“And you must be Chops,” I said.
He held out his hands. “Are you really gonna shoot an unarmed, innocent man?”
I snickered. “You’re hardly innocent.”
He clasped his hands behind his back. “Then, show me the proof.”
I sighed. “I’ve heard a lot about you, you know.”
He barked with laughter. “I hope it’s only good things.”
“I’m sure they’re good on your scale, but definitely not on mine.”
His dark stare gravitated to Beth. “Thank you for setting things up so nicely for me.”
Looking back, I shouldn’t have done what I had done. My training told me to stay put in situations like this. My training told me to wait for help to show up before I made a move. And my training certainly told me that if I ever came face to face with a wanted man, to be prepared to shoot. But, I decided to give the man the benefit of the doubt as I tucked my gun away. I figured, if anything else, I could wrestle him to the ground. I mean, I’d taken down men four times my size. The key was to use their momentum against them.
The issue was that I played by a rulebook, and Chops didn’t.
“Goodnight,” he said.
Everything happened in slow motion after that. I heard Beth scream my name as her hands pushed against my arm. I felt my eyes widen as Chops withdrew a gun from beyond his leather jacket. I felt myself stumble and slam into Beth, making sure she didn’t get shot as I tried to stand my ground. I mean, if she died, we had no case. We had nothing. She was our only proof. Our only witness. Yet, she threw her entire body weight into pushing me off to the side, tumbling me to the ground at her feet.
And I was helpless as I watched Chops sink a bullet point-blank between Beth’s eyes.
“No!” I shrieked.
I watched Beth’s eyes go blank before her body ever hit the ground. I scurried to her as Chops chuckled, and I watched as blood seeped down her face. It tainted the dry, sandy backyard of the diner. My eyes darted around, trying to find a way to bring her back to life. So, I did the only thing I knew how to do.
I started doing CPR while Chops’ chuckles grew to guffaws.
“You really think that’s going to help a bullet to the head!?” he exclaimed.
“One, two, three, four, come on, Beth. Don’t do this to me,” I said breathlessly.
I plugged her nose and bent down, trying to flood her lungs with my air. But, the more I tried, the more her blood gushed to the ground. And when it bubbled up her throat and tainted my own lips, I collapsed against her body.
Because for the first time in my entire career, I didn’t know where to go from there.
Chops hovered over us. “Now that the trash has been taken out, let’s have a little chat.”
I heard his gun cock and anger flushed through my veins. “What did you just call her?”
He grabbed my arm and ripped me up. “You’re coming with me.”
I ripped away from him. “Did you just call her trash?”
He pointed his gun right at my forehead. “Would you like to join her? Because if not, I suggest you start moving toward that tree so we can take a little ride.”
I didn’t know what else to do. If I moved to get my gun, I was dead. If I defied his orders, I was certainly dead. But, if I played along like he had the upper hand, I might catch him at a moment of weakness.
So, I did as he asked.
“You know,” he said as he pressed his gun into my lower back, “I was never really fond of ladies in uniform. Every single one of them that I’ve fucked have been terrible lays.”
I drew in a deep breath to keep my emotions at bay. “Sucks to be you, then.”
“And it’s funny, because those same lady cops were the first to turn when I started offering them all of the money in the world just to turn a blind eye to things. Women are so malleable. It’s like taking candy from a baby.”
I gnawed on the inside of my cheek. “I’m sure they are.”
We stopped just shy of the tree and he leaned in to whisper in my ear. “I could make you the same deal, if you’d like. I could use someone in the Santa Barbara Police Department to turn a blind eye to my prostitution ring.”
When he didn’t mention anything about the underage girls or the trafficking, I knew I still had the upper hand. I could use that to my advantage if I could simply get his gun away from him. I’d looked at him long enough to know that he had a knife stashed at his ankle, but knives were easy to disarm from men.
It was those pesky guns that were a much different story.
“Just think about what you’re doing for a second,” I said as I turned around.
He slowly lifted the gun to my chest. “Is this where you appeal to my inner goodness? Because five other cops have tried before you and the ones that didn’t take the money got themselves a first-class ticket to the world of Six Feet Under.”
I sighed. “I’m a cop, and I’m not just any cop, but I’m a detective. I’m the best Santa Barbar has ever employed. And you can bet your ass they’ll come looking for you. I’m also heavily linked into the Los Angeles P.D., and Hollywood’s P.D. They’ll all come looking for me, and they won’t stop until they have your head on a stake. I can promise you that.”
He threw his head back with laughter. “You’re a cop with absolutely no backup. You’re a cop who’s in bed with those fucked up Dirty Misfits, who my guys are currently gunning down. You and your bullshit backup will be dead long before the rest of your little club makes it back here. Especially Finn.”
I furrowed my brow. “How the hell did you know to reference him specifically?”
He took a step toward me and leaned in so close that I smelled the plague on his breath. “I know everything, you stupid bitch. I even know exactly where your little CheyChey is. And after I’m done burying you in some shallow grave out there in the desert, I’m going after her. She’s got the perfect features for one of my client’s, and she’d make me a fucking killing. Now, move, or you die now.”
I stood my ground. “You won’t lay a hand on my niece. I’ll kill you myself before that happens.”
He smirked. “With what gun? You won’t be able to move to the gun strapped to your back before I plug you with bullets. Then, you won’t be alive to save your precious little niece, now will you?”
And just as I went to try my luck with prying that gun out of his hands, bullets cracked through the air. I felt one buzz by my right shoulder before another slipped right between my legs, and that was a little too close to Chops’ bits for his liking. He ducked straight to the ground, covering his head like a fucking coward.
Which enabled me to draw my weapon, rush behind the tree, and sabotage Chops’ bike before I prepared myself to fight.
