadblock crew.” Esther Keel had just barged into Burt’s office to announce the latest news. He was in the midst of a meeting with Jack Hayward and Byron Palmer, and he also had the County Sheriff on speakerphone, so the timing couldn’t have been worse.
“Which ones?” Burt asked.
“All of them.”
Burt put both fists to his forehead for a moment. “Have you called everyone yet?”
“Not everyone has their phones turned on, but I’m working on it.” Esther went back out and closed the door behind her.
If he got all six of them, then that made ten killed so far, all within an hour of the first shot that was fired by Officer Simmons. That was nearly a third of the entire department.
“More bad news?” The voice of the County Sheriff came over the speakerphone.
“Possibly six more lost,” Jack Hayward replied.
“We’ve got our own file on this guy, and he don’t seem like the kind of guy to go off the deep end like this,” the Sheriff said. “I’m here to help, but I need to know how this got started.”
“Sheriff, we have dash cam video from the first backup car,” Burt replied. “It clearly shows Officer Simmons warning him not to reach for a weapon. Gustin instigated this, and right now we’re not interested in why.”
“
All right, I’m with you,” the sheriff replied. “I’ve only got so many people on duty at the moment so we’ll start with roadblocks around your city limits. When that’s taken care of we’ll move people into town to help with the search. Have you talked to the Governor about National Guard help?”
“Just how helpless do you think we are?”
“It’s not about that. This guy has lots of friends, and if you want to find a needle in a haystack you need boots on the ground.”
“We know who his friends are. And we prefer to find him ourselves.”
* * *
Inside Bourbon Street, what was happening on the news was all that mattered. Vincent sat at the bar in front of the TV screen, with Alicia and Frank behind the bar in front of him, and every other patron packed in behind him.
A perky, dark-haired reporterette was on the scene at the cemetery. They couldn’t show much detail on the screen because the media was apparently being kept back a ways, but there were a lot of flashing lights around the place. She was confirming that there were two officers dead and there were reports of others having been attacked just outside of town.
From time to time, they flashed a picture of Randy, with a caption that read “Prime Suspect.”
“Have you talked to them yet?” Alicia asked.
“Their phones are off,” Vincent replied. “Both of them. Prob’ly a good idea, they don’t want to get tracked.”
At the back of the crowd was one of the young men who was present when Elena had almost died in their parking lot. He took a glance out the front window. “Holy fuck, they’re here!” he shouted.
* * *
Randy pulled the truck up close to the front door. The cops would be coming by here any time so he had to make this quick.
Vincent was the first one out the door, but everyone else was close behind him. “Randy, what in God’s name did you do?”
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