Side Story #1 - Colt - Page 18

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'...So what do you think?' said Bohwanox, still speaking privately. 'Can you do it? Can you make them disappear completely?'

Colt was watching the two men back out of their parking spot, so he started his own car. 'Now just hold on a minute here. Why would these guys go that far?'

'Because they're subhuman trash.'

Colt exhaled half a laugh. 'I don't disagree, but just calm down for two seconds. This is Orden we're talking about. This town is tiny. Crimes like that almost never happen in places like this. Statistically, I mean.'

'Oh, wonderful. I'm sure that'll be a great comfort when I say that to Janet's wandering soul after she's been raped and murdered.'

He pulled his car out onto the street. 'All I'm saying is, if they plan to do something so heinous, then there's gotta be more to the story than we currently know. Organized crime is, y'know, organized. They don't just let shit this extreme happen for no reason.' He paused, thinking it over again. 'Usually.'

'Okay, so you want to interrogate these guys before killing them, then?'

'Torture isn't the most reliable method of information extraction. And regardless, I don't have a location prepared where I could do that to them without leaving a ton of evidence behind. It would be complicated and messy. Probably impossible to clean up.'

The reaper sighed. 'What are you suggesting, then?'

'Well, you know, we could just call the police. Let them deal with it.'

'Oh, come on. You don't really believe that'll accomplish anything. These guys'll be long gone before the cops get here. And then they'll just try again another night. Or whoever they work for will send more goons.'

The reaper wasn't wrong, Colt knew. Maybe the local sheriff could get here fast enough, if he wasn't fucking dead already. And there was the missing deputy, as well. Colt had begun to wonder if that was a coincidence.

'Even so,' said Colt, 'the capital cops can put Janet and her brother under their protection.'

'But that's only if the cops obtain proof of a credible threat, right? If we call too soon, then these guys will just leave without doing anything. And then, no one but us will know there was even a problem. And if we wait until these guys start heading into the house, then it'll be too late. As soon as they hear sirens, they'll kill them both immediately and run.'

Colt wanted to argue, but he couldn't. Theoretically, the cops could approach without blaring their sirens, but that was no guarantee. They could also set up an ambush and catch the guys before anything happened to the potential victims, but that kind of thing required time, coordination, and permission from the higher-ups to use a considerable amount of the department's manpower and resources. There was obviously no way that was going to happen tonight--and certainly not based off of a single anonymous phone call.

'Plus,' Boh continued, 'that would all be assuming the capital cops can even be trusted. Leonard Pink is still another one of our suspects, you know.'

Colt hadn't forgotten. If there was one thing he never needed to be reminded of, it was that he had reason to distrust someone.

He had to make up his mind--and soon. Janet's house was coming up fast.

By the time they got there, Colt was still struggling with the decision. He again made sure to keep a good distance from the thugs' car up the street and whipped his binoculars out again.

'Wait a minute,' said Bohwanox in the middle of the street, looking around. 'Where are we?'

'What do you mean? This is Janet's house.'

'No,' the reaper said slowly, still sounding confused. 'She has an apartment.'

Colt blinked. That was right, wasn't it? Bohwanox told him that before. He'd completely forgotten.

What did that mean, though? Did she have both? A house and an apartment? She didn't seem that wealthy. And what would be the point of having two homes in the same town? Especially in one as small as Orden?

'At least, that was what she told the capital cops when they talked to her,' said Bohwanox. 'I guess she could have been lying.'

'Hmm. Lying about your place of residence to the police would be a pretty stupid thing to do. It's easy to verify, since it's a matter of public record. Unless...'

'Unless what?'

'...Unless you're planning to skip town.'

'If she was going to do that, I imagine she would be gone by now. The murder was three days ago.'

'True. She could just be staying at someone else's house, then.'

'That makes more sense to me,' said Boh. 'A relative just died. It's a good idea to stay with someone for emotional support.'

'Hmm. Could it be the little brother's house?'

'Doubt it. He looked pretty young. Late teens, at most.'

Agh. More questions. What was he to make of this situation? According to what Bohwanox told him earlier, the two thugs were only aware of Janet and her brother. Either they didn't know about the potential third person who owned the house, or they somehow had confirmation that Janet was alone in there, right now. The latter seemed unlikely, considering they had to follow her here from the park. Plus, they seemed kind of stupid.

'Clock's ticking, Colt. If you intend to kill these guys without making a scene, then now's your chance. If you wait until they go into the house, then things are going to get messy.'

He racked his brain, trying to think. He'd been putting the notion off this whole time, but was it even really possible for him to dispose of two bodies without leaving any evidence behind? Probably, sure, but on such short notice? Sure, he had his destruction ability to work with, but would that even be helpful? Something like this required time, more than anything. Time to prep the kill site in order to minimize forensic evidence. Time to find a good location to dispose of the bodies. Time to follow the target and catch them when no one was watching.

Colt growled. How did this spiral out of control so quickly? He eyed the twins in the rearview mirror. The two most important things in the world to him. They were napping.

'Colt.'

'Shut up.'

'Are you going to do anything or not?'

'Shut. Up.'

'Do you really plan to wait until they head into the house?'

Colt had just about had it. 'I don't fucking know!'

Boh finally fell quiet.

And Colt just breathed and let his gaze drift across the street. He focused on his own breathing, which had spiked a little with his frustration. Maybe he should just leave. Let whatever happens happen. Maybe Janet was armed. Maybe she would be fine.

Maybe she wouldn't.

It wasn't his responsibility. His only responsibility was to Stephanie and Thomas. Everything else was...

It was...

He shut his eyes and rubbed his forehead.

Fuck.

Fuck!

'Colt.'

'What?!'

'Janet's brother is here.'

His eyes popped open, and he looked around frantically. Bohwanox pointed down the street behind him, and sure enough, a teenage boy on a bicycle was approaching the house in the evening darkness.

Colt gripped the steering wheel with both hands until his knuckles went white. He watched with hard, intent eyes as the boy got closer. As the reflectors on the bike grew larger. As the boy passed him by on the sidewalk.

And as the car door up the street opened.

'Colt.'

The two men stepped out of their vehicle. The boy slowed down in front of the house and turned into the driveway. He didn't even seem to notice them.

Colt looked at the sleeping twins one more time.

And then he stepped out of the car.

He popped the trunk, then searched through it and found the bag with a change of clothes in it. The thugs were already on top of the kid, yanking him off of his bicycle and pulling him toward the house. Colt could hear the kid's muted cries for help. They must've put something over his mouth.

He found a dark shirt. That would do. He concentrated. Hard. He needed the path of destruction to be small. He knew how much he'd been struggling with that lately, but whatever. It was now or never. With one finger, he summoned the path and poked a small hole through it. Then a second hole, adjacent to it.

Good. That was fine.

He wrapped the cloth around his head and positioned the holes over his eyes so he could see.

'Good thinking,' said Bohwanox.

He felt the reaper's phantasmal hand grip his shoulder, and a surge of strength that he hadn't felt in months flowed through his entire body.

'They're already in the house,' the reaper told him. 'Let me go in first. Wait for my word.'

Colt pulled off his coat and threw it in the driver's seat as he ran past. The house was still a fair distance away, but at full sprint, he and Boh reached it in no time. Colt waited by the front door, staying out of sight of the windows, while the reaper went inside.

He heard half a scream, then sounds of struggle. 'Boh.'

'Not yet,' the reaper told him.

'The fuck?! Why?!'

'Just trust me. I'm watching carefully. This might actually be ideal.'

Colt didn't even know what to say that. It was no time to argue, but he sure as fuck wanted to.

So he just waited. And listened. More muted sounds from inside. Rushed footsteps. Shuffling. Dragging something heavy. Unintelligible talking. And more talking. And still more talking.

They were interrogating them. Just like Boh had said.

Was this the reaper's intention? He'd wanted to listen to the interrogation?

Colt tried to steady himself. To remain calm. To keep his head clear.

'Almost time,' came Boh's warning. 'When you enter, first go down the hall to your left, then through the kitchen on your right. Everyone's in the rear room. There are three hostages tied up on the floor. Killers are standing by the door. As soon as I tell you to go, be quick. Don't give them a chance to react.'

So there were three after all. 'Got it.'

Then, of course, came more waiting. Until, finally.

'Go now.'

With undead strength still coursing through him, he kicked the door in. It crumpled to the floor, and he heard shouts of confusion from deeper inside the house.

No time.

He ran as instructed. Full sprint. The layout was just as Boh told him, but it was still a little disorienting, since he'd never been here before. The door to the rear room was open, but he still ended up barreling through the frame and taking a chunk out of the wall before tackling the thug on the other side.

One down.

The other was scrambling, freaking out, yet still managing to stab Colt in the shoulder with a knife.

Colt rounded on him like a whirlwind. With the center of his arm, he caught the guy's torso and slammed him into the wall with enough force to leave a human-sized crater in it. The man coughed up blood and tried to scream, but Colt gripped his throat and held him firmly in place. The knife had clattered to the floor already, so with his free hand, Colt checked the thug's body for other weapons. He found a gun and some brass knuckles.

Colt spared a glance toward the guy he'd tackled earlier, only to see him still on the floor, motionless.

Janet, her brother, and one more woman were all staring at him with wide eyes. They were all gagged with cloth.

Colt took a slow breath as he waited for the guy in his grip to lose consciousness from lack of oxygen.

'Well, then,' came Bohwanox's voice. 'Good job. But, uh... now what?'

'Good fucking question.'

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These Side Story pages are released each week on Sunday at 6 pm EST.
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