"Lets go thru this ONE MORE TIME", Officer Kyle Kilburne said to the young man wearing a bright orange prison fatigue in front of him, "You're saying first a woman broke into your house AFTER you had tied up your girlfriend for some ROLE PLAY RAPE and after knocking you out, removed your clothing end tied you up, attempted to RAPE YOU FOR REAL, then stopped when a PHONE CALL CAME IN??? THEN...you got free while she was on the phone, only to find out there was a man with a gun now in your house threatening to kill both you and your still bound and gagged girlfriend...but you overpowered him, took his gone, and ran outside and to my officers."
"Yes that's exactly what I'm saying. The girl was Crystal Braccord, I don't know who they guy was but heard her call him Andre. I've never seen him before. Now look can we please go?!" Josh exclaimed.
"Go? Go where Mr. Hunter?"
"To my home! Kathy is still there with those two psychos and who knows what they might do to her!"
"Mr. Hunter...are you aware you under arrest? You were busted with several witnesses for indecent exposure, unlawful possession of a firearm, possession of illegal ammunition and possession of stolen property. You aren't going anywhere."
"Wait a minute... illegal ammunition, stolen property?"
"Yes, the bullets in your gun are a contraband ammo type... a recently new prototype of an old enemy...cop killers" Kilburn glared at the boy, "and the gun itself is registered to an army base that deals in experimental weapon design."
"It's not my gun I told you that! It belonged to the man who, along with my ex is currently holding my girlfriend prisoner!"
"CALM DOWN MR HUNTER! Look I will take a couple of my boys around to your place in the next hour, IF you agree to just sit in a cell and behave until we get all this sorted out... I suggest you agree, it's the only offer you're going to get."
"Fine, but you tell me the minute you get back about Kat's condition!"
"Don't push me, Hunter." Kilburne said, and pushed away from his desk as two guards led Josh down to a cell.
"From a sexual prison to a legal one... this is NOT my day" he muttered to himself as he heard the cell lock behind him.
*****************************************************
It wouldn't do to lose one's temper at such a critical time. Andre Portier knew this, but still keeping his calm thus far had been a hefty task indeed. He COULD NOT afford to let anything get in the way of his plans. This whole situation was, quite literally, a matter of life and death. HIS life or death. With this in mind, he finished PROPERLY resecuring the woman that feisty bloke Josh had called Kat, and turned to his obviously naive accomplice.
"Can I ask what, exactly, were you thinking letting him out of your sight, if indeed you were thinking, that is?" he said to her, trying to keep his voice level
"I HAD to answer the phone Andre!"
"Well you certainly took your time with that didn't you? I was about ready to hang up and find away to pull this off WITHOUT YOU, he replied, then his tone lowered, "I still haven't given THAT thought up entirely either, so you'd be wise to remember, Ms. Braccord, that you too are expendable."
She stood for a moment, then finally, barely audible,
"So what now?"
He stood, thinking, then answered her, "Well, its obvious we cant stay here, I'm sure your boy has made it to the police by now, and even though the odds are against them believing a word he says, after all its such an incredible story, it's not to our advantage if we stay here."
"So let's get out of here, then, where to?"
"Don't worry, you leave that to me, we'll leave soon enough. My car is parked in the alley near the back, go out there and get the large overnight bag that's in the front and bring it in here. There's a few things we need to do before we go on."
Crystal left the room, and Andre watched her leave, lighting a cigarette. He asked himself again why he didn't just kill her, or, even better, do what had originally been intended and secure her like he had their current prisoner, then prepare her for transport to the man who'd wanted her in the first place.
Normally he refused to allow himself to get attached in any way, sexual attraction included, to his work, that sort of thing almost always ended a career before it could really start, but he couldn't deny, not even to himself, the appeal of the thought of how the young and ample girl would look, bound and gagged. If she got in his way again, that thought could easily become her fear filled reality.
But he wasn't about to tell her that. Not yet at least. As she entered again and handed him the bag, he smiled, and pulled the top item out of it. A square brick of plastique explosive
"Before we go," he said, "let's be good little guests and throw Mr. Hunter a housewarming party he'll never forget, shall we?"
**************************************
"Ok man, level with me already!"
"What are you talking about?"
Oh come on Kyle, you and I both know that kids story was just a lame excuse to get out of some pretty hefty charges!"
"Actually, Steve, I DON'T know that, and neither do you, not for sure. I mean, if he was clever enough to steal some high grade military supplies, does it make any since that he'd do something dumb like streak his own neighborhood, THEN come right to the cops anyway if he weren't going to turn himself in. How many criminal masterminds have you ever heard of pull off a crime... then go to the cops, carrying the evidence, practically implicate themselves, allow themselves to be put into custody, let alone be stupid enough to add yet another charge to their growing rap sheet?"
Ramirez chewed on that for awhile. His partner HAD a point, but still he didn't see why Kilburne, himself, and a uniformed rookie were going to that Hunter kid's place. It wasn't required by protocol, not this soon into the investigation, hell they didn't even have a warrant, just the kids permission and he could easily lie later and say he never gave it.
Kilburne may have been his best friend, but ever since his daughter, Andrea, had left for college, Steve had noticed his seven year partner, his 5 year brother in law, his lifelong friend, Detective Kyle Kilburne, was starting to slip. And it pained him to no end. He knew Kyle was starting to fray around the edges, and, as happens with all cops, it wouldn't be long before the wrong thing happened that just set him off. And that would be it.
Steve swallowed these thoughts as they pulled up to the Hunter kid's driveway, and got out.
The house itself was quiet, lights on but if he'd left in a rush why wouldn't they be? None of the three men heard any noise, but nonetheless they drew their weapons. After all either the kid was telling the truth and there were a couple psychos in there with a hostage, or he was a criminal genius and who knew what he was having them walk into?
The patrolman went first, a rookie who Ramirez didn't even remember then name, and knocked on the door. There was no answer, even after a second attempt.
"I don't like this, Steve," Kilburne muttered as he and Ramirez walked up the path to the door, joining the patrolman.
"I told you the kid's jerkin us a--"
Kyle cut him off with a quick hand sign, and Steve shut up, wondering why.
Then he heard it, low, almost inaudible but there...
"HMMMPPPHHH!!! MMMPPPHHH!"
Ramirez bolted through the door, knocking the patrolman forward and nearly taking the door of its hinges in the process.
Kilburne was slightly behind, moving slow and gun drawn. If there was a hostage, his or her captors might be in there too. He stood in the door frame, gun at the ready, visually scanning the seeable area...
And that's when it happened.
************************************************
If anyone asked how he'd done it, he wouldn't be able to tell them, hell he didn't know himself. Somehow though, Josh Hunter had managed to get out of his cell in the bowels of the Angel Falls P.D. and go after Andre and Crystal.
It hadn't taken long to get back to the house, and now he stood there, face to face to face as Kat lay bound and gagged on the floor nearby. He wanted to say something, knew he was supposed to, after all Isn't that what all the heroes did when they caught up to the bad guys in the end, but before he could Andre nailed him hard in the face, sneering at him and yelling "Wake the fuck up you little shit, wake the fuck up!" over and over as he continually punched and kicked. Josh closed his eyes as the assault went on, then opened them again...still hearing those words, only they weren't coming from Andre...
...they were coming from Kyle Kilburne...
"I said wake up you murderous little bastard!"
"I'm up! Damn it I'm up!" He replied quickly getting off the cot and backing against the wall, away from the cops vicious assault, "What the hell is going on?!" he asked, looking at Kilburne, who's clothes were charred and who's face was an odd shade of red.
"Enough with the innocent bullshit kid! I should kill you right now, after what you've done!"
"What are you talking about? Whets going on"
"You let us walk right in there KNOWING what would happen. You didn't think there was a chance anyone would survive DID you. Well guess what pal? I did, and now you are going to pay!"
"What the hell are you talking about?"
"I was willing to give you the benefit of a doubt. I went to that little house of yours... MY PARTNER and I went there, along with a patrolman..."
"And??? DID you get her?, Are they here???"
"Oh she was there all right. but you already knew that didn't you? That's why you rigged the door to blow the place to hell if it was opened!"
Josh fell to the floor. Kat was dead? Is that what he's just heard?
"She...she didn't survive it?"
"No she didn't survive it", Kilburne sneered, " Nor did MY PARTNER or the other cop, which I'm sure fits in exactly with your plans doesn't it. Destroy the evidence and all who know about it and get off scot free! Well IT ENDS NOW! I'm still here Hunter, and I've just become your new worst nightmare!
Josh's eyes never left the floor, and he hadn't heard anything beyond the first few words of Kilburne's rant...
Kathy was dead.
Dead.
Gone forever.
And it was his fault.
************************************************
POP!
As the champagne foamed over the rim of the bottle, Andre Portiere smiled at his cohort, his partner in crime, Crystal Braccord. She smiled back, but he knew it was only a reflex. She had no idea why he was smiling. And that's how he wanted it. The less she knew the better. After all, knowledge was power, and HE was the only one who could have the power in all this. In fact, if all went well, he'd be the one with all the power from now on.
"So what now?" she asked him. Her voice was softer and a bit slurred, which was no surprise seeing how this was the second bottle they had opened in the few hours since they'd settled in to their new "home".
He played into it, responding to her just as soft, almost seductively, "Now my dear we sit back and wait."
"For what?"
"I have some people coming to see us," he looked at his watch and then back at her "in fact, they will be here quite soon, so you should go and change into that item I bought for you."
"You want me to dress in that for your friends?" she giggled nervously.
"Exactly, and your going to do it too."
"Listen," she slurred, "we're partners in this. I don't have to get dressed up if i don't want to." She stood, uneasily, and walked over to the window, staring out it.
"You will."
"I don't think so." she replied, still staring out.
"Oh I do."
She turned to tell him again she would do no such thing, which is when she realized he'd moved. She hit the floor, out cold.
Portiere tossed the empty and now broken first bottle aside, and picked her off the floor, making sure he didn't do any extensive damage to her as he walked, smiling, toward the bedroom, set her on the bed, and picked up the phone.
Everything had gone just as he planned.