The Hunter

by Kurt Robinson

  Sergeant Cavanah was instructed to wait for their call as he sat in one of the cars in the warehouse looking at his watch. It was nearly time. He was an average sized man with blonde hair and a nagging wife. He would much rather be out here than at home with her. Most of the time he wished he never married, he knew he would be happier. Truth be told, he hoped they would be out even later and the phone wouldn’t ring. But, finally, it rang and he answered.

  “Hello?” he asked in his deep voice. There was a pause and then the other person spoke, “Good, we’re here, pulling in now.” He hit the button to end the call.

  He took a couple short breaths then opened the car door and got out.

  “Levinson! Open the door, they’re getting ready to turn down the drive. Travers! Start the car and turn the lights on.”

  Levinson, an officer with the Frankfort Police Department, ran over to the sliding doors and slid it open as snow and cold air blew into the warehouse. Cavanah and Travers, an officer with the Lexington Police Department, started both unmarked police cars and turned the lights on. The engines roared as exhaust fumes poured out of the tail pipes, swirling in the chilled air.

  “Alright, check your weapons and make sure they are not your issue! That’s the last fuckin’ thing we need! Just stand back and act tough, I’ll do all the talking. I’ll ask one of you to get the drugs. When I do, you go to the trunk of this car,” he said as he pointed to the one he got out of and was standing next to, “and you bring them to me and go back where you were. It shouldn’t take long as long as we have what they need and they have what we need. So don’t worry, y’all will be home in time to fuck your wives tonight!” he said without smiling and walked over in between the two cars.

  He and the other six men stood and waited as they looked out the large sliding door towards the driveway and trees. They then saw lights that disappeared and reappeared as the vehicles went through the woods and behind the trees. There were two vehicles, but Cavanah and the other officers couldn’t tell what kind they were. More than likely some type of SUV.

  “Okay, I see them, just do what I say and we’ll be just fine.” Four of them were new. This was their first time doing anything like this, and he wasn’t sure how they would react.

  As the vehicles finally made it around the last curve and into view, he was sure they were SUVs. As they got closer, crunching through the snow with their lights shining through the falling snow, Cavanah could make out that they were driving large black Cadillac Escalades. They pulled to the side of the sliding door, put them in park, and shut the engines off.

  “Fuckers got it made. How many they got in those things?” He told himself in a whisper.

  All four doors opened on the one parked on the left side of the warehouse, while just the back doors opened on the one parked to the right side. Six people emerged from the two Escalades. Cavanah and the others watched as they started to walk toward them. One of them was an older man with a long black wool coat and a suit underneath wearing sunglasses. Along with the others came a young blonde woman in a dress and a white fur coat. She was carrying two large briefcases. The rest of the men appeared to be the bodyguards and they were each carrying a Heckler and Koch UMP45 submachine gun.

  “Alright, there you are Mr. Mob Guy and his fuckin’ hot, probably ex-hooker, girlfriend,” Cavanah whispered. “That’s a lot of firepower you got there, and that’s just the ones I can see. How the hell does he know these guys?” he asked himself in a whisper.

  Mr. Mob Guy, his girlfriend, and his other associates finally stepped into the warehouse where his shoes, and her high heels, clicked the rest of the walk. The four bodyguards were on either side of the two and were all wearing black suits.

  “Who the fuck wears high heels in this weather?” Levinson asked himself, while two other officers were standing next to him. Both of which were new to this kind of operation, so they were nervous and shaking a little, but that could also be from the cold. Officer Sharp of the Frankfort Police Department, had been on the force for two years, but potential was seen in him, so they asked him to join. He agreed once he found out how much money he would be making, which he needed for him and his new wife’s house in Frankfort. The other, Officer Lewis of the Lexington Police Department, had been on the force for just one year and just wanted some adventure.

  Travers and the other two officers were on the left to the other side of the cars. Officers Owens and Wilson were with the Kentucky State Police and knew Cavanah, so he asked them if they wanted in because they needed more manpower. Plus, it was easy to convince them to join once they found out how much money they would be getting as well. For this exchange, they would be pulling in ten million dollars and splitting it nine ways. He knew that after this job, they would be hooked.

  “What’re you gonna do with your share?” Owens asked Wilson in a whisper.

  “Put it in my fuckin’ mattress, where it belongs!” Wilson responded.

  “That’s close enough!” Cavanah yelled at Mr. Mob Guy and his posse as they stopped about twenty feet from the cars.

  “Who’s there?” Mr. Mob Guy asked in a heavy Irish accent. He couldn’t see because of the lights.

  “Well we’re gonna keep names out of this, but I’m the guy who has what you want!”

  “I like your style, but you don’t sound like Mr.-”

  “I said no names here, we don’t trust you and I’m fairly certain you don’t trust us! He wanted to be here but his wife dragged him out somewhere at the last minute.” Cavanah explained because that’s what he was told.

  “Women, always fucking controlling us, huh?” Mr. Mob Guy asked as he laughed and the beautiful blonde woman turned to look at him, but was smart enough not to make a comment.

  “My friend tells me you’re from Cincinnati. You drove way the fuck out here to exchange some drugs for money with us. Some guys in a small town in Central Kentucky?”

  “I like to keep it like this, better to work with some small loyal guys rather than a bigger guy that the police are always after, right?”

  Cavanah smiled and then responded with, “Right, you can trust guys like us!”

  “Yes, yes I can because you are the kind of guys that don’t want people finding out who you are. I mean look at you, you’re all standing behind the headlights so we can’t see your faces. I admire that, you don’t want your identities getting out there. However, it is disrespectful to me as a business man; I like to know who I’m dealing with. Do you see what I’m saying?” Mr. Mob Guy explained.

  “I do, but you do know our mutual friend and that’s good enough for me. Like I said, we are just protecting ourselves.”

  “I see. Well it seems I can’t talk you out of coming out from behind those lights, or turning them off. So, let’s just get done with it!”

  “Sounds good to me! Hey,” Cavanah turned. “Go get it!” Travers ran to the back of the car on the right and opened the trunk. He grabbed two large briefcases that contained the drugs. Next to the briefcases were three M4 Carbine assault rifles and two Benelli M4 Super 90 Tactical twelve gauge shotguns along with several magazines and shells setting next to them.

  “So, where’d you get this much cocaine from?” Mr. Mob Guy asked.

  “Don’t worry where we fucking got it from!” Cavanah shouted.

  Mr. Mob Guy grinned, “Alright, alright! Calm the fuck down, just a simple question!”

  Travers then walked just in front of the cars, still behind the headlights so he couldn’t be seen. He turned to Cavanah and made a motion as if to ask if it was all right to slide the cases to them. Cavanah nodded and Travers bent down and put the first case on the ground. He then used both of his hands and slid it forward to Mr. Mob Guy. The next case followed.

  Both were a few feet short but Mr. Mob Guy motioned one of his henchmen to walk up and grab them, he did. Next, he motioned his blonde companion to slide the two cases she was carrying over to Travers. She walked forward a couple feet then got down on her knees, which Cava
nah was sure she was used to, and put the first one on the ground. She shoved it as hard as she could forward and did the same with the second. Travers was able to walk to them without his face being seen.

  “She loves to handle money, let me tell ya,” Mr. Mob Guy said as he motioned his henchman holding the briefcase back to the Escalade.

  “I think they all do!” Cavanah said with a grin.

  "Depends what kinda girl you got and what they like to handle."

  By that time, Travers had both briefcases in his hands and walked by Cavanah to open and look inside them. Once he got behind the car, he sat them on the trunk.

  “Now, I only asked that previous question, to which you took great offense to, because I was merely curious.”

  “Curious about what?” Cavanah asked. Travers unsnapped the first briefcase.

  “About how people like you got this much cocaine without anybody knowing about it.”

  “People like us?” Cavanah asked. Travers unsnapped the second briefcase.

  “Yeah, you know, officers like you,” Mr. Mob Guy said as Travers opened up the first briefcase.

  “What the fuck did you say?” Cavanah asked, as the others now looked shocked and wide eyed as the new guys started to shake even more.

  “Holy shit!” Travers yelled. “It’s full of fuckin’ newspaper!” Cavanah swiftly turned his head back toward Travers.

  “Kill those fucking cops!” Mr. Mob Guy yelled.

  Sergeant Cavanah swung his head back around, pulled back his coat on the right side, and reached for his pistol in its holster, a Colt Rail Gun 1911, .45 ACP with a blackened finish. It was his favorite personal gun that he had bought with the money from past dealings such as this one.

  Mr. Mob Guy grabbed his blonde friend and pulled her back as his henchmen stepped forward and brought up their UMP45s. Cavanah took off running in between the cars as he pulled his pistol out of the holster and yelled, “MOVE!” The henchmen then opened fire towards the headlights on the cars. The blonde women let out a scream as Mr. Mob Guy covered her and they ran to their vehicles. She clearly had no idea that this was a setup.

  Travers ducked down behind the car he was behind as bullets penetrated the two cars. “Motherfucker!” he yelled. Sparks flew everywhere and the headlights went out one by one with glass shattering and landing on the concrete floor. The loud noise in the steel and concrete building was unbearable. Cavanah was discharging his pistol as he ran back to the car, not aiming at anything but hoping to give himself some suppressing fire. Levinson grabbed Sharp and attempted to grab Lewis but Lewis shoved him off out of anger, and ran him over to the car where Travers was and where Cavanah would soon end up.

  Owens and Wilson did the same thing, but at a slower pace because they were in shock at what had happened. By this time, the lights were all shot out on the cars and it was now dark inside with the exception of the headlights that were on the Escalades. Mr. Mob Guy and his companion made it back to their Escalade, in the back seat, as the shots were ringing out. The other Escalade still had two men in it.

  Officer Lewis just began firing aimlessly with his personal pistol, a Sig Sauer P226 9mm stainless steel with an alloy and PVD finish. He was screaming out of anger as he ran towards the car that everybody else was now behind. He got there unscathed with a pissed off look on his face, but he secretly loved it. The henchmen opened fire toward him as he ran; they both missed their target and the metal walls behind both firing parties lit up as yellow sparks flew once bullets hit them. Owens and Wilson were almost to the back of the other car when one of the henchmen closest to them, who finally saw them after his eyes adjusted from the headlights being shot out, turned and fired. He caught Owens in the shoulder, who spun out of the grip of Wilson and fell down; blood sprayed the concrete and then covered his arm. Wilson kept running as he was being shot at and made it to the car. Owens tried to get up but that same henchmen along with another walked to the left of the car in front of them so they could see him and opened fire. Bullets penetrated his body in a bloody fashion as he screamed in pain. They unloaded the rest of their clips into him. Once they were done there wasn’t much left of him. The concrete was destroyed and stained with blood around him and steam flowed from what was left of his bloody remains.

  “You motherfuckers!” Wilson yelled as he stood up and began firing his pistol, a Glock 31 Gen4 .357 with the iconic black finish, aimlessly. The two henchmen with the empty clips ducked and began crawling towards the front of the car where Wilson was taking cover. Wilson, paying no attention, began firing his pistol through the windshield of the car hoping to hit something. Small holes appeared in the back windshield as pieces of glass flew up. The dashboard and front windshield received damage as bullets that had no target in mind hit them.

  The other two henchmen quickly turned and fired what was left in their clips. Wilson, whose attention was focused on the two who killed his fellow Trooper and friend, never saw them. Multiple bullets caught him in the chest as he was pushed back from the force, blood squirted from the wounds as each bullet went into his body. The kill shot caught him in the neck, causing him to spin around with his back facing his killers and land on his knees. He dropped his gun and raised his hands up to his neck as he gargled blood that made its way into his throat and mouth. One of the henchman stepped up and fired one last round as it went through the back of his head and out the front just below his left eye, blood and brain matter exploding out the exit wound as he hit the ice-cold floor. Cavanah, Travers, Levinson, Sharp, and Lewis all watched him as he twitched one last time and let out his last visible breath of hot air.

  Those two henchmen immediately ducked in front of the car and reloaded. However, the other two had just finished reloading. They stood up and pointed their UMP45s at the back of the car they were in front of. The other two reloaded and did the same to the car they were in front of, not knowing who was behind what vehicle.

  “Fuck this!” Cavanah said, “Get the assault rifles and shotguns, now!” Travers opened the trunk, which drew the attention of the henchmen. They opened fire on the truck causing it to sway up and down with sparks flying up from it and holes appearing. Cavanah then quickly laid on the ground and fired his 1911 from under the car. He caught the leg of one of the henchmen in front of his car and then the other. They both fell down on the ground screaming in pain as their weapons hit the ground with a loud clunk. He then shifted his pistol, aimed, and fired and then did the same thing again. He caught each one in the head, one above the right eye and the other in the cheek just under the left eye. Their heads flung back violently from the impacts. Blood poured from the wounds as their heads twitched and then stopped.

  Travers grabbed a M4 Carbine and handed it to Sharp then a magazine. Levinson grabbed the tactical 12-gauge shotgun with a flashlight on the front under the barrel and slots to put extra shells in the stock. Travers grabbed another M4 Carbine, handed it to Lewis along with a magazine, and then grabbed one for himself. Cavanah sat up quickly, reached in the trunk, grabbed the other shotgun along with some shells and loaded it. They all put in shells and magazines in their weapons and pumped the shotguns or pulled back on the bolts.

  As they were loading their weapons, the other two henchmen began firing toward the car. One began moving around the right side of the car that was to the left of them. The passenger side windows on the car they were using as cover shattered and more holes appeared in the doors as sparks flew from them. The other henchman moved around to the front of the car and he fired at the trunk and roof. Sparks brightened the area and more appeared.

  All five of the remaining officers began to move around the left side of the car after Cavanah motioned to them. Travers stuck his M4 Carbine in the air and through the front driver’s side window, now shattered, and pulled the trigger. He shot off a few loud rounds in a burst, causing both henchmen to duck as they proceeded to reload again. Cavanah was near the back of the car; down on his right side, he pointed the shotgun barrel toward the car ju
st behind the left rear wheel. That henchman finished reloading, stood up, and began firing again. He made his way to the back of car, which gave Cavanah a clear line of sight to fire. He pulled the trigger and the buckshot shell expanded and hit the henchmen’s foot and ripped it off from just above the ankle down. Blood and bone fragments spewed everywhere. The henchmen screamed as his leg flew back and he lost his balance. His torso flung forward as his right arm flung outwards with his finger on the trigger. The gun was still firing, and a bullet caught the other henchmen in the shoulder. His head then flung forward and slammed on the trunk of the car leaving a bloody splatter and he fell to the ground. Cavanah then fired a second round at his chest, which sent him sliding across the floor a few feet. Blood covered the ground.

  Sharp was near the front of the car they were using as cover and sat up with his M4 Carbine, ready to fire. The other henchman was firing toward the back of the car when he was struck by the friendly fire. The bullet went across his body and struck him in the right shoulder. He spun to his right, throwing his arm out as his finger continually pressed on the trigger. The rifle fired a stream of bullets down the car as Sharp’s head had just come up. The last bullet caught him in the top left side of his forehead causing that side of his skin and skull to be blown completely off. He spun around and was dead before he hit the floor where he landed on his stomach with his head facing his fellow police officers, bloodied side up.

  Travers stood up as the henchman’s back was to them, gritting his teeth in pain. He pulled the trigger on his M4 Carbine and let out a burst into his back. A few of the bullets went through him causing blood to spray out of his chest as the bullets went through. He fell over on his knees using the rifle to help hold him up, gasping for air. He looked up towards the Escalades and mouthed, “Go.” Travers squeezed the trigger once more, releasing a round that hit the back of the henchman’s head. He abruptly fell over with his rifle landing next to his head. Blood poured from his chest and head wounds.