Trouble And Money #33
Dangerous situations like car accidents and gunfights cause a person to enter a state of cataplexy. Everything happens with clarity and in slow motion. I have learned to manage that and take advantage of it.
The two on the ground are experienced killers. I have to keep that in my mind.
An Industrial Park - Portsmouth, New Hampshire
"Sir, thank you for stopping. I think my partner is having a heart attack."
"I think you should continue first aid while I call 911 and get an ambulance here pronto," I said.
I knew my 911 call was the last thing they wanted me to do, so I did not move closer to them.
They stopped their charade for about half a second, and I could see the woman on the ground whispering something.
The street light above them was the perfect stage lighting for this show.
They are making a decision, and here comes what they decided.
No textbook at any college advises a person what to do if confronted with two shooters. The University of Parris Island teaches a boot what to do, and the lesson does not include civility or the need to worry about a civilian board of review.
Observing them and making the right decisions will keep me alive. I think the woman on the ground will be the first to pull.
The "uninjured" made another appeal to get me away from my truck and closer to them.
"Please, please help her. I think she's almost dead."
I tried not to smirk as I stepped forward, stopped, and returned to my original point.
The topside woman looked at me with complete disdain. She thought to herself that no other driver had ever acted like this.
He needs to be away from the truck, she thought.
There was a little more whispering, and then the woman on the ground athletically rolled toward me into an almost perfect prone firing position. She was holding a large semiautomatic, perhaps a Sig Sauer.
Will she try to make me move forward? I'll never know.
I pulled and squeezed two into her. She dropped her gun.
The second woman pulled out another semi.
Then a round whizzed near my ear from behind.
I spun, dropped, and sent two more rounds this time into a target, trying to get in my truck.
I'll never know the joy of him climbing in the truck and not having the keys. I'm full of pranks tonight.
The remaining pistolero decided to run after sizing things up. Lisa Kinney was running at Olympic trial speed when the headlights of Team Bravo's giant plumbing van aimed straight for her.
The van stopped, and a loud amplified voice came out of it. "Freeze, this is the FBI. Drop the gun!" The rear door opened, and six Tac Team agents hit the deck heading for her.
Lisa did the math. This story is ending. She pushed her gun away from her and knelt with her hands in the air.
In her mind, she returned to better days: riding bikes, skipping school, holidays, and, as usual, family.
One of her sisters was dead, her brother alive and flailing on the pavement.
There would be no retirement in Florida, just life in an orange jumpsuit. She would be tried in Massachusetts, where there was no death penalty.
In the near future, the FBI and then the multi-state prosecutors would be in awe of Lisa Kinney.
She never fessed up or folded, despite plea deals and offers of better treatment,
A Kinney never Rats, even if they get caught.
(All careers come to an end. Sometimes something changes the plan.)
Trouble And Money is published Monday through Friday. It is a free serial fiction detective story with characters you will love. Read the adventures of Conrad Grange as he solves cases and contends with a harsh world.