Suspect Zero Read Online Free Page B

They want to know if they know me and I’m someone they have a beef with. He stepped over the fallen boy’s body and the nearest boy, tallest, reached under his jacket for something. He had the gun halfway out when Gabriel swung the blade across his body, hitting hard at the boy’s wrist and cutting deep enough that the tendons and muscles stopped working. The boy dropped the gun. Gabriel lunged for him while he was still in shock, stuck his knife into the boy’s belly, twisting the blade slightly as he pulled up so the wound wouldn’t close.
    He looked again. The third boy was running for the front door. Thinking he could push it open and escape, the boy bounced off the locked door. Screaming hysterically, he shook the door’s aluminum handle and clawed at the glass. Gabriel didn’t rush. He knew the boy’s mind was too far gone to figure out that all he had to do was flip the lock right above his head.
    It had taken Gabriel a long time to learn to throw the Ka-Bar accurately. It was heavier than most throwing knives and the technique was a little different. He gripped it by the blade and threw it hard. He’d never thrown a knife at anyone’s back before and for good reason. Just like he was afraid it would, the knife dug into the boy’s shoulder blade a couple of inches, hung there and fell to the floor. There was too much bone in the back. You’d have to be William Tell to make a kill throwing it there. Still the blow to the shoulder blade had sent the kid facedown on his knees. He was crying and screaming something in Spanish, snot dripping from his nose. Gabriel rushed him, but at the last minute the boy spotted the knife, grabbed it and held it in front of him. Gabriel tried to stop, but he slipped on the boy’s blood and fell forward, landing an inch from the blade.
    There was an explosion from behind Gabriel’s back and the boy’s body slammed against the door and slid down, a gaping hole in its chest. Gabriel looked over his shoulder and saw Suspect Zero leaning over the shelves a couple of rows back, his gun smoking. He nodded to Gabriel. Gabriel nodded back and headed to him.
    When he got to the killer’s aisle, Gabriel found the soup man on the floor surrounded by dislodged cans. His head was almost severed from his body. The wire had cut cleanly all the way through skin, cartilage and muscle. All that held the head attached was the vertebrae at the back on the man’s neck.
    The killer had the couple cornered at the end of the aisle. He waited there for him.
    When Gabriel reached him the killer said, “Good work with the boys. I know you would have finished the last one, but I had the shot, so what the hell.”
    “It’s cool. Thanks,” Gabriel said.
    “Glad you don’t mind some collaboration.”
    Suspect Zero turned his attention back to the couple. They were a couple of Goth kids, pale and skinny, dressed in shades of black and red.
    The killer said, “What are you in the mood for tonight?” He pointed his pistol at the girl. “White meat?” He pointed the gun at the boy. “Or dark?”
    Gabriel stood where he was, breathing hard. His throat had gone dry. He looked at his bloody hands.
    He looked at Suspect Zero.
    “I lost my knife.”
    “That’s okay. I’ll choose for you,” he said, and shot the boy between the eyes.
    Gabriel said, “I thought we were supposed to mix up how we kill. Guns twice tonight?”
    Suspect Zero showed him his pistol.
    “Different gun. Different caliber. Sometimes you have to improvise. I decided to do a quick one for you. Help you get your sea legs back.”
    The killer stepped aside, leaving Gabriel a clear view of the girl. He reached into his pocket for the gun the killer had given him. Gabriel took it out and leveled it at the girl’s face. She held up her hands in front of her, not whimpering, just making little animal noises. She might have peed herself, he thought. For just a second he was back at the reservoir looking into Penny’s shocked and