by Steve Gannon
“Congratulations. One of these days you might make a good cop after all.”
Snead noticed that I was unstrapping my automatic. “What do you think you’re doing?”
“I’m going in.”
“The hell you are.”
“I’m going in, Lieutenant. And nobody’s going to stop me.”
“Wrong, hotshot. SWAT will be here shortly. If you go in, you’ll just make things worse.”
“Maybe.” I handed Snead my pistol and holster, turned, and started across the street.
“Don’t you realize he’ll kill you?” Snead shouted. “I’m ordering you to stand down, Kane. You’re relieved of duty.”
I turned. “Listen, Bill. We haven’t always seen eye to eye on things, but this goes way beyond that. My family’s in there.”
“I appreciate that, but-”
“Look, I know this guy,” I said, my voice hardening. “He has nothing to lose. He’s not going to negotiate. And he’s not going to surrender. And if SWAT sends in an entry team behind tear gas and concussion grenades or whatever, he’ll kill everyone. There’s only one chance of anyone getting out alive, and that one chance is me.”
Just then the SWAT van rolled up, lumbering to a stop fifty yards down the highway.
I glanced at the van. “Tell them there’s an officer inside. Have them give me ten minutes before they move.” I turned and started again across the highway, my arms held out from my sides. “If I’m still breathing when this is over,” I added over my shoulder, “we’ll talk about things then.”
“Count on it,” said Snead. “And Kane?
“What?”
“Good luck.”
The front door was locked. I banged on it with my fist. “Carns. I’m coming in.”
No answer.
Using my house key, I unlocked the dead bolt and stepped inside.
“Close it,” a voice hissed.
I turned. In the darkness I could make out a dim figure crouched in the kitchen. Arms extended. Gun.
I closed the door. A flashlight beam stabbed out, pinning me in its glare.
“Lock it.”
I inserted my key into the double cylinder and twisted. Suddenly I heard a muffled pop, followed by a sharp stab of pain. My left leg buckled. I crashed to the floor, landing hard on my side. I clutched my knee in agony, blood hot and sticky on my fingers.
“Face down. Do it, or I’ll take your other knee.”
With a groan, I rolled onto my stomach. The floor tiles were cold against my face. Grit pressed into my cheek.
“I assume those are handcuffs on your belt. Take them out. Secure one manacle to your right wrist and place your hands behind your back.”
“Where’s my family?”
“Do it.”
“No.”
“Maybe you’d rather I took something from your wife. She’s right down the hall.”
I reached into a leather pouch at the small of my back and withdrew a pair of cuffs. “Any deals are off if they’re not released.”
“Around your right wrist. Now.”
I snapped on one of the cuffs, then lay with my hands behind me.
Footsteps. A knee bore down between my shoulders. Something hard pressed against the back of my skull. The other cuff closed around my free wrist. Then a restraint was looped around my ankles and drawn tight.
“That’s better,” the voice said. “Now let’s see what you’ve brought with you.”
A rough search followed-arms, back, legs, groin. Carns found my holdout gun, a. 38-caliber revolver, concealed in an ankle rig beneath my trousers. “Tsk, tsk, Detective. It seems as if I won’t be able to trust you.”
I heard the. 38 clatter across the entry, banging against a wall near the closet. Unexpectedly, the restraint around my ankles loosened. A moment later I was yanked to a sitting position. I looked at Carns, noting a. 25 automatic in his right hand. What appeared to be a homemade silencer was fastened to the barrel.
“Let’s go where I can see you better,” said Carns. “On your feet.”
Slipping in my own blood, I struggled to stand. A shove sent me hopping one-legged down the hallway. I stumbled into the living room, Carns close behind. A glow from the police spotlights shone through the drapes.
“Stop.”
I turned, my knee throbbing.
Carns stared at me. “Where’s my helicopter?” he asked, his eyes as unreadable as coddled eggs.
Before I could respond, a bullhorn sounded outside. “Victor Carns. This is Sergeant Bruce Moore of the Los Angeles Police. The house is surrounded. You have no chance of escape.”
“The civilians leave first, then the helicopter,” I said, hoping the SWAT negotiator didn’t say anything to the contrary.
The bullhorn again: “Mr. Carns, please pick up the phone.”
“Let them go,” I said. “After that, you and I can go anywhere you say.”
“Mr. Carns, unless we talk, we can’t resolve this situation,” the voice outside continued. “Please pick up the phone.”
Carns moved closer. He shoved his pistol against my forehead. “There is no helicopter, is there?”
“It’s coming,” I lied. “It will land on the beach once the civilians are released.”
“Bullshit.”
I shook my head, deciding to change tactics. “Give it up, Carns,” I said quietly. “Even if you do get out of here, where will you go? Off to some deserted island to live on your millions? The world isn’t big enough.”
A secretive smile flashed across Carns’s face. Then the amusement seeped from his eyes. Without warning he swung his pistol, backhanding me. A clamp on the homemade silencer sent a gush of blood sheeting down my face. Already unsteady on my crippled leg, I went down again.
“Mr. Carns, pick up the phone.”
Ignoring the drone of the bullhorn, Carns descended on me, lashing out with his feet, fists, knees, gun. He grunted with each blow, his face twisted with rage.
Unable to defend myself, I tried to squirm out from beneath his assault. When that failed, I fought to free my hands. Couldn’t. Dazed, I attempted to fend off Carns’s attack with my uninjured leg. No good. Soon the coppery taste of blood filled my mouth and nose and throat. A kick caught me in the eye, snapping back my head. The automatic thunked against my skull. And again. A flash of light, then another kick to the face. And another to the stomach, the back, the groin. Before long I simply concentrated on breathing, trying not to choke on my own blood. Slowly, through a haze of pain that was dulling with each blow, I felt darkness closing over me.
“Oh, no, you don’t,” Carns snarled, his breathing labored from his one-sided battle. He grabbed my hair, lifting my face from the carpet. “I’m not done with you yet. Not by half.” Suddenly he froze.
I thought I heard a rustling in the hallway.
Apparently Carns thought he heard something, too. Leaving me bleeding on the floor, he charged to the front door. Then I heard him banging down the hallway, slamming open the kids’ bedroom doors as he went. Moments later he returned. Seeming puzzled, he hesitated, then turned and made his way to the kitchen. He reappeared carrying a knapsack, from which he withdrew a roll of duct tape. Still panting, he knelt beside me and removed the silencer from his automatic.
Fumbling with the tape, Carns took several turns around the gun barrel, then held the muzzle to the side of my head. A number of passes secured the pistol to my temple. Not satisfied, Carns took a half dozen additional wraps around the gun, then more around my forehead. Finally he taped his own hand to the grip, finger locked inside the trigger guard.
His breathing finally beginning to ease, Carns paused to inspect his handiwork. I knew my fate was now inextricably joined with his. If he were to stumble-or a more likely possibility, take a shot from a police sniper-I was dead, too.
“Get up,” Carns commanded. Awkward with his hand fastened to my head, Carns dragged me to my feet. “You and I are going for a car ride, but first there’s the little mat
ter of your wife and son to decide,” he said, forcing me toward the master bedroom. “You’re in no condition to drive. And as you can see, I have my hands full. It will have to be one of them.”
“Let them go,” I begged, my mouth filling with blood. “Just take me.”
“Still playing the hero? I thought you would have tired of that by now.”
“They won’t let you leave if my family isn’t released.”
“I doubt that,” said Carns, continuing to push me toward the bedroom. “Especially when they understand their options. And I’ll make absolutely certain that they do. But now there’s something else to attend to. We need only one person to drive. Who gets to live? The beautiful wife? The handsome son? I know. I’ll let you decide.”
“You’re making a mistake. They won’t-”
Carns gave me another shove. “That’s a chance we’ll have to take. Made your selection yet? Better hurry if you don’t want me to make it for you.”
We reached the end of the hallway. Carns kicked open the door.
The bed was empty. Tags of rope trailed from the corners of the frame.
“What the-” Carns whirled, his eyes searching the dim room.
Travis was on his knees across from the bed, tied to the closet door. Allison was kneeling beside him sawing at his bonds, using a knife I recognized from our kitchen.
“Raise your hands and step back,” Carns ordered.
Allison kept cutting. An instant later Travis was free.
Carns snarled in frustration, undoubtedly wishing he had waited till later to bind his pistol so irreversibly to me.
All at once I sensed movement behind us.
Carns turned, pulling me with him.
Catheryn stepped from behind the bedroom door, arms extended in a two-handed shooting stance I’d taught her years back. She held the. 38-caliber revolver that Carns had taken from me earlier. I smiled grimly, realizing Allison must have picked it up while I was being beaten. Carns was making mistakes.
“Drop it,” Carns ordered, twisting his automatic against my temple.
“Don’t do it, Kate,” I warned. “Shoot him. Now.”
Catheryn hesitated.
Carns was far too dangerous to let this standoff go on any longer. “Shoot him,” I repeated, hoping Catheryn didn’t realize what that would mean for me. “Do it now.”
“Drop the gun or I’ll kill him,” Carns ordered again. “You’ve got five seconds to-” He hesitated as Nate moved into view from behind his mother, tatters of plastic trash bag and duct tape still circling his neck.
“Kate, either shoot him or take the kids and get out,” I croaked.
“Nobody’s leaving,” said Carns, still staring at Nate in shock.
Travis was moving forward, holding a length of pipe. Allison had begun circling in from the other side. She still held the knife from the kitchen.
“Stay back,” Carns warned. “If you don’t I’ll kill him right now.”
Still gripping my holdout gun tightly in both hands, Catheryn took a step closer. “It’ll be the last thing you ever do,” she said.
“Travis, get your sister and brother out of here,” I said. “That’s an order.”
Catheryn took another step forward. “Do it, Travis,” she said, a quaver in her voice betraying her fear.
“I’m not leaving,” said Travis.
“Me, neither,” said Allison, still sliding to the left, edging behind Carns.
“Go,” I pleaded. “Trav, Ali, I know what you’re trying to prove. Now’s not the time. There’s nothing you can do. Just go.”
Nate moved to Catheryn’s side, completing the circle around Carns
… and me.
“Nate,” I begged. “Get out of here, son. Please.”
Nate shook his head.
“Kate…”
“Not without you,” said Catheryn, her gun still trained unwaveringly on Carns.
“I told you, nobody’s leaving,” said Carns, attempting to regain control. “Not until I say. And when we do leave, we’re all leaving together. One big happy family. Somebody get me the phone.”
No one moved.
“They won’t let you out with civilian hostages,” I repeated. “A sharpshooter will drop you before you’ve gone ten feet.”
“Go to hell, cop. If I go, you’re dead, too.”
“I know you, Carns. You don’t want to die.”
“Shut up!”
“It doesn’t have to be like that,” I rushed on, seeing a way out. “You haven’t killed anyone here tonight, and we don’t have one piece of hard evidence tying you to the candlelight murders. We won’t find any, either. Anything that might have existed went up your chimney this afternoon.”
“What are you saying?”
“I’m saying we’ll never get you on your recent murders. We’ve got nothing. Van Owen won’t be able to finger you either, as I’m sure you’ve already figured out,” I continued. “I lifted prints from your house, but none of them matches the crime scenes. We have a couple of hairs, a shoe print, some distorted bite marks. Nothing conclusive. Not enough to convict.”
“You were in my house?”
“That’s right. I visited your souvenir room, too,” I answered. “Without a search warrant, which is something you can use in the unlikely event things ever come to that. The point is, all we have on you is what happened here tonight. Breaking and entering, assault, and taking a potshot at that deputy on the beach. With the psychological escape hatch you’ve set up for yourself, a good lawyer will have you out in no time.”
Carns stared incredulously. “You know about that?”
“Yeah. And I checked with a shrink. He says that with the right jury, an insanity defense will probably hold up.”
“What are you talking about?” asked Catheryn.
Before I could answer, a whump sounded on the beach. And another. Then the thump of something landing on the roof and the crash of breaking glass downstairs.
Carns tightened his grip on the pistol. “What was that?”
“Tear gas,” I said. “Looks like the guy on the bullhorn got tired of talking to himself. Time to cut your losses, Carns.”
A sheen of perspiration glistened on Carns’s face. “Shut up,” he hissed. “I need to think.”
“He can get away with what he did?” whispered Catheryn, her eyes never leaving Carns. “All those families…”
“Oh, he’ll get away with it,” I answered. “Years back he gulled a few doctors into believing he’s a paranoid schizophrenic. With a prior medical history and the attorneys he can afford, the worst he’s likely to get for tonight’s foray is a little vacation time in some country club psych ward.”
I knew that Catheryn realized I was bartering for our lives, twisting facts to suit my purpose. But I could also tell she knew there was an element of truth to everything I’d said.
Seconds passed. The first whiffs of tear gas started seeping up from below.
“What’s it going to be, Carns?” I asked.
“I told you to shut up!” Carns shouted, his eyes wild now, trapped, sweat ringing his armpits. The smell of gas grew stronger, along with a hint of something worse.
Smoke.
I had seen teargas canisters touch off blazes more than once during my career. I knew we didn’t have much time. “It’s a simple choice, Carns,” I said. “A police bullet, or a nice cushy stay at a psychiatric facility. Play it smart and walk out of here. You have about ten seconds to decide.”
Carns vacillated a moment longer. By then, mixing with the gas from below, tendrils of oily black smoke had started seeping into the room. Abruptly coming to a decision, Carns began ripping at the tape binding his hand to the gun. “You’re right,” he said, a grin splitting his face like a knife. “They’ll never convict me. Not in a million years.”
Carns stepped back, leaving the. 25 automatic still dangling from my head. “They have new techniques for treating the mentally ill nowadays,” he added with a smirk
. “I could be better before you know it. And when I get out-”
Carns caught himself, but not in time. I knew what he’d been thinking. I saw something change in Catheryn’s expression, and I knew she had read his venomous thoughts as well, as clearly as if he’d spoken them aloud. And when I get out, his malignant eyes had glittered, maybe I’ll come visit sometime.
“That’s not going to happen,” Catheryn said softly.
I saw it rising in her and knew it for what it was. Carns did, too. “No!” he screamed, shoving me toward Catheryn and lunging for her gun.
My injured leg buckled. I went down hard at Catheryn’s feet. Carns rushed in behind. The pistol bucked in Catheryn’s hands. A deafening explosion rocked the room as an orange fireball spat from the muzzle, lighting the chamber in a searing flash. The. 38-caliber slug caught Carns high on his left shoulder, sending a spray of blood against the far wall.
With a howl Carns staggered back, staring uncomprehendingly at the red bloom staining his shirt. He turned again toward Catheryn, eyes blazing with malevolence. Then with a motion nearly too fast to follow, he backhanded Allison and snatched the knife from her grasp.
Catheryn fired again as Allison fell, blood gushing from her nose. Catheryn’s second shot went high, grazing Carns’s scalp and splintering the wood paneling behind his head. Knife held low, Carns dodged and with blinding speed rushed forward, clearly intending to gut Catheryn where she stood.
My hands still cuffed behind me, I was unable to regain my feet. Instead I rolled, trying to take Carns’s legs out from under him. At the edge of my vision I saw Travis rushing in, wielding his length of pipe. Before either of us could reach Carns, Catheryn fired a third shot. She missed.
With a scream of rage Carns fell back, teeth bared, blood from his head wound streaming down his face. Catlike, he sidestepped a blow from Travis’s pipe. His movements a blur, he crabbed left to put Travis between himself and Catheryn’s revolver. For an instant he glanced at Allison, who was struggling to her feet behind me. Then his eyes settled on the other gun in the room.
Again in a blinding rush almost to fast to register, Carns feinted a knife thrust at Travis and went for the pistol still taped to my head.
