She slammed the trunk shut. Gabe made an annoyed gesture to her. “What? Did you need something?”
“There was a flak jacket in there.”
“Help yourself to it. You know how to open a trunk, don’t you?” She didn’t mean to go for the throat like that, but Gabe winced and looked at the ground.
“Forget it, I didn’t say anything.”
Diana huffed. “I’m sorry. Here, allow me.” She popped the trunk open again and handed him the flak jacket. Gabe took it grudgingly, then slipped it on. She thought it was a fair trade-off. She had all the firepower. He should have all the protection.
Gabe buckled the jacket in place and cracked his neck from side to side. “Okay, we’re here. Now what?”
Another cruiser pulled up behind them, lights flashing. Two officers got out and approached Diana. “Hey, you’re back with your boyfriend. Where’s Ed—I mean, Officer Preston?”
Diana tried to think of a convincing lie, but before she could say anything, Gabe stepped beside her and pulled her close. He sighed and looked at his shoes for a moment, then looked the lead officer in the eye. “He… didn’t make it.”
The officer nodded and put his hand on Gabe’s shoulder. “Son of a bitch. How did it happen?”
Diana stared at him somberly. “Carjackers. He shot one of them, but the other one got him right here.” She patted the center of her chest.
The second officer stepped forward. “He wasn’t wearing his vest?”
Gabe shook his head. “Obviously not.” He ran his hands down the flak jacket as if to model its lack of bullet holes.
The officers nodded gravely, then the lead officer spoke. “I always said he was too cocky. We know better.”
Gabe raised an eyebrow. “And you are…?”
The first officer thrust out his hand. “Officer Milton. And this is my partner, Officer Patterson.” Gabe shook hands with the men. Diana held up her shotgun by the barrel as a greeting. “Now, normally, we’d be running you two in for not sheltering in place, not to mention your gun possession raps.” He nodded to Diana. “But these are extreme circumstances, and we’re going to need an extreme response to the hostilities. Are you two up for joining the team?”
The second officer’s jaw dropped. “Carl, we can’t just—”
Officer Milton raised his hand to silence him. “We just lost most of our unit. Unless you’ve got spare cops in your back pocket, we’ve got to make do with what we’ve got.”
Officer Patterson nodded. “Yes, sir.”
“What’s the plan?” Diana looked at the two men with a blend of anxiety and excitement.
“First of all, if you think you’re defending our fair city like that, you’re out of your ever-loving mind.” Officer Milton waved her over to his cruiser. He popped the trunk and handed her a flak jacket. “Put this on.”
Diana slipped into the vest and buckled it in place while working around the unwieldy shotgun. She didn’t dare put it down, lest it be taken away.
Officer Milton outfitted her vest with a radio and pinned a silver badge to it. “Raise your right hand.” She obeyed, and trembled a bit as he asked, “Do you swear to defend this city from all enemies, and agree to follow all orders as given?”
Diana nodded and felt butterflies take a few laps around her stomach. “I swear.”
He waved Gabe over and repeated the ritual. After asking his ceremonial questions, Gabe nodded once and took a hard swallow. “I swear.”
“Excellent. That’s good enough for now. We can sort out the whole junior cadet thing later. You get through this alive, and I’ll make damn sure you’re fast-tracked into the academy, how about that?”
Diana’s eyes bulged. She couldn’t contain her excitement. Clearing the roofs of Molotov-throwing hostiles was exhilarating, but she thought it was a one-off. Then again, she’d never shot a police officer before. That was more her father’s thing, she recalled darkly. “Sir, yes sir.”
Officer Milton smiled appreciatively. “That’s the spirit. Hell, you’re practically one of us already. You, on the other hand, I know nothing about. Any prior interest in law enforcement?”
“Well I, uh…” Gabe’s eyes darted around and landed on Diana, who bounced on the balls of her feet. “Yes, totally. In fact, I was just going to—”
Officer Milton waved him off. “Good enough for me. Okay, listen. We need to establish a perimeter and let the emergency services get these fires under control. We’re looking at long hours here, and no glamor. Here comes the cavalry.”
A service vehicle pulled up, and community service officers set up blue barricades. “Give them a hand with those.”
Diana’s heart sank. After her swearing-in ceremony, she thought she’d be in the thick of the action, not directing traffic. “Put that shotgun away, honey. We’re not in the outback.” Officer Milton pointed to his cruiser.
Diana inhaled to protest but remembered her vow. If she truly wanted to be on the team, she had to be a team player. She opened the back door and laid the shotgun on the floor of the car. She slammed the door shut and walked slowly to the service vehicle. A service officer handed her a barricade, which she struggled with but didn’t want to show weakness in front of the others. She carried the barricade over to the line in progress and jogged back for another.
Maybe someone will try to ram the barricades, she hoped.
The fire crews worked well into the night, and so did she. Gabe was shuttled to the nearest hospital to get checked out. He kissed her forehead before stepping on board the ambulance and swore he would return soon. She smiled and told him to hurry back. She paced back and forth behind a row of barricades and shouldered her newly-awarded responsibilities.
Officer Patterson patted her back. “You’re doing fine. Relax.”
“I wish whoever did this would stand up and fight us, head-on.”
Officer Patterson’s eyes widened, and he laughed. “Whoa, easy there, killer. I respect your enthusiasm but dial it down a little. Besides,” he said with a wry smile, “that’s why they call it terrorism. If they had the guts to fight us head-on, we’d call it a war.”
“War,” she said, patting her holster, “is exactly what they’ll get.”
“We don’t know who ‘they’ are. Let’s get these fires put out and save the revenge for later.”
Fire crews had been working steadily since just after Diana and Gabe had arrived on the scene. Long streams of water sprayed from side to side across a furious blaze in what had once been a neighborhood market. Not the one Diana had previously worked in, but similar, from what she could make out of it. She thought back to Mister Leotis, and how hard he worked each day in his little store, only to have his dream—and his life—brought to an end by a roving street gang. She wished she could have saved him, but the odds were stacked against her. She scoffed inwardly at the realization that clearing two roofs was somehow easier by comparison.
Well, she reasoned, it was. She had the element of surprise, coupled with the inexperience and poor decision-making of the bomb-throwers. She didn’t know what they hoped to accomplish by attacking the officers, but they were all dead now. She was alive and making a name for herself.
She looked down at her plastic flashlight topped with a red cone and snorted at the insult. She was capable of more than this. But until she was officially in uniform and wearing a real badge, she’d have to settle for any crumbs they were willing to give.
Officer Milton stepped up from behind them, carrying a drink holder and a white paper bag. “Caffeine and junk food. Whatever it takes, hey, Pembrook?” Diana plucked a soda from the drink holder, smiled, and nodded.
“You betcha.”
Officer Patterson scrunched up his nose at the remaining two drinks. “I don’t drink coffee. You know that, Milton.”
Diana pulled her cup away from her mouth before taking a sip. “You can have my drink if you want. Coffee is fine with me.”
Officer Patterson accepted the drink, then hesitat
ed. “You sure? I mean, if you wanted coffee, you should have taken it.”
“I thought they were just for you guys. You know, me being a girl, and stuff.” Patterson raised his eyebrows, and Milton patted her on the back as he handed her a steaming cup of coffee. “Naw, Patterson’s the girl. But he was being polite. He didn’t have the nerve to say the soft drink was for him.” Diana laughed and patted his shoulder in return.
“Oh, but you probably need all of that frou-frou crap my wife puts in her coffee. Four sugars, creamer, a quart of milk, a pat of butter, and God only knows what else. Shee-zus.”
Diana took a sip of the coffee, black. Officer Milton nodded his approval. “One of the guys, this one.”
Diana suppressed her reaction to the bitter coffee. “Damn right.”
CHAPTER 19
Officer Milton returned from his cruiser, shaking his head. “Looks like it’s just us for the rest of the night. They’re calling in units from anywhere and everywhere, but I’m not expecting any relief until sunrise.”
Diana downed the last of her astringent coffee. “Whatever it takes, I’m up for anything.”
Officer Patterson chuckled. “She’s going to direct traffic until her arms fall off.”
Officer Milton shrugged. “Shelter in place seems to be holding, which is a good thing. We should only be seeing service vehicles if at all, so, I dunno, kid, you might be in for a whole lot of nothing.”
Diana patted her badge and took a deep breath. It wasn’t “nothing”, not to her. This was her chance at being a part of something bigger than her, and a clean slate. If Officer Milton really had her back, and really could move mountains with the academy, her days of eking out a meager existence would be over.
“Maybe you should go check up on your boyfriend. We can cover this just fine,” Officer Patterson offered.
Diana felt her stomach sour for an instant. She didn’t want to give up her chance. She committed to staying put, and that’s what she intended to do unless they told her otherwise. “He’s fine. I figure he’ll be back soon enough after they patch him up, or whatever.”
The two officers looked at each other, impressed. “Really? Not taking the easy way out, huh? Wow… you’re a better man than me,” quipped Officer Patterson.
“We already established that,” Milton joked.
Diana laughed along with them, then gestured with her chin over their shoulders. “Hey, looks like somebody didn’t get the SIP memo.” The officers gave her confused looks. “Shelter in place,” she added. They nodded their comprehension and turned to face four men armed with baseball bats and crowbars approaching in a tight cluster. They puffed themselves up, signaling their ownership of the streets.
Officer Milton raised his hands. “This is your only warning. Disperse, and shelter in place.”
The men brandished their weapons. One of them sneered as he smacked his palm with the end of a wooden bat. “Yeah, and what if we don’t, pig? You and your little army going to shoot us?”
Officer Milton drew his sidearm and released the safety. “Disperse now, or we will respond with lethal force.” He maintained a firm tone, and Officer Patterson pulled his sidearm from its holster.
The man with the bat turned to his comrades. “We got a couple hotshots, thinking they can stop the Stallions. Whatcha think, fellas? We afraid of pigs?”
Officer Milton fired a round over their heads. Nobody flinched. Diana gasped and released the safety strap from her holster.
“This is your final warning. Disperse, or I will give the order to fire.”
The man put his arms out to his sides and signaled for his associates to stand still. “Whoa, one warning, three warnings… you pigs gonna shoot us, or not? You know what I think? I think these are the last two pigs on our turf. Let’s roast ‘em and show this town who’s in charge.”
Diana crept behind a cruiser. The men were ignoring her, either for being a girl or because she hadn’t drawn a weapon on them as well. She intended to use that oversight to her advantage. The officers didn’t call to her and kept their weapons trained on the gang leader.
“On my signal, Patterson, open fire.” Officer Milton took one step forward.
“Light ‘em up,” called the gang leader. Two liquor bottles sailed over his head and ignited beside the row of barriers that separated them from the two officers. Officer Patterson shielded his eyes, and Officer Milton opened fire. He struck the gang leader in the shoulder, sending him backward. Three of his fellow gang members rushed forward, and Diana drew her sidearm from its holster. Officer Milton shot one man in the neck, another in the thigh, and fired another round over the third man’s head. He ducked down and reached the officers, swinging a bat into Milton’s gut. Patterson steadied his gun, and the man shoulder-tackled him to the ground.
More Stallions rushed forward. There were at least twenty of them. Their leader pressed his hand to his bloody shoulder and barked orders to his followers.
Diana aimed and shot the leader in the head. She was aiming for his chest, but the recoil sent the shot off target. He crumpled to the pavement, and the gang skidded to a halt to face her. She kept a low profile, and shot another man between the eyes, sending him face-first to the ground. She had aimed for his chest expecting similar results after she understood real guns have more power than the BB guns she was accustomed to firing. Her father made rifle shooting look effortless; now she was beginning go understand how much control was required.
“What the hell? Take him out!” One of the gang members assumed control and thrust a thick finger in Diana’s direction.
Officer Milton struggled to return to an upright position and pulled the thug away from Patterson. His partner’s face was covered with blood after being worked over. The thug drove his fist into Milton’s jaw, spinning him around, then landed another punch with his other hand. Milton fell on his back and felt around for his gun. The thug kicked it aside and picked up his bat. He stood over Milton and raised the bat over his head as the officer held up his hands defensively, and a single gunshot pealed from the cruiser. Blood spurted from the thug’s mouth, and he fell on top of Milton.
“Are you kidding me? It’s a girl. Take her down, and then we can celebrate. I get first.” The newly-appointed leader spurred on his troops, who fell one by one as they rushed the cruiser. Diana was nearly out of ammo, but she wasn’t ready to reload just yet. She patted her pockets, remembering the shotgun shells. She ducked behind the cruiser and opened the back door. She fished the shotgun out of the floor of the cruiser and raised it in time to unload buckshot into a bearded thug’s face.
She tossed the spent shell aside and reloaded in time to replace the contents of another man’s stomach with buckshot. She wasn’t keeping count, but they had to be getting down to the single digits. It was time to drive the final spike.
Diana reloaded the shotgun, then she checked the magazine in her sidearm. She had three more bullets remaining, with two magazines tucked in her belt. She also had the gun she stripped from the man who tried to take a blonde hostage and flushed her from her hiding place. That was her ace in the hole, she figured.
She duck-walked to the rear of the cruiser as a bottle crashed against the roof, sending it ablaze. Yet another hiding place ruined, she thought. She dropped to her stomach and fired the shotgun at the leader. He was far enough away that it didn’t drop him. He put his hand to his chest, looked at the blood, then threw his head back and laughed. “Is that all she’s got? This is going to be easier than I thought.”
Diana tossed the shotgun aside and switched to her sidearm. She scored direct hits on two more thugs, including one with a freshly lit Molotov. Flaming liquid spattered him, and he waved his arms around in a panic as the fire spread. His gunshot wound was going to kill him anyway, but the fire made the process more satisfying to her. She had one round left in the sidearm and nothing in the shotgun. Four men formed a human shield between her and their leader.
“You got this, Shank?”
The man nodded and raised his revolver. “Yeah, I got this.”
The leader nodded approvingly. “We call him Shank because he cuts people down. You’re next.”
Diana took aim, but to her surprise, the armed thug opened fire before she did. He took two wide shots before falling to his knees with a bullet to the throat. She tossed her gun aside and scooped up the shotgun. Four to go, as far as she could tell. Only one man was armed in the human wall, and he was bleeding out on the street. If the leader had a gun, she expected him to pull it out now.
She scrambled behind the cruiser. Only the roof was burning now, but that could change at any moment. She knew she couldn’t use it for cover for much longer, so she’d have to work quickly. She reloaded the shotgun and crept toward the front of the car. Gasoline trickled from the rear of the cruiser.
“Now this bitch is just pissing me off. Bash her head in, and you guys can fight over what’s left.”
Diana raised the shotgun, then hesitated. The men were armed only with tire irons and a hollow metal rod. These were the dregs, now. She was surprised they stuck around, but maybe they’d be killed as deserters if they fled. She had a perverse appreciation for their commitment. She spun the shotgun around and jabbed it into a thug’s gut before bringing it around to the side of another’s head. They dropped to their knees and struggled to regain their footing, when Diana fired into the third man’s mouth, killing him instantly.
The leader looked at the remnants of the once-proud Stallions and spat. “We ain’t losing to a bitch, bitch.”
He pulled a gun from his waistband and held it out in front of him. The weapon was polished chrome, and it glinted under the streetlights.
Dead Shot Page 10
