Chapter XXII
lma had fired her own Glock 17 gen4 from her position on the floor. She had sat up very ungraceful and lady like on the floor, looking more like a stick figure than a female of the human species.
She then struggled to her feet. There was no doubt she was still dazed, seeing double, and quite dizzy, but she was still a snake with a very lethal ability to render death to anyone or thing she wished. "How are you still so lucky to be alive?"
William pondered the question, but didn't answer. He would, as he had on Mason, wait for his chance with Alma. But Alma was by this time twenty feet to his rear and he had not as of yet turned around. He figured Alma would just shoot him simply because of the damage he'd done to her already not so pretty mug.
If it was true that Russians held grudges, then William thought there was no way he'd get out of this building under his own power, but would probably be wheeled out in a black bag, the same as the other four corpses now becoming room temperature. He certainly figured there'd be trouble, and he'd prepared for every inevitable instance he could imagine.
But it's usually always the unknowns that takes a person out no matter how well prepared he is. What makes the difference is the person who use situations such as this to his advantage. That's what determines whether one survives or not.
So far, all the threats he'd encountered here had all but eliminated themselves. But, the worst, without a doubt, the most dangerous was now holding her Glock on him. When Mason died, William had relaxed. Now, he was trembling at the exertion of being wound so tight and holding it to the right moment. Somehow, he didn't feel as if he had a chance with Alma at his back.
He fully expected the next moment to be his last. He wondered if he would even feel the bullet as it struck his head. Would he hear the sound of the explosion which would send the bullet hurtling through his skull. Or perhaps the click as the trigger was pulled. "And why am I deliberating on ignorant stuff like this when my life and the life of my young son is at stake?" he badgered himself.
From somewhere, the voice of his baby boy had broken through his thoughts and was crying all out. He had to silence the little fellow before Alma had a chance. He spun suddenly, ducking to the left pulling his spare XD, snapped it into position aiming at where he thought Alma to be, but she was not there. In her stocking feet, she had moved from where her voice had been last heard.
It was a trick William had never encountered and took him completely of guard. Alma, bleeding down the front of her blouse was standing quite rigid although her eyes were trying to focus through half closed eyelids. He instantly became aware that Danny had roused and was sitting perched on the edge of the bottom step and was fumbling with something at his feet.
Before he stopped moving and being turned fully to face Alma, her Glock spoke but she was not the crack shot she was before he slugged her. A second and third time the Glock thundered, the shot coming close enough to Williams head he heard its angry buzz as it sailed past his ear burying itself into the wall behind him.
William was still moving in the direction in which the force of his spin had thrown him, and Almas pistol spoke twice more. William was amazed that in her shape she could even have the presence of mind to fire much less to keep firing. In the amount of time it had taken him to whip around, she had fired six shots. Her final and last shot struck Danny in the chest. Williams first shot took her in the head and she slammed back onto the floor.
Knowing that now, all threat had been removed, he moved toward the stairs to take care of Billy. He saw the case which had fallen into the shadows only by one corner and picked it up on the way to the upstairs office. Billy was now standing up and walking around wailing at the top of his voice. He needed some baby pampering and fast. William retrieved a diaper and a bottle of formula which was room temperature, just right to satisfy a hungry boy.
When he picked Billy up, he laid the case down and covered it with a corner of the blanket which was covering the corpse of Tessa. He then hit speed dial and and called Chief Coker. Billy was just barely finishing his cry when Chief Coker answered the phone. He heard Sharon gasp when she heard his voice and said Billy was with him. He requested they hold up on calling LEOS until they were here to help.
With Billy happily nursing away on the bottle he opened the satchel. It was the same case which Walter Bension owned and had placed the weapons several years ago. What a story of espionage, greed, murder, mayhem, treachery, vengeance, bribery and money these little weapons had to tell. William picked each one of them up and relived the moments in which he had used each one.
The last weapon, which looked like a flashlight he had only seen from a distance. And that was when Chief Amanda Williams had carried it up from the murder of the Kingpin. He'd never handled it personally.
The original discs with which he was very familiar were there as well. There were two additional sets, one of which had 'Dr. Knipel' on it. Billy, his eyes drooping, was happy for the moment anyway, and would be content for a little while. William carried the satchel downstairs to where a few old discarded tools were laying. He found an old tire iron, and began to smash the discs into little pieces.
Within a ten minute span he'd rendered all the weapons to nothing but mangled bits of iron, never to be reverse engineered or resurrect again. He raked all the pieces together after recording them on his camera, packed all of it back into the satchel. He set the satchel back onto the counter, walked back upstairs, and laid down with Billy clutched closely to his chest.
All of this was recorded by the camera system which had been installed just a week prior to Danny and his last trip there. Police Chief Clemens reached up and switched off the monitors. But he didn't shut off the recorder. The story was not over yet.
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