Shoot to Kill

by James Kipling

After a moment of silence, her mother asked, “Now would you mind telling me what is going on?”

  “Mom, I am not able to tell you about it. All you need to know is that everything is going to be okay.”

  She finally nodded and Hazel hugged her. Her mother’s warm embrace always seemed to make everything better. It was her superpower. However, Hazel knew that this conversation was not over.

  “This is all about Nate, isn’t it? What has happened to him? Where is he?”

  Quickly Hazel looked away, but her mother knew. “What has happened to him? Where is he?”

  “Mom, we don’t know what is going on with him. At this time, we do know he is alive and the moment we know more, Dad will be the first to tell you. Until then, we cannot tell you anything.”

  Tears were streaming down her face and Hazel was ready to do the same. But her cell phone rang. The number was blocked. “Hanson,” she answered, going into the living room for privacy.

  “If you want your brother to live, you will turn over all the evidence that he gave you.”

  “Who is this?”

  “You already know who this is. Either you give me the evidence or I upload the file of what we did to your brother and send it to your mother. Do you want that?”

  “I will find you and the moment I do, I will make you die slowly.”

  “Oh come now, I thought cops were supposed to be Officer Friendly?”

  “The moment I find you I will not be a cop.”

  She heard him laugh lightly. “I have special plans for you.”

  The call ended and Hazel threw the phone across the room hitting the wall. She had to go into her office. Her mother walked in looking at her in puzzlement. “It’s nothing, Mom. I just need to go to the station.”

  They drove in silence and before she stepped out of the car, her mother spoke. “You need to promise me that you will be careful.”

  “Mom, that isn’t something I can promise.”

  “You and your brothers are everything to me. You need to promise me!”

  “I promise to be cautious.”

  Her mother bowed her head and nodded. Tears formed in her eyes again as she left. Hazel felt as if everything that had happened was her fault. She let out a sigh and walked up the stairs to the station.

  “Hanson,” she heard Brooks bark out. “What the hell are you doing here?”

  “Cecily Ciervo just called me with a threat. How the hell does he know we have the USB evidence?”

  Brooks went pale and she waited for his response. He ushered her into the conference room and shut the door behind her. “I didn’t tell anyone other than your stepfather and my team. The only other person outside of that is Losito. He was part of this in the beginning.”

  As Brooks said this, it registered in his head. He was finally at the same conclusion that she was and nodded. “Hanson, you know you can’t do that.”

  He’d read her mind. “Brooks, I don’t give a damn. My brother is being tortured and I am not going to stop to think about certain “procedures” that are in my way.”

  Brooks wouldn’t stop her. She walked out looking for Losito. He was not in his office so she went through his desk. His office was very dark and nearly everything was locked away. Locks weren’t a concern for her. She’d been popping them since she was eight years old.

  He had no photos of anyone. She looked for anything that would lead her to him. Finally she found what she wanted and went on her way out.

  Brooks stood there and nodded to her. “You know what to do.”

  She was no longer a cop. She was a vigilante.

  Chapter 10

  Owen was sitting in the car nearly fifty yards away from where Braggs was. She was wearing a very short dress that exposed most of her ass and her large breasts. David Mathis pulled into the neighborhood driving slowly to where Braggs stood. She began talking to him, crossing one ankle over the other coyly. They knew it was time to move in.

  Quickly Strider pulled David to the ground. David fought back but Strider, being young, was a fighter. No one could beat him, not even Owen. David, face down on the ground, shot Owen a dirty look.

  “This is harassment.”

  “I don’t give a damn what this is. You are going to answer some of my questions right now.”

  Strider handed David over to Owen, who already knew what he was going to do. Throwing him forward, he grabbed his neck and forced his skull into a wall. He was unconscious now. Owen knew when he woke up he would be in a lot of pain. He deserved to be in pain. Men like him were sick and he would be more than happy to end him.

  §

  Sitting outside a small house on the outer part of the city, Hazel saw as Losito walked up and entered. She had her hair tied back and gloves on. She was going to make this as clean as she possibly could. She got out of the car and walked quietly up to the open door. She would have the element of surprise.

  She stood in the foyer hearing him move around in the living room. Taking her gun out, she moved around the corner and saw his look of bewilderment. “What the hell is going on, Hanson?”

  “You sold my brother out. Losito wasn’t always your name, was it? You stole another identity off of one of the kids your hit man killed.”

  He snickered and lit his cigarette. “I won’t deny it. Why are you here alone?”

  “You know the answer.”

  He relaxed. “You don’t have it in you to do anything to me.”

  Aiming her gun, she pulled the trigger and watched as he fell backwards. She shot him in the shoulder and watched as he grabbed at his wound. He had an agonized expression on his face. She stood over him, smiling. “Sure about that?”

  “You crazy bitch!”

  “Tell me where my brother is!”

  “I don’t know!”

  Kneeling over him, she stuck her finger in his wound and dug out the bullet. He attempted not to scream. She slipped the bullet into her pocket. “Who is the person you have been communicating with?”

  “Cecily,” he said. “But I don’t know where he would take your brother.”

  Nodding, she stood up and shot him in the head. This time, the bullet conveniently burrowed itself in the wood floor below him. She grabbed the spent bullet and proceeded to tear through his house, looking for evidence. She took his wallet and found a safe hidden behind a painting.

  How cliché, she thought as she pried it open. She removed all of the contents and walked back outside to her car. After killing a man, she needed to shower.

  On Monday afternoon, Hazel sat outside the office of Dr. Teresa Mathis. She had all the new files with her. She was not sure if these other women had been attached to this office but she knew the answer lay somewhere inside. She entered the office through a glass door and walked to the front desk receptionist. An older woman was sitting there, her glasses too large for her face. She seemed slightly disoriented.

  “Excuse me, is Dr. Mathis in?”

  “Sign in and they’ll call you.”

  Taking out her badge, she slipped it under the glass partition. “Come in through this way,” the woman said, pointing to a side door. The short petite woman got up from her desk and slowly opened the door for her. Walking in, she saw different people bustling throughout. A few were sitting down typing information into the computer.

  “Do you need to ask more questions?” a man with a badge identifying him as ‘Keith’ asked. He was wearing a lab coat and was in a small area behind the main desk.

  “No, Keith. I’m here to talk to Dr. Mathis.”

  “She’s in her office talking to someone. If you could wait a minute, I can go get her for you.”

  “That is fine,” she said, and he disappeared for a moment and returned. Behind him, Dr. Mathis looked exhausted as if she hadn’t slept in days. She motioned her towards her office. When they entered, Dr. Mathis grabbed a beverage from her small fridge in the corner. “What can I help you with?”

  “I
need to know if you recognize any of these women,” Hazel said to her, sliding the photographs across her desk.

  Dr. Mathis examined them carefully and nodded her head. “These are all either mine or Dr. Osborne’s patients. He is my partner.”

  “Could you tell me why women would drive this far to come to this office?”

  “This practice is in the top ten of all in the country. We are a family practice and do virtually everything.”

  Hazel nodded and looked around the office. She saw pictures of Morgan and Kelly hanging on the wall. “How is your daughter, Kelly, doing?”

  “Kelly is home now. She’s still very upset with everything and I have no idea how to deal with her. I want to tell her everything will be okay, but I don’t even know if that is the truth.”

  “Does she remember anything else from that night?”

  “She hasn’t said anything about it. I do know she can’t sleep and her appetite is gone. I don’t know what I can do to make her heal.”

  “Just being there for her is all she needs. You will be able to get through this together.” Hazel debated whether to ask more questions but decided against it. “Thank you for your time.”

  As Hazel put the photos back in her folder, Dr. Mathis spoke. “Detective, how are you able to deal with all of this?”

  “I learned how to bury my emotions during an investigation. Once I catch the person responsible, I have satisfaction. It isn’t easy though.”

  Now outside, she felt slightly annoyed. She did not like what was happening and knew that this was going to end soon, but knew it was going to be ugly.

  In her car, she clutched the steering wheel with her eyes closed and tried to keep herself composed. Owen was somewhere out there attempting to murder someone and find her brother. She had no idea where he was or even if he was okay. On top of her personal worries, she had to figure out who was killing these women.

  §

  A man watched from the alley as Hazel got into her car. He had the ability to kill her the other night, but other things had occurred. Now she was his only priority. He was going to kill her soon and couldn’t wait to watch the life flee from her eyes. Pulling his truck out of the alley, he began following her once more.

  A phone call came in. “Alteri,” he said.

  “Losito was murdered recently. No one knows who did it, but because of the circumstances, we think it was the cop.”

  “What are you doing about his body?”

  “We are cleaning up. We can’t have him traced back to us.”

  “If a cop already knows ...” he began.

  “The cop that knows is going to be taken out. Make it soon and make it clean. Her apartment has too much traffic. Just grab her.”

  Hanging up, he continued following her and wondered how he was going to do this cleanly.

  §

  David Mathis was beginning to wake up. Owen watched him very carefully and placed his hands around his throat. Braggs was there as well as Strider. They were both waiting. Mathis began speaking. “What the hell did you do to me?”

  “You shouldn’t be worried about what I did do to you. You should be worried about what I am going to do.”

  Mathis attempted to get up but he wasn’t able to. He was bound to a chair and looked at all three of them. “I will have all your badges. This is illegal and I know my rights!”

  Owen smiled darkly. “You don’t have rights. Now you can make this easy for yourself. Go ahead and tell me where Cecily Ciervo is holding Nathan Hanson.”

  “You have the wrong man. I don’t work for the Italians.”

  “Bullshit! You are part of the Mafia. I did some digging into your life and you came from nothing. You were one of those kids who grew up abused and no one loved you. Not even your mother. Then they died and you got into some trouble and mixed in with them. I know Elias Ciervo took you in and put you through law school. You made a deal with the devil. Nathan Hanson is a good man who has a family. Now tell me where he is!”

  “I don’t have to tell you a damn thing.”

  Owen tightened his grip around his throat and thrust a knife into his lower abdomen. He pulled it out slowly, enjoying the pain in Mathis’ eyes. “This is a dangerous game you’re playing,” Mathis choked out.

  “I don’t think it is,” Owen said darkly. “Now tell me what I want to know.”

  Mathis remained silent. Anger pulsated through Owen. His best friend was somewhere being tortured. He was not going to let this go. He was going to get answers and didn’t give a damn how he got them.

  Owen heard Braggs whisper, “I have another idea.”

  He nodded, knowing she could get answers. She walked over towards him and David Mathis snickered. “I should have known you weren’t a hooker. You don’t look like the sluts on the streets. What are you doing to me?”

  Braggs had a razor hidden in the palm of her hand. She slipped it between her fingers and slit his face open. “Is that all you got,” David spat in her face.

  “Actually it is not all I got.” Taking the razor, she dragged it down his neck all the way down to his shoulder blade. “Strider, could you give me some rubbing alcohol?”

  Strider handed her the bottle and she began pouring it into his wounds. “You are a crazy bitch!” he screamed.

  “I’d better be,” she said. “Now are you willing to tell us what we want to know?”

  “No. Remember who I work for? I can do this all day.”

  Owen stepped in. “Good, now it’s my turn.”

  Owen grabbed a hammer and slammed it against his knee. He heard the knee shatter. Mathis screamed out in pain. Owen pulled back ready to hit his other knee when Mathis began talking. “I will tell you where they took him. Just stop! I have a family.”

  “Where are they?”

  “They took him to a junk yard. They have shipping containers out there and he is in one of them. I know the Italians own it. I have been there only once. It’s in the Bronx.”

  Owen took out his phone and dialed out to Brooks. “Mathis said to look at junk yards in the Bronx owned by the Italians. Call me when you get the information.”

  “I will, Jones.”

  §

  Brooks walked down to Chief Hanson’s office and knocked. He walked in while Hanson sat there reading. “What is going on, Brooks?” he said without looking up.

  “David Mathis gave us some information about your son. Do you know about a junk yard in the Bronx owned by the Italians?”

  He shook his head. “There is one out there owned by a guy named Raymond Stevens, but he has no affiliation with the Mafia.”

  “Check it again,” said Brooks.

  Chief Hanson got up and walked to the main floor. He knew who to call for this. Percy sat at his desk with his feet up, looking bored. “Percy, I need you to run the name Raymond Stevens. You need to do it now.”

  Percy quickly got in gear and began typing it into the system. He was the best for knowing identification systems in the entire division. “Raymond Stevens is a scrap metal guy who has his own shop in the Bronx. But,” he said, “He only has records for the past five years. Before that, there is nothing on him.”

  “Could you find me anyone in the Mafia who has that name?”

  “I can do another search,” he said. “It will take some time, but this guy is just a cover.”

  He nodded. Brooks was already on the phone with someone. “Jones,” he said. “I need you to go ahead and finish this mission, but before you do, find out if he knows anyone by the name Raymond Stevens and get back to me. We are going to be heading there and I’ll send you the coordinates.”

  Now they had to assemble their teams together. As they all left, Percy began searching the system intensely, knowing it would benefit them finding his brother. He called Hazel. She deserved to know what was going on. But the call wouldn’t go through. The phone did not ring on Hazel’s end ˗ just a dead silence. He tried it once more with the s
ame result, and wondered what was going on.

  Chapter 11

  Owen turned to look at David Mathis and asked, “Do you know someone by the name Raymond?”

  “No. I don’t know him personally. I do know that a man works for Elias and he goes by Ray. He’s the official hit man. They recruited him when he was a teenager.”

  “Do you have his last name?”

  “Did he already kill her?”

  “Kill who?” inquired Braggs.

  He was silent and shook his head. “Apparently he hasn’t killed her yet.”

  Owen looked him in the eyes, beginning to wonder who the girl was. It had to be someone who would mean a lot to them – Hazel! “What is he going to do to her?”

  “You know how they die, and the funny thing about it, you won’t be able to stop them.”

  Without thinking about his actions, Owen took out his gun and shot him. Strider and Braggs watched wide-eyed as Mathis slumped lifeless in the chair. Finished with his business here, Owen walked away when Braggs yelled out, “How come you killed him? What if we needed more information?”

  “He told us everything we needed to know.”

  “We didn’t get a last name.”

  Owen shook his head at her. “We don’t need his last name.”

  Braggs stepped in his path. “Do you still have feelings for this girl?”

  “What we had, Braggs, is nothing compared to what Hazel and I still have. She and I went through something traumatic together and went our separate ways. I will always love her.”

  “I can have Brooks remove you from this investigation.”

  “I don’t need Brooks’ permission to work on this case and you know that. I’m going to get a team together and then we are going to get Nate. After that, I’ll be with Hazel until we are finished with this bullshit.”

  He may have had a relationship with Braggs, but it was just physical. There was nothing emotional about it. Hazel had, and always would be, his priority. He loved her more than anything and was not going to let some psycho hurt her. He was ready to finish this.

  Arriving a block away from the junk yard, Owen saw the others there. Everyone was doing a sweep around the area. Brooks turned to him and spoke. “We are going in heavy. They have roughly 40 people out there and we’re going to assume they are all armed. Are you ready?”