Cop Killer 492j4w

CLARION REVIEW

As its title suggests, Michael H. Thompson’s debut novel, Cop Killer, packs a wallop. Set in present-day Portland, this slim novella of sixty-four pages is harrowing in its methodical, emotionless description of one man’s revenge. Through Thompson’s spare, almost journalistic telling, the mind of a killer with no doubts about his rectitude is depicted with unflinching, unapologetic candor. Thompson has created a powerful, timely work.

KIRKUS REVIEWS

Throughout the duration of this short story, Gabe’s anger seeps through the pages In the quickly unfolding plot, the tone is as precise, calculating and unforgiving as Gabe’s mission.

BLUEINK REVIEW

Thematically, Cop Killer is akin to the gritty “street lit” of Donald Goines and Edward Bunker. Thompson squeezes an immense amount of action into a mere 42 pages of text.

Cop Killer

Michael H. Thompson

Copyright © 2012 by Michael H. Thompson.

Library of Congress Control Number: 2012918501 ISBN: Hardcover Softcover Ebook

978-1-4797-2690-5 978-1-4797-2689-9 978-1-4797-2691-2

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to any actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

Rev. date: 02/22/2013

To order additional copies of this book, : Xlibris Corporation 1-888-795-4274 www.Xlibris.com [email protected] 123724

CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

CHAPTER 1

CHAPTER 2

CHAPTER 3

CHAPTER 4

CHAPTER 5

CHAPTER 6

CHAPTER 7

CHAPTER 8

CHAPTER 9

CHAPTER 10

CHAPTER 11

CHAPTER 12

CHAPTER 13

CHAPTER 14

CHAPTER 15

CHAPTER 16

CHAPTER 17

CHAPTER 18

Dedicated to my family

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

Acknowledgements to Xlibris Book Publishing Company. Special thanks to Sean Russell and his guidance in making this project just a little easier. Also, Sergio Lee in giving me my introduction to Sean and Xlibris books.

VENGEANCE IS MINE, I WILL REPAY

—Romans

For every cop that has ever taken advantage of somebody, beat ’em down or hurt ’em, whatever they thought was the reason to do it. For everyone of those fuckin’ police. I’d like to take a pig out here in this parking lot and shoot ’em in their mother fuckin’ face.

—Ice-T, “Body Count”

CHAPTER 1

A homeless man is arrested downtown for drinking in public. There is no resisting arrest and he goes quite peacefully and quietly. He is booked on a Friday afternoon but cannot be seen by a judge until Monday. There is virtually no criminal record on the man. The Multnomah County deputies could not care less. To them, everyone that comes in the Justice Center is guilty until proven innocent and treated in accordance. The man is a late stage alcoholic. He begins to develop great pains in his stomach in about 12 hours. It is soon followed by crippling anxiety attacks. Within a day he is in full blown delusional delirium tremens. He sees snakes and spiders crawling on his body as he scratches and digs his skin raw and bloody. The man starts screaming and a deputy approaches and asks what’s your problem with annoyance in his voice. He says he can’t keep them off me. The County cop responds with you are not helping your case pal, and walks away towards the other deputies on duty. They are all drinking coffee and shooting the shit. It does not take long before the man is having grand mal seizures, causing him to bite off his tongue. He soon dies in his cell. The deputies are in their lounge laughing obliviously.

CHAPTER 2

He was an alcoholic but that certainly was not who he was. Among being an extraordinary scientist in his field, Gabe’s father was also a decorated marine. He was honorably discharged after the Vietnam War. However, you would have never known. The man was a very gentle soul. In an attempt to be like the great man his father was, Gabe became an Army Ranger. He also was honorably discharged. However, Gabe was different. He was much more prone to anger and was not afraid to openly speak his mind. He had less patience on accepting life on life’s .

That Monday, Gabe gets a call from a County Deputy. He says your father died this weekend in the Justice Center. Gabe already knows what happened. He died while detoxing didn’t he? The Deputy says yes and there was nothing we could do about it. Nothing you could do about it huh? How about calling an ambulance you selfish mother fucker! He throws the phone as hard as he can and it shatters against the wall. He loved his Dad very much. However, was practicing what psychologists call tough love. His Dad was a very kind and generous man. Gabe could not bear to think how he was treated in lock up. This was a man who was once a brilliant physicist. His IQ scores were off the charts. Subsequently, so were Gabes. He thinks of how they mistreated, minimized, ignored, silenced and neglected him and becomes enraged. Gabe begins destroying his house. He pulls and throws his refrigerator to the floor. He starts punching holes into the dry wall, luckily not breaking his hand. Putting his elbow through double pane glass windows, bloodying his arm but not causing any serious injury. Gabe makes a conscious and emotional decision to take matters into his own hands. And he does

CHAPTER 3

Gabe was the founder of a securities and security software company which became very successful. He was independently wealthy. He had no wife, girlfriend or kids. He didn’t even really have any friends. Gabe was an only child and his Mother had died a long time ago of cancer. He had somewhat assumed that his Father had never fully gotten over the death of his wife. This was the main reason for his drinking Gabe rationalized. His Father was his only family left. He felt as if he had nothing anymore. A vengeful man with nothing to lose can be a very dangerous man. There will be blood for what happened, Vindicated unremorseful blood. Forget the attorneys. Forget the rights. The suits. The law. The law had already failed in letting his father die. This was Gabe’s gig. Who do they think they are? Who do they think they were dealing with? Thinking of his Father. Who do they think they were disrespecting? Who do they think THEY WERE KILLING! It was time to pay. If none of them cared about what they allowed happen, they were sure going to.

CHAPTER 4

That next early evening, as the sun set over the Coastal Range, the bats began to come out and chase down mosquitos with their sonar guidance. A small herd of deer began finishing their dinners before retiring for the night by the lake. California Buzzards stopped their soaring for the day and roosted in the Oak trees. A calm temperate East wind filled the air with the fragrance of Douglas fur trees. Amongst all this beauty, Gabe was studying his brutal assault. He was first going to have to find out which County deputies were working at the Justice Center the weekend his Father died. Gabe estimated that there were anywhere between ten to fifteen officers on duty. Having working in securities and security software, he was very computer literate. Gabe really did not have much of a ion for computers. It was just his business. In order to begin, he knew he was going to have to crack into the Multnomah County computer network. Gabe realized this was going to be very difficult but was confident he could Black Hat in. He had done some White Hat hacking to test a security system in making security software. Simply, performing penetration tests and vulnerability assessments. He had also had done some Grey and Blue Hat hacking. This was merely bug testing and notifying the that their system had been hacked. Gabe had about six laptops in his house. However, he was not about to plop down at one of them and start cracking into their network. He knew it was airtight and loaded with Honeypots which are traps set up by computer security personnel. Gabe began to think that trying to break into this secure network could leave a hell of an electronic trail. He decided he was going to try a little different strategy. Gabe was going to use a technique called social engineering tactics to get

enough information to access the network. This technique would require him to play a role with the system . Meaning, trick the into believing that it is someone safe or legitimate enough to give out network information. Gabe already had a plan. He made a simple recording using various television programs. He was listening for sounds of various crime scenes. Some public commotion, light sirens in the distance and law enforcement officers discussing the scenario. Gabe was able to make the recording simply and fairly quickly. It was a convincing recording. That, plus the character he had given himself, might be enough to manipulate the system . He went out and bought a new laptop computer, paying cash of course. Gabe then waited. He was going to use the Portland State University library to any information he could get off the Multnomah County Justice Center network. The library closed at midnight. Gabe was going to make his call at 10:30pm. When 10:30pm rolled around, he made his call. A woman answered who was probably just a County cop. Gabe hit play on his recording and then without hesitation went into his dialogue. Speaking loudly and urgently he said This is Detective Reynolds with the Portland Police Bure… . , wait hold on. No, No. Don’t touch a fucking thing! We’ve got forensics and ballistics on their way. Pretending to be talking to others on the scene. Gabe continued I need the to the County network. Well I’m not really supp… . wait no, Gabe interrupts. If there is a fucking strand of hair in there, I want it found. OK go ahead he says to the County deputy with expectancy. She was completely convinced and gives Gabe the . He writes it down but does not hang up right away. He starts yelling at nothing first and then hangs up, further embedding his character. Gabe quickly wipes the phone clean of any prints and pours a little bottle of ammonia on the receiver. He runs across the street into the library and punches in the . Gabe was in.

CHAPTER 5

All the security devices and programs in the world will not keep an organization safe if an employee gives away a . He had everything. He had all the pedigree information, pictures, addresses, work schedules, operating and radio frequencies. Most importantly, he had all the information he needed the weekend his Father died. His estimation was approximately correct. There were twelve deputies working in the Justice Center that weekend. Unfortunately, two of them were women. Gabe did not really like this idea. However, they were just as guilty in his Father’s death. Furthermore, they signed on to do this job knowing full well the risks Gabe justified. Luckily, it seemed as if the younger, less experienced County cops worked a lot in the Justice Center. Only two had kids and five were married. After he had written down just about all the information he would be needing, he studied their faces intensely. Gabe did this so that his assault would be 100% accurate and without hesitation. He knew he would not be visiting the Multnomah County Justice Center network again anytime soon. Afterwards, he wiped the computer clean of any prints and put on some gloves. There were not really many people around on campus at that time. He took the computer outside and began destroying it. Gabe then threw it in a dumpster.

CHAPTER 6

He went home with all his newly accrued intelligence. Here was the thing. Here is what would seem like the impossible. It would have to be done all in one night. If it were twenty or thirty deputies, it would still all have to be done in one night. If it were done in segments or pieces, this would only increase the difficulty. All forms of securities, surveillance, alarms, firepower, backups, dogs, attentiveness, alertness would all be magnified ten-fold. Technically, this was an extremely short lived serial killing. However, it would look more like a mass murder. First and foremost Gabe had to do some shopping to put it domestically. He picked up some motorcycle saddlebags, a motorcycle backpack, a small amount of kerosene and a little more ammonia. He put it all in the trunk of his car. Gabe needed a good knife. He had plenty that would do the job just fine without leaving much of a trail. However, he might as well just buy one. By doing this, he could keep his nice military issue blades which had some sentimental value. Besides, Gabe was so good and well trained with a blade he could have successfully used a basic pocket knife. Obviously, there are many ways to kill with a blade. However, there are some myths as to how to kill silently. Slitting somebody’s carotid artery in their throat is anything but silent. The enemy will gurgle and thrash around until the victim’s brains run out of oxygen. The same goes for the femoral artery on the inner thigh. Both are definite methods of a kill, just not necessarily completely silent. Gabe bought a large survival knife with a narrow pointed tip. This was important. Silence. Silence was going to be one of the main factors in his assault. If you want a silent kill, you gotta put your blade at the indent at the base of your enemy’s skull and slam upward at a 45-degree angle. The bone is thin there. You will scramble the medulla oblongata and the motor senses are cut off immediately. If done correctly, you will not get so much as a gasp or gulp from your victim.

Gabe now had to make some purchases that were not going to be quite as simple to accrue.

CHAPTER 7

Gabe was not always a successful productive member of society. After his Mom died, Gabe spent a lot of time on the streets as a late teen. He soon became strung out on black tar heroin and became a junkie. Luckily, all of this flew under the legal radar and Gabe never got caught or in trouble. If the case were different, he most likely would not have been accepted into the Army. He always bought his chiva which is the Spanish translation for tar heroin from Mexicans in Old Town. They were very good businessmen, straight up, no bullshit, and Gabe knew they could get guns. Plus, the guns he needed were not difficult to get on the street. They were very common. Obviously, Gabe could not use any of his own guns or purchase any legitimately. There could be no forensic trail. The guns he needed were a short-barrel 12 gauge shotgun and a .22LR pistol. These were not going to be used much in his assault but he would be needing them. Again with the silence factor, the .22LR is also called a “Hush Puppy” pistol. It is a subsonic suppressed pistol with the smallest amount of gunpowder possible. It sounds like a click not a bang. No silencer needed. With this weapon, noise from it are the least of your problems. It is more the involuntary noise from the dying body. For the .22LR pistol, Gabe would be needing hollow-point bullets. A hollowpoint bullet is an expanding bullet. The round will expand upon entering a target in order to decrease penetration and disrupt more tissue as it travels through the body. Also, these bullets will be important for Gabe because of their controlled penetration meaning they will stay inside the body. The last thing he needs is an exiting bullet hitting a car and setting off an alarm or something. Thus, these rounds will transfer all their kinetic energy to tissue damage, blood loss, shock and remain inside the body. Gabe took a couple thousand dollars in hundreds, got in his car and headed to Old Town towards the Max line Fountain stop.

CHAPTER 8

He spotted a dealer right away. He was a young Mexican man wearing a baseball hat pulled down low over his brow. They were always a little weary and tentative especially if they thought you were a cop. After all, they were drug dealers. Gabe gave him a head nod and got a head nod in return. He jumped up onto the bricks and stood side by side with him almost immediately putting the folded up hundreds in his hand. Gabe started Necesito un poco de barril doce escopeta calibre con tres proyectiles y uno .viente dos LR pistola con doce puntos huecos balas. Gabe suddenly ed he needed a stun gun, tazer as well. Ah y una tazer stun gun. He had it written all down for him in the money except the stun gun. He just hoped he ed. The man told Gabe espere aqui cerca de una hora o dos and left. Gabe was told to just wait there for an hour or two. Interestingly enough, Gabe also spoke Latin. The product of twelve years of Jesuit Catholic education. Ironically, he still was a practicing Catholic despite taking vengeance into his own hands. Gabe was not worried. Despite their profession, these were very good businessmen. He just sat their as told and watched the commuters. It must have been a little over two hours when a man approached. A different man carrying an old guitar case. Aqui amigo. Gracias Gabe said. He went back to his car and headed home.

CHAPTER 9

Back at home, Gabe inspected the contents of the guitar case. They did the stun gun, tazer. He was relieved. The shotgun was incredible. It was definitely a short-barrel but it also looked brand new. It was probably all they had available but Gabe just reaffirmed to himself what good businessmen they were. The .22LR looked a little rough around the edges but would do just fine. Plus, the ammunition was all in check. Just as asked for, three 12 gauge shotgun shells and 12 .22 hollow-point bullets. Beautiful. Gabe needed a bike. He could not buy one. It would have to be stolen. Gabe decided to case out the city. He put on his gloves, wiped all the prints off the guitar case that was containing his weapons and went back downtown. Gabe walked, took the bus and the Max line. While downtown, He threw the guitar case in a dumpster. He looked around. Here was the thing, he needed a fairly new fast bike. Also, he did not want the bike reported stolen for at least a few hours after it was taken. Gabe did have one bike in mind but thought it was an impossible long shot. He started heading back on the bus. He got off a few stops before he usually does. He had driven past this bike several times and always ired it. He was gonna take a closer look. It was a Ducati Desmosedici RR. A very fast bike. It was parked in the driveway. It usually always was during the summer. He inspected the bike as he walked past the house. And wait, the keys were in the ignition. The garage door of the house was open and the owner was obviously home. He must keep the keys in it while he is home because he is always riding it. Gabe did not see anyone around at the moment. He stopped. Thought for literally a brief second and headed for the bike without hesitation. Gabe pulled the keys from the ignition and kept walking. With any luck and luck was definitely going to have to be on Gabe’s side, the

owner would think he just misplaced the keys and not worry much about it. After all, the bike was not stolen. Anyway, Gabe was getting a little ahead of himself. He had much more reconnaissance to do before his active assault.

CHAPTER 10

As Gabe had read on the County network, there were twelve deputies on duty that weekend. He had all their addresses and work schedules and was going to scope out each house over the next couple nights. Only one house locked their front door at night. The back door to the laundry room was unlocked, either by mistake or lack of worry. Hopefully, by lack of worry. This same house also had an alarm system however was not activated when Gabe checked it out. It could not be stressed enough how much Ranger training facilitated this assault. Gabe was a ghost. If the alarm system was activated, Gabe could circumvent it. He would cut an alarm wire then retreat to a safe distance. The police would arrive and find nothing, decide that it’s an active failure, and tell the family to deal with it in the morning. After the police would leave, Gabe would have full access. Unfortunately, all this takes time and Gabe would be on a short time line. If both doors of this house were locked, Gabe had lock pick tools and it should not be much of a problem. It just takes time.

CHAPTER 11

After Gabe had scoped out the deputies homes, he walked by the house with Ducati bike again. Sure enough, the bike was still there in the driveway. This meant that the owner did probably think he misplaced his keys and was just using his second set. Good news. Hotwiring a bike like that would be very long and tedious. In order to hotwire, you find the starter wire and ignite it while bying the security feature of the key starter. Sounds simple enough. However, with the Ducati, it would take a fair amount of study of the bike’s electrical schematics. One more fairly easy task before his assault, Gabe drove to the airport late at night. He picked a spot about 100 yards out from a long term parking lot. It was a tall grassy area. Gabe began to dig a fairly large pit. This is where he planned to put all his equipment and set it on fire. Gabe had night vision goggles and looked around. He was looking for landmarks so he would be able to find the pit. Gabe walked back to his car which he parked a couple of lots down and adjacent to the lot in front of the pit. He did not want to leave any tire tracks. As he drove back home, he seemed to have everything in place he thought to himself. Gabe now had to look at their work schedules and plan a good night to attack. He had all the deputies homes in order of their closest proximity to each other. Their work schedules were sporadic. However, Gabe found a night that looked promising. Nine of them were not working on one evening. Two were working graveyard at the Justice Center but were off in the early morning before the sun came up. These were the two women. At the same time the women were off, one deputy was starting his shift. He would be working traffic on the 205 Glen Jackson Bridge. A popular speed trap. It was a good night because the bridge was close to the airport. This would

be Gabe’s last hit.

CHAPTER 12

It was going to be a couple of nights before Gabe’s assault. He took that time to get ready. He thoroughly cleaned the trunk of his car. Making sure there were no drips of kerosene or splashes of ammonia. He could have no evidence at his home that would link him to the attack. Everything looked pretty good. He took his motorcycle saddlebag and backpack and filled them with supplies. Kerosene, ammonia, water, two rolls of duct tape, rope, .22LR pistol loaded with hollowpoint bullets, shotgun, survival knife, stun gun tazer shoes and clothes. The nights ed and it was time for his attack. He left at about 1:00am, walking towards the Ducati. He carried everything, including his motorcycle helmet, night vision googles and two-way radio operating in a half-duplex mode to the same radio frequency that was on the schedule. These items were easily purchased and to common to trace the sale. Besides, they would all be destroyed in the fire. He was going to use a black motorcycle helmet lining as his facial camouflage. Gabe had wiped everything clean of prints. Now if his motorcycle keys did not work, he was going to have to postpone the assault. When he got to the Ducati, sure enough the key was going to work. He pushed the motorcycle about a block down the street before starting it. He turned it over and rode into the night. Gabe was off.

CHAPTER 13

His first kill was a single male. Gabe quickly scoped out the house. The guy was up late watching T.V. and drinking a beer. Girlfriend upstairs? Gabe didn’t know but it did not look like it. Gabe had parked his bike about a block away in the shadows and had got his survival knife out beforehand. He threw open the front door and approached the cop quickly. The surprised cop quickly stood up and feebly tried to defend himself. He threw a right handed strike which Gabe stepped to the side, grabbed his wrist and snapped it. Then, threw him over his right shoulder but he threw to hard. Gabe should have thrown him straight to the ground but he was so full of testosterone, adrenaline and rage that he threw him forward about seven feet. The County cop hit a wall and Gabe quickly pounced on his abdomen and slit his throat, severing his carotid artery. He sat on him as the blood spilt from his neck and he was done thrashing and gurgling. On to the next house. This was the home of the couple with the two kids. The front door was locked but it did not appear that the security system was turned on looking in from the window. Gabe walked around to the back door. It was open. He put on his night vision googles which he was wearing around his neck. He made his way up the stairs towards the bedrooms. One bedroom’s door was ajar. Gabe looked in. It was the children’s room. He crept inside and lightly stunned each kid and quickly taped and tied each one to the bed. Loosely yet securely. He went into the next bedroom which was across the hall. Both of them were sleeping on their backs. Gabe knew he had to first taze the woman to keep her from screaming. As he stunned her, the man woke up and immediately sat up. Gabe quickly leaned over the slit his throat in another frontal attack. As he was bleeding out, Gabe taped and tied the woman to the bed. Time to move on. The next kill was another married couple. Gabe crept into their room. The man was laying on his side with his back to the door. Perfect position for a silent kill. The second Gabe put his hand on top of the man’s head, he drove his knife up and into the guy’s brain. No sound at all. The wife was still sleeping soundly.

Gabe stunned, taped and tied and was gone.

CHAPTER 14

The rest of his kills in the homes went just as smoothly, except for one. The other married couple with a kid had a little dog. The dog started yipping the second Gabe stepped foot in the house and had to be tazed immediately. Luckily, no one was awakened. Gabe rode his way to the Justice Center. He parked a couple blocks down. He did not need to scope out anything. He knew it would be loaded with surveillance cameras, so Gabe stayed in the shadows. He had been studying which door the cops came in and out of on their shifts. So Gabe sat and waited. He was well ahead of schedule, at least by an hour and a half. As time ed, one of the female cops came out of the door. Gabe readied his .22LR pistol which he took out ahead of time. He had to get her right as she was getting into her car. Gabe could not leave a dead body right in the middle of the Justice Center parking lot. Staying in the shadows, Gabe stalked her to her car. He had to make sure that the women’s bodies got into their cars. Her car was facing him. As she pushed her unlock button and started stepping in, Click, Gabe shot her in the upper lip. Rangers are well renowned for their pinpoint accuracy with a gun. He quickly stepped over to her body, threw her in the seat and closed the door. Just as he was stepping back into the shadows he saw the other female cop come out the door. She started walking in the opposite direction. Shit. Gabe said to himself. He ran around to the other side of the building staying out of the light. He approached behind her as she unlocked and began to step into her car. Click. In the base of the skull. Gabe moved quickly, throwing her in her seat, and set off into the downtown night.

CHAPTER 15

The 205 bridge was to be Gabes’s final kill. As he approached heading southbound towards the bridge, there he was. He was sitting on his motorcycle with a radar gun. Gabe spotted him fairly easily through his night vision googles. He took the googles off. Then, took his shotgun out of his backpack as he was riding. Gabe held it on the left hand side of his bike. Gabe pulled up next to the cop and asked so what do they have you guys riding these days? Sir I don’t really have time to chit chat I’m on dut… . Shick Shick Boom! Gabe pumps the shotgun and sprays him directly in the face. The cop flung backwards against the guard rail and began to fall forward. Before he could hit the concrete, Gabe pumps the 12 gauge again and scatters him in the face. Shick Shick Boom! He drops the Shotgun because why not? It had no prints on it and not any trace to Gabe. Gabe sped down the bridge extremely fast. Any good Samaritan that saw what had happened and was going to try to tail Gabe was easily lost. There was not much traffic. However, the cars that were in the way Gabe weaved in and out of lanes around them. He was reaching incredible speed. Gabe got a funny feeling like the bike was trying to kill him for the sins he had committed tonight. The 205 Glen Jackson bridge spanned a little over two miles until the nearest exit. Gabe slowed down took the first exit. He headed straight for the airport.

CHAPTER 16

At the airport, Gabe parked in the same long term parking spot which he had purchased earlier. He found his way back to the pit he dug and began throwing everything into it. He first took off his gloves, his black long sleeve shirt, gray cargo pants and black boots and threw them in the pit. He poured ammonia on his hands and wrists and then water. He put on a gray button down shirt and khaki pants. Gabe waited to put his shoes on. He did not want to leave any shoe prints. Gabe thought about setting the bike on fire but what was the point? All it had was the victims blood on it and no trace to Gabe. Plus, it would just cause more attention. He doused the pit with all the kerosene he had, threw in the container and ignited it. The pit went up in flames. Gabe made his way through the grass, in the dark to a couple of parking lots down from where he parked and adjacent to the pit. All he had were his shoes and some money for bus fair. When got to the asphalt he put on his shoes and made his way to the Max line, all while staying in the shadows. At the Max line he was safe to be seen. Gabe purchased a ticket and got on the train. While riding home Gabe thought about the families he had to tie up. This made him very depressed. He was not a psychopath, at least not in the clinical definition of the word. He did have a conscience. He began to think of his Father. How he would never see him again. How he was all he had left. How he was allowed to die in that prison cell. He sank his head and gritted his teeth. He transferred from the train to his bus, got off the bus and walked home.

CHAPTER 17

At home, Gabe took all his clothes off and put them in the washing machine with some detergent and bleach. He took a long shower, thoroughly cleaning his body and went to bed. Gabe new he had to conduct business as usual. There could be no change in his daily routine. He set his alarm for 10:00am. When he got up, he called work and talked to the manager. He did this every weekday around this time and rarely went to the office. Gabe new it was just a matter of time before detectives pieced some things together and he became a prime suspect. A couple days later, Gabe gets a knock at his door. It is two detectives, one with a notepad. Mr. Sanders, I’m Detective Gill and this is Detective Swanson. We would like to ask you a few questions. What is this about? May we come in. Not until you tell me what this is about. So, you’re obstructing justice. Oh please, you can slap that charge on someone bumping into you on the sidewalk. That’s it. The one detective without the notepad reaches for his handcuffs. Alright you guys are here to collect some facts obviously. I’ll tell you whatever facts you want. Come in. Please sit down. Both detectives stay standing. They like to look down on you. Your pretentiousness and hubris wreaks of annoyance, Gabe says. Good, we will make a note of it. Where were you on the night of August 15th? Here, wanna ask my cat? No girlfriend or anyone with you? No, I just fuck my dog. You think you are pretty clever don’t you. No but I think you guys area couple of dipshits that my taxes are paying your salary. Alright, will you take a poly? Oh sure, why not. What the detectives failed to know was that Army Rangers are trained on beating polygraph examinations. We know your Father died in County custody. That’s right. Gabe said sternly. Well then we’ll be in touch. Don’t go anywhere anytime soon. I rarely leave the house. You can usually always find me here.

CHAPTER 18

Gabe did a polygraph examination, they did a search warrant, they phreaked his phone lines. Gabe didn’t care. They had nothing. No evidence. Their only lead was his Father. Weeks ed and Gabe decided to go downtown. The cops were irate in finding this killer but they were also scared shitless. They now traveled in packs of three or four. When everything came out in the press it was a media frenzy, locally, nationally and worldly. Gabe sat down on a bench near the waterfront. He watched the city churn and boil. He did notice something interesting. Cops were actually serving and protecting the public. This was something he had not seen since the 9/11 attacks in New York. He watched and noticed this on several occasions. Years went by and Gabe eventually got married and had a son. He named him Michael after his Father. There came times over the years where police would use excessive force. Shooting unarmed civilians, putting two dozen rounds in a mentally ill person having a schizophrenic breakdown and just plain inexcusable actions behind their badge. The consequences of all this was very simple. Gabe would kill them. x-x-x