Part III: 2010

Part III: 2010 

Samson 

Leo needs to go, like now. He almost shot a couple of our guys last time there was an incident, and I can see it in his eyes he wanted more, just killing those few guys that he did didn’t do it for him. He’s on edge and he’s playing with his gun a lot. He shoots at any living thing that happens to come by here, all with the defense that it could be deadly with anthrax or something. Kait just lets it go cause she doesn’t wanna deal with the paperwork, and it gets his aggression out. As long as nobody gets hurt, that’s all that matters. “Hey Leo, why don’t you go see Lisa and get a pill to calm you the f**k down.” I laugh. 

“Yeah, maybe. I don’t know, maybe a drink instead?” Leo says. 

“Absolutely not. Remember last time?” 

“Yeah, but I was just having a bad day that day.” This guy. You know what he did? After drinking for a bit, he caresses the gun in his hands and says how much fun it would be to sneak up and shoot some unsuspecting person in the back of the head. Then, he points his gun at each of us, pretending to shoot. After getting yelled at by Kait, he puts the gun to his head, smiles, and pulls the trigger. All it did was click cause there was no bullet. I screamed ‘no’ right when he pulled the trigger, so when nothing happened, he burst out laughing. I’m telling you, he’s sick. Luckily, I heard the COs talk about sending him home as soon as possible. Maybe he can get therapy or locked up or something. I know he’s my best friend, but he’s worse than I ever thought he was. I just hope he gets the help he needs before he takes it too far. 

“I don’t care, no. Go see Lisa instead.” 

“She’s just going to slow me down, last time you told me to see her, I ended up not wanting to do anything.” 

“You need to stay under control, you’re too fidgety. Look, even now, you can’t stop playing with your gun.” 

“I need to shoot something, it’s been months.” 

“Sorry it’s not the bloodfest you were expecting.” 

“But that’s just it, I’ve tasted blood and I want more.” 

“Haven’t you gotten enough? You’ve killed more people than I have!” 

“I don’t care, I want more! More! MORE!” He starts laughing maniacally.” 

“Whatever, man.” I get up, and head to the medical tent. “Hey Lisa.” 

“What’d ya need, Samson?” She asks. 

“Something I can slip in one of Leo’s drinks. He needs to be sedated again.” 

“Is he ranting and fidgeting?” 

“Yeah.” 

“Here ya go.” She hands me a dissolvible pill. I open a soda, and drop the pill in, replacing the cap. 

“Why don’t they just send him home?” 

“They will, but they need him for now.” 

“I hope it’s soon.” I leave the medical tent and return to Leo. “It’s not alcohol, but it’s still refreshing.” I open one and start drinking. 

“Thanks, man.” He opens up his soda and starts drinking. “Aah, that’s good.” 

“Look, man, just think of it this way: just cause there’s nobody to kill doesn’t mean there won’t be. We’re out here for a reason, so you don’t have to worry about not killing anyone. See what I mean?” 

“Yeah, yeah, I see your point.” He says rather calmly. It’s working, that’s a good sign. “Do you think we’ll ever get Osama?” 

“I hope so, buddy, I hope so.” 

“I wanna be the one to do it. Just one in the brain. Pow!” He says with finger guns. “Then dump on him. For America.” He finishes the bottle. “Wanna like, play cards or something?” 

“Yeah, sure. I break out a deck, and me, Leo, Seth, and Francios all play a game of poker. Luckily, the day was without incident for the remainder. The next day, we’re cleaning our guns, when Leo speaks up. 

“Tyler had the right idea.” 

“What are you talking about?” 

“I dunno, man. I feel like I’m gonna kill myself if I don’t have anyone else to kill.” 

“You’re the one who called him a coward, you said f**k him. Now you wanna do it too?” 

“I dunno what it is, it’s like, I just NEED to kill someone, you know? And if I’m not killing someone, I might as well take myself out so I don’t have to deal with not having to kill someone. I don’t know how I’m going to survive back home. Maybe I’ll be a contract killer so I can still kill.” 

“Dude, what’s wrong with you?” 

“I don’t know man, I think- I think I’m addicted to killing people.” 

“Dude, that’s fucked up.” 

“I don’t think so, I’m doing a public service, and I just really like it a lot.” 

“Addicted to smoking? Understandable. Addicted to drugs? It happens. But nobody should ever be addicted to killing.” 

“I don’t know, I think it makes me the perfect soldier.” 

“No, you’re not. Perfect soldiers don’t want to kill civilians.” 

“Have you not been paying attention? Anything goes with them. Just ask Harry. Oh, right, you can’t cause he’s dead.” 

“What do you-” 

“A goddamn kid with bombs strapped to him blew his f*****g head off! If I had the chance to kill the kid, I would have. You? You just wanna negotiate like a p***y.” 

“We’re not here to kill just anyone, we have to protect-” 

“Protect who? Civilians? Obviously they don’t give a s**t about their own civilians, so why should I?” 

“Because it’s your job!” 

“My job is take out terrorists, whether they’re man, woman or child. You just don’t have the f*****g balls to do it.” 

“Do you have any humanity left in you?” 

“It’s a time of war, Samson. The only humanity in war is putting people out of their misery when they f*****g ask you to.” 

“Putting people out of their misery? You mean like, our own guys?” 

“Well, duh!” 

“Are you telling me you’ve killed our own guys already?” 

“I had to. They asked me to, and I can see it in their eyes they didn’t wanna live anymore. Missing both arms, blind, deaf, when you see someone suffering on the battlefield and they ask you to take them out, the least you could do is ease their pain.” 

“You a*****e, they could have been saved!” 

“I preferred slitting their throats.” 

“What about Johan?” 

“What about him?” 

“Did you kill him too?” Silence. “Well? Did you?” 

“He was my first. He said, ‘Leo, I needs you to kills me right now. Samson am not brave enough to.’ I said, ‘Are you sure?’ He said ‘I ams in too much pain.’ Dude was missing both of his legs, and he had a couple of gunshot wounds. He helped me slide the knife across his throat, he kept saying it’s ok, it’s ok.” 

“But you told me-” 

“Yeah, I know what I told you, it was a lie.” 

“Did he say anything else?” 

“His last words were: ‘At least I die with honors, for the countries that I have made my home.’ Then, he told me to do it.” 

“How could you?” 

“It was kind of a mixed bag. On the one hand, I enjoyed killing him, I’m not gonna lie. But on the other, I was saying goodbye to one of my best friends. It was intense, my love for killing overshadowed how much I cared for Johan. Since then, I’ve been taking out our own guys whenever I come across the really bad ones out in the field.” 

“My god. I feel like I should report you.” 

“Please don’t, if it’s worth anything, I don’t want to be dishonorably discharged, especially over a few dozen mercy killings.” 

“Few dozen?” 

“Haha, yeah. But only when they were all in really horrific shape.” 

“Did anyone else out of that few dozen tell you to?” 

“Nah, most of ‘em were unconscious, I did them all a favor. The few that were though, did want me to do it.” 

“It’s totally against protocol.” 

“F**k protocol.”      

“You’re lucky nobody’s around to hear this conversation, they wouldn’t be as forgiving as me.” 

“Oh yeah, cause you TOTALLY understand, right?” 

“You want me to tell Kait what you’ve been doing?” 

“Go ahead, I don’t f*****g care anymore.” 

“Alright dude, I’ll talk to you again when you get your head out of your a*s.” Steamed, I gave up and visited Lisa. “I need a couple of shots and a pill.” 

“No, it’s too early.” she tells me. 

“Leo’s being an idiot again, I need to take the edge off before I snap.” She takes out my bottle and pours me a shot. I take it and she pours me another. 

“That’s all you’re getting.” 

“Fine, I guess. I sorta feel better.” I join Leo and the other guys at the table and we sit in silence for a while. “You alright, Leo?” He just stays silent. “Leo?” 

“What?” He asks. 

“You alright?” 

“No, I’m not f*****g alright!” 

“Go see Lisa.” 

“No, f**k you! That’s all you ever tell me to do!” 

“Because you need to calm the f**k down!” 

“I need to kill something, that’s what I need!” 

“F**k, dude! Stop with your bullshit!” 

“MY bullshit? Ten years ago, you were right with me causing mayhem, don’t act all high and mighty now just cause, what? You outgrew it?” 

“No, I don’t think I’m better than you, I’m just not a f*****g psychopath! And yes, I outgrew it, we were f*****g teenagers!” 

“Well, I had fun, and now I get paid to do what I love!” 

“Killing people?” 

“Well, f*****g duh!” 

“And that sounds ok to you?” 

“I don’t care anymore, not sure I ever did.” 

“You’ve gone off the deep end, man.” 

“Know what? I’m sick of your f*****g s**t.” 

“What-” 

“I’m sick of everyone being f*****g against me! I’m here for one reason: to kill sand f*****g n*****s! And where are they? LET’S GO! F*****G BOMB US!” He says as he stands up and starts screaming at the sky. 

“Dude, calm down.” Sean says as he stands up face to face with Leo. 

“Don’t tell me what to f*****g do.” 

“Seriously, just sto-” But Leo pulled out his gun and shot him in the head. 

“Stand down!” Kait screams as she points her gun at Leo. What happened next seemed like it happened in slow motion, and yet so quickly, it was just a reaction. “Stand down!” Kait says. Then, I saw the most wicked smile I’ve ever seen him make, as he shoots her right in the head. On instinct, I pulled out my gun and shot him in the head. Just like that, three people were dead, including my last best friend. I just stood there frozen in shock, it felt so surreal. 

“’Allo?” Franciois says, I didn’t hear him. “’Allo?” He asked me again. 

“What?” I asked in a daze. 

“I said are you ok?” 

“I- I need to lie down.” I went to the barracks and lied there on my cot. Tiffany comes in. 

“What happened?” I just stayed where I was, just spacing out. “Don’t make me- ATTENTION!” My conditioning caused me to immediately get up and salute. 

“Yes sir?” I asked. 

“At ease, what happened?” 

“It- it was horrible, Mickowski finally snapped. He shot and killed Lutz, and as Almeida was ordering him to stand down, he shot her too. I had no choice, I just reacted and took him out, he would have killed all of us.” 

“To tell you the truth, we knew he was out of hand, just not sure how far. We were going to pull him soon anyway as a precaution. Apparently, we waited too long, and two, rather, three of our best are gone. While he wasn’t the best person, he was one of the best soldiers we had. I’m sorry you had to be the one to take him out, I know you had a history.” 

“I always knew I might have to someday.” 

“Really?” 

“Yeah, are we done? I need to see Lisa.” 

“No. The MP’s are coming to get you, you can’t be intoxicated. You’re to be held until the investigation is over, and you don’t need to give them something to give reason to dismiss you, I want you to come back.” 

“Wait, investigation?” 

“Well, yeah, a friendly shootout occurred at our base, of course there’s going to be an investigation.” 

“What? Am I going to be convicted of murder?” 

“It’s possible, but from what I’m told, I’m sure it’ll be ruled a good shoot. I’ll vouch for you and I’m sure everyone else will too.” 

“I’m so fucked up right now, Tiff.” 

“Come on, they’re on their way.” I went back outside and I stood there with Lisa and Tiffany until they rolled up. 

“Alpha, Samson?” One of them asked. 

“Right here.” I said. Lisa and Tiff hand me over to the MP’s and I get in their rover. We get back to HQ and I sat in a cell until they were ready to talk to me. I’m scared shitless as to how this is going to go, I thought for sure I was doing the right thing. I’m freaking out, and I have no idea what I’m going to do. I never thought I’d find myself in this situation. I’m not at all surprised that I had to do what I had to. I knew it was coming, you knew it was coming, and he probably knew it was coming too. 

Luxor 

Hello again. This has been an incredibly busy week for us, we’ve been working closely with Narcotics around the clock. There have been so many busts and casualties as a result. Kind of takes the guesswork as to figuring out who’s responsible. Carlos Burgsov, the kingpin has just been apprehended, and I am pretty sure he is cleaning house. Two more of his lieutenants died and I am checking them out. My first guess is an overdose via hot shot, but the medical examiner can tell us more. This means he still has someone who has not been caught yet doing his dirty work. “What do you think, Luxor?” Stanley asks me as he stands up after checking out the bodies up close. 

“Hot shot probably. That's how these things usually go.” 

“Usually? You’ve done this before?” 

“No, but I studied all aspects of law and criminality, and usually drug kingpins like this prefer hot shots. Besides, if you have not been paying attention, that is how all these deaths have been this week. The question is, who is under his employ that is the one doing this?” 

“That’s what we’re going to do, figure it out.” 

“Indeed, but more precisely, I will figure it out.” 

“Yeah, but I help.” 

“I suppose you do.” 

“Come on, man! Seriously?” 

“That was my attempt at humor.” 

“It needs work.” I collected fingerprints and evidence and we headed back to the station. I was barely there for an hour before my phone went off. 

“Hello? Homicide.” I answered. “Uh huh, 35 West Fifteenth Street? We’ll be there soon.” I got up and went to Stanley. “Got another one.” 

“Already?” 

“Yeah, hit and run on West Fifteenth Street.” 

“Oh, so not drug related?” 

“Guess not.” We get in the car.  

“Hit and run, huh? Wonder if they’re just taking advantage of all the chaos.” 

“Maybe, maybe not. We will just have to see.” We get to the scene where the paramedics are taking a man away on a stretcher. I walk up to the responding officer. “What is your name and what happened?” I asked him. 

“Officer Leon Xero. So, what had happened was, he and her were arguing and he pushed her in front of an oncoming truck.” Leon says. 

“How did you come to that conclusion?” 

“I talked to the driver. He’s still here if you wanna talk to him.” 

“Suspect’s name?” 

“Sy-uh, Sydd Xero.” 

“Relative of yours?” 

“Yeah, he’s uh, my brother.” 

“And the deceased?” 

“Janis Lynn Walker.” 

“Wait, that name sounds familiar.” 

“It does?” Stanley asked. 

“Yeah, a case we did last year, she was a witness, remember? Her boyfriend blew his brains out on her.” 

“Oh yeah, that was pretty sick, between the death and the messed up relationship square.” 

“Shame she died too... Where is she by the way?” 

“They’re still gathering her up.” Leon says. 

“Gathering her up?” 

“Yeah, when she got hit, she was dismembered.” 

“My goodness.” 

“Yeah, listen. I have to go, I have some unfinished business to take care of.” 

“Sure, whatever.” I walk over to the truck driver. “Hello there, Mister...” 

“Name’s Bob Todd Bobbentodd.” He says in a deep drawl. 

“What can you tell me about what happened?” 

“Well yuh see, I was goin’ down the street, see, and ah had just come from the highway, ah swear, by the tom ah saw her, ah couldn’t slow down in tom.” 

“Thank you for your help.” 

“Ah’m, uh, not gonna be churged with murder, am ah?” 

“Normally I would suspect you and treat you as such. However, I have been enlightened as to the actual killer.” I sigh, as it is always disappointing when I do not have to figure it out. “Thank you for your time.” 

“No problem, officer.” 

“Alright, looks like we are going to have to talk to the suspect at the hospital. We get into the car, when we get a call.  

“Alpha, Jones. Are you still out there?” We hear over the radio. 

“Affirmative.” 

“There’s another body. 453 West Eighteenth Street.” 

“Alright.” We head towards the address. “Busy day today.” 

“Tell me about it, this is a new record, even for me.” Jones tells me. We arrive at the address and there is already cop cars there, starting to leave. I see that officer again, Xero. 

“Xero? What are you doing here?” I ask. 

“He’s dead, I came to bust him.” He says. 

“Oh, well ok then.” 

“I have to go, I was told my brother just woke up.” 

“Splendid, we will be by later to speak with him.” 

“Alright, whatever.” He leaves and we go into the house.  

“Hm, I believe this is the fellow who I suspected of owning the gun that was used in that one suicide last year.” 

“Probably. You’re usually right. Nice minigun.” 

“I concur. The powder around his nose suggests this was a drug overdose.” 

“Hey, come over here.” I walk over to Stanley. 

“What is it?” 

“Check out this grocery bag full of syringes.” I look closely at one of the syringes and notice it has been used. 

“I wonder...” 

“What?” 

“I am going to have to run the DNA on these needles, but I am sure these were used in those hot shot murders, I will run it when we get back, but I am sure we just got our guy.” 

“Yeah, but he’s dead.” 

“I know, so disappointing. Let us go to the hospital now, officer Xero told us his brother was awake.” 

“You already know he did it, why do we have to?” 

“I want to know why.” 

“Cause he’s a bad guy.” 

“That is not a valid answer. I cannot arrest him because he is a bad guy so he automatically did it.” 

“But we know he did.” 

“I will look up his rap sheet if he has one, and I will make my judgement off of that.” 

“I’ve heard of this guy, he’s a total piece of s**t.” 

“How have you heard of him already?” 

“He’s a multiple offender, no doubt he’s mixed up with this guy.” We stop at the police station really quick, so I can check up on our suspect, and Stanley seems right about this fellow. His rap sheet seems to go all the way back to his juvenile days. I am not surprised he has finally killed someone. This is most likely a malicious attack in a drug fueled rage. Only one way to find out. I get back into the car and we head into the hospital, find out his location and stop by his room. His brother leaves the room and tells us he is all ours and we enter. 

“Sydd Xero?” I ask. 

“Y-yeah.” He answers. 

“At approximately 3:47 p.m, you murdered Janis Lynn Walker.” 

“I guess so.” 

“What do you mean, you guess so?” 

“I don’t remember it at all.” 

“What drugs were you on when you pushed her into traffic?” 

“Actually, I had just come down from pcp and dope, but it wasn’t what made me kill her. I had blacked out and flew into a rage when she told me she was pregnant by an unknown father.” 

“Flew into a rage? Because of the drugs?” 

“No, I’m uh, not right in the head, sometimes I black out in times of stress and attack whoever set me off.” 

“So this is a mental health issue?” 

“Yeah, unfortunately.” 

“I am going to request the hospital perform the required tests to confirm. If and only if you are telling me the truth, I will put in a request for the recommendation of insanity.” 

“Well, I’ve been trying to self medicate for years, but I guess doing everything wasn’t helping.” 

“What would make you think that was logical?” 

“Because at first, it did help me.” 

“You are not like any other criminal I have encountered before.” 

“I didn’t plan to be one, it just kinda happened. Wish I wasn’t though.” 

“I will give your case careful consideration. If I find out you are lying, I will nail you to the wall. Metaphorically, of course.” We turn around and leave. “Good bye, see you at trial.” 

“What? Why are ya tellin’ him that for?” Jones asks. 

“Because I need all of the facts. He is still going to prison, but he should be properly taken care of while there. If medication can help him, he will no longer be a dangerous member of society.” 

“What makes you think we should believe him? He’s a junkie who killed his girlfriend while he was on drugs.” 

“That is what the tests are for.” 

“You’re going to have all that time and money spent on that piece of s**t?” 

“Consider it part of the investigation. We must find out if he was lying or telling the truth.” 

“And you’re ok with giving him insanity?” 

“If he truly did not consciously make the decision to kill her nor during the action, yes.” 

“You didn’t have to tell him that though, now he’s gonna have it in his head to pretend if he is faking it.” 

“Perhaps, but also consider he cannot fake some of them. If he is in fact truthful, he will have no problem with his defense.” 

“Defense? We prosecute, don’t defend.” 

“He has the right to a fair trial. I am making it fair.” 

“Maybe a little too fair, he killed someone!” 

“I am aware of that, but accidents do happen. We must find out if this truly was an accident.” 

“I still don’t know why you give a s**t about a piece of s**t junkie.” 

“He obviously needs rehabilitation and mental help-” 

“Maybe.” 

“-maybe. If he can turn his life around, then I will have done the right thing.” 

“And if he kills again?” 

“My experiment was a failure.” 

“Experiment?” 

“I charge each perpetrator with what truly fits their case. Sure, I give out a lot of the same charges, but I do my job with precision. No detail left out, nothing goes unchecked.” 

“Wow, I didn’t realize the stick was that far up your a*s.” 

“No, I just like to make sure my job is done correctly. I do not want to get in trouble for filing false reports or victimizing a certain group of people.” 

“Just sounds like extra work to me.” 

“Maybe you are not that great of a detective after all.” 

“Hey, come on, I have an 80% closure rate, that’s pretty good!” 

“But it is not perfect.” 

“I’m sorry we all can’t be super geniuses and figure out the case in two minutes.” 

“Are you envious of my intelligence?” 

“No, but just because I’m not super smart doesn’t mean you have to put me down for it. I work to the best of my ability. Sure, it may have declined in recent years, but I’m also getting old, I’m close to retirement. You tell me you’re still this good when you’re my age. One day you will hit 95% and when you can’t close that case, it’s gonna drive you nuts. Believe me, I’ve gotten so frustrated at cases I couldn’t close. Sometimes you just have to admit that not every case can be closed.” 

“Impossible, I have already cleared seven cold cases thus far.” 

“Well goody for you, but nobody’s perfect, Alpha. One day you’re going to slip.” 

“Do not wish ill will on me please, you are my partner.” 

“It’s life, buddy.” We get back to the station, and I head to the lab. Just as I thought. Zakk Philips was behind the hot shot murders. He died of an overdose, so case closed I suppose. Maybe I will talk to Carlos Burgsov and-. Hold on, I just heard a gunshot. I run to an interrogation room where Carlos Burgsov is slumped over, dead with a bullet wound in his head and a gun in his hand. 

“How did this happen?” I yell. How incompetent can these officers be to let him in here with that? There goes any information I could have otherwise used. 

Reviews

[Jay S]

very enjoyed much thank you for this adventure

[Scorpious Alpha]

You're so very welcome, but it is not over yet! keep your eye out for parts 4-10 as well as the lost chapter