Dead Water Read Online Free Page B

friendship was
unbreakable.
    The
driver’s door to the patrol car slowly creaked open. A giant of a
man climbed out of the vehicle. His police cap was pressed flat on
the top of his huge, round head, the beak pulled down too far; the
rim almost touched the tip of his long nose. He was dressed all in
black, his police uniform immaculate – something Murphy would have
been proud of. From the passenger’s seat climbed another cop. This
one was smaller than the first, but carried in his hand a long,
black rod which hissed and spat tiny blue sparks. The back doors
opened on either side of the vehicle like a set of wings. The last
two cops climbed out, and I could see that one of them was female.
The four cops came forward.
    Standing
before us, the huge cop looked bigger, like some kind of freaky
giant. The other swung the Taser in his fist like a club. The last
two hung back.
    “ Who are you?” the giant cop asked, his dark eyes peering out
at us from beneath the beak of his cap.
    “ We’re cops,” Potter said.
    Now I
don’t know if Potter was being a wise arse, but all the same, it
seemed like a stupid thing to say.
    “ I can see that,” the cop growled, his voice sounding deep and
throaty.
    I saw
the two silver pips on each of his shoulders. He was an Inspector,
and he outranked Murphy.
    “ You’ll have to forgive Constable Gabriella,” Murphy cut in.
“He is still young in service. He obviously didn’t understand your
question.”
    “ How many ways have I got to tell you, Sarge – its Gabriel!
Gabriella is a freaking girl’s name!” Potter glared at
Murphy.
    The
Inspector looked at both Murphy and Potter in disbelief as they
stood and argued. “Listen here, you couple of morons, I couldn’t
give a crap what your name is. You need to get your act together
and smarten up. Just look at yourselves. You’re a complete
mess.”
    “ See, Gabriella, I told you you’re untidy and need to smarten
yourself up,” Murphy grunted. “But oh no, you wouldn’t listen to
me. And now the Inspector has seen you looking like a sack of shit,
and we’re both in trouble.”
    “ I don’t look like a sack of shit!” Potter snapped back at
Murphy, taking a cigarette from his coat pocket and lighting it. “I
wear my uniform with pride. Anyway, you’ve got no room to talk –
you’re wearing carpet slippers, for fuck’s sake!”
    “ Is this some sort of a joke?” the Inspector roared. “I don’t
believe what I’m hearing and seeing. How dare you stand there and
smoke...”
    “ Shit! I’m sorry, guvnor,” Potter said, taking another
cigarette from his coat pocket and offering it to the Inspector.
“How rude of me – I should have offered you one, too.”
    “ If you don’t fancy a cigarette, I’ve got a pipe you can have a
suck on,” Murphy cut in, fishing his pipe from his coat
pocket.
    The
Inspector looked at both Murphy and Potter as if dumbstruck. Then,
as if noticing me for the first time, he said, “And who are you,
the sidekick?” Unlike my friends, I wasn’t dressed in police
uniform.
    Before
I’d had a chance to say anything, Potter cut in and said, “This is
our prisoner. We’ve arrested her.”
    “ For what?” the Inspector scowled, and just for a moment, I saw
a spark of yellow glint in his dull eyes. Potter had been right. We
were fucked.
    “ For killing all those cops out here yesterday,” Murphy said,
now puffing thoughtfully on his pipe.
    The
Inspector eyed me up and down, then looked back at Murphy. “You
seriously expect me to believe that this young girl was responsible
for killing all those police officers yesterday?”
    “ Yep,” Murphy said, blowing smoke casually from between his
lips.
    From the
corner of my eye, I saw the two cops at the back reach for their
long Taser sticks.
    “ I know she doesn’t look like much, but you should see her in
action. Believe me she can be a real tiger when she wants to be,” Potter
smiled at the Inspector. Then winking at me, Potter