Don Pendleton - Fatal Combat

Bolan took the folder from Davis’s hand, watching the man flinch as if he expected the agent to take a few fingers with him. Bolan quashed the urge to shake his head and chuckle. It wouldn’t do to antagonize Davis, whose only crime so far was being intimidated by implied authority. Davis was the most junior detective in a department known for its graft and corruption. Faced with a mysterious governmental operative to whom Davis’s own superiors were required to give cooperation, what else could he think? He’d find his way readily enough. He had that eager, adaptable air to him. Bolan had encountered the type enough times to recognize it.

The folder contained a preliminary field report. It also held a series of slightly smudged color photos, obviously printed on a portable ink-jet unit and handled with haste. Bolan was accustomed to meeting with resistance from local law enforcement, if only because the usual petty jurisdictional squabbles annoyed those through whose territory the Executioner marched. It was refreshing actually to get some cooperation. He wondered for a moment if Hal Brognola had rattled cages on this end of the situation perhaps a bit more loudly than usual.

Certainly the big Fed had sounded more stressed than was normal even for him, when he placed the scrambled phone call to Bolan’s secure satellite phone from Brognola’s Justice Department office near the Potomac. The soldier could picture the man chewing an unlit cigar and sitting in front of the window in his chair deep in Wonderland, a fighting bureaucrat waging wars of intrigue, intimidation and political manipulation that even Bolan could not win alone. Brognola was the director of the Sensitive Operations Group, a counterterrorist unit based at Stony Man Farm in Virginia, and on the other end of his phone was the Man himself, the President of the United States.

“Striker,” Brognola had said, using the soldier’s code name. “Somebody’s cutting up civilians in Detroit.”

Bolan had said nothing for a moment. “I’m listening,” he finally answered.

The big Fed wasted no time. “It’s been going on for a while, now. So far the press has been kept out of it, but that hasn’t been easy, nor can the powers that be contain it any longer. The murders are increasing in frequency and in their public nature. Whoever’s doing it has stopped being careful—it’s as if he or she wants the bodies found.”

“A serial killer?”

“Possibly,” Brognola said. “Officially there are no leads. Unofficially, and very strictly off the record at this point, the Man is concerned that this isn’t a domestic crime at all, but rather a new kind of terrorism.”

“Low budget,” Bolan said. “Low-tech. Inspire fear by making the populace believe no one is safe.”

“Exactly,” Brognola said. “If it is a terrorist group, they’re destabilizing the greater Detroit area by making its citizens believe the general public, individually, is being targeted. It wouldn’t be the first time an international terror ring has used knives to make its bloody business known. The Detroit PD and the FBI have been working to keep this from going off the rails, but they’re out of their depth. There are too many rules, too many bureaucratic hurdles, and no way to find or target the enemy. They simply aren’t equipped to fight this kind of war.”

“But I am,” Bolan said. It was not a question.

“The Man wants you to do what you do, Striker,” Brognola said. “If Detroit is a test case for some new, insidious campaign, you will root it out and destroy it before it goes any further. You’re also working against the clock.”

“How so?”

“The Detroit papers are ready to break the story,” Brognola said, frustration clear in his voice. “The locals, the FBI, and even Justice have been sitting on them over the last two days…but they’re screaming freedom of the press, and honestly, Striker, I can’t blame them. We have it on good authority that they’re breaking the story the night of October 31, in prime time, which means you’re going to have a full-blown panic on your hands before nightfall.”

“Which will make it harder to bring my targets to ground,” Bolan said.

“Yes,” Brognola said. “There’s nothing we can do.”

“I’ll deal with it,” Bolan said.

“Hell of a way to kick off Halloween,” Brognola said. “You’ll have backup among the Detroit PD. I’ll lean on the Feds that way, too, and pull as many strings as I have to if you ruffle any feathers.”

“You’re mixing your metaphors, Hal.”

“Whatever,” Brognola said. “Striker, I know every mission is important. But this is…different. These are innocent people. Ordinary American citizens. They’re being killed for no reason.”

A muscle in Bolan’s jaw worked. “I haven’t forgotten,” he said. “I’ll get them, Hal.”

“Good hunting, Striker.”

“On it. Striker out.”

With those words, Bolan had stowed his phone and made arrangements to travel to Detroit, where his customary gear had already been prepared and was waiting for him with a Stony Man courier. Now, only a few hours after that conversation, he was here, and he was ready.

It was time to begin.

He was no stranger to Detroit, but he did not know the city like a local. He had been assured that Detective Davis was born and bred here. The Farm had transmitted the man’s full dossier to Bolan’s phone while he was in transit. He had reviewed it early that morning.

Bolan turned to give the detective a long, hard look. Davis looked up from the manila folder. He reddened. “Uh…sir? Mister, I mean, Agent Cooper, sir? Is there a problem?”

“There might be,” Bolan said. “Time for a decision, kid.”

“Sir?”

“The department has been instructed to cooperate with me,” Bolan said. “There’s going to come a moment, not very long from now, when you’ll be tempted not to do that.”

“I don’t understand, Agent Cooper.”

Bolan didn’t have time for a lengthy argument. He drew the Beretta 93-R from his shoulder holster and placed it in his lap. Davis glanced at it and then did an almost comical double-take. What he had taken for a simple Beretta 92-F pistol was instead a select-fire automatic weapon, and he recognized it as such.

Bolan gave Davis mental points for that.

Next he produced the Desert Eagle, watched Davis’s eyes widen at the massive weapon and replaced it. He reholstered the Beretta.

“Sir?”

“Many officers, especially those in smaller cities, go their entire lives without firing their weapons,” Bolan said. “In a big, violent city like Detroit, those chances are lower, but still good. Before we’re through, there’s a very good chance you’ll see me fire both of these. And you will fire your own weapon. Show me.”

Davis hesitated only the barest fraction of a second. He reached into his jacket and then, carefully, withdrew his pistol. He ejected the magazine of the Glock 19 and racked the slide, dropping the ejected round. He hit his head on the dash diving for it, but he got it.

“Spare magazines?” Bolan asked.

“Two, Agent Cooper.”

“Well, swing by the station and pick up some spares. That’s issue?”

“Department approved list,” Davis said.

“All right,” Bolan said. “Now. Are you in or out, Davis?”

“Uh… Well, in, of course, sir. I mean, the department assigned.”

“No, Davis. You. You personally. We’re about to walk down a dark hallway. If you’re going to do it, you need to know that it’s coming. That it might get bad. That it almost certainly will. Think carefully. I don’t want a quick answer. I want to know if you’ll stick this out.”

Davis looked away. Bolan watched him swallow, hard. He was thinking about it. The subtle change to the set of the younger man’s shoulders told the soldier what Davis’s answer would be…and that he meant it.