“You know that my boy fought for this country for five years,” Mama said. “He went places that you don’t even know the names of.” She watched this man sit in her house drinking her coffee and knowing that he wanted to put Matt into a place with bars. She didn’t hate him for it. There was almost no person on this earth that she hated. “Why can’t you just leave him be.”
Lee felt her eyes bore into him. “I told you Mrs. Gutierrez…”
“Mama G. You call me Mama G. Everyone else does.” She crossed her arms. It was a demand, not an offer.
“Mama G, I’m here to help Matt. He’s in over his head.” He sipped his coffee.
“Heh.” Robin grunted a laugh. “You don’t know Matt. He works best when he’s over his head.”
From somewhere outside came a distant barking. Mama had let the dogs out early this afternoon. They loved to run the old farm and sniff out voles. They rarely barked unless they found something good. “Look Detective Winston, I appreciate your concern. I know you want to help my son and get this man. You come back tomorrow and that’ll give me a chance to talk to Matt and make a decision.”
It was Lee’s turn to interrupt. “I come back tomorrow and all this will be gone. Your son, who I suspect is upstairs or outside, will be in the next state.”
Mama was about to object when they heard the barking again. It was a little closer and was definitely coming from out front, though it was still a good distance off. The barking turned to the canine equivalent of screaming and stopped, cut off as abruptly as breaking glass.
Lee came to his feet and reached under his jacket, the snub nosed pistol coming free. He pivoted and looked out the window. Naturally he couldn’t see anything. The porch lights illuminated the yard out to about fifty feet, but the noise came from further away than that. “Mama. I expect that if your son is here we’ll be needing him.”
Jose and Lee stood under a good sized apple tree. They heard the barking, but it was far more distant. Nothing in the quality of noise alarmed them. “I sure hope the detective is almost done. It’s getting cold out here.” Matt said.
“Oh Mr. Special Forces getting a little chilly?” Jose mocked.
Matt punched his brother on the shoulder. “Well I’m not built like a tub of butter. You stay here. I’m gonna go up to the house and check things out.” He flattened himself to the ground and started to crawl.
Jose rested his shotgun on his shoulder and chuckled a bit under his breath.
The ripping noise and the yelp that the dog made as Jordan yanked each front leg in the opposite direction was satisfying. He threw the carcass aside and pulled one of the flash bang grenades from his jacket pocket. It weighed a little more than a cricket ball and he’d need to be within about twenty meters to put it through a window.
Jordan walked quickly through the tall grass, stopping when he came to its edge. He slid the goggles off his head and dropped them to the ground. Three vehicles were parked out front. Through the large kitchen window he could see a man, nicely backlit. Crossing the no man’s land of the mown grass without being seen would be impossible as long as that man was there. He waited and soon the man turned to sit back down.
Seizing the opportunity, Jordan broke into a crouching run. He wouldn’t hit the circle of brightness until just about the time he was in throwing range. He wound up while he ran the last few meters and released the grenade.
The sound of breaking glass startled all three occupants of Mama’s kitchen. The metal cylinder hitting the table registered as a grenade in Lee’s mind though he couldn’t tell what type. He leapt across the short distance to Robin intending to knock her down. It worked, though she and Mama were both caught in the million candle power flash that it released. The deafening noise, like all the sounds of a rock concert compressed into a tenth of a second caught them all, completely disorienting them.
Jordan waited for the stun grenade to do its work. Then he leapt up onto the porch and kicked through the front door, covering the room with his mini-pump gun. A man and woman were tangled on the floor with a pistol near their heads. An old woman also lay on the floor near the wooden island. All three were moaning in pain and shock.
All of this transpired while Matt was on his way to the sliding glass door. He saw the flash, but was far enough away to be dazzled only briefly. The solidly built house contained most of the concussive wave of sound, though it was still clearly audible. He knew well enough what it all meant. The ugly little automatic weapon was cradled in his arms. He thumbed off the safety and increased the speed of his crawl.
Jose saw all the commotion and wasn’t sure what to make of it. As the sound rolled up to him though he knew it couldn’t be good. He came out from the tree and just as he did he heard something snap just to his right and saw movement out of the corner of his eye. Pain shot up to his shoulder as he felt a blow connect with his arm. He lashed out with his left hand and felt it contact the person who’d attacked him. It was dark and he couldn’t see much, but a bit of moonlight glinted off something metal.
Ian had hoped to cut the man’s arm off at his shoulder but he had moved at just the wrong time. Instead Ian’s fist had caught his upper arm. He had the advantage of being able to see, but the goggles didn’t give him very good peripheral vision. The surprise short punch hadn’t hurt him so much as it had surprised him. The short, fat man had a shotgun and was trying to backpedal and bring it into play. He just couldn’t have that. The machete swung up and caught the gun under its barrel sending it skyward. He followed that blow with a kick at Jose’s legs.
The toe of Ian’s boot caught more shin than knee and Jose woofed in pain. Jose had managed to keep control of the gun and really wanted to use it, but needed to get some distance so it didn’t get slapped away. Whoever this was didn’t want to let him get that distance though. So he went the other way. He lowered his head and charged.
Ian didn’t expect that angle of attack and wasn’t able to shorten up his swing. The machete went flying out of his hand and the two men went down in a splay of tangled arms and legs with a sawed off pump shotgun on the middle somewhere.
Pasquale sat on his haunches and watched the fight between Ian and Jose unfold. He may be crazy but he wasn’t stupid. Getting in the middle wouldn’t help anyone.
Lee’s vision came back and he looked for his pistol. He reached for it but a booted foot kicked it away. Through the ringing in his ears he could hear a man yell “Stay down!” He did, but rolled over so he could get a look at the assailant. That earned him a kick to the ribs. The man standing above him was holding a Mossberg Super-Shorty. It would turn Lee’s head into a red stain at this range and probably Robins as well considering how close they were.
Jordan nudged the revolver with his foot, getting it to a place where he could bend down and still keep an eye on the man. With the revolver tucked safely in his belt he stood. Jordan spoke loudly and clearly. “Put your asses in the chairs if you can hear me.”
Lee helped Robin up and put her in a chair. Her vision had returned too but she was still a little disoriented and confused not to mention afraid. He saw the semi-automatic pistol was still clipped to her waist and kept well clear of it. He turned and sat down himself. From his vantage point he could see that Mama wasn’t moving.
“Take that holster off your belt, bitch. Move slow.” Jordan gestured with the pump gun.
Robin complied. Putting it on the dining room table and sliding it toward their assailant. She was scared and mad and sick all at the same time.
Jordan walked over to the old lady. She was still down. He toed her head firmly and saw blood seep out from under. He looked at the island and saw blood on its corner. It did look like she was still breathing. He looked at Lee and Robin. “Where’s Matt York?”
“He’s not here,” Robin said.
Jordan dropped the muzzle of his shotgun on level with Mama’s head. “I’ll try this one more time. Where the fuck is Matt York? I here anything but a true answer here and the old bag gets her head removed.” In the back of his head he was wondering where his boys were.
At that moment one of them was trying to wrestle control of a shotgun from Jose. The Mac dug into Ian’s side as he was pinned to the ground. Desperate to keep the shotgun away, Ian bit Jose on the forearm. His teeth were sharpened thanks to some careful filing and he got a chunk of flesh.
Jose screamed and wrenched back ripping the skin and tissue away. He stood, powered by adrenaline. “Eat this bitch” he yelled and triggered a shotgun round into the psycho’s head. Bone, blood and brain matter blossomed into a gruesome flower.
Pasquale had taken that as a sign to disappear into the trees.
Everyone at the house heard the shotgun blast at the same time. Jordan’s went off, almost an echo of Jose’s. The pellets ate their way through her and continued on through the floor. Robin vomited into her lap. Lee, who would wish to his last day that he had done so earlier, launched himself across the table scooping up the Mk. 23.
Jordan worked the slide on his gun and turned as he heard the sliding glass door shatter behind him.
Bullets from the large caliber handgun and the UMP submachine gun competed for space in the thug’s body. Blood spray filled the air around Jordan. The twitching caused him to pull the trigger on his twelve gauge and random shot filled the air. It blew the rest of the window out and Robin screamed shrilly as some of them found their way into her arm and shoulder.
Matt walked through the hole that his initial shots had made and followed Jordan’s body to the ground. He stopped firing once the man who had killed Mama was no longer recognizably human. He might have kept going if the bolt hadn’t slid open once the magazine had run dry.
Lee saw the look on Matt’s face and was amazed at the calmness there. It was more horrifying than any mask of rage would be. He left his borrowed pistol lying on the hardwood and swung himself off the table. “I think we got him man. You can put the gun down.”
Matt looked down at his hands. His right index finger was still curled tightly around the trigger. He dropped the gun and looked around, taking stock. Mama was dead. Robin was bleeding from a shoulder wound. Lee looked unharmed. Jose. Where was Jose? Then he remembered the first shotgun blast. “Look after Robin.” He drew his pistol from its holster at the small of his back and ran into the night.
Jose heard the answering gunfire from the house and ran towards it chambering his next round. He and Matt met about halfway.
“What happened?” asked Matt.
“Some freaky fucker jumped on me. Bit a chunk out of my arm. He’s over there somewhere trying to find his brains.”
Matt saw movement over Jose’s shoulder. Someone was running along the line of apple trees. Matt’s night vision was excellent, but the range made any kind of aimed shot impossible. “Come on. Someone else is back there.” He didn’t wait, but ran on his gun stretched out in front of him.
Pasquale was running, sweating, and swearing. He’d gone into the trees only to run into a couple of big ass dogs. They were after him hard. He though maybe he could outrun them for a bit and find a tree to climb or something. That thought was cut short when he heard the gun shots and felt his knees explode.
The dogs were on him in a second, tearing at his clothes and what was left of his legs.
Matt watched him scream and squirm for a few seconds before he called the dogs off. “Let’s drag him inside. I want to ask him some questions before he bleeds out.” They each took an arm and carried him.
Lee looked at Robin. She’d calmed down, stopped screaming at least. “It’s not bad miss. Just about a dozen or so pellets. The doctor’ll be able to get them out.”
Robin went to the bathroom to clean herself up. She managed to get there without looking at the bodies.
Lee found a table cloth and covered Mama G up. He was finishing up as the boys came in carrying a body. “What the fuck? Who’s this?”
“Part of this posse we guess,” answered Jose. He knew who was under the cloth, but didn’t want to think about that right now. Still tears came, unbidden. They put the man on the table. He was bleeding profusely from his legs.
Matt took off his belt and gestured for Jose to do the same. He made tourniquets and managed to slow the flow for now. Once that was done he looked at Lee. “You going to arrest me or help me take this man down.”
Lee stuck out his hand. “Truce.” Matt shook it. “For now,” finished the detective.
