The Fiercest Enemy

by Rick Reed

  Jack saw a lot of blood on the ground. He hoped the knife hadn’t hit anything vital. The wound was trickling blood and she didn’t have blood coming from her mouth. The blade hadn’t penetrated a lung but she could still go into shock.

  Liddell said, “I’ll stay here and wait for Crime Scene.”

  Jerrell carried Shaunda effortlessly but quickly over the rough terrain. He slowed often to check that the compress hadn’t slipped. He never seemed to tire and he barely spoke except to assure Shaunda that she was going to be okay.

  Shaunda said in a weak voice, “I guess I’ll take that ambulance now,” and Jerrell grunted.

  Jack asked her, “What happened?”

  She took a breath, let it out and said, “I saw his trail.” She grimaced with pain.

  “Shut up, Shauny,” Jerrell said. “There will be an investigation. Don’t say anything.”

  “Screw that,” Shaunda said. “I didn’t do anything wrong. He attacked me with a knife and I shot him.”

  Jack ignored the stern looks Jerrell threw his way and asked, “You saw his trail. Then what?”

  “He came out of nowhere. I pulled my gun but he ran. I grabbed his jacket but he pulled away. I thought he was trying to get away.” She took a deep breath through her nose and let it out slowly through her mouth. “He could have got away. But he turned and came at me.”

  She stopped talking again and Jack let her rest. All the huff and puff had gone out of her voice. Jack understood the emotion. It had felt the same way the first time he’d killed a man. His strut and cocksureness evaporated like a bad dream leaving a fog of nightmares to be endured for years to come. It was one thing to carry a gun, another to use it.

  “It happened so fast. I thought he punched me. Then I saw the knife. We were right there…at that tree. He had this look in his eyes. He’s dead…isn’t he?”

  Shaunda’s eyes opened wide and she stiffened. “Where’s my gun?”

  “Don’t worry about your gun,” Jack said. “We’ve got it.”

  She relaxed and nodded. She tensed and said, “I feel sick, Troy. You’d better put me down.”

  Jack saw drops of perspiration were dotting her brow. Her skin was pasty pale. She was going into shock.

  Jerrell was on the same wavelength. “Are you thirsty, Shaunda?”

  She answered with a nod.

  “You’re probably going into shock. You need to relax. Think of something else. Think about Pen and how much she likes Tootsie Rolls.”

  Shaunda gave a weak smile and settled in his arms.

  “We’re almost there.”

  If she was going into shock they had very little time before medics would need to get her warm and start IV fluids. Jerrell picked up the pace, carrying Shaunda as carefully as if she were a china doll.

  Jack had slung the gun belt over his shoulder. He keyed the mic on Jerrell’s mobile radio. “Where’s that ambulance, Sergeant?”

  Crocker’s voice came back. “Just turning onto the tracks. We’ll be there in two shakes. How’s she doing?”

  Jerrell muttered, “How do you think she’s doing, idjit.”

  Jack keyed the mic and translated, “Make it one shake.”

  “Roger. 10-4,” Crocker said, and Jack could hear the siren growing closer and just as they made it to the railroad tracks he could see emergency lights flashing.

  Jerrell said with a shaking voice, “Don’t give up, Shauny. You’re going to be okay. I got you.”

  Shaunda let out a long breath, closed her eyes and lay her head on his shoulder.

  Jerrell picked up his pace again, heading down the tracks in the direction of the ambulance. He yelled, “Come on Crocker. Get the lead out.”

  When they met the ambulance the paramedics popped the back doors. Jerrell helped paramedics put Shaunda on the wheeled gurney and load her into the back. Jerrell climbed in over the medics’ protests. Jack shoved Jerrell’s gun belt in the back.

  Shaunda’s eyes opened as a medic hooked up an IV. “Asshole stabbed me,” she said. The medic was able to hook her to the monitors without removing the makeshift compress Jerrell had rigged.

  Jerrell tossed his keys to Jack. A medic squeezed in past Jerrell. As the other medic prepared to shut the back doors Jack could hear Shaunda ask Jerrell in a weak voice, “Where’s my gun?” and Jerrell’s answer, “Shut up and hold still girl.”

  Chapter 27

  Jack got on the walkie-talkie. “Murphy to Sergeant Crocker.”

  “Crocker,” the sergeant said.

  “Give any State Police or County Sheriff cars headed to our location a disregard.” He listened as Crocker passed the 10-22—disregard the run—on to dispatch and other units. He then said, “Sergeant Crocker, please give Crime Scene and K-9 my location.” Crocker passed the location on to Crime Scene and K-9.

  Seeing the knife sparked a memory of a past injury. He fingered the thick white scar that started next to his ear and ran down his jaw and chest in a jagged almost life ending wound. He’d gotten the scar compliments of a career criminal named Bobby Solazzo. A stakeout had gone wrong. Two robbers were exchanging gunfire with SWAT while he’d chased Solazzo down an alleyway in a blinding rain. He remembered a lightning flash and the glint off the blade of Solazzo’s knife as it came down across Jack’s face. The memory still made his blood run cold, but he’d gotten off easier than Solazzo whose head he’d blown away much like the dead guy that Liddell was body sitting. Jack remembered lying in the alley, watching his blood mix with the heavy rain. It was a nightmare he often had. Knife wounds could be as fatal as bullet wounds. Sometimes worse. Internal bleeding, punctured intestine, infections. It could all be bad. He would rather face a gun any day.

  He had to believe they had gotten Shaunda medical attention in time. The paramedic seemed to know what he was doing. Jerrell would keep her alive by sheer strength of will.

  Something nagged the back of Jack’s mind. When a case came to a positive result he always felt a rush. The bad guy was dead and maybe the cases were wrapped up but he didn’t feel the rush. Maybe it was because he knew Shaunda would be facing a shooting board and a lot of criticism. It was a sad comment on the public’s lack of belief in law enforcement.

  Unfortunately for Shaunda this had to be handled as if it were a murder investigation with her as the suspect. He and Liddell would be involved. Toomey would hold their feet to the fire. This is exactly what Toomey had hoped to prevent. Toomey had sent them to solve a case, not kill a suspect. Especially not their lone suspect.

  He called Liddell’s cell phone. When Liddell answered Jack said, “Pizza Hut delivery. I can’t seem to find your house.”

  “Oh, ha ha,” Liddell said.

  “I’m on the tracks,” Jack said. “Jerrell left with the ambulance and the prognosis is good. Crocker is escorting them. Crime Scene is on the way and K-9 will be coming. Watch your six.”

  “What about you, pod’na. You don’t have any safe place to hide when Rin Tin Tin gets there.”

  “I’ve got a gun and no conscience, Bigfoot. Just protect that scene as much as you can. Something’s bothering me about this.”

  “I was going to talk to you about that.”

  “Let’s compare notes later. I’m going to call Angelina and see if she has satellite imaging of this area. Maybe we’ll get lucky and she’s got the whole thing.”

  “Good idea. Warn her that I had to stop and take a number one in the woods,” Liddell said.

  “Great. We can get the photo blown up and hang it in the squad room.”

  “I’m sorry I mentioned it. I should have stopped Shaunda from going out on her own. I feel pretty bad she got hurt.”

  “She’s hard headed, Bigfoot. You couldn’t have stopped her without cuffing yourself to her. This is on her. The fact that we won’t get to interrogate this guy is on her as well. If she would have
stayed back and called for backup we wouldn’t be doing this. I just hope to hell this guy is guilty of something besides being homeless.”

  “It was a righteous shooting.”

  “Probably. I’ve got to go,” Jack said and disconnected as the K-9 and Crime Scene vehicles bumped toward him down the gravel.

  Rusty got out of the K-9 vehicle first and approached, followed quickly by both CSU officers, Rudy and Barr. Rusty didn’t waste any time. “Do you know where I’m going?”

  “We came out of the woods right here,” Jack said, pointing to a trail of blood droplets on the gravel leading back south. “Before you get going I need you to do me a favor.”

  Jack asked Officer Barr for a couple dozen marker flags in green, yellow and red. Barr got them out of the wagon and Jack handed them to Rusty. “Rinnie can discern between different scents, can’t he?”

  “Sure,” Rusty said.

  Jack told him about Jerrell carrying Shaunda out of the woods to the ambulance. He advised that it was just him, Jerrell and Shaunda and they’d stayed together.

  Rusty said nothing. Rusty was a man of few words.

  “Liddell is with a dead suspect. Liddell and Shaunda came across the tracks somewhere down there,” Jack said and pointed east. “I was with Chief Jerrell. After we found her we came out right here to the ambulance. She’s been stabbed.”

  Jack was kicking himself for not coming up with a better plan. They should have been able to see each other even if it was in the distance. The hitchhiker could have been just out of sight and they all would have walked right past him.

  “Shaunda split off from Liddell when they crossed the tracks. According to Liddell she was heading southwest. By the time your chief and I made it to the tracks we heard two gunshots. We rushed in and found her about a hundred or two hundred yards in there. There’s a huge poplar tree that uprooted. You can’t miss it. The body is by the tree.”

  “Okay,” Rusty said. “Flags?”

  “There are going to be several scents to track. I want you to mark a trail from here to the scene. Crocker was at the scene but he left to direct the ambulance in. I’m not sure what direction he took.”

  Rusty said, “I’ll use your scent to track back to the scene. It’ll be mixed up with Chief Lynch’s but that’s okay. What else do you need?”

  “Use green flags for the trail back to the scene. When you get there, you’ll be able to pick up Shaunda’s scent from her blood. Liddell can show you where she was. The body is near there. I want you to mark anywhere his scent takes you. His scent and Shaunda’s should be together from the scene back to where she said she ran across him. Then I want you to mark Shaunda’s trail from the scene back through the woods to the railroad tracks. Use green flags to mark our trail back to the scene, yellow flags for Shaunda and red flags for the suspect. Can you do that?”

  “I can try. It might take a while if a bunch of you were back there.”

  “Do what you can. She’s been hurt and a suspect’s been killed.” Jack didn’t have to say there would be a shooting board.

  “Want me to mark your partner’s path too?”

  “Not necessary,” Jack replied.

  Rusty raised a questioning eyebrow but didn’t ask. He put Rinnie to work.

  After the K-9 disappeared through the woods, Officer Barr asked, “What are you hoping to find?”

  Jack didn’t answer that question. He said, “Let’s give the K-9 time to work and then all we have to do is follow the green flags back to the scene. Which is good because I probably couldn’t find it again.”

  Ten minutes later Liddell called. “The K-9’s been here and headed out on another track.”

  “How is the K-9 doing?” Jack asked.

  “He had to take the dog about twenty yards away from here to get him on the scent again. Rinnie kept wanting to go behind the tree. The green flags end where we found Shaunda. He got on to the suspect’s scent but the dog kept going around the tree. Rusty had to bring him back towards you to get on the track again. He put red flags for the suspect and then the red and yellow seemed to come in together back to the scene. I can’t see or hear him anymore.”

  “Call when it’s okay to come to you,” Jack said.

  “Oh, and something else, Rusty said the K 9 wanted to keep following a scent south. I think the creek is back there. He hasn’t followed that up yet.”

  Jack thanked him and saw the Crime Scene officers had heard most of the conversation. They stopped and put their hard side cases down.

  Jack said, “I’m just trying to cover all the bases guys.”

  “Sounds to me like you don’t believe Shaunda’s story,” Barr said.

  “It’s Officer Barr and Rudy…uh?”

  “Rudy Pitzer, Agent Murphy.”

  “I won’t lie to you guys,” Jack lied. “In a case like this we are ordered to follow procedures. I have final responsibility for the case. I have to justify the shooting. Understand?”

  “Yeah sure,” Rudy said.

  Barr said, “It’ll speed things up for us if we know where everyone walked. We won’t have to search as wide an area as last time.”

  Officer Rudy Pitzer reluctantly agreed, but it was obvious he wasn’t happy with the idea of treating another officer like a suspect. “It’s a clear case of self-defense if you ask me.”

  Jack wasn’t asking him. These guys hadn’t been to the scene to decide what the case was. He hated lying to them. They were excellent Crime Scene officers.

  Jack called Angelina.

  She answered. “You didn’t leave a working radio for me and I didn’t think you’d want your cell phones ringing wherever the hell you are.”

  “We were tracking the guy that was seen out by the Humane Society,” Jack said. “I was hoping you might be able to do me a favor.”

  “Hold on,” she said and he heard keys clacking. She came back on the line. “I don’t have anything in the sky over the area where your phone is. What happened? Did you lose him?”

  “You haven’t heard?” Jack asked.

  “I told you. No radio. I figured you’d call if you needed my help.”

  Jack gave her a rundown. She said she would check to see if there were other eyes in the sky that had covered the area for the last couple of hours. She asked about Shaunda and Jack promised to keep her updated. He disconnected and called Jerrell who must have lit a fire under the ambulance driver because they were already at the hospital.

  “What?” Jerrell said. He sounded angry and exhausted.

  “How is she?” Jack asked.

  “Meaner than a rattle snake,” Jerrell said. “Tough as one too. The doctor said she just needs stitched up, plenty of liquids and they’re putting her on antibiotics overnight. The knife hit her rib. She was lucky. They want her to spend the night. I’m staying until she gets settled and then I’m coming back to the scene. Where are you?”

  “Still at the scene,” Jack said. “I’ve got Rusty marking the trail with different colored flags in case we need that for a shooting board. You know what kind of questions they ask, Chief. Do you need K-9 somewhere else?”

  “No. I don’t. Feel free to order my troops around however you want,” he said sarcastically. “You’ve got this under control. Find anything?” Jerrell asked.

  Jerrell’s voice wasn’t trembling like when Shaunda was being put in the ambulance. If Jack had any doubt about those two having a romantic history, there was no doubt now. Tears had welled in Jerrell’s eyes when he was carrying Shaunda out of the woods and he barely spoke. Not that it was a bad thing if the two were romantically inclined but their connection might have an impact on the current investigation.

  Chapter 28

  Jack and the two Crime Scene officers waited until they got the call from Liddell.

  “K-9 was here and left again. He wasn’t too happy.”

/>   “Not his problem,” Jack said. “Are we safe to come in?”

  Liddell answered, “Yeah, you’re safe, but I didn’t like the way that dog was looking at me.”

  Jack said, “Now you know how a double quarter pounder with cheese feels.” Jack disconnected and said, “Safe to go.”

  Officers Barr and Rudy picked up their cases and headed out. They followed the trail of flags with Jack trailing behind.

  “I read up on you this morning,” Barr said to Jack.

  “It’s all lies,” Jack said. “I was never there and I never had sex with that woman.”

  Barr snorted out a chuckle. Rudy grinned and said, “Spoken like a true cop. I wasn’t sure if you really were a cop until now. Any chance we could get FBI badges?”

  “Why would you want one?”

  “Chick magnet,” Rudy said.

  “You’re much better off just being a cop. Trust me. FBI stands for ‘Functional But Incompetent.’”

  “Federal Bureau of Idiots,” Barr pitched in.

  “Fancy Boys Incorporated,” said Rudy. “No offense.”

  “None taken.” Jack said, “My dad was a street cop for over thirty years and his dad before him. I’m mostly Irish with some Scottish mixed in. We came over from the old country. My great-great-grandpa was a horse thief. We had to move.”

  Rudy and Barr were laughing now. They told each other stories to kill the time and each story was a more blatant lie than the last. They saw Liddell waving them down.

  “Your chief should be back shortly and…”

  Jerrell came over Jack’s radio. “I’m back. I see Rusty heading this way. I’ll wait and see what he’s got and he can direct me back there. I want to be there when Barr does his thing.”

  “We’ll wait for Chief Jerrell,” Jack said.

  Crime Scene put on protective wear. Barr asked, “Did any of you touch the body?”

  Jack said, “No one got that close. The chief lifted Shaunda. I guess he was the closest. Maybe two feet away.”

  “The knife and the gun are the only weapons?” Rudy asked.