Andrew Peterson: Forced to Kill

Montez brought the gun up and fired twice, the reports thunderous.

Nathan squinted as two impacts appeared on the security guard’s chest.

With an expression of disbelief, the guard dropped to his knees and looked at the spreading bloodstains on his uniform.

Nathan ducked behind a white column of the entry facade a split second before Montez fired. The bullet ricocheted off the painted concrete and whistled away.

He peered around the edge of the column. Montez had his bound wrists up at his mouth, untying the knot.

The officer had recovered enough to make a grab for his weapon.

Montez reacted fast. He thrust a knee up and caught the officer squarely in the chest.

Remarkably, the officer kept his feet and made a second attempt for his sidearm. Within seconds, they were locked in a macabre embrace. Dazed and weakened from two head blows, the SDPD officer was losing the struggle.

In five seconds it would be over. Montez would kill the officer and use his cruiser to escape.

Tapping into pure rage, Nathan ignored his wrecked feet and charged.

Montez looked up from his struggle and jerked free of the officer’s grasp. Before Nathan got there, Montez had the officer wrapped up as a human shield.

He stopped advancing when Montez put the gun against the officer’s head.

“Don’t come any closer. I’ll kill him. I swear I’ll do it.”

Nathan kept Harv’s gun up and toggled the laser. A bright red dot appeared on Montez’s forehead. “Well? What are you waiting for?”

“Don’t come any closer. I’ll kill him.”

“Go ahead, kill him. I’ll sacrifice that man before I’ll let you escape.”

The officer’s eyes grew.

Nathan took a step forward.

“I’m leaving,” Montez yelled. “The officer’s coming with me as my hostage.”

“I don’t think so.”

“Don’t come any closer. I’ll kill him. You know I’ll do it! ”

“I want you to do it.”

“You’re insane.”

He took another step. “Think maybe you had something to do with that?”

“I’ll do it. You know I’ll do it! ”

“Don’t bother.” He made eye contact with the officer and issued a slight nod. The officer closed his eyes and returned the nod.

Nathan moved his laser to the officer’s chest-

And pulled the trigger.

In the next instant, three things happened simultaneously.

Nathan’s subsonic round shuddered the officer.

The officer jerked his head back.

And Montez pulled the trigger.

The shot missed the officer’s head by millimeters, but his eardrums would pay a heavy price.

Before Montez could squeeze off a second shot, Nathan sprinted forward and slammed his entire weight into both of them. All three ended up sprawled across the hood of the cruiser.

Montez’s grasp on the officer slipped.

Nathan drove his forehead into Montez’s nose and had the satisfaction of feeling it collapse.

The gun clattered out of Montez’s hand and slid down the hood toward the grille.

Struggling to catch his breath from the bullet’s impact on his ballistic vest, the police officer fell sideways. Nathan tried to grab his uniform, but missed. The man fell to the sidewalk and cracked his head on the concrete.

He grabbed Montez by the throat and clamped down. “I should kill you right here and now.”

“I made a deal for your life.” Montez said through clenched teeth.

“So I heard.” Nathan threw his former interrogator to the ground and kicked him in the stomach. Hard. Montez coughed and curled into the fetal position. Using his pistol, he hammered the back of Montez’s head.

Nathan bent over, checked the officer, and found him semiconscious with several facial cuts, but otherwise okay.

“I can’t stay,” he said. “I promise to clear this up. You have my word.”

“W-Who are you?”

He grabbed the lapel mike from the officer’s uniform and pressed the transmit button. “Officer down, south parking lot, Belmont Park. Officer down.” He re-clipped the mike to the officer’s uniform. “Don’t try to get up. Backup’s on the way.”

The dispatcher came back immediately. “ Unit with last transmission, please repeat. All other units stay off the air. ”

He didn’t respond. Didn’t need to. Every unit on that frequency had just heard the officer-down call and would be screaming to this location.

Wincing from the sting of his feet, he hustled over to the prone security guard and rolled him over. Dead.

Precious seconds were ripping by with no sign of Grangeland. He had no choice. He returned to the cruiser, used the officer’s cuffs to secure Montez’s hands behind his back, jammed him into the backseat, and slammed the door shut. Montez stirred to consciousness but had nowhere to go. Designed for prisoners, the cruiser’s rear compartment would afford Montez no means of escape.

He retrieved the officer’s weapon and holstered it for him. He didn’t like abandoning a defenseless cop or taking his cruiser, but he had to clear the area. Either that or yield control to the SDPD. They’d both be taken into custody, where Montez would be given a chance to lawyer-up. Not an option.

Once in the cruiser, he turned off the light bar and headlights, and sped toward the south entrance to the parking lot. A glance to his left confirmed his suspicion. Three police units were racing along West Mission Bay Boulevard toward Belmont Park, probably from Harv’s location. He figured he slipped away with less than thirty seconds to spare.

“Do you really think you’ll get away with shooting a police officer and stealing his vehicle?” said Montez from the backseat.

“I’ll be asking the questions from now on.”

“You sound pleased with yourself.”

“Would you like to be gagged again?”

Montez didn’t answer.

A thought came to Nathan. Grangeland . She’d be driving into a gauntlet of SDPD’s finest. He used the recent call feature on his phone and hit send.

“Nathan?”

“Change of plans. Keep going south on Mission Boulevard past Belmont Park. Make a right at the very end and find me. I’ve still got Montez. He killed a security guard. Look for a parked SDPD cruiser. Where are you?”

“Westbound on Sea World Drive. Seems like every cop in the city is converging to your location. I’ve been passed by two code-three cruisers doing over a hundred.”

“Call if you have any trouble finding me.”

He estimated he had four minutes before she arrived. Probably the same for an SDPD helicopter. By now, Dalton’s yacht would be on its way back to the marina. He hoped Dalton would survive his wounds. The man had surrendered himself to this sadistic madman to save his family. Whoever Dalton was, he couldn’t be all bad.

At the end of Mission Boulevard, he turned right, drove several hundred yards, and pulled into an isolated parking stall facing the channel.

Why not use this time productively?

Pistol in hand, he climbed out. His feet still stung, but not as badly now. He stepped gingerly around the cruiser and got into the backseat next to Montez, making sure to leave the door open. He didn’t want to lock himself in. The dome light stayed dark.

“Well, Colonel Montez, you really look like shit.”

“Tell me something, McBride. Why didn’t you give me your name down there? What harm would it have caused? Why not just do it and avoid the pain?”

“Because it was all I had left,” Nathan whispered, almost to himself. He shook his head, marveling at how smoothly Montez had taken the initiative from him. “If you go off-topic again, Monty, I’m going to hurt you badly. Do you understand? Let’s get right to it. Who are you working for and what’s Dalton’s role?”