by Newbiel
When Nathaniel finished the story, he looked back to the detective who was tearing openly in front of him. Her cold demeanor had shifted and was now showing just infinite sadness. Nathaniel chose to let her cry, diverting his eyes away. It was a few minutes when the detective could speak again.
"How did you…?"
"When you asked me for my name, your demeanor changed entirely, I saw hate in your eyes but it was not directed at me, that was my last name that made you think back to what happened. After that, you let your emotions take over and treated me as a hostile witness, your partner just backed you up." Nathaniel explained.
"Why didn't you say anything to my boss?"
"I did my research, you are a good cop and a gifted detective, this is the only reason why we are here right now. I also know that you are weeks away from ruining your life."
"My life has been ruined since my sister killed herself." She said bitterly.
"Don't play games with me, I know what you plan to do. Her boyfriend was always clever in his abuse, he never sent her to the hospital and he never leave mark on her. That's why he was not incriminated despite your insistence after she took her life. He even managed to get a restraining order against you. Despite this, CCTV had your car driving in front of his place more and more often. You are thinking about taking justice into your own hands and killing him yourself."
"How do you know that and how do you have access to CCTV?" She almost shouts until she remembers where she was.
"I have skilled people working for me. Now, I'm not even saying that he doesn't deserve it. Piece of shit like this who hit on their girlfriends should just be strung to a pole, eviscerate and then given his own dick to eat before dying. That's my own opinion but for you, this is different. You made an oath to protect and serve, you should remember it." Nathaniel said, taking his thing back and getting to his feet.
When he passed near her to get to the exit, Nathaniel put a DVD in front of her.
"This is everything that I could find on our database, it's your sister singing. I thought it could help you and your family see her happy."
"He still deserves to pay for what he did." She said, her eyes on the DVD.
"He already is. He was arrested thirty minutes ago, this is on the news." Nathaniel said turning the tv on.
Looking at the news, the detective Ortiz was awestruck, tears flowing from her eyes.
"How did you…?" She asked.
"It's not because you find no evidence that there were not to be found, like I say, I have talented people working for me." Nathaniel repeated before exiting the room.
It was not long before her partner entered the room with agitation.
"Lola, you need to watch something!" He shouted.
"I'm already watching it." She answers, her eyes glue to the tv.
Chapter 200: :
Santa Monica. 18/02/2013. 15:25.
"You are too passive." Robert remarks, moving his bishop forward and taking Nathaniel's knight.
The grandfather and grandson pair were playing chess in the garden of their new house in Santa Monica under the sun and a light breeze. Robert had come here to visit his wife and grandson yesterday and had decided to stick around for the week. One hour ago, he had come with a chessboard and had proposed a game with Nathaniel who was busy meditating on the grass. Seeing the board, Nathaniel smiled and accepted to play with his grandfather and since then, they have been at it with Diane watching the game with interest.
"And you are too aggressive, grandpa." Nathaniel answered in the same manner, moving his pawn to take the bishop.
"Aggressivity can be good, it can achieve many things." Robert said, taking Nathaniel's pawn with his own.
Right now, things were not looking good for Nathaniel. His grandfather had broken through his line of defense and he had lost more pieces that he took as a result.
"It's true but it's important to keep his control over it and not be guided by it." Nathaniel said, moving his last pawn forward.
"Grandson, you should surrender. In three moves you are going to lose." Robert said with a satisfied smile, moving one of his pawns to block Nathaniel's last pawn.
Looking at the board with attention, Nathaniel had to agree with his grandfather. Defense scenario after scenario flash in his mind but each conclusion came to the same end, him losing. Seeing the realisation appear on his grandson's face, Robert reveals an even more happy smile.
"Do you want to surrender or do you want to try to defend?"
"Neither, both of these options have me losing. I don't like to lose."
"There are no other options Nathaniel." His grandfather frowned.
"There is always another way." Nathaniel smiled, doing his first offensive action of the game, moving his queen forward. "Checkmate."
Seeing this, the winning smile on his grandfather starts to morph to surprise and then to disbelief, his face starting to get pale. Narrowing his eyes, he started to look for a way out for his king but the path to leave was blocked by Nathaniel's last bishop and knight and the only other way to leave was blocked by the pawn that he just moved. After he realized that he had lost, he made his king fall to the board.
"You lied to me." His voice was calm.
"I did not." Nathaniel answers, putting the pieces back to their place on the board.
"You told me that you played a little when you were ten years old and not since then, you clearly lied."
"That's the truth."
"Dear, me and your grandfather played chess against each other for the last twenty years and even myself sometimes lost against him. How did you beat him by the way? I didn't even see it coming. I was sure that you were done for." His grandmother butt in.
"I applied the best strategy against aggressivity that I knew. The reason how Rome could vanquish all of these barbarians tribes considering that they were always in inferiority numeric. Discipline. That's also why I never opposed directly blocking your offensive, I just absorbed them to make you extend yourself so that I could deliver the killing blow. And yes, I stopped playing when I was ten because my mothers didn't want to play against me anymore, they were losing every single game and it was just so embarrassing to them. I also had no friends to play with me so I just quit playing and focused on something else." Nathaniel explained, shrugging.
Looking at each other, Diane and Robert seem to have a conversation without saying a word. They had their doubts but they decided to let it go, after all it was not the first time that their grandson surprised them.
"Grandma, grandpa I need to go. I need to be in the studio in forty fives minutes so I can��t make another game. You will be here tonight? I should be done by eleven PM." Nathaniel said, getting to his feet.
"We will be here dear." Diane smiles after Nathaniel kisses her cheek and hugs his grandfather.
Once he was gone, the couple stayed silent for a few moments before looking at each other again.
"I don't like this, he's too smart, too gifted and too calm for his own good."
"Are you really complaining about having an heir too gifted? I officially saw everything." Diane said, laughing at her husband's antics.
"You know what I'm talking about. He's smart, gifted and he's an idealist, that's the perfect recipe to end up dead and I don't even talk about his other activities. I don't want to lose my grandson."
"You see what he can do, it would take a lot to kill him. You know what he told me, he managed to heal himself from four bullet wounds. He may very well be one of the strongest if not the strongest person on Earth."
"And what do you say about his claim that other people are like him with abilities that roam around in secret?"
"I trust his instinct." Diane said simply.
"Just like that hein?" He asks, blasé.
"Yes and this is why I get along much better with him than you are. I don't want to control him or boss him around. I'm just here for him and I advise him when I think it's necessary."
"I know, it's bett
er this way. Like that he can have a nice and caring grandmother and a severe and harsh grandfather." He nodded.
Chapter 201: :
New York. 02/03/2013: 18:55.
"Dad, what do you want to take for tonight?" Lina asked, looking at her father.
"I don't know, I want to cook tonight, do you want something specific?" Michael answered.
The father and daughter pair had stopped on their way back home to a little bodega. They got off work early today and so Michael wanted to cook something for his family. He was a pretty good cook and he loved to do it but lately he was doing a lot of overtime and so had no time to indulge in it. It was not even for money because their financial situation had improved significantly since he took his new job but because there was just too much work in the company for the both of them to do.
"What about ribs?" He asked, looking at the shelf.
"Ribs? Please, no! I don't want to gain another pound. What about some salad?"
"Salad? I'm not a rabbit!" He exclaimed playfully.
The two of them kept bantering, walking further back to the bodega to search for something to eat that could satisfy both of them when the door of the bodega was violently open and four mens entered with face masks.
Looking at the mens who had entered the bodega, Lina and Michael immediately took a knee and hid behind one of the shelves. A gunshot quickly echoed in the bodega, the other customers yelling and taking cover.
"This is a robbery! You, give us the money!" The one who seems to lead the group yell at the clerck before looking at one of his guys. "Jason rounded the customers and took their phones, wallets and jewelry! Move, now!"
"Dad, do you have your gun?" Lina whispers.
"No, I'm not a cop anymore Lina and I can't take the gun provided by the company when I'm not working, my own gun is home with yours in the safe." He answers bitterly.
"What do you want to do dad?" Lina asked.
"Listen kiddo, they are only two with guns, the others two have baseball bats. The one coming in our direction has a gun if I can take it from him, we could turn this around."
"Dad! No! We don't have to involve ourselves with this! Let's just give them our things and be done with it!" Lina whispers furiously.
At that moment they hear someone crying in pain, the pair turn to find one of the older customers clutching his stomach.
"That serve you right son of a bit**! Trying to hide your watch, PEOPLE give me everything you have or you will be next on the floor!' The thug yell, his eyes dancing with malice.
"Lina, I need to do this, I took an oath to protect and serve and I will uphold it. Please stay safe, I will not be long." He said patting her head before moving away quietly.
Lina wanted to stop him but her throat closed down, overwhelmed with emotions. Michael walked quietly, going to the thug's back while he was busy yelling at other female customers. That's when the woman made a mistake, seeing Michael appear on her line of sight, her face showed a surprised expression which Jason recognized instantly.
Turning around with his gun raised, Michael was expecting something like that and so managed to knock the gun out of his hands. What surprised him was when the thug launched himself at him, the two crashing into a shelf full of bottles that broke on the ground. The huge noise immediately alerts his buddies who turn in the direction of the commotion.
"Jason, what the hell is going on over there?" The one in charge shouted.
Lina shocked herself out of her stupor, her eyes still on the fight between her father and the thug named Jason. Even if it was more of a brawl, she was experienced enough now to see that her father had the lead and was going to win but there was a problem. Jason's buddies had heard the noise and were going to investigate very soon and more likely before the fight ended.
Lina knew that she had to do something or her father would be in danger. In her mind, the same phrase was going on over and over, 'What Nathaniel would do in this situation?' While another voice was whispering maliciously in her head 'You're not Nathaniel, you just old, useless Lina!'. That's when she remembers something that Nathaniel said to her while he was training her.
'People will always underestimate you because of your height, the fact that you are thin or because you have just a kind appearance. They will never feel threatened by you, never try to change that, this is an invaluable advantage for you to have. It will allow you to go where most people can't and it will enable you to get close to people and at that point it will not matter. Once you are inside someone's guard, it doesn't matter if they are taller, stronger or heavier than you, you just have to hit them where it hurts and I will teach you where it hurt the most.'
Suddenly, she knew what to do. Getting to her feet, she started running to where the thug was at the front desk before falling to her knees, tears coming to her eyes.
"Please don't hurt me! He wanted to hit me and he slipped and knocked his head on the shelf! I'm sorry, I didn't want that to happen, please forgive me, please don't kill me." Lina starts rambling.
Seeing the girl on her knees, crying, the thugs laughed before coming closer to Lina.
"I'm not surprised, I always thought that the fact that this morron can tie his shoes everyday is nothing short of a miracle." The leader laughed.
"Wow, she has a nice ass." The one on the right said, leering at her.
"Too skinny and too flat chested for my taste." His buddy laughed.
"Listen girl, if you are nice with us, we will be nice with you." The leader laughed, checking out Lina's body.
Lina had to fight really hard to suppress the disgust and hatred that she felt hearing them but she knew what to do. She had been trained by the best. 'When you are in combat, always spot the leader and take him out first. The loss of the leader will shock his followers and so you would gain more time in the offensive.' and then there was one other thing that she knew. To always have a knife on you, Scott and Nathaniel had stressed that enough that now everybody had one, Lina included.
Waiting for the leader to touch her hair, Lina took the knife that was hidden in her belt and stabbed it in the man's ankle. Surprised by the attack, the man yells in pain and feels hard on his back. Lina was already moving, she made a roll forward and took the gun that was on the ground.
Seeing one of the thugs attacking her, she shot him in the knee before moving sideways and shooting the leader on his right shoulder when he tried to grab her. Getting to her feet, she aimed the gun at the last thug standing, his baseball bat raised but still when he saw the gun aim at his head.
"Drop the bat! And raise your hands in the air" Lina shouted.
Seeing his friends bleeding and crying on the ground, clutching their wounds, the man started to sweat furiously before dropping the bat. He knew that the girl was not to be messed with and raised his hands in a sign of surrender.
"Good." Lina said before walking to him and kicking him with all the strength that she could muster in the groin.
The man turned white and with an inarticulate cry, he fell on his knees, clutching his groin before losing consciousness from the pain. Turning around, Lina could see her father with a gun in his hand and a split lip looking at her and the thugs on the ground stupefied, his mind clearly having trouble accepting what he was seeing.
Chapter 202: :
"Okay partner, give me the head's up."
Usually they would both ride together to a crime scene but today was special. Charles has been forced to have a meeting with the captain and so had to let his junior female partner go alone to do the groundwork. Looking outside of the bodega at the numbers of officers, witnesses and the three ambulances, he knew it was not going to be an easy case. But after all, if it was, they would never have called him to handle it.
"Hi Charles, follow me, you are going to love this." She said, walking inside the bodega, Charles following after her with an eyebrow raise.
Entering inside the bodega, Charles first saw the blood on the floor and the forensic officer was busy ta
king pictures of everything. Turning back to him, his partner started her explanation.
"Okay so an hour ago, four members of a newly formed street gang made a hit on the bodega. They were wearing face masks, two of them had glock and the two others had metal baseball bats. There were six customers in the shop plus the clerk on the front desk. They start by firing a gun shot into the ceiling to get everyone's attention and then split up. The one in charge and one other started taking the registry, one was looking outside for cops and the last started rounding the customers and stripped them of their valuables." She said before starting to move on the first ray of shelves.
"The guy walked here, beat up an old man here and then started to harass a female customer there, that's when it started to get interesting. Among the customers there is an ex colleague of ours."
"An ex cop?" Charles asked, surprised.
"Yeah, Seattle Police Department. He sneaks on the man, manages to knock the gun out of his hands but it quickly turns into a brawl and they crash here. Mind where you step, the floor is slippery and there is broken glass everywhere. Care to guess what happened then?" She asked with a glint in her eyes.
Seeing the challenging look that his partner was giving him, Charles started to look around him with attention.
"Okay so they crashed into the shelf, the bottles fell on the ground, the three others must have heard it. Wait, something's not right here. Why is the blood over there and there is nothing here? Looking at the damage here, the fight took some time and the ex cop had no way to get the gun before they arrived on top of him. And why were the three gang members so close to each other? That made literally no sense whatsoever. No, something or someone gathered their attention away from what was happening here."
