On Deadly Ground (Dan & Chloe Book 2)

by Flamank, Nathan L.

  Unbeknownst to whoever had just stepped up on to the porch there were pressure sensitive pads hidden beneath the wooden boards.

  ‘On three we go,’ Dan said.

  He moved towards the heavy reinforced door, as with most of Dan’s renovations to the ranch house, security had been his main priority and the front door had been built by a private security contractor working out of Tampa in Florida. The door was made up of two one inch thick sheets of mahogany and between these two pieces of hardwood was a one inch thick sheet of metal: a titanium composite that the contractor had stated would take a direct hit from an RPG. The door was set in reinforced wooden surrounds with steel bolts securing the framework to the rest of the ranch. Basically, the house was impregnable to any assault.

  Dan knew that he could have just called the local law, they were perfectly safe inside the ranch house but like Chloe he was concerned about their horses.

  And damn it, this is America, I’m entitled to protect my property so fuck whoever is on the other side of this door.

  Dan deactivated the alarm panel before a siren could sound and he inched closer to the door. He silently released the dead bolts, there was no sound of metal scraping. He regularly oiled all the bolts for this exact scenario, and whoever was waiting on the other side would not have heard the four bolts sliding back on smooth mechanisms.

  Chloe took up a shooter’s stance, resting down on one knee, she adjusted her posture and settled in to a strategic position to the right of the doorway. She rested her elbow on her left knee and nodded her head at Dan. She was ready to unleash Hell.

  Dan stepped to the left where a smaller numerical keypad was situated on the wall and he typed in a four digit code. He raised his right arm towards the front door and he tightened his finger on the trigger of the SigSauer that he was carrying. The second pistol was on the floor by his feet.

  ‘One. Two. Three.’

  On three Dan hit enter and the front door flew open. The heavy door swung outwards on hydraulic hinges towards the assailant, this was another of Dan’s innovations.

  Dan and Chloe would never know what surprised the assailant (now rocking back on the porch to avoid the path of the heavy door) more.

  Was it the sight of the door suddenly swinging open or was it being greeted by Dan’s semi hard cock or Chloe’s exposed cunt?

  They’d never know.

  The assailant had a beretta in his right hand and even as he stumbled backwards out of the door’s path he was raising the automatic towards the open doorway.

  Dan had a fleeting moment of recognition and he saw the man’s look of shock. The assailant’s eyes went wide and then the shotgun roared.

  The man was quite literally blown in half; at such close range the powerful buckshot tore in to the gunman’s torso, pellets shredded muscles and internal organs before pulverising and severing the man’s spinal column. A spray of red fanned out across the porch’s steps and the man was lifted from the porch, his body from the waist up travelled further and landed with a sickening wet sounding smack in the dirt, his legs landed heavily on the steps.

  The man’s gun went off as his finger reflexively tightened on the trigger and Dan heard the round pinging harmlessly off an upstairs window.

  The doorway was awash with gun-smoke and the smell of cordite and the loud roar of the shotgun had Dan’s ears ringing. He looked down at Chloe and noticed, and not without some pride and a little fear, that she was smiling in satisfaction at a job well done.

  ‘Stay low,’ Dan shouted.

  He assumed that Chloe’s ears would be ringing too and he saw her nod her head. Dan ran out through the open doorway. He had the SigSauer out in front of him, the other pistol was still on the hallway’s floor but he doubted he’d need it.

  Clearing the smoke he saw a second gunman standing out in the open. He was looking down at the two parts of his fallen comrade, the shotgun in his right hand hung forgotten down by his side.

  The young gunman saw Dan coming out through the doorway and he started to shake his head. The fear was evident on his startled face.

  Dan didn’t hesitate, he pulled the trigger, firing once. A hole appeared dead centre between the petrified man’s eyes. The custom-made round blew through the man’s brain and took the back of his head off in a spray of blood, brain and bone.

  The man fell backwards and landed with a thud like a tree being dropped.

  Chloe was now at the top step of the porch and they spent the next ten minutes circumnavigating the ranch, barn and stables to check for more intruders.

  Walking out of the stables Chloe nodded her head at Dan.

  ‘Clear.’

  ‘Clear,’ he repeated back to her. They walked back to the porch.

  Dan stopped and crouched near the man that Chloe had cut in half with the shotgun.

  ‘Ah fuck,’ Dan spat. ‘Goddamnit, there goes just burying these two fuckers out in the woods.’

  Chloe stood next to Dan and in the light spilling out from the open front door she could see the dead man’s face.

  ‘Bollocks, that’s the guy you “clothes-lined” this morning.’

  Dan nodded his head and scratched at the back of his neck. He stood up and looked around the yard. He performed a complete circle scanning the dirt track that led out to the highway. He couldn’t see any tell-tale flashing of blue lights out on the horizon so he figured that no one had reported hearing shots fired.

  Shit, this far out who’s there to hear? Dan asked himself.

  Dan walked over to the porch, he squatted down by the dead man’s legs and looked back at the rest of the man’s body. Dan made sure not to step in the mess of blood and guts.

  He nodded his head, decision made, he stood back up.

  ‘Okay, okay, this is the plan and we have to act quickly.’

  Chloe walked over and stared down at the coils of steaming entrails snaking out from the torn torso. She shook her head and turned to Dan.

  ‘I’m all ears.’

  ‘Okay, hand me the shotgun.’

  Chloe handed it over.

  ‘Right, you need to go back in, change in to some clothes and bring me down a pair of jeans and a shirt, make sure you keep your heels on.’

  Chloe offered up a smirk.

  Really? Dan was still feeling horny? Chloe asked herself.

  Dan chuckled.

  ‘Not like that baby, you’ve left heel marks all over the property, when the Sheriff gets here it’ll be a bit off if you’re not wearing them, we need to make this look good, really good.’

  ‘Right, right,’ Chloe replied and palmed her forehead.

  ‘Take the SigSauer that’s still in on the hallway floor and put it back in the security room, take our vests as well.’

  Dan held his arms out to his sides and Chloe tore the Velcro straps and slid the vest off of Dan.

  ‘Don’t touch anything else, don’t wash your hands and on your way in close the front door half way. Half way only, got it?’

  ‘Yes, what are you gonna be doing?’

  ‘Playing the bad guy, now be quick.’

  Chloe gave him a quick kiss and then did as she had been instructed.

  Dan placed the shotgun and his Sig down on a clean portion of the porch near the steps and then he ran quickly over to the stables. He found what he was looking for in a drawer of the medicine cabinet that they kept for the horses. Dan quickly pulled on the pair of surgical gloves, they were un-powdered and would leave no trace behind.

  He headed back to the dead bodies and stopped at the man he had shot. He picked up the shotgun, racked a round in to the chamber, and fired off a shot directly overhead. He racked the shotgun and fired from the same height that he gauged the man would have shot from. Dan aimed at the porch and one of the posts took a few of the pellets and wood splinters flew. He then placed the shotgun back precisely where he had found it.

  Dan moved with haste to the would-be killer that Chloe had torn down on and he breathed a sigh of relief when h
e saw that the man’s beretta was laying a couple of inches away from one curled hand.

  Dan stared at the gun and the exact location of where it sat and then tentatively picked it up. He walked back to the porch’s steps and gauged where the man’s height would be. Dan was six four and he figured the younger man to be a few inches shorter than him, he did some quick mathematical equations in his head and aimed at the half open door.

  Dan pulled the trigger twice in quick succession, one round buried itself in the door and the second passed through the space left by the partially open door. Dan heard Chloe’s yelp of surprise from the top of stairs, he hadn’t been concerned about hitting Chloe, and he knew that she wouldn’t have had time to get back down the stairs so she was in no danger.

  Dan nodded his head and then walked back to the fallen man and laid the gun back down in the dirt.

  He walked back to the porch and picked up his SigSauer, he raised his arm and pointed the gun in the general vicinity of where the man he had shot earlier had been standing and he squeezed off three shots.

  Dan didn’t want the Sheriff knowing that the dead man had been killed with Dan’s first shot, he didn’t want to raise the Sheriff’s suspicions any more than they were sure to already be.

  Dan turned back to the house just as Chloe stepped out on to the porch.

  ‘Great, toss me the clothes, then go back inside and call the Sheriff’s department.’

  Chloe threw Dan a pair of Levis and a dark blue ribbed t-shirt.

  ‘I thought it best to bring you a t-shirt, you’ll have gunshot residue up your arm.’

  ‘Damn baby, that’s quick thinking.’

  ‘Well I’m not just the best fuck you’ll ever have.’

  Chloe left him laughing and went to call the police department.

  Dan quickly pulled on the jeans and then carefully put on the t-shirt. He made sure not to let the shirt’s material touch his gun hand or forearm.

  Dan scanned the ground, he noted the spent cartridges, and the shotgun shells scattered around and nodded his head.

  ‘I think we might just pull this off.’

  Chloe came back out three minutes later and she picked her way carefully across to him. Dan looked at the black short-sleeved silk blouse that she was wearing and the black “ass-hugging” jeans that she had changed in to. He noted that the jeans had slightly flared bottoms and covered most of her high-heels.

  ‘Underwear?’

  Chloe unbuttoned the front of her blouse revealing her naked breasts.

  ‘I didn’t have time to get dressed fully officer, we heard intruders in the stables and I just grabbed what was closest to hand.’

  Chloe grinned mischievously. ‘If they ask that’s what I’ll say, but unless they’re perverts they won’t ask. Truth of the matter is, I wanted you to have something to look at while we wait for the sound of sirens.’

  Dan slipped the SigSauer in to the front of his jeans and reached for Chloe. She stepped in to his embrace and pushed up on the very tips of her toes. She snaked her hands behind his head and pulled his face down to meet hers.

  Chloe forced her tongue between Dan’s lips and kissed him hard.

  *****

  CHAPTER EIGHT.

  The first patrol cars pulled in from the highway thirty minutes after Chloe had made the call. Soon there was a procession of emergency vehicles bouncing down the track with sirens wailing and blue lights flashing.

  ‘You have our story straight?’

  Chloe nodded her head, she gave Dan one last lingering look at her bare breasts and then she buttoned her blouse. She made sure to leave the top three buttons undone.

  As the first Sheriff’s vehicle pulled to a stop she smiled at Dan and said, ‘I nailed that fucker didn’t I?’

  Dan glanced at the body parts sprawled in the dirt and nodded his head.

  An hour later and the sun had slowly started to climb out from behind the mountains and the first rays of dawn started to spread across the paddock.

  Dan could see Weiser pawing at the ground with one front hoof; the horse was near the fence and as far as Weiser was concerned his early morning apple was late in being given.

  Dan turned back to Sheriff Lawson.

  ‘I’m sorry Sheriff, can you say that again, I didn’t quite catch that. I guess I’m still a little shaken up by the events of this morning.’

  Lawson rubbed his eyes with the knuckles of his left hand and cleared his throat. He was sat on one of the long sofas in the main living room. Dan and Chloe were sat together on another sofa facing him, an ornately carved coffee table was between them.

  Lawson reached forward and picked up his mug of coffee, coffee that Chloe had insisted on making for all of the emergency workers, a gesture greatly appreciated by the mass of tired deputies, EMTs and the man and woman from the coroner’s office.

  Chloe had put on two huge pots of coffee once it was clear that neither she nor Dan were going to be arrested for what had transpired earlier that morning. So far the Sheriff and his team had taken their version of events as fact.

  Dan’s subterfuge appeared to be paying off and the two man and one woman CSI team had so far not found any evidence to contradict Dan and Chloe’s story.

  ‘I said that I should have called you late last night when young Mister Berg was released. There was always the very slim chance that he’d come looking for trouble.’

  Dan sat forward on the sofa, ‘I don’t follow you Sheriff.’

  Lawson sipped his coffee and said, ‘Berg has a history.’

  ‘What, he’s done this sort of thing before?’

  ‘No, no, nothing like this, after we arrested him earlier we ran his ID through the system. I have his file in the car.’

  Lawson excused himself and headed out of the room. Chloe turned to Dan and squeezed his hand, ‘I think we’ve struck it lucky baby.’

  Dan wasn’t so sure but he didn’t want to tempt fate.

  ‘I hope so.’

  Another deputy came in to the room and explained that he needed to do a sweep of the house.

  ‘Why?’ Dan asked with some concern.

  ‘Just a precaution sir, its standard procedure, it should have been done the minute we arrived, but in all of the excitement it was overlooked. I need to do it otherwise the Sheriff will have my ass served up on a plate by lunchtime.’

  Chloe stood up.

  ‘Sure thing deputy,’ she said, ‘I can show you around if you like.’

  ‘That won’t be necessary ma’am, until I’ve signed off on the form we need you to stay here, for your own safety.’

  ‘Okay deputy, we understand but really there’s no need for you to be concerned, the house is safe.’

  Lawson came back in to the room, he’d overhead Chloe’s last statement.

  ‘I’m sure it is Chloe, but Charlie here is just doing his job,’ Lawson shot a look at the deputy. ‘A job that he should have done the minute he got here.’

  Charlie reddened and suitably chastised left the room. He called out for another deputy to assist him and Chloe and Dan watched the two deputies heading up the stairs.

  Chloe sat back down on the sofa next to Dan and when Lawson wasn’t looking directly at them Chloe mouthed one word: arsenal.

  Dan squeezed Chloe’s left hand reassuringly, he’d had exactly the same thought, if the deputies opened the fake door then there would be some uncomfortable questions to answer.

  Lawson sat back down and opened up a manila file and started to read from its contents.

  ‘Okay, Douglas Berg, twenty two years old, from Boston Massachusetts. Picked up three times for possession with intent to supply, the first two cases were dropped, insufficient evidence, never even saw the inside of a courtroom but he served six months in a state correctional facility on a fourteen month sentence for the third possession count. Model inmate by all accounts, early release, couple of traffic violations and he was currently under investigation by the Feebs, doesn’t say what that investigation re
lates to. I put a call in to our local Bureau office but so far no one has got back to me and what with Mister Berg now lying in two pieces out in your yard I figure the Feebs will want a word with you both.’

  ‘That still doesn’t explain why he’d come out here loaded for bear, shit Sheriff, how’d he even know where to come?’

  Lawson looked a little uncomfortable and he rubbed at his eyes. It was a gesture that Dan had clocked Lawson doing several times this morning and even a few times the previous evening during the barbeque. Dan surmised that the Sheriff didn’t handle stress well, which seemed odd for a man in law enforcement, Dan stored this little observation away for later dissection.

  ‘It would appear Mister Berg came from money, within ten minutes of his admittance to the hospital he was lawyered up. An expensive lawyer from out of the state, refused to answer any questions until his lawyer arrived, which he did two hours later. His lawyer tore our case apart in minutes. Mister Berg wasn’t found with any drugs on him and a sweep by my deputies of the route that he’d run didn’t reveal any discarded narcotics. In the end all we could charge him with was a public disorder notice which carries a two hundred dollar fine, the lawyer paid up and Mister Berg was out of there. The piss-ant even threatened to sue the department.’

  ‘Again Sheriff, I don’t see the correlation between any of that and him turning up on my doorstep ready to do god knows what to us.’

  ‘Yeah well, it’s a small town Dan, it wouldn’t have taken much asking around to find out the name of the good Samaritan that had pole-axed him.’

  Dan nodded his head but he wasn’t entirely sold on the Sheriff’s argument. Dan had to wonder whether someone in the police department had given his name up for a little cash on the side. Not that it made any difference in the grand scheme of things but he would make some subtle enquiries in to the integrity of the Rockspur Sheriff’s department.

  ‘Would you like a refill Sheriff?’ Chloe asked and she got to her feet.