Free The Black Silent by David Dun Page A

another."
    "I told you to go after Sam." Prick's veins were bulging in his neck, but Crew refused to budge.
    Sam had disappeared out the door seconds ago.
    "Follow him, Officer, and put him in the car," Frick said to Crew. "That's an order."
    "Please stay," Haley said.

    "With all respect I think I should stay here," Crew said to Frick.
    "With all respect," Frick mocked, "get your ass after him. Your career is dead if you refuse a direct order from the officer in charge."
    At that moment Detective Ranken came in.
    "Ranken here will stay with me and Ms. Walther until Crew gets 'Mr. Multiple Names'
    handcuffed and in his cruiser."
    Crew looked worried. "I'll go check on him."
    "You go with him and make sure he does it," Frick said to Ranken. "And run a check on Mr. Robert Chase."
    "I thought you already did that," Ranken said. "And I thought I was staying here."
    "I ran the NCIC database, not WATCH. Run the state. That's an order."
    Ranken didn't hide his resentment, but he walked out the door.
    The instant Ranken was gone, Frick turned to Haley, who took an instinctive step away from him.
    "We have this little rubber room over at the jail and tonight, in the middle of the night, it's gonna be just you and me in that room," Frick whispered. "You don't want to be in that room with me."
    "I don't want to be anywhere with you."
    "That smart mouth won't last the night."
    Frick grabbed Haley's wrist, threw her to the ground, and twisted her arm behind her back. As she knelt in incredible pain, he got down on his haunches behind her, close to her ear, and applied more pressure on her arm. With his other hand on the back of her head, he shoved her face into the carpet. Pain turned to bursts of electrical agony from her twisting nerves and burning skin.
    Suddenly Frick released her and she heard an animal groan. Haley flipped to the side and saw Sam with his right hand like a claw burrowing into Frick's shoulder at the base of his neck. Frick contorted his face, unable to make a sound now, merely gasping as Sam pinned his gun in its holster with his left hand. Frick managed to take a swing and connect with Sam's jaw, prompting Sam to pull Frick's gun.
    "I'm gonna have to ask you to stop that," Crew said, back in the room, his gun aimed at Sam.
    "Sure." Sam stood down while Frick, looking crippled in the right arm, began swearing in long strings and massaging his clavicle area.
    "You're under arrest for assault," Frick said through gritted teeth. "Both of you."
    Haley scrambled to her feet, her arm still in pain.

    "Your fellow officer is abusing Haley," Sam said to Crew. "He's violating her rights and hurting her. What are you going to do about it?"
    "Stay right here," Crew said, sounding determined.
    "I will resume my questioning." Frick began trying to speak through the pain as if nothing had happened. "Take Mr. Chase here to the car. He's under arrest."
    "I'm not saying a word," Haley said.
    Crew lowered his gun. "I believe that ends the questioning."

CHAPTER 7
    B en rode on the flybridge of the Alice B. with his hands cuffed behind his back. Farley, the bigger fellow, and Morrison wore equally grim expressions, saying nothing.
    Although this was a drab morning that had brought dire circumstances, the small islands in this inland sea had not lost their unending charm. They had an aura of the wild and the naturally beautiful; the churning, flowing blue salt water running with the tides; the sheer, angled rocks plunging nearly vertically into the sea; the gnarled, old Rocky Mountain junipers and tall stately firs; the incomparable wildflowers and marvelous creatures both in the sea and out; all of it magnificent for Ben.
    With the ease of a practiced mariner, Farley activated the next waypoint on a route that would take them past the Wasp Islands. In the distance the isles looked like a flotilla of dark boats on opening day of yachting season.
    If he kept them on this route, they would travel on the inside of Jones Island and in about