“How?” Trey asked. Suddenly, he was beginning to feel anxious.
Fred slowly grabbed his jacket and pulled it back behind him, uncovering the pistol on the right side of his hip. He used his left hand to grab the jacket and hold it out of the way.
“I need to see if I still have it. You see, I can’t simply challenge anybody back there at Mount Weather. That wouldn’t do. So, I told myself I had to find one or two men who were viewed as despicable inbred pieces of shit. Like you two, for example. Tory, you lied about witnessing Zach murder four women, and both of you raped a fourteen-year-old girl a couple of weeks ago. Right?”
Tory couldn’t help but grin, showing a set of teeth that were threatening to fall out at any minute. “Maybe, so what?”
“Yep, you two are the pure definition of scumbags. Nobody, and I mean nobody, will care if you die today.”
Trey scowled at Fred. “You know, you sure do talk a lot of shit.”
“Yeah,” Tory echoed.
“Well, boys, if I have offended you, I guess you need to go ahead and make use of those guns you’re holding. Unless you want to go back with me to Mount Weather and turn yourselves in for raping that little girl.”
The Freitag brothers were not too smart, but they were cagey, and they’d killed before. Without hesitation, they brought up their handguns and began to fire. That was their intention. Unfortunately, they never got off a shot.
The last thing the Freitags saw was the blur of Fred’s hand and a stab of flame. He shot Trey first. He then angled his handgun slightly and instantly fired two more rounds. It all occurred in under a half-second.
Trey fell forward like a limp rag doll. Tory turned slightly and fell on his right side. His body spasmed slightly before growing still, his dead eyes staring at his brother.
Fred stood there a moment before walking up to the two dead men and examined his work without any outward emotion. He thought back to when he shot Calvin Malloy, not so long ago. His loose shot grouping was concerning. When he almost missed shooting that big zed back in Woodbridge, he became downright worried. So worried, when he came back from the recon mission, he spent hours exercising, practicing, and rubbing liniment onto his hands every night.
Looking at the two Freitag brothers, he knew the hard work had paid off. He may not be as fast or as tough as he once was, but by golly, Fred McCoy was back. He almost grinned but caught himself when he saw Nikki coming out of the trees. She slung her rifle across her back as she approached.
“I got it all,” she said, holding up the video camera momentarily.
She walked up beside Fred and squatted by the two Freitag brothers, admiring Fred’s work. After a moment, she stood and grinned at Fred.
“Those bullet holes are so close together it’s hard to tell you shot each of them twice.” She then shook her head in almost disbelief. “That’s the most amazing thing I’ve ever seen, Fred McCoy.”
Fred responded with a small nod, which Nikki now knew was a gesture of immense gratitude.
“When we show this video, nobody will have any doubt. They admitted to raping that girl and you gave them a chance to surrender peacefully,” she said. “The O’Malley brothers might get a little miffed you did their job for them though.”
“Maybe,” Fred said.
The truth of it was, the O’Malleys were at the Roanoke community now, taking sworn statements in order to obtain arrest warrants. They assured the new president they were going to be professional law enforcement officers. Fred knew the O’Malleys would have gone by the book, arrested the men, and brought them to trial. He had no intention of letting it go that far. That little girl deserved justice and Zach deserved justice. He reloaded his pistol and then admired it for a second before sticking it back in his holster.
“I have a confession to make,” Nikki said. “I know you told me not to interfere, but if they somehow managed to outgun you, I was going to kill them.”
“I know,” Fred said.
Nikki arched an eyebrow. “You did?”
“That’s why I brought you along. I couldn’t tell you to kill them though; it had to be your decision, not mine.”
She nodded in understanding and stared back at the brothers. “Well, I’d say you’re back at the top of your game, old man.”
“Yep,” he replied. He stared at the dead men a moment longer before speaking. “Let’s go home.”
The End
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Prologue
“Look at it! Look! At! IT!”
Carl looked to where the angry homeowner–clad only in an open bathrobe and loose boxers–pointed. Not that Carl needed the direction. The problem was plenty obvious.
Two legs waved sluggishly from a sewer grate in the curb.
“Yessir, I see it,” Carl said, and propped his hands on his hips. He hadn’t brought the trainee with him from the car. Not yet. He wanted to get a good rapport with the homeowner and an audience or any show of bureaucracy about to swing into action would only infuriate the man further. “Did the collar not pop him at all or don’t you know?” Carl smiled a puzzled half-smile. An ‘I’m just doing my job here, buddy’ smile.
“I don’t know,” the homeowner said on an outrushing sigh as his shoulders relaxed. “I came out this morning to get the paper and saw him kicking around in there.”
Carl and the homeowner turned their gazes back to the legs. A low moan issued from the grate, echoing and lost. It still had its head. That much was obvious. They couldn’t groan like that without their heads.
“Well, you were lucky. I can tell you that,” Carl said. He scratched
