Firestorm

Crawford always knew and accepted he might die violently, given the way he lived his life, but he always swore he'd never spend a day in prison or die by the hand of a woman. This was so damn unfair! He didn't deserve to die like this, shot by a middle-aged soccer mom. He had one more trick up his sleeve.

"Can I at least have some water? There's a bottle in the cup holder in my truck."

Karin thought about it. Could she be compassionate? The scene reminded her of a movie she watched with Bill and Anthony. 'Heat' starred Robert DeNiro and Al Pacino. DeNiro plays a bank robber who during a shoot-out has killed a number of policemen and Pacino is the Detective tracking him down. (Spoiler Alert) Pacino shoots DeNiro and as DeNiro is dying, holds DeNiro's hand as an act of humanity. Karin never understood that scene. She never felt any empathy toward the men she killed because they were all monsters. Men who preyed on weaker people. And this Alexander Crawford? Crawford dying meant one less monster in the world.

But it wouldn't be too terrible to relieve his dry mouth. Besides, maybe it will help him loosen his tongue, Karin had a few more questions. Karin walked past Crawford, kicked his Colt and knife away before opening the door to reach in for the water bottle.

There it was -- the moment Crawford waited for -- this moment. She was no different from the hundred pigeons who proceeded her. All those who were so easy to take advantage of because they were weak and willing to think Alex had some humanity inside him. Crawford couldn't see Karin but assumed she was looking inside the truck for his water bottle when he heard the door open. But instead, Karin was waiting to see what Crawford would do if he thought she wasn't paying attention. Crawford reached inside his boot for the little.380 ACP he kept there. He was pulling it out and turning himself toward where he thought she'd be standing, he was raising the little semi-auto as he turned; he heard Karin say, "you idiot" and everything went black as his head exploded from the bullet when it entered his forehead and mushroomed through his brain.

Karin checked the lifeless body, then walked over to her vehicle. The cell phone buzzed with an incoming text message from April. 'Got it -- call when u can'.

Chapter Fifteen

Karin made the call, April answered with the words, "Are you OK?"

"I'm fine." Then proceeded to fill April in on everything that transpired since dropping her off.

"Did he tell you where he hid the Harris kid's body?"

"I think so -- and the missing hiker."

April knew it was a thousand to one the missing hiker would still be alive but was still saddened when Karin confirmed the girl was dead.

"Crawford left a small notebook hidden here in the cabin. It's more of a CYA in case Perrison ever turned on him. There's nothing in here about the girl, but he does state Perrison paid him twenty grand to get rid of Harris. There's also a leather bag with some jewelry inside. Maybe it's Crawford's trophy case."

Karin was pleased. "Great work, April. I'm going to call Marshall Stephens and ask him to meet me out here. I'll have him pick you up on the way, bring the notebook, but don't share it with the Marshall just yet. I want to read it before it goes into evidence."

"Okay but give me another half hour before he picks me up. I need to dismantle a booby trap before I leave. I want him to pick me up at the State Highway just in case something goes sideways. I don't want anyone threatening me with a B&E."

As soon as Karin hung up with April, she dialed the Marshall and made arrangements for him to meet her after picking up April. She texted him the GPS coordinates and asked if he could keep this off the radio for now. "I'll tell you why when you get here." Stephens reluctantly agreed.

*****

The sky was darkening when Stephens pulled up with April. Karin reviewed the chain of events from the time Crawford's truck pulled up to Karin's vehicle until when Crawford went for his boot gun and was shot a second time.

Karin and April were concerned when the Marshall asked one of his follow up questions. "So, Crawford had thrown down his.45 and the knife before he approached you and you shot him the first time?"

"Yes, I gave him two warnings. He didn't hesitate as he continued toward me."

"Well, he outweighs you by a hundred pounds and he's got a clear history of violence. I'd say that's self-defense, his bare hands are obviously lethal weapons."

Karin was relieved. She had no doubt in her own mind that the shooting was justified and self-defense, but it would save a great deal of time and expense if the Marshall agreed and wrote his report of the shooting that way.

"I'd like to follow up with James Perrison before you go to arrest him. You're going to get a warrant for his arrest before you go out to his place. With what we found off the papers in Ted Harris' cloud account, Perrison has some locals, including some County officials, on his payroll. They'll try to warn him, giving him time to destroy evidence. If you show up because I'm calling you from his home, you'll have time to secure the premises."

Karin could tell the Marshall was debating with himself. He finally spoke. "I can't have you going up there and blasting his ass away. I don't want another shooting or death."

Karin shook her head. "I just plan to talk to him, not physically hurt him. What I want is for Perrison to sit in prison for the rest of his life. And not a Federal country club prison. I'm hoping the State has first crack at him for what he did to snuff out Ted's young life, think you can convince the powers that be?"

Stephens nodded. "I think enough people owe me favors we can make it happen. It would have been the same for this one had he lived." Stephens pointed at Crawford's body with his eyes.

"I don't think so. Crawford may have hated being locked up at first, but within a year he'd be wearing Aryan tattoos and terrorizing anyone weaker than him. His kind always find a way to prey on the weak. Perrison doesn't have the balls this one had."

April was listening to this exchange and finally interrupted. "How about I go with you?" she asked Karin.

Karin shook her head and pulled April to where they couldn't be overheard. "I'd rather you stayed with the Marshall. I'm going to be breaking in and I don't want any witnesses."

"So - you are going to kill him."

"No, trust me. I want him alive and talking. Give me the notebook you found in the cabin. I need to give it a quick read before I talk to Perrison."

April pulled the notebook out of her pants pocket and handed it to Karin. "Be careful."

Karin nodded, then spoke to the Marshall. "I'm off then, I'll call you to pick him up in a few hours."

The Marshall was already regretting his agreement with the PI. "Don't forget our deal, no rough stuff."

Karin held up three fingers. "Girl Scouts' honor." And took off with a smile.

April walked up behind the Marshall. "You can trust her. I've never known her to betray a friend; and you've made a friend."

For the next hour, April stood back, watching the Marshall take photos and processing the scene. It took two hours from the time Stephens called the County Sheriff's department before the coroner's wagon showed up to transport the body to the morgue. A deputy sheriff arrived minutes before the wagon, Marshall Stephens reviewed the photos and scene with the deputy and asked whether there was a need to secure the area any longer.

"What about his truck? Do you need a tow truck?"

"I'll drive it back." April offered.

The deputy was satisfied and, after arranging a search party at first light in the morning, left at the same time as the coroner's wagon. The County Sheriff was already on the phone with the State Police and Forest Service Rangers to have a team ready to find the two bodies in the gully.

A half hour later April followed the Marshall's SUV in Crawford's pickup out of the woods and toward town. As soon as she had cell service again, she checked her phone for messages and was worried when there wasn't anything from Karin. For the third time in the past two days April wondered why she let Karin convince her to separate. And for the third time she hoped Karin's luck would hold out.

Chapter Sixteen

Karin kicked the bed a second time, this time a little harder than the first. The bottle of sleeping pills and the bottle of Scotch next to the bed was most likely the reason she had such a hard time rousting the naked man.

Perrison opened his eyes, shaking the fog in his brain. "Who the hell do you think you are - breaking into my house?"

"Don't you remember me?"

Perrison suddenly remembered his nakedness but decided to act tough despite his discomfort because he didn't see the woman standing next to his bed as much of a threat. "Yes, now get out of my house before I call the Marshall."

Karin gave him a slight grin. "Why not call Deputy Lawson? I'm assuming you have him on speed dial."

Perrison was once again stunned. Earlier this afternoon the woman knew about Alex Crawford working for him, now she's telling him about Lawson. How much does she know?

"Maybe I'll call Alex." Perrison tried to sound threatening as he said it.

Damn, how she loved these assholes, always underestimating a woman. Thinking tough talk will scare or intimidate a woman. "Go ahead, give him a call. I'll wait." She threw him his phone that she found on one of his nightstands.

They both could hear the ringing until Crawford's voicemail demanded the caller leave a message.

Perrison left a short "call me" before pressing 'end'. Looking up at Karin, he said, "He must be out of cell service."

Karin's voice had a cheerful tone when she replied, "well, he's definitely out of service."

Before Perrison could make sense of what she said, Karin grabbed his phone now that it was unlocked. She took a step back to put some distance between them and with one eye on Perrison and the other on the phone, she scrolled through the log of calls to Crawford's number. She kept her gun pointed on Perrison. "What made you think I'd let you and your little sidekick threaten my son and his girlfriend?"

"I had nothing to do with that. Crawford acted on his own." Perrison kept up the banter as he made his plans to end this farce. "Let's say I know what you're taking about. Number one, I never threatened anyone. Number two, if you knew anything about my 'little friend', you wouldn't be sitting in my room making your own threats."

At that moment Perrison moved quickly, more quickly than Karin anticipated, but it didn't matter. As Perrison reached into the shelf on the far side nightstand, he came up empty.

Karin put the phone down and raised the Colt 1911 out of the back of her waistband; pointing it at Perrison. "Looking for this?"

Perrison thought about charging, but he was in no position to get to her, especially given Karin now had two guns aimed directly at his heart and she chose that moment to cock the hammer back on the Colt, the distinctive 'click' sounded loud in the room.

"Please Colonel Perrison, please make me pull the trigger." Karin said the word 'Colonel' with a smirk in her voice.

Perrison didn't move but kept his eyes open for another chance to get out of this. He now had the bed between him and Karin which didn't afford too many opportunities.

"Kneel asshole! And put your hands on the bed." Karin kept her gun pointed at Perrison's chest but lowered the Colt directly at his groin area.

Perrison did as he was told. Karin threw a pair of handcuffs at him and told him to put them on. As soon as they were secured, Karin released the hammer on the Colt and returned it to her belt behind her. She picked the phone back up and continued to scroll until she found what she was looking for. A call to Crawford the night Ted Harris disappeared, just about the time Geena told Marshall Stephens in her statement that her father returned early from his Seattle trip.

Best of all, an hour later, Perrison received a text from Crawford which read, 'done, get my truck and put it in your garage, back late tomorrow'.

Karin continued. "You and I are going to sit here for the next hour or so. Then Marshall Stephens will be coming to take you away. I wanted to take this opportunity to tell you why your life is about to turn to shit. Oh, by the way, Alexander Crawford won't be coming to your rescue, he seems to be having trouble breathing."

Perrison was sweating now, even though the room was sixty degrees. Not only was this little bitch smiling, but her words started to sink in: Stephens coming? Crawford having trouble breathing?

Karin interrupted his train of thought and explained. "Crawford and I ran into each other earlier this evening. When he tried to jump me, he made a huge error in judgement. I shot him in the gut. Then got cute and tried to pull his three-eighty out of his boot. Now he's dead. Oh, you want to know the best part? He had time to talk before I shot him the second time."

Now Perrison was really worried.

"Not that it mattered much, but it was nice to fill in some of the blanks. Plus, the Harris family will at least be able to bury their son.

"You, however, will be spending the next few decades in a State and then Federal Prison. You fucked with the wrong people. Your crimes up until now kept you under the radar. You were too small a fish to deal with.

"So, here's what we know: We know you paid Alexander Crawford twenty-thousand dollars to have Ted Harris murdered. We know about the bribes to the Afghan Defense Minister and your recent attempts to bribe the Malaysian Ministers. Both Federal crimes. Then there are the bribes made to the local county commissioners and planning employees, plus Deputy Lawson. Did I mention the fact Ted Harris' phone automatically backed up all its photos to the cloud? We have the photos he took the night you had him murdered."

Karin paused a minute to let it sink in. "The Justice Department and Army will be looking into your dealings while you were stationed in Iraq, some of the crimes you committed have no statute of limitation. Even if they have trouble making some of those stick, you'll be paying such high attorney fees it will make your head spin."

Karin stood up and walked around the bed to where Perrison was kneeling, his face twisted in agony. He knew he was royally screwed.

"You want to know the best part of all this? I made a deal with the Marshall. He's going to make certain you go to the State prison at Monroe for Ted's murder before you serve any time in a Club Fed. You'll be with the bad boys -- the white, brown and black gangs. If you survive that, then maybe you get to finish your life on Earth in a Federal prison."

"Why are you doing this to me?" Perrison was weeping.

"Your biggest mistake was fucking with my family! Because of you my son got jumped in the men's room and could have been seriously injured. Hell, the only reason you're walking out of this bedroom with your balls is because he'll be all right in a couple weeks."

Karin's cell phone sounded a notification of an incoming text. It was from Stephen's cell. 'just pulling up and coming in -- everything ok?'

'yes' she answered.

Stephens and April walked into the bedroom and April took the gun from Karin's hand. Karin relinquished both guns without saying a word, but she did give her friend a nod of thanks. Her blood pressure was high, her jaw was tight. She walked out of the room without saying another word.

"Do you need either of us for anything right now?" April asked the Marshall as the Marshall took Perrison by the arm, still handcuffed, and led him out to the great room where they could sit on the leather sofas.

"No, I'm good here. I called my old partner from the King County Sheriff's Office and he'll be here in another hour. I'll swear him in as a deputy and let him secure this place until I can get a search warrant."

"You'll want someone to secure Crawford's cabin. There's a gravel road that leads to it, I'll mark the entrance with a ribbon. I was out there earlier to have a look around. Check under the last two steps leading up to the porch. There's a booby trap there, an IED with enough explosive to blow someone's legs off. I disarmed it, but you'll probably want someone with the expertise to dispose of it."

Marshall Stephens shook his head in wonder, thinking, 'who is this woman'. What came out of his mouth was a simple, "Thanks, under the steps you say?"

"Yeah, I looked around but didn't find any others, but that doesn't mean there aren't others. I broke down the front door, to make certain the missing hiker wasn't tied up inside, so be careful."

The Marshall had so much on his mind that he didn't think to ask what April was doing around Crawford's cabin. That would come later -- maybe or maybe not. He heard the front door closing as the two women left Stephens alone with the prisoner. Perrison spoke for the first time since April and Stephens entered the house.

"Hello, Mark."

Chapter Seventeen

April wasn't surprised to find Karin sitting in the passenger seat of her SUV. She opened the driver's side door and hopped in.

"You going to be okay?"

"Yeah, give me a little time. It's starting to hit me now that the adrenaline is wearing off. I could keep it together when Perrison was loose. Now with him in custody, I'm trying not to cry."

April squeezed Karin's hand. "It wouldn't be the end of the world if you cried. Wasn't it just two days ago we talked about how hard it is to take a man's life? Only the two of us are here, I'm not going to judge you and there aren't any macho assholes around."

Karin didn't cry, in fact, she gave her friend a smile. "Thanks"

April headed down the drive, down the County road and into the drive toward the cabin. She stopped the SUV and put it in 'Park'.

Karin looked around. "Why are you pulling over here?"

April opened her door. "Wait here, I'll only be a half minute." April placed a ribbon on a branch, then stepped around the back of a huge pine tree twenty feet off the road. She returned holding two leather sleeves and put both on the center console. Karin waited patiently, April put the vehicle in gear and spoke as they headed up the gravel drive.

April pointed at the two sleeves and explained. "I'm going to return the notebook, put it somewhere half hidden so whoever searches the cabin is sure to find it. I'm keeping these two," indicating the two pouches, "one has a baker's dozen of what I think are Crawford's trophies, the other you should look for yourself." April handed it to Karin.

Karin picked up the two-pound bag, opened the sleeve and turned it upside-down into her hand. When the first two gold pieces fell out, she quickly lowered the sleeve's bottom to prevent any others from escaping. Karin brought the two coins up to look closer.

April spoke. "Krugerrands, full one-ounce. There are thirty-two in there, total worth in the neighborhood of sixty-thousand. I'm going to use them to pay myself and try to track what happened to whomever owned those thirteen pieces in the first bag.

"I thought about this ever since you told me about the hiker's body being dumped in the woods. That poor woman's family would have never known what happened to her if Crawford hadn't attacked Anthony in that bathroom. The only reason why Ted Harris and Mona Gomez's bodies were found is because you got involved."

Karin couldn't argue with April's logic, but she didn't have a chance to ask her follow up questions as they pulled up to the cabin.

When April jumped in the vehicle after returning the notebook, the two women discussed the ethics of keeping the gold coins and the trophies. Before they arrived back at the motel, Karin was comfortable with April's plan.