Chapter 32

I folded my hands behind me when I could no longer cover the door of the bar without turning around. I halted my steps a few feet from the mouth of the alley. I stepped into the light and crossed the street to re-enter the alley on the next block. While I made the crossing, slight turns of my head extended my peripheral vision enough that I could see there was no one around.

Before Jason died, I was the excitable kind when bullets were flying around. My body filled with manic energy as if I had been born to combat. Jason's death changed that; my heart barely registered the two murdered men I left behind. I walked in complete control of myself waiting for the scream of discovery that would shatter the silence.

The car was five blocks away; three down the alley and then two to the right. I stopped before I had to make the right turn out of the alley towards the car. I holstered the nines and stepped purposefully out of the darkness. There were only a couple of people around but they did not notice me. There was no one around when I arrived at the car. I leaned against it and waited for the Siblings. I had keys but being inside the car would make it too easy if I was already being hunted.

It was an unexpectedly long wait. Finally, the Siblings came from my left; my right hand tugged its nine free when I noticed they were not alone. I moved the gun slightly behind me to keep it out of their line of sight.

"Brother," Krista said meaningfully when the three of them stopped a few feet from me.

The Siblings stood between us as I studied their companion. He was at least six inches taller than me. He nodded as my eyes passed over him. He had the military's stamp of wide shoulders and chest that cut down to a lean waist and long legs. The buzz-cut with the diamond of hair at his widow's peak was a dead giveaway.

"Ranger," I said.

He nodded looking between the Siblings and me. He studied me but had a more difficult time deciphering the danger he felt in the air. The military was unable to carve me in its image; the two years away removed the other telltale signs. He looked at the Siblings again with some confusion in his eyes. I turned to study them also.

Their bodies vibrated like compasses between two norths. I wondered if it was actually Siblings that located new Brothers; except for Melisa every Sibling I met seemed to come with built-in Brother-dar.

"I'm sorry," I told the stranger. "We have to go so I can't give you the time to make a well-informed decision."

I moved the nine to where he could see it. The Siblings stopped vibrating as every muscle in their bodies strained. They made a choice, but their candidate was the one that had to live up to it. He took a step back and put his hand behind his back.

"Get in the car and live," I told him.

He drew a Beretta 9mm out and pressed it against his thigh in warning.

"I don't think so," he replied softly.

"You're not listening," I informed him. "I did not say 'Get in the car or die'; I said 'Get in the car and live'."

"There's a difference?" he asked in a hard tone of voice.

"You won't be dead when this car pulls away," I assured him. "But I wouldn't call what you do now living, and I would die before I went back to it."

I turned my head as a siren approached from the distance; seconds later, the Sibling's candidate cocked his head at the sound.

"I can only give you thirty seconds," I told the three of them.

Leeann, not being the type to waste time, grabbed his face and pulled him into a kiss that promised everything. I unlocked the car doors and opened the rear driver side. Leeann released him into Krista's embrace. Leeann was a good kisser but Krista was better able to explain clearly with her lips that when a Sibling promised everything she meant EVERYTHING.

I settled into the back seat and closed the door. Krista got into the driver's seat. The other doors opened. Leeann got into the backseat and the Ranger climbed into the front passenger seat.

"Are the cops looking for us?" he asked opening the window.

I almost smiled at what a pair of Siblings could accomplish in fifteen seconds; cock-logic is not always a bad thing to base a decision on. I waited for him to turn and look at me. I nodded to confirm his suspicions.

"Why?" he asked me.

"I just killed two rapists," I said pointing the nine at his back.

"Oh... yeah," he said. "They'd be looking for us after that."

He turned around and faced forward.

Men who have never worn it sometimes ask what it is about the uniform that turns a woman on. It is the look; a cut to it that screams male. A much larger part though is that a uniform is a statement of commitment; the ones who died for it far outweigh those that could not live up to it. Women find firm statements of commitment attractive. Leeann and Krista's warm smiles to their Ranger after his statement certainly illustrated their attraction for him.

I pointed the nine between Krista and the Ranger.

We were quiet as Krista took the scenic route to the funeral home. A beeline was my preference but it would have been a straight line for the cops to follow: the bodies, the car, and then the funeral home. Twenty minutes passed before Krista parked the car behind the funeral home.

The Ranger followed the girls inside while I stood by the building watching the street. The Siblings had their instructions. Krista opened the backdoor to signal they were ready ten minutes later. I walked inside and to the windows that let me see out to the street in front of the home. They had set up the oak box with Jason's gifts on a stand; next to it was a metal tray. I unholstered the other nine and put both on the tray. I felt the Ranger's curiosity when Krista picked it up and walked into the next room.

Leeann picked up the oak box and walked through a door opposite the one Krista used. I followed her until she entered a large office. She nodded towards a shower after sitting on the toilet with the box on her lap. I stripped and placed each item of clothing into a bin that had been provided. I scrubbed thoroughly before stepping out of the shower. The Ranger was in the doorway staying appraised of the action around him. I dried off carelessly and picked up the bin. Leeann led the way to the crematorium. I dumped the contents in and slid the panel shut. I walked backed into the shower and cleaned the bin off. I stood under the stream again just in case. I dried off more carefully this time. I carried the towels into the crematorium and dumped them in with my clothes. Leeann handed me a bag with a change of clothing. I dressed while she turned the burners on. I took the oak box from her and made my way back to the windows. The Ranger stayed with Leeann for a few minutes.

He walked up behind me as I was inserting the magazines into their slots on the holsters. The muffled scream of metal being sheared penetrated from the room Krista had entered. The Ranger nodded towards it.

"Destroying the guns," I said setting the box down in front of me.

I disliked taking the forty-fives from their resting place without an immediate use for them; Jason had carved the box himself. I crossed my arms and stared out the window. The only thing left was the wait for the lights and sirens.

"It's not easy to completely destroy guns," the Ranger said curiously.

"It's impossible to state 'this is the weapon that committed the murder' when you only have metal shavings," I pointed out.

He nodded while looking around the room. His eyes settled on the forty-fives.

"Very nice," he said not quite sure how to phrase what he really wanted to say.

I nodded.

"Isn't this a bit complicated for a pair of ass-wipe rapists?" he asked. "I would have done them with a knife or a small pistol in a dark alley."

"Anna would like you," I said with a smirk.

He looked questioningly at me but I shrugged off my remark.

"I didn't do it this way for those two assholes," I said.

"Don't tell me you're so well trained, you always have to perfectly cover your tracks," he said with a smirk of his own. "It's not that hard to get away with murder."

"I didn't do it this way so I could get away with it either," I said quietly. "It was worth my life to kill them. It is worth my life and it will always be worth my life."

"Then?" he asked.

"Only two men had to die tonight; I did it for the cop that has to walk through that door first," I said nodding towards the front door. "He's dead, so is the next one, and the one after that, and the one after that."

He stared into the street for a minute before looking back at me to continue.

"Military police have a combat mission. They protect bases and supply lines. Basically, they give grunts a safe place to sleep and eat," I reminded him. "I can't help but think of a cop like that; you know, like their soldiers. They deserve every opportunity I can give them not to face me. If they have to though, I'd like them to know that they should kiss their wife and babies goodbye first. I'm 'too well trained' for those kisses to be treated as a just-in-case thing if they come for me."

"You don't have to go that route," he said. "That's what lawyers are for, especially if you've left nothing behind."

"There isn't going to be a trial if they find me," I told him. "I had an eighteen year run-in with their system; it left me unfaithful to it."

He grunted.

"How are they going to know what's waiting for them if they come through that door?" he asked.

"Let's say you're a cop," I posed to him. "You come up on the two bodies I left behind in that alley. One got shot in the right eye, the other in the left eye. Two taps an inch apart to the victims' hearts. What do you do?"

"I pull my piece out, and call for all the fucking backup I can get to cover me," he said fervently.