Book Three: Part 6 - Facing Evil - Chapter 2

Thursday – December 21st – 11:59 a.m.

“I really appreciate this, Stan. I will call you on the twenty-four, the minute she’s out of the house so you can make delivery. The door will be open.

“Helluva Christmas present, Ed. Merry Christmas to you and yours.”

“Same to you, Stan.”

Ed got in his car and headed for the house. On the way, he called Baker on her cell. She picked up in the middle of the first ring.

“You two hungry?

“Good, get ready then. I’m about eight minutes out.

“I’m not picking the place. Thought it was Stevie’s turn.

“Ah, sure, I’ll hold.”

Ed continued driving on a very cold and somewhat windy day. Not much in the way of traffic to contend with, but it did begin to snow.

“Say what? Oh, I see. An extra passenger, huh? I don’t see why not. Tell Stevie to let Ellie know we are on our way. I can see the house from where I am now. So shoes and coats on, gang.

“Love you, too, Jan.”

Crosstown – 12:17 p.m.

“Officer’s requesting assistance. We have an armed robbery in progress.”

“Roger that. Your location?”

“Fifteenth and Banyon,” replied Prescott. “The victim doesn’t appear to be injured, but the assailant has hidden himself behind a green trash dumpster in an alley.”

“Roger that. Another unit has been dispatched and should arrive within two minutes.”

“What do you think?” asked Prescott.

“What do I think about what,” said Dianne Andrews. “The old man is safe in the car, but whoever that is in the alley is bound determined not to give up without a fight.”

“Yeah. How many rounds has he fired so far?”

“Not sure, but I think eight or nine. Wouldn’t surprise me if he has more than one clip,”

“He looked kind of young, too, didn’t he?”

“Looks can be deceiving, Johnathan, but he did look like he was still in his teens.”

Bubble lights flashing and that screeching sound of another black and white pulled up alongside their own. Two men got out and approached Dianne and Johnathan.

It was Stan McNeil and the new guy, J.W. Roberts.

“What have you got?” asked Roberts.

“Robbery gone bad. We happened along while it was in progress. The perp’s in the alley with no way out, and he’s armed,” answered Dianne.

Just as the words escaped her lips, several rounds were fired, bouncing off the asphalt and both police both cars.

“I have an idea.” Roberts looked at McNeil. “Cover my back. I’m going to cut across the street, circle around behind him and see if I can get access from one of those buildings to get in the alley. If I can, I can get the drop on him before he has a chance to react.”

“Hold on a minute. What if he decides to not let you play Wyatt Earp and give up all peaceable like?”

“If that happens, Prescott, then I guess there’ll be another dead cop to bury, or one less thief on the street waving a semi-automatic around like it’s his best friend.”

Just that quick, Roberts took off, and McNeil, Prescott and Andrews took positions and returned fire, keeping the thief pinned down so he couldn’t see what Roberts was doing.

Then it became quiet. Almost too quiet.

“Hey! Whoever you are in the alley, this is Officer Andrews. We can keep this up all day long, or we can call S.W.A.T. in here and let them take over. I’m pretty sure you know how they would handle this. They have a record for filling body bags. Give it up. Come out, hands empty and over your head!”

McNeil and Prescott looked at each other as if to say, “What S.W.A.T team?”

“Lady, kiss my ass. I go down, I go down!”

With those words, the teenager heard the fatal click of a gun behind the base of his left ear.

“If you don’t drop that gun right and hit the ground,” Roberts said tight-lipped, “you’ll go down even faster, and won’t even know it.”

The kid broke into a sweat and realized he didn’t want to die. All he wanted to prove to his friends he could be tough, like them.

Roberts knelt behind the young boy’s body, grabbed first the right wrist, then the left, and had him cuffed securely, as he yelled out, “I got him. You can come in. It’s over.”

On the ground, less than five feet tall, and maybe a hundred pounds, lay a thirteen-year old kid, who had tried to be a tough guy. Trying to prove to the world he has what it takes to be the baddest man in town. Now, he lay face down, sweating, having already peed his pants, soaked in the already snow-filled dampness of debris.

“Damn shame, really. No Christmas tree for you this year, kid.”

Dianne Andrews thought over what McNeil said.

No tree for me either.

Roberts and McNeil took the kid down to the station house, as Prescott and Andrews followed with the old man in the back seat to fill out a statement of what happened.

Hopefully, most of this mess could be straightened out. The rest, the court would decide on.

Inside their car, McNeil driving after booking Lansing Pike for attempted robbery, attempted assault on police offers and possession of an illegal firearm; he looked over at Robert’s and said, “If that kid hadn’t put down that gun, would you have blown out the back of his head?”

Without blinking an eye, J.W. said, “In a heartbeat. But it didn’t happen. The kid did the right thing, and so did I.”

McNeil felt a chill ripple through his body. He wondered if Roberts is a loose cannon waiting to explode.

Back inside the Twenty-Second, both Dianne and Johnathan; were finishing their paperwork. Getting a statement from old Mr. Walter Falls, who said he would press charges, but also said, “His damned parents are the ones need locked up. They ain’t raised that boy right. He has to pay for what he did to me, but his parents need to be punished right along with him.”