The sound of the bomb blast was louder than the closest clap of thunder and it echoed in his ears and through his skull painfully. He hit the ground hard, the impact bouncing his body several times. Arnold could feel his insides rattling as the world around him started to go dark. He knew that he was passing out with all of the terrible thoughts rolling around in his head.
Was John ok? He had been right behind him, but Arnold had no idea if he had made it or not. He might have gotten the worse of the blast than he did and if that was the case then his son might be dead. He could not face that possibility. He knew that in this line of work they both put their very lives on the line each and every day, but nothing had really hit home on that thought until right then. It was like they had always thought it would never really happen to them.
Arnold felt as if every bone in his body was broken. He could not move or even dodge out of the way of the fiery pieces of debris that were flying everywhere all around him, some landing right on top of him burning little holes into his flesh. It felt like his ribs might have been cracked and he was having difficulty breathing. He had to labor hard to get each gasp of air and it was so damn painful. The lack of air was affecting his mind. He was starting to get really dizzy and he just did not want to continue. He wanted to close his eyes and surrender to it all. That was all he had to do. Just surrender to it.
The Copycat had known they were there somehow. He had anticipated this as some sort of an escape clause that might have killed him too if he was there. The man did not really even value his own life. How could you really be expected to catch someone like that? If they did not value their own life or the life of others then they were capable of doing absolutely anything to escape. But in the end they didn’t care anyway. As long as they took as many cops down with them as possible. That’s who Mike Trapp was. He was the man that the boogey men myths were created about.
As the darkness engulfed him he thought about these things and he cried.
Chapter 10: Misplaced Trust
Brian placed the siren on the top of the car and activated it. He had been following Mike Trapp ever since the punk left his crummy job and now they were almost to the park and ride that they had decided would be the best place to arrest the suspect. The car in front of him did not slow down right away and Brian thought for a moment this bastard was going to try to make a run for it. If he did then Brian was going to throw all of the rules out the window and he was going to shoot his tires out and possibly shoot the guy in the face when he finally got him stopped. He wanted to kill this man so badly.
The S.W.A.T. guys were supposed to pull up in front of Trapp’s car and more or less nudge or force him to move over to the park and ride so that he wasn’t able to make a getaway. It was a maneuver that in theory sounded like it should work like a charm. Brian was not totally sure that it would, but he had faith in his team’s ability here.
The car finally put its blinker on and began to pull over. Mike Trapp pulled into a parking space and shut off his engine. Brian was impressed with how well the douche was cooperating. Did he really think that they had nothing on him and that he had nothing to worry about? It had been Brian’s experience that when a suspect was going to be arrested for murder and they had clearly done it then they would pull out all of the stops to make sure that their apprehension was as difficult as possible because they had nothing to lose anymore. Clearly Mike Trapp did not feel that way.
Brian thought of several ways he could pursue this. He had not yet seen the S.W.A.T. team and he wanted their assistance. It wasn’t like those guys to be late or to miss a party, he thought. He thought about just staying in the car and waiting for them to arrive. He could hop on the intercom and put some fear of God into the scumbag, but if the guy took off on foot there was no way that Brian could chase him with his bad knees and his bad back.
Suddenly the other members of his team pulled up quickly. They got out of their truck guns drawn and pointed at Mike Trapp’s car.
Brian took that as his cue as he hopped on the intercom.
“Mike Trapp. We have you surrounded. Step out of the vehicle with your hands on top of your head. Do not make any sudden movements. If you cooperate then you will not be hurt.”
There was silence in response from Mike Trapp’s car. He didn’t move or attempt to respond. Brian could clearly see him in the car just sitting there as if he was waiting for something. Was he just playing games here or was he up to something? Brian wasn’t about to take chances with this guy.
“Mike Trapp. This is detective Brian Graff of the Phoenix Police Department. I am ordering you to get out of your vehicle with your hands held high above your head. This is not a negotiation. If you do not comply with these demands then we will use excessive force. Step out of the car.”
There was about ten seconds of nothing happening again. Brian was getting pissed. He was using all of his restraint anyway to keep from blowing this kid’s brains out and now the little shit was going to screw with him? Oh, he was so close to losing here.
Just when he was about to give the order for the team to jerk the bastard out of the car and shoot his ass if necessary Mike Trapp opened the door and slowly stepped out of the vehicle with his hands held high in the air. He suddenly looked even thinner in person. The guy was about six foot two but could not have been over a hundred and seventy pounds. Brian was starting to wonder how this little twerp had even been able to overpower anyone. He must have been great at the element of surprise. Or maybe the victims were easily scared and far too trusting. Just do what I say and I won’t really use this knife I have to your throat. That sort of thing.
As he stood up out of the car with his hands held high Brian could see that his hands were not completely empty. He was holding a phone in one hand. Brian wondered why the kid was so attached to a damn phone. He didn’t trust it and it was just a blatant piss off from Trapp to him. He was not following his orders. What the hell.
“I told you to have your hands empty. Drop the phone. Now!” Brian yelled.
Mike Trapp paused for a moment and then the weirdest smile covered his face. Brian had never seen a smile that creepy in all of his life. It was sinister to the very core. It was not natural in any way and suddenly Brian was very much afraid.
He saw slight movement of Mike Trapp’s thumb across the face of the phone as if he was selecting something. What the hell was he doing? This did not feel right.
“DROP THE PHONE! NOW! DO NOT MOVE YOUR FINGERS!” Brian yelled at the top of his lungs.
Mike Trapp pressed something on the phone and then let it slip from his hand. A wave of relief washed over Brian for a second as he thought the kid was just a retard who thought it was fun to mess with his arresting officer who was taking him down for serial killing. Yea that was a gas.
Brian gave the motion with his hand for the team to move in and put the asshole in cuffs. The second he did this he heard the explosion. It sounded like a bomb had just gone off right beside him. It was the loudest thing he had ever heard and he felt his face go numb from the blast and his ears were now ringing.
A split second later her saw the fireball erupting up towards the sky. It was close by. It couldn’t have been more than a few blocks.
He really did it. Brian understood what had happened. Trapp had just detonated a bomb in his house. The team. Chief. John. His friends were dead. Mike Trapp had just killed a whole team of police officers with the flick of a finger.
As his eyes settled on Mike Trapp the anger surged through him as the bastard started laughing at the top of his lungs at what he had done. He was thinking with glee about all of the cops he had just murdered, not to mention destroying any bit of evidence that might be at the home to link him to the murders he was being apprehended for.
Brian lunged at the bastard and tackled him to the ground where he proceeded to beat on Mike Trapp’s face with his fist, raining hard right hand after hard right hand down on him. Trapp’s nose was broken by
the first punch; his eye was glowing bright red from the blood vessels that were being broken, and he was losing teeth.
Still he continued to laugh.
A few of the S. W.A.T guys grabbed him and threw him off of Mike Trapp. Heywood got up in Brian’s face to try to calm him down.
“KNOCK IT OFF! WE GOT BIGGER SHIT TO DEAL WITH!” He yelled.
Brian backed off, the anger residing a bit to a simmering boil beneath the surface. He knew that Heywood was right, but that had felt so good to bash that kid’s face in.
“A few of you take that piece of shit to the station and book him. Heywood, grab a few guys and follow me. Somebody call in the explosion!”
Brian finished his orders and hopped behind the wheel and peeled out.
Within thirty seconds he was at the scene of the blast watching as several members of the team writhed in agony on the ground outside of the lot that used to occupy Mike Trapp’s house. There was fire everywhere. On a few of his neighbor’s roofs, in a few trees close by, and even a few cars were on fire. Off in the distance Brian could hear the wailing siren of emergency units on the way.
Something caught Brian’s eye off to the side. A figure was moving slightly. It was the chief!
“Chief! Oh, shit. Oh man, how did this happen?” Brian asked no one.
The chief was badly hurt, but it looked like his body was intact and there was a chance that he might be saved. His body was covered in bruises and it was evident that he had several broken bones and ribs judging by the whistling of his labored and painful breathing. Brian felt his heart breaking as he watched Arnold in so much pain. The chief was strong and he was a fighter, but this was too much. Brian didn’t know if he was going to make it.
He glanced around at the mangled bodies of friends and colleagues that he worked with every day. He did not see John, but he desperately wanted to look for him. He wanted to make sure his friend was ok and he wanted to give him a hug. What in the hell was happening. How did the team walk right into this trap?
They had underestimated Trapp. They had been so eager and so desperate for a break in this case that they had completely ignored the protocol that said there might have been danger in the home. But this had never happened before like this. What Trapp did was so out of character that it was difficult to wrap your head around the fact that he might have killed himself.
They had underestimated his paranoia and his dedication to his work. That was what they did. Brian could see it all now. When Trapp decided to commit himself to this thing he decided that he would always have a contingency in place just in case he ever found himself looking down the barrel of the criminal justice system. The man was willing to die for his crimes and to protect himself from prosecution. His ego was so massive that to even think that he would let himself be taken into custody and put behind bars was laughable to him.
How had they been so careless?
Brian tried to shake himself out of it as he grabbed ahold of the chief’s hand to comfort him. He had to know that Brian was not going to leave him; he would stay right by his side. He would never give up hope either.
The ambulance arrived on the scene. “Here! He is alive! We need a gurney!” Brian yelled. He stepped back and let the EMT’s and the fire crew work.
As he looked around at the mess that had become of everything Brian felt like he might fall over and pass out any moment. He was not built for this kind of stress. That was why he wanted the hell out of this kind of work. He was just not built for it; he never had been despite what anyone had ever remarked about his talent and that he was God chosen for this. Brian did not believe that anyone could choose your life for you. He had to finally choose the life he wanted and not the one that he thought he was supposed to have.
He was done. Mike Trapp was going behind bars forever for the attempted murder of Darla Fields and the murders of several police officers here today. The evidence might have been gone linking him to the crimes of the Copycat, but they would get a confession out of him eventually. They would have to play to his ego of course and try to get him to confess based on how good it would make him look.
Although Brian figured the shit would hang himself in prison long before that. But that was too good for him. They would keep him naked in his cell if they had to all day long with nothing. That would be too good for him.
Chapter 11: Picking up the Pieces
“So, why don’t you confess to the Copycat murders and save us all a bunch of time here,” Brian said sitting down in front of Trapp. Brian sipped on a cup of horrible coffee slowly. It was still warm and refreshing, he thought, even if it was weak as shit.
Trapp just smiled at him good-naturedly. The guy had the cockiest grin that he had ever seen on the face of anybody. It just made you want to punch him repeatedly, which Brian was already a bit in trouble for. Luckily one of his best friend’s was the chief and plus there were several members of the S.W. A.T. team who would testify that Trapp was resisting and attacking him.
It had been very satisfying and it was even more satisfying to look at his bruised face. The man had suffered a broken nose and lost several teeth. Brian had been possessed out there knowing this lunatic had just killed several of his friends with the flick of a wrist really.
Brian was in better spirits now and finally in the right frame of mind to talk to this asshole. The chief was expected to make a full recovery and he had learned that John had only suffered a concussion in the blast. He had leapt to safety just out of the blast zone when it happened. It was a lucky break. The rest of the crew, including those outside of the home had been killed either by the force of the blast, the fire that was flying through the air, or falling debris.
“We have your ass nailed to the wall. We know you killed those people. Darla Fields told us everything that you told her you were going to do. We have your DNA at that crime scene. You aren’t as clever as you think you are.”
Trapp continued to smile that shit eating grin of his. Brian decided to try a different tactic. He was just going to relax and let the man stew around for a bit. That would help take him down a peg or two. Trapp wanted attention. He wanted the fame that was due him but he would not give Brian the satisfaction of answering any of his questions, at least not yet. This was going to have to be done on Trapp’s terms.
Brian took a deep breath as he shifted gears to try another method of execution here. The silence of the room was deafening and it definitely gave off a sense of claustrophobia if you just sat there without saying anything. He knew that the officers watching the interrogation behind the glass were probably bored out of their minds.
The time ticked by slowly. Brian and Trapp were together in a power struggle right now. He was proving to Brian that he was in control and that he just did not have to talk to him if he didn’t want to. It was almost as if he was trying to tell them all that he was there voluntarily. They didn’t think they could really catch him and put a stop to his awesome murder spree did they? Of course not. He was just too damn good for that. He was the best that there had ever been.
Brian had dealt with these narcissistic egos before, but few were as strong as Trapp’s was. That was ok. Brian could wait the bastard out as long as it took. He could keep this up as long as he needed to. Brian just stared at Trapp the whole time looking deeply into his empty eyes. The bastard was still smiling and trying to intimidate and control. Brian had to laugh at the ridiculousness of the whole thing.
Finally Trapp spoke. His voice was jovial and friendly, as if he was still speaking to a customer on the phone at his call center job. It was that phony nice voice that said I am paid to pretend to be your best friend right now.
“So, you think you can get information out of me? That is rich,” Trapp said.
Brian had to laugh. He couldn’t hold it in. He didn’t mean to because it would be devastating to the interview, but he could not resist.
Trapp didn’t get mad though. He just laughed back and continued with
his speech.
“You want me to admit to killing and skinning several people, is that it? You want me to admit that I am the one you have been looking for –the Copycat he is called—well what is in it for me if I admit to such a thing?”
“You might get a reduced sentence from certain death to life behind bars. But I doubt that means much to you. You don’t value your life at all,” Brian said.
“What a silly thing to say. You believe that I don’t value my own life? If I didn’t value my life then why would I care to go on breathing? I would have ended my life long ago. You are totally mistaken.”
“Well, enlighten me then,” Brian said.
“I value the life that I want, but if you want to take that life away from me until I have a life I don’t want then I won’t value that. That is the reason I do what I do. I value the life I have created for myself and I hate anyone who dares to get in the way of that.”
“Ok, so basically you are only wanting to live a life where you can be free to kill and skin people to your heart’s content?”
“I have not admitted to killing anyone,” Trapp said.
“Why deny it? You want fame? You want recognition right?”
“You don’t know a damn thing about me,” Trapp said. “I hate fame and I hate recognition. I prefer to be left alone.”
“Really? You seem like you are getting off on this right now. You are totally hamming it up for everyone watching—and I know that you know they are watching—and you relish being in control.”
“Everyone relishes being in control, don’t they.”
“Well, some more than others I guess.”
“Do you have children, detective?” Trapp asked.
Payback Page 8
