Two Wrongs Don’t Make It

The cop accelerated through the parking lot and radioed the waiting police cruisers supporting him. One responded. "Sir, given his profile, I'd bet he's going to fire road 12A. There's a plateau and a sharp drop about a quarter mile in."

"I'll go there first, L89, you come to 12A with me as backup as soon as you can catch up. Assign inspection of other fire trails to the other units. This is the killing time for the suspect," said the cop.

Spying Louise through the rear view mirror, he said, "Sorry ma'am. I'm Officer John Perkins. We'll find your sister but I need your help." His expression turned to disgust as he said, "You're under the influence, aren't you?" Louise looked down crestfallen and without a response. "Well, I'm not here about the drugs. I want to catch this guy before he kills again. I need you at your sharpest and not in a drug fog, you hear? We work as a team; I know where the fire trails are. You tell me when you see his van."

The skies had darkened and the moon was almost directly over them. The earth began its nightly cooling and a slight breeze was in the air. As Phil rounded a curve on the mountain road, he said, "Phyl, do you feel like doing something kinky? Let me show you what I've been thinking." Phil slowed at the fire trail marked 12A and turned onto the unpaved trail.

"I thought we were getting steaks. Knowing you, something kinky means taking my clothes off, right? Why not after we eat so I don't have to prim up again?"

"I just have a horny feeling just now, you know? Let's do this; it won't take long."

"You're such an animal. Why aren't more men like you? I just love you, Phil." She flashed a wide eyed appreciative smile at him and leaned over to message his lap.

Phil stopped in the road overlooking the plateau below. Putting it in park, they got out and he slid open the service door on the van's side. They embraced and kissed. They undressed one another. "What did you have in mind, Phil?"

"Have you ever been taped having sex?"

"No Phil. Never thought of it. So we had to come all the way out here to the woods for a camera?"

Phil watched Phyl getting naked. "You were so sexy in that outfit but sexier out of it." With their clothes in the car, Phil spread the blanket on the road in front of the van and positioned the camera to run. "I want to record your feelings. First, lie down on your tummy and put your hands by your side." As Phyl reclined face down on the hard ground, Phil sat his weight on her butt and affixed a plastic tie wrapper around one wrist. Phyl began to squirm. "What are you doing? Get off me." Phil forcefully apprehended her other wrist and bound it the same way. Then he affixed another plastic wrapper connecting the two.

"You know that girl in Colorado? Police say this is how he did it. I know you're upset but tomorrow we can watch the video and you can tell me how you are feeling."

"Get off me, you son of a bitch. I should've called the cops. Help!" she yelled repeatedly. Phyl thrashed her feet and tried to sway from side to side to throw him off but his weight and position were too controlling.

"You can yell all you like. Ain't nobody here," he said. Phil pivoted around and affixed the plastic straps to her ankles in the same manner. Then he got up, patched a square of duct tape over her mouth, and stood her up. The plastic between her ankles allowed Phyl to take only baby steps. He removed a flash light from his tool bucket, put the cam corder in the bucket, the blanket over his shoulder, and guided her by her arm through the leafy ground, down the hill to the plateau. Phil was fully aroused.

As soon as the headlights illuminated the van's reflectors, the cop turned off his headlights. "That's it! Officer, that's his van."

He pulled up behind the van, shut the engine off, and radioed something terse to the other officers. "You wait here," said Officer Perkins as he drew his service automatic. He proceeded cautiously toward the camera light, trying not to make a sound despite the leaves underfoot. He approached and saw only the bound, naked girl shaking violently on her back on top of a green blanket, with the scene perversely illuminated by light attached to the cam corder tripod. There was no one else in sight. The officer racked his brains trying to imagine the crook's next move. The muffled screams of the tormented victim masked the rustling sounds from down the hill.

Further down the slope, Phil grasped a tree root with his left hand as he lay naked on the itchy carpet of leaves. The slope continued thirty feet down to a creek, which rushed the mountain water noisily down stream. In the dark it could only be heard. A headshot was Phil's best opportunity. At the instant Phil squeezed the trigger, the root slackened violently, causing Phil to slide down the hillside another foot out of view of the camp.

BANG! The roar echoed through the forest. Officer John Perkins spun around and fell lifeless to the ground in the dark. Hearing only the muffled calls of her sister below, the rustling stream, and some leave rustling, Louise crept closer to the camp, but cautiously remained outside the illumination of the spotlight. She pulled out her pistol from the small of her back.

Phil climbed back up to the killing site and inspected the downed officer, picking up his pistol. "Phyl, I'm afraid we've got to move this party along because there will be lots of heat here shortly." He reached into his bucket and produced a dog leash made of chain. As he wrapped it around Phyl's neck, she emitted loud, muffled screams. The horrified look was what Phil desired. His penis stiffened as he applied the chain to ritually choke her. He mugged for the camera. With barely a touch, he ejaculated. Phyl's eyes rolled back into her head.

Forsaking stealth, Louise walked into the edge of the light and picture. "Let her go Phil and stand up." Shocked, Phil turned and slowly stood.

"Little sister? I am very surprised. I guess you came with the big bad cop. What is that, a .22? You can't stop anyone with a .22. You'll just piss them off. Then you'll be very sorry." He briefly glanced at the bucket containing two handguns while his calculated his chances.

"Don't! Don't move Phil."

Phil relaxed and flashed his woman killer smile. "Put it down, kid. Let me go and you won't see me ever again. I promise. You can have your sister back." Louise briefly glanced toward the downed cop. "Oh him, sure, they'll come looking for me but I never did anything serious. There's a hundred thousand of them. You might say I just culled the herd a little. Let me go, please? I'll give you half of my pills." His tone became more anxious. "Hell, all of them!"

"Did you kill that girl in Colorado?"

"No, those lying cops made..." with that Phil quickly bent down to retrieve his .38. BANG! "Oh, son of a bitch! What the fuck?" cried Phil as he bent to nurse the fresh hole in his lower left thigh. Recovering his thoughts and gambling again, he again reached for his old revolver. BANG! Phil collapsed to the leaf strewn ground as the mass of the bullet disjointed his right knee. "Stop it! Stop it! Please!" He cried in pain.

Red and blue lights in the trees above heralded the arrival of the first police cruiser. Louise ordered, "On your face, you bastard." He lay down next to Phyl, who scooted her butt away.

"Please Lou, I'm not going back to prison. Take my pistol and shoot me in the head. Please. Hurry. They're coming. They'll hurt me again. Shoot me, god dammit." Lou walked over and kicked Phil's bucket of tools away from Phil. "Kill me, you cock-sucker! You sucked my dick!"

Her face flushed with so much anger it throbbed. Her aim shifted to his neck and she compressed the trigger. One shot could rupture the artery to his brain and he would bleed out in minutes. There would be no stopping and no un-doing it. She gulped hard. Only a millimeter of trigger travel kept Phil from going to Hell this day. She took a deep breath. "I want an apology, a sincere apology. First apologize to Phyl and then to the girl you killed in Colorado."

"What are you crazy? The cops..." he said rearing his head above the leafy ground and enduring excruciating pain in both legs. "Okay, okay. I'm sorry Phyl that I was such an asshole. I am sorry Melinda Cruz in Colorado. There god dammit, now kill me."

"Sorry for what? You like long sincere apologies, remember?"

"Sorry for fucking killing her. Kill me you bitch! Don't you have any balls?"

The uniformed officer boldly approached with his weapon drawn. He took Lou's pistol and handcuffed Phil. Louise cut the plastic bonds on Phyl and wrapped her in the blanket. They hugged and cried all night.

Louise woke with a start, as if she had just dozed off momentarily. Confused, she looked around and saw her bedroom. Not the bedroom she shared at Ben's but her bedroom in her parent's house. There was commotion at the front door: knocks at the door, loud talking, and yelling. Shortly, her dad peeked through the open bedroom door and saw she was awake. "You should see the circus outside, Lou," said her dad. "A gaggle of the media is here. They all want to interview The Hero Bride. You're famous." He smiled. "Oh, the police called earlier; Detective Perkins will live. The bullet shattered his skull and he has a concussion, but he'll recover. I am so glad that my daughters are both home safe." He smiled again and closed the bedroom door.

"Thanks, dad." Lou walked numbly into the bathroom and closed the door behind her and lowered her head. She felt like crap. She looked up into the mirror and focused her eyes; the expensive hair-do had drooped, her face was drawn with dark circles under her eyes from lack of sleep, and still wearing yesterday's dirty clothes. She looked like crap. Louise reached into her pocket. Plop. Plop. Plop-plop-plop. Whoosh, went the toilet. No matter how stressful the wedding today or anything else, she would never use Roxi's again.

One sister saved; two enemies defeated. It's going to be a good day.

Author thanks those readers who complained previously when only the first scenes were published.