Free I Hear Voices by Gail Koger Page A

back and I was still hacking.
    Bullets raked the asphalt around me. “Freeze or the next one is in your head,” a gravelly voice shouted.
    I staggered to a halt and raised my hands.
    “Drop the stun gun”
    I did.
    “Turn around.”
    Cautiously, I turned and groaned as Peg Leg Pete limped towards me. He was the worst of the bunch, a little rat-faced man with an explosive temper and a really big gun.
    Looking around for any sign of Pirate John, my eyes bugged in disbelief. Holy cow! It looked like a scene from an apocalyptic disaster movie. Dozens of smashed vehicles littered the smoke filled freeway. Panicked people abandoned their cars and fled down the exit ramps.
    Knowing Derek, he’d probably blame me for this mess. Okay, it kinda was my fault.
    “You fucking bitch!” Peg Leg Pete backhanded me, rocking my head back. The freeway danced around me, my vision misted over and I hit the hot asphalt.
    “You’re one dead bitch. I’m gonna gut shoot you. When you’re screamin’ real pretty, and beggin’ me to kill ya, then I’m gonna fuck ya.”
    His pecker was history. Pushing myself into a sitting position, I motioned at the traffic cameras and the multitude of helicopters hovering
    overhead. “You might want to rethink that decision. Cuz it’s not a real smart thing to do in front of all these cameras.”
    Peg Leg looked up and jaw dropped. “Fuck.”
    “Don’t you get it? We’re breaking news and the entire world is watching. And don’t forget all the people with cell phones who are downloading this to YouTube. Hey, it might even go viral.”
    “I ain’t goin’ back to jail,” Peg Leg screamed and immediately shot the crap out of the traffic cameras. He reloaded and emptied an entire clip at the news helicopters.
    Okay, he wasn’t the brightest bulb in the pack.
    Not only were the helicopters way out of range, they had telephoto lenses. Wiping at the blood dripping down my chin, I snarled, “Granny, freeze his nuts off.”
    “With great pleasure.” Granny Annabel grabbed his
    balls
    and
    the
    temperature
    dropped
    dramatically. Ice began to form on the roadway.
    Peg Leg Pete screamed and did this funky chicken dance, while frantically trying to reload.
    “I’m gonna kill ya! I’m gonna fucking kill ya!”
    “Drop the gun or I’ll do the world a favor and have Granny neuter you.”
    A Black Hawk helicopter suddenly swooped down and skimmed just above the wrecked vehicles. Derek’s commanding voice rang out, “Drop the gun!”
    I glared up at the helicopter. “I’ve got it under control.”
    Pirate John popped up from behind a black Escalade and unleashed a barrage of lead at the helicopter.
    Okay, maybe not.
    Bam! Bam! Bam! Bam! Bam! Bam! Bam! The Black Hawk’s machine gun turned the Escalade into scrap metal.
    I hit the deck and covered my aching head.
    What kind of idiot shoots at a fully armed military helicopter?
    The gunfire stopped.
    I popped my head up for a quick look. A dead idiot. I didn’t have to worry about Pirate John anymore. Nope. He was saying howdy to the devil about now.
    Derek, heavily armed and dressed in a black tactical uniform, rappelled from Black Hawk and landed lightly on the roof of a smoldering semi-truck. Every inch of him screamed predator.
    His merciless gaze locked on Peg Leg Pete’s bow-legged run for the exit ramp. Sloan pulled his pistol and fired one shot.
    Peg Leg screamed and crumpled to the asphalt.
    Damn, he had shot him in the good leg. Me? I’d turned his wooden leg into scrap lumber.
    “Drop the gun,” Derek shouted.
    “Fuck you,” the moron shrieked, firing wildly.
    Bullets zinged over my head. The way this day was going, I’d be dead by midnight.
    Unfazed by the barrage of lead, Sloan ducked behind a Buick and waited until Peg Leg ran out of
    ammo. He yelled, “Last chance. Drop the fucking gun or you’re a dead man.”
    “Save your breath,” I mumbled. “Numb Nuts isn’t gonna listen.”
    Numb Nuts rammed another clip in.
    Derek