The Pale: Volume One, Jacob Long [best beach reads TXT] 📗

took a break. Lamont peeked over the hood of the car to see what was happening. It appeared that the gangster was distracted by something. He still stood in the doorway, but was not in an attack posture.

Seeing his opportunity, Lamont quickly choked down his nerves. He slipped the phone back into his jacket pocket and placed both hands steadily onto the grip of the pistol. The exposed shoulder was small, but still. For whatever reason, the gangster was completely inert, but Sergeant Fisher couldn’t expect him to just give up. He had a shot to take, so he rested his outstretched arms on the hood of the car, took aim, and fired. He knew the bullet hit its mark when the blood hit the doorframe and the perpetrator fell inside.

The thug was forced to duck into the house to avoid more damage, lowering his gun from Adam. The decision of whether or not to run had been quickly made for him. He put pressure on the wound and continued through the living room, hurrying to find the back exit.

Adam heard the gangster open the back door and slam it shut behind him. Then the officer shouted an order from outside. “Throw down your weapons and come out with your hands up!”

Adam looked into the eyes of his captor and released his waist. “Get off me.”

The thug did as he was told, what with the loaded gun aimed at his kidneys and all. Adam kept that gun pointed at him while standing. “Get on your knees,” Adam ordered. The thug complied, still cradling his burned palm with other hand.

“And don’t move,” Adam finished, gesturing with the gun.

“You won’t shoot me,” the thug tested. “You need me.”

Adam had started walking to the open front entryway but stopped to respond. “I was a soldier. There are lots of places I can shoot you without killing you and even more unpleasant ways to stop the bleeding.”

The thug seemed to take that to heart, so Adam continued to the door, pressing his back against the frame to minimize his silhouette. “Hey, out there!” he called.

“Who am I talking to?” is what came back.

Adam answered after glancing back at his captive to make sure he wasn’t trying anything. “I was in the house when those guys showed up. I’m not one of them.”

“Okay, where are they now?”

“One escaped out the back. The other one is in here with me. I took his gun. It’s safe now. Everything is okay. Are you really a cop?”

“I am,” the voice from behind the car answered. “I have a badge, and the other officers can verify my identity when they arrive. Is the other gunman alive?”

“He is.”

“Okay, then here’s what I need you to do for me: throw the gun out here where I can see it, then you and the other man need to come outside with your hands up, okay?”

Adam shook his head. “No, sorry. I can’t do that. I need some answers out of this man first. I can’t do anything else until I get them.” Reminded of that, Adam turned and quickly pointed the gun at the thug. He hadn’t moved.

Lamont took stock of his options for a moment, and then spoke. “You’re Adam Rodriguez, aren’t you?”

Adam’s heart skipped a beat. His face became tight with bemusement. “Who are you?”

“I’m a cop, Adam,” came the answer. “We’ve met before.”

“Two nights ago,” Adam said simply.

“Yes.”

“What do you want?”

“I want to talk to you.”

“Talk?”

“Yes.”

Adam caught movement out of the corner of his eye. He peeked around the doorframe to see the officer slinking out from behind the car. He held his arms above his head. His right hand gripped his service weapon firmly by the barrel.

“I just want to talk. Look.” Lamont took his pistol in the opposite hand by only two fingers and slowly pushed it back into his hip holster. “I want to trust you. Will you trust me?” He paced toward Adam with his hands at shoulder height.

Adam blinked in the noon sun. “Real pistol this time.”

The cop appeared embarrassed by the observation. “Yes. Look, your mother seemed to believe that whatever you were doing, you were doing it for the right reasons. I want to give you a chance to prove that. That’s why I’ve put it away.”

“You spoke to my mother?” Adam asked. “Is that how you found me? Does she know I’m alive?”

“No. Someone recognized you from a police sketch I had drawn up,” Lamont answered. “I spoke to your mother to see if you were hiding there, but I didn’t let on that I saw you. I saw your friend, Téa, in some photos there. After that, I found Téa’s last name by checking graduation records from your year. That’s how I found her house. It looks like I got here just in time.”

“You should probably see about becoming a detective and get off the beat,” Adam put in.

Lamont smiled affably. “Maybe. I got lucky.”

There was a silence. Neither man knew how they were supposed to move forward with this uneasy ceasefire.

“Adam, I want you to trust me,” Lamont finally said. “I know that isn’t easy, and I’ll admit that when I started looking for you, it was to take you down. I was scared and angry about what you did to my partner, but your mother helped me realize that no matter what you’ve become, you’re still just a man, maybe confused, maybe in a tough spot, but good underneath it all.”

Adam reflected on that. “How is your partner?”

“He’s okay,” Lamont said. “He’s doing a lot better.”

Adam nodded, his jaw set. “I’m glad. I’ve never done that before. He should be okay with some rest and food.”

“Adam . . . what’s happened to you? What was that?”

Adam shook his head. “I don’t have time to explain that to you now. I know the cops are coming here, whether because of you or because of the gunfire. They could be here any minute, and I still have to interrogate this guy.”

“Why did those men come after you?” Lamont asked. “What do you want to know from him?”

Adam swallowed the lump in his throat, and he had begun bouncing his heel restlessly while still leaning against the doorframe. He kept most of his body out of view, including the gun. He still didn’t quite trust the cop. It was becoming impossible for him to trust anyone. All the stress from recent events had put him back in the combative mind-set of battle. Adam finally decided he couldn’t keep fighting everyone. The cop wasn’t going anywhere, and Adam was running out of time.

“I think these men kidnapped Téa, and I think it’s my fault.”

“Why would it be your fault?” Lamont asked.

“I got into a fight the night you met me,” Adam answered. “It doesn’t matter. I’m running out of time. Can I get down to business?”

“Okay,” Lamont held his hands out in a calming gesture. “Do you mind if I come in? Maybe I can help you.”

Adam didn’t like it but said, “Fine.” He stepped from the doorway with the gun held down by his side. Lamont saw the gun but strode past. Finally, Adam turned back to his captive.

“What did you do with Téa?”

The thug looked at Adam skeptically. “Oh, you’re sure as shit not going to shoot me now, not in front of this cop.”

Adam quickly pointed the gun at him. “You underestimate me. He can’t stop me from shooting you. He doesn’t mean anything as long as you have her, and neither do you.”

“Hey, hey, hey,” Lamont cooed, gently placing his hand on top of the gun and pressing it down. “I’m here to help. Let me help.”

Adam looked at him and allowed the gun to drop, then Lamont turned to the thug. He dropped down to one knee in front of him. “All right, look, the police are on their way. You are going to be arrested. There’s nothing that can change that now, but you can improve your situation. If this girl dies, there won’t be any deals left to make, so you need to start cooperating now. It will improve your situation later if I have good things to say about you in my report.”

Lamont’s reasoning resonated with the thug. He considered it but then said, “I can’t tell you where she is.”

“You son of a bitch!” Adam pressed the gun against the man’s forehead so hard it tilted his head back into his shoulders.

“I can’t double-cross him!” the thug was quick to add. “If I tell you where to find her, you’ll know who he is, and no one rats him out. That’s how he’s avoided jail! You can’t guarantee my safety if I did. Even if he were in jail, he would be able to get to me, and he has people on the police force!”

“What?” Lamont asked.

“But my phone is in my pocket,” the thug continued. “You can call my boss. He will tell you where to meet if they agree to a meeting. You might be able to draw him out.”

Adam and Lamont looked at each other. Adam said, “All right, dial the number and give it to me.”

The thug did as he was told. Adam took the phone and put it to his ear.

“What are you going to say?” the thug asked.

“I’ll handle it,” Adam replied.

The phone only rang twice before someone answered. “What’s up?” a man’s voice asked.

“You Tweedledee and Tweedledum’s boss?” Adam said caustically.

“Excuse me?”

“The two luckless doofuses who said you were looking for me.”

“Are they alive?” the voice asked.

“One of them got away. The other”—Adam looked at the thug on the floor—“crash-test-dummy-looking motherfucker had an accident he didn’t walk away from. He said I was going to come with them whether I like it or not. It was the last mistake he ever made. So who the hell are you?”

The other end of the line was quiet. Adam was afraid the man was going to hang up. “Come on! You grabbed my friend to draw me out, so where can I find you?”

Another voice sounded in the background of the call. “Who is that?” it said.

“I think it’s who you’re looking for.”

“Give me the phone.”

After a moment of shuffling, the second person’s voice came on. He sounded younger than the first. “Hello?”

“Who’s this?” Adam asked.

“I’ll ask the questions.”

Adam shook his head. Whoever he was talking to wanted to get hurt.

“You looking for Téa?” the mysterious man asked.

“That’s right. If you wanted my attention, you’ve got it.”

He chuckled. “Ohh, I’m looking forward to meeting you.”

“Name the place, fuck-face. And Téa better be safe, or there’s nothing between me and you.”

“She’ll be there,” Adam’s nemesis said. “Meet us at Shredded. I assume you know where it is.”

“I’ll be there.”

“You involve the cops, and I’ll kill her. Don’t test me.”

The other man hung up, and Adam dropped the phone to the floor derisively. In the next heartbeat, he turned and clubbed his captive over the head with the butt of his own gun. The man folded over and slumped face-first into the carpet.

“Whoa!” Lamont was stricken. “Why did you do that?”

Adam gingerly got down on his knees over the prostrate thug and rolled the man over. “I’m gonna need energy.”

“Adam, you can’t be serious.”

Adam didn’t bother to respond. He held his victim’s mouth open and engaged the soul siphon like it was the most natural thing in the world, and it felt as much. Lamont watched breathlessly as the green miasma flowed from the thug’s mouth and into Adam’s. He couldn’t help but feel a little sick.

When seconds passed and Adam was still . . . feeding, Lamont asked, “Uhh . . . will he . . . die if you take too much of that out of him?”

Adam didn’t know. He didn’t care. He needed power, and the power of a human soul was intoxicating. It felt like it was filling a hole somewhere deep inside.

“Adam?” Lamont repeated.

The champion was still slurping away toward the bottom the well, and he was beginning to feel it. The sensation was in his ears, like the crescendo of sound that accompanies water being filled to the top of a bottle. The man was about to die. Adam knew that but couldn’t decide if wanted to let it happen.

“Adam!” Lamont shouted at the top of his lungs and struck the champion on the shoulder. Reluctantly, Adam choked off the process. He threw his head back, sniffled, and sighed heavily like someone who’d just spent too long underwater. The unnatural green glow had returned to his eyes.

Without preface, Adam checked the poor thug’s pulse. “He’s alive.”

“You can’t do this alone, Adam,” Lamont insisted. “Let the police handle this.”

Adam stood. “I don’t want the police anywhere near this. They get a whiff of you, and they might hurt her.” Adam’s gaze drifted away. “Or they might use her to escape, and I’ll never see her again.”

Suddenly, the champion of the Wheel of Fate looked at Lamont in a way the officer didn’t entirely appreciate. The gaze lingered like a hungry tiger’s.

“Okay, what is that look for?”

“I might need more energy.”

“What are you planning to do?”

“Whatever I have to,” Adam growled.

Suddenly, both men looked out the window. A police car was pulling into a parallel position in the street to serve as