Suspect Zero Read Online Free Page A

hungry? I could use a bite.”

Chapter 4
    S uspect Zero parked the truck on the street next to an all-night convenience store. The parking lot was littered with broken beer bottles and strewn garbage from where someone had kicked over one of the cans. So many rocks had been thrown through the lighted sign over the door all Gabriel could read was NITE MART.
    Before the killer got out Gabriel said, “At least tell me something real. How long have you been doing this?”
    “Drivin’ this truck?”
    “You know what I mean.”
    Suspect Zero looked thoughtful.
    “I read somewhere that scientists reckon the first humans settled in North America somewhere between twenty and thirteen thousand years ago.”
    “So?”
    The killer smiled. “I figure I was about fifteen minutes behind them. Come on. Let’s get some grub.”
    “You sure you’re not a ghost?”
    “Cross my heart and hope to die. I’m just here like you, to take a walk on the wild side.”
    Inside the store a boy behind the counter thumbed through a motorcycle magazine. His acne was bad and he looked young. Gabriel wondered if it was legal for a kid his age to be selling liquor.
    “Where do you keep the Bud?” asked Suspect Zero.
    “Cooler in the back,” said the boy without looking up from his magazine.
    “Thanks.”
    The killer pulled the boy over the counter like he weighed nothing. He held him with one hand while he pulled a knife from behind his back and jammed the blade into the side of the boy’s throat. When he removed it, blood fountained from his neck, out and onto the liquor bottles behind the counter.
    The killer stepped back to the front door. In was the cheap aluminum kind with a lock on the inside. He turned the lock and tested the door. It held. Gabriel was surprised that no one in the store had noticed the attack, but it had been so fast and quiet.
    Off to their right, a couple was going through bags of potato chips. A lone man with his back to them was loading cans of soup into a plastic basket. Three teenage boys were huddled by the beer cooler, trying to block the open door with their bodies. It was the lamest attempt at shoplifting Gabriel had ever seen. Either they had no clue about what they were doing or they knew the counter man was scared enough not to stop them.
    Suspect Zero’s voice came from right next to his ear.
    “Good eye. I figured those boneheads by the beer would be good for you. Got your knife?”
    Gabriel nodded.
    “Here,” said the killer and pressed a pistol into the boy’s hand. “Always carry backup. I’ve got more. I think this is a garrote situation for me. Happy hunting,” he said. He pulled two small pieces of wood wrapped in wire from his coat pocket and quietly went down the aisle, making his way to the man reading ingredients on soup labels.
    The gun felt weird in Gabriel’s hand. He’d gone shooting with his dad, but he’d never shot anyone. He put it in his pocket and unsheathed the knife, heading for the back of the store. After all the bullshit and chatter in the truck, it felt good to move his legs again. He looked at the boys as they whispered and argued about who should carry the beer under his jacket.
    But he’d never gone for anyone he never knew before, much less three. He didn’t even know if they were armed. He looked over his shoulder and caught the killer’s eye. The older man gave him a smile and mimed slipping the garrote around the man’s throat and pulling. A man in his element. Gabriel breathed evenly, trying to match the old man’s ease.
    He caught the first boy in the right kidney, jamming the knife hilt deep into his back. The boy screamed and fell forward onto his face, beer bottles exploding under him. Gabriel looked at him. Guess he wasn’t the one who was going to carry. When he looked up, the other boys were frozen in place. He knew that look. The boys’ minds were still trying to understand what they’d just seen. One at a time they searched Gabriel’s face.