Dead Shot

by Ethan Johnson

  She pulled the door closed, and they moved down the hall. The rear entry door opened, and they held their breath, listening for clues. They didn’t hear footsteps. Diana tapped Lyssa on the shoulder and waved her onward to the next corner. The building had apartments on the outer walls, and the inner walls surrounded a private courtyard. Diana couldn’t imagine the building in its prime, but from the looks of things, this was once a nice place. She rattled the knob to a door leading to an inner room, but it wouldn’t budge.

  Lyssa pressed close to Diana. “What are you doing, anyway?”

  “I’m trying to find somewhere for you to hide.”

  She frowned. “Why do I have to hide? I can help too.” She held up the pepper spray canister.

  Diana lowered Lyssa’s arm as she shielded her eyes. “Right. But we have guns, and so does he. If I can find you a decent hiding place, you can ambush him with the spray, then one of us can put him down.”

  Diana crossed the hallway and opened another door. The apartment was dirty, but not acrid. She pushed the door all the way open and waved to Lyssa. “In here. If he goes door to door, you can surprise him with the spray.”

  Lyssa swallowed hard and nodded. “And what are you going to do?”

  Diana kissed Lyssa’s forehead. “I’m going to find another spot and see if I can get the drop on him.”

  Lyssa took a deep breath and nodded again. “Okay. I can do this.” She took a step forward, and the floor creaked, groaned, and a board snapped. Lyssa squealed as her left leg dropped through a hole in the floor. Her right leg bent awkwardly, and the pepper spray canister rolled against the wall. “Holy crap, that hurts! Diana, help me up.” She reached up with her right hand and wiggled her fingers expectantly.

  Diana cringed. Her father would have heard the ruckus and would be training his rifle on one of them any second now. She fingered her gun in its holster and released the safety strap. Lyssa moaned in pain, and Diana wrestled with the correct decision. As she turned to take hold of Lyssa’s hand, she heard footsteps down the hall. She spun around and drew her sidearm.

  Sapphire’s shoulders drooped when she saw Diana and Lyssa’s predicament. “What the hell are you two doing? I said to split up, not do the splits.”

  “She fell,” Diana said, lamely.

  Sapphire looked around for a moment, then lowered her gun. “Okay, hurry it up. I’m amazed he hasn’t shot all of us with all this commotion going on. Really top-notch field work, you two.” She took a few steps forward and paused beside a door that led to the courtyard.

  Diana holstered her gun and grabbed on to Lyssa’s hand. She pulled with all her might, and Lyssa groaned as she struggled to pull her leg up from the hole. She managed to set her right foot, and used her right leg to propel herself upward, then landed hard on her butt. Diana was pulled toward her, and she dropped to one knee, grimacing as the floor creaked beneath them.

  Lyssa sat on the floor with her legs apart and rubbed her forehead. “I owe you big time.”

  Sapphire rolled her eyes and took another step forward. “Okay, this place was a bad idea. Let’s get out of here, and come up with Plan B.”

  Diana stood up and stretched. “I thought this was Plan B. Aren’t we on Plan C?”

  “How about we have this conversation somewhere else? We’re fish in a barrel in here, as far as I’m concerned.”

  Diana nodded, turned to Lyssa. “Get the spray.” She nodded and scooped it up.

  “Help me up.”

  Sapphire gave them an exasperated sigh. “Come on, this is serious. Move it.”

  “It’ll just take a second, okay? Here, Lyss, grab my hand, and—”

  The courtyard door flew open, and Diana’s father stepped into the hallway behind Sapphire. His rifle was slung across his back, and he used his left arm to put her in a choke hold as he disarmed her with his right hand. He pointed Sapphire’s gun at Diana. “Hiya baby. Didja miss me?” His right arm was wrapped with blood-soaked bandages from battlefield surgery he performed on himself using techniques from the Good Book, Diana surmised.

  Diana let go of Lyssa’s hand and drew her sidearm in a fluid motion. Sapphire struggled with Diana’s father, Lyssa sat on the floor, frozen with fear. Diana steadied her gun and faced down her father. “Yes, I did. And tonight, I’ll finish you.”

  CHAPTER 36

  Diana’s father tightened his grip on Sapphire’s throat and shifted his feet to avoid her attempts to kick free of his choke hold. Her face darkened as he maintained his hold on her. She exhaled and sent flecks of spittle in all directions as she hissed at Diana. “Shoot… the… bastard.”

  He laughed and shook his head. “Shoot me? Aw, c’mon now, baby. You wouldn’t kill your old man, wouldja? After I came all this way.”

  Diana set her feet and held her gun steady. “For the Good Book. If that’s all you wanted, you could have asked nicely.”

  He looked at her with genuine surprise. “Huh? The Good Book? What for? I’ve got it all mem’rized. You don’t.”

  Diana didn’t want to give him the satisfaction of showing him any emotion but grim determination. “Drop the gun, or I drop you.”

  He cackled and flashed her a toothy grin. “Oh, you’re an expert now. You threw in with the cops, and now you’re better than your old man, is that right? Well, they mighta taught you everything you know, but I didn’t teach you everything I know.”

  “Final warning. Drop it, or I drop you.”

  He released Sapphire from his choke hold and held her upright by her collar as he pressed his gun to the back of her head. “See, here’s what I’m talking about. You’re weak. You’re weak, and you made yourself some weak friends. You couldn’t stick with your Daddy, oh no, you had to wander off because you were too stupid to listen to me. The Good Book woulda showed you the way. You woulda made your way back to me, and we coulda done great things together. Instead, you joined the wrong side and threw in with the wrong bunch of friends. If you take a shot, you better hit me, and you better kill me. If not, she dies,” he jutted his chin at Lyssa, “she dies,” he jutted his chin at Diana, “then you die.”

  Diana considered the variables. Sapphire gasped for air, and tears ran down her pale cheeks as she faintly shook her head. “Shoot him,” she mouthed. Lyssa sat on the floor beside her, useless without a firearm, and as she had demonstrated at the firing range, useless with one. Her only hope was to squeeze off a shot that missed Sapphire and hit him, fatally, in such a way as to not allow him to kill Sapphire in the process. Her aim wavered as she thought through what to do next.

  Lyssa tugged her pant leg. “Diana, I believe in you. I don’t care what kind of crack shot he says he is, I know what you can do. I know that all you need when it comes right down to it… is one sure shot.”

  “Oh, a chip off the ole block, huh? Well, here’s your chance to show up your old man. Take your best shot, then I’ll take mine.”

  Lyssa tugged her pant leg again. “That’s right, one shot. That’s all you need, isn’t it? You could shoot the wings off a fly sitting on a tomato at 50 yards, and not leave a mark, isn’t that right? I believe in you, Diana. You know I do. Because… I love you. With all my heart.”

  Diana’s father screwed up his face. “What’s this now? You two are… that’s disgusting!” He pulled the gun away from Sapphire’s head and aimed at Diana.

  “Now, Diana!” Lyssa threw the canister of pepper spray overhand toward Diana’s father. He looked at the projectile reflexively, and Diana fired a single shot at the canister and split it open, sending pepper spray in all directions, including Sapphire’s mouth and her father’s eyes. He put his hands to his eyes and staggered around in a circle as he howled in agony. Sapphire dropped to her knees, coughing and retching. She gasped for air, but as soon as she did, she coughed even harder and began to vomit.

  “Get it off me! Get it off me!” Diana’s father scratched around his eyes, pointing Sapphire’s gun upward as he suffered the effects of the spray. Diana pulled
Lyssa to her feet and waved her along behind her. She pulled the gun from her father’s hand and handed it to Lyssa like it was a soiled diaper. “Don’t touch it with your bare hands. Use your shirt sleeve. Get the gun out of his reach.”

  Lyssa obeyed, and carefully walked the gun down the hallway. She dropped it on the floor and stood over it. Diana called her back over. “Help her get outside. She needs fresh air.”

  Sapphire put her hand to her throat and threw up some more. Tears streamed down her cheeks, and her face was beet red. She pounded the floor with her fist and shook her head as more vomit came up.

  “Ewwww. Okay, I can do this.” Lyssa hooked Sapphire’s arm and helped her stand up. Sapphire coughed incessantly as Lyssa ushered her out into the courtyard.

  Diana walked over to her father, who sat on the floor, clawing at his face. “What… did you… do to me? I can’t see nothin’. Everything… burns. I told you to kill me, if’n you had the guts. You… can’t even do that right.”

  Diana stood over her father and made a thin smile. She reached into her shirt and produced her horse’s head pendant. It glimmered in a beam of light that poked through a gap in the doorway.

  “I’ve done plenty. Things you can’t imagine. Things you bragged about but never proved.”

  He pulled his hands away from his face and struggled to open his eyes. “They wasn’t nothing like what your old man did. You shoulda seen the bomb I made, that took down a three-story building like it was made of twigs. I made a lot of money for that job. One job and they gave me fifty thousand dollars, cash money, baby. We was gonna be set. We was gonna have that house on the lake, with a boat, and look at the fishes, you remember that? Daddy was gonna make that dream come true.”

  Diana’s stomach soured. She took a step backward and felt her fingers loosen their grip on her gun. “What bomb? When?”

  Her father’s mouth widened into a toothy grin. Red scratches radiated from his eyes, and blood trickled into his mustache. “Couple-a months ago. We was gonna do that job together. I was gonna show you how to make a rig that brings the whole building down, not just the front of it. One job, fifty thousand dollars. Can’t beat that kind of money, no way.”

  Diana’s back bumped against the opposite wall. “Arbor Day.”

  He coughed and spat. He forced one eye open, and she looked down to see a bloodshot sliver between his puffy eyelids. “Don’t care what they call it. It was payday. Cash money, baby.”

  Diana snapped out of her stupor and tightened her grip on her gun. “Where’s the money now?”

  “Aw, well, that’s the problem. I was gonna take you to it, and we was gonna go get that lake house, but now… I’m gonna laugh at you from hell while you run around with a shovel like the damned fool you are.”

  Diana tipped her head slightly and stiffened her back. “Well, I’ve changed a lot since you abandoned me. I learned to take care of myself, and I’ve made an honest living. And you know what? An honest living has given me an appreciation for the simple pleasures in life. I’ve got a girlfriend who’s crazy about me, I’ve got a good job, and I’m going to get my own place one of these days, once I save up. I live simply, Daddy. But there is one thing you taught me that stuck.”

  “I didn’t teach you nothin’. I ain’t abandoned you, neither. I set you up with everything you needed to get to the barn and show me how much you learned from the Good Book. And your mother is spinnin’ in her grave. Girlfriend.” He spat. “I never thought I’d live to see this day. I’d-a been happier never knowing.”

  Diana grimaced. He’d never told her where her mother was, except to say, “Gone, baby,” when she’d ever ask where she was. She stiffened her back and composed herself. “Yes, I know a good idea when I hear one. You told me, ‘take a token from a fallen adversary.’ Remember that, Daddy? That was the fanciest word you knew, I bet. I tried it for myself, and danged if it’s not the second-best thrill I ever got.” She laughed. “My first time with Lyssa was number one, if you’re wondering. I’ve got my eye on what I want. And we Pembrooks, well, when we see what we want, we take it.”

  “Pem-what? You’re a Fell—”

  Diana put a bullet between his eyes. She lowered the gun, and coldly slipped it back into its holster. He slumped against the wall, leaving a trail of blood and brains as he did.

  Diana crouched down and stripped him of the rifle. She slung it across her back and smiled. “I’m my own woman, now, Daddy. This is the only thing I want from you. Everything else is gone. From now on, my name is Diane. Much classier, don’t you agree? ‘Diana’ was a scared child, who didn’t know her place in the world. ‘Diane’ is a grown, confident woman, who doesn’t take crap from anybody.” She leaned forward, nearly nose-to-nose with him. “And she doesn’t need one dime of your lousy money.”

  She stood up and walked into the courtyard, where Lyssa tended to Sapphire. She was coughing less, but she suffered through bouts of dry heaves. Lyssa patted her head. “Oh my god, I am so sorry. I… there wasn’t any other way.”

  Sapphire looked up at Diane. “Oh, good, you’re here. Kill me. Or kill her. Oh, God, I want to die.” She broke down into another coughing fit.

  Lyssa gave Diane a crooked smile. “Hey, she said she was dying to know what that spray was like.”

  Lyssa wrapped Sapphire with a gray blanket as they sat on the curb together. Officer Gupta gave her something for the pepper spray sickness, and her overall pallor was slowly improving while she sipped a can of water. Diane stood beside them, explaining to Officer Neville what happened in detail while he tapped away at a tablet. He frowned at the glowing screen. “I’m still not getting why this man rammed your vehicle in the first place.”

  She looked down at Sapphire, who gave her a faint head shake of denial. Diane nodded her acknowledgment. She looked up at Neville and shrugged. “It was the craziest thing. We were just out driving around when suddenly this guy went nuts, and Sapp—” she winced at the gaffe, “Sorrellis saw this truck coming up hot, and before we could say anything the car went ‘whammo!’ and we got thrown all over the place.”

  Neville looked over his glasses. “That wouldn’t be an issue if you were all wearing safety restraints.”

  Diane waved her hands. “I mean, yes, we were strapped in, but still, getting hit like that, well, Sorrellis and I leaned forward a bit, and I felt disoriented because I wasn’t expecting it. That’s what I meant.”

  He frowned and adjusted his glasses. “Hmm, okay. There are still a few niggling details to iron out, but there’s one less open case for us to deal with, which is a good thing. Except, I have to ask: if you’re just out messing around, why did you have your uniform on?”

  “I didn’t say we were messing around. Not that it’s any of your business, but I don’t have a lot of clothes to wear. I figured this was okay as long as my badge was off.” She had slipped it into her pocket before the first unit to respond to a report of a flaming car wreck arrived.

  “Mmm, that’s gray area stuff. Personally, I don’t think it’s a good idea. I can lend you some money for clothes if you need something to get you through until you start getting regular paychecks.”

  Diane gave him an embarrassed smile. “Oh, I wouldn’t dream of it. Let’s just call it what it is: a rookie mistake.”

  Neville lowered the tablet and laughed. “Nice to hear you know your place. I wasn’t sure if you knew you weren’t a veteran officer, the way you and Griggs go at it.”

  Before Diane could respond, a white car pulled up, and Griggs stepped out from the passenger side. He looked at the smoldering wreckage of Sapphire’s car, and gave the women an indignant glare, but focused mainly on Diane. “One count of reckless endangerment. One count of criminal damage to property. One count of…” he leaned to one side and squinted one eye, “improper lane usage. That should keep you in the brig until the morning, Pembrook. Lieutenant Kenner won’t wish to be disturbed about such trifling matters.”

  Neville adjusted his glasses. “Lieute
nant, she wasn’t driving.”

  “Oh, very well.” He pointed at Lyssa. “Lock her up, then. I know a guilty face when I see one.”

  Lyssa stood up quickly. “Excuse me? How can you say I—”

  He held up a silencing hand. “I suppose Officer Sorrellis was the bad apple of the bunch, hmm? I’ve seen the initial reports. Stolen car, reckless driving, improper handling of non-lethal chemical agents… pardon me if I refer to her sterling record to date, with nothing to suggest any interest in, or prior incidents regarding any of the aforementioned charges. You, on the other hand, Miss Delaney, well, I’ll lead off by saying your dismal performance at the gun range is damning indeed.”

  Lyssa’s jaw dropped, and she stammered the makings of a retort. Sapphire sipped her water and hunched over. Diane put her hand on her hip. “Based on hearsay and conjecture?” She surprised herself with the forceful use of such words. Sapphire’s eyes widened as she cupped the can in her pale hands. “Lyssa wasn’t armed, and never handled a gun at any time.”

  His face began to redden, then Griggs gave Diana an oily smile. “Then why was she involved in this matter? One count of impersonating a police officer.” He gestured to Neville to add it to the list of charges that Neville hadn’t written down so far.

  Diane and Lyssa exchanged outraged glances. Lyssa stepped forward and patted her hand against her chest. “Oh, I’m sorry. Was I supposed to not help when a psycho guy rams us, shoots at us, and chases us? Didn’t Kenner tell us to take the initiative? Or was that all bull?” She patted her groin. “Oh, I get it. He meant, ‘it’s okay if you have a penis.’ Got it. Silly me.”

  Sapphire coughed up a sip of water and wiped her lips. Griggs turned dark red and pressed his finger to her chest. “The First Lieutenant,” he hissed, “was referring to badged, uniformed officers. Which you are not. And will not be. As of tomorrow morning, you are no longer a part of the academy, and will not serve in the Panther Division. Neville, get her an exit package, first thing.”