veteran. While Isaac had believed the detective to be a glory hound, looking to cash in on a prestigious crime, all that went out the window once he made the connection between the bodies and Mendes’s tattoo. “What about the demon image cut into the bodies, Mendes? Recognize it? Los Demonios Pequeños.”
The detective’s eyes widened and Isaac was certain he saw tears now. The shaking of his gun hand increased. “No, man, no…I mean, yeah. I thought I saw the little demon in the pictures on your desk, on the girl, you know, but there ain’t no way. I didn’t do that shit.” He pointed at the body behind him, but his eyes never left Isaac’s. “Put the gun away and we can go back to the station and clear all this up, man.”
The plaintive whine in the man’s voice made Isaac grin. He nodded. “All right, let’s do that.” Isaac started to lower his pistol.
Mendes blew out a heavy sigh and dropped his. “Damn, man. You scared the fu—”
Isaac squeezed off a round. The muffled thump of the gunshot sounded loud in the desert’s stillness. The bullet caught Mendes in the hip and sent him stumbling. He tripped over the body in the bag and fell to his back with a grunt. Isaac closed on him, firing again as the detective squirmed to get up. The shot hit him dead center of the chest. Blood spewed from Mendes’s mouth as he gasped and collapsed onto the sand.
Isaac stalked forward, peering through the shadows that obscured Mendes’s head so he could end it. A muzzle flash brightened the darkness. Isaac felt something punch him in the chest, the impact spinning him around. He fell to his knees as a searing heat screamed to life, blurring his vision. Isaac tasted blood, gurgling sounds rising from his throat. His chest rattled as he breathed, and he could feel fluid filling his lung.
The heat spread from his chest to his cheeks as he realized Bane had shot him. Fury replaced agony. He raised his gun and fired once more at the killer, another flash going off at the same time. A gargled screech sounded from the shadows just as Isaac was hit in the stomach. The bullet crumpled him. His face struck the ground, dust and sand filling his nose and mouth as he struggled to draw breath. Isaac fought to raise his head, managing only to turn it slightly so he could see the soles of Bane’s shoes as they hung lifeless over the body bag that propped his legs up.
A cold numbness replaced the pain as Isaac stared, blackness eating away at the edges of his vision. He could no longer feel his legs as he willed his body to crawl, his arms limply thumping the dirt and raising tiny clouds of dust. He was going nowhere, so he gave up trying. His dimming gaze drifted once more to Bane. At least he died first.
Night closed around him and the world eased into silence. Isaac wondered what the morning news would say.
It was his last thought.
Chapter Seventeen
This is Jessica Rodriguez reporting from Far East El Paso County. We’ve little to go on at this time, but this isolated patch of land you can see behind me is where two El Paso police detectives met their end in what appears to be a tragic case of mistaken identity.
Sources tell News 7 that homicide detectives Isaac Grant and Javier Mendes were working the cases of Bane, the Toothpick Killer, and the Desert Ripper, respectively, when they were both led to this deserted strip of land by an anonymous tip.
The two detectives apparently stumbled across each other in the darkness, each believing the other to be the killer they searched for, and opened fire. Their bodies were found early this morning by a military convoy passing through the area.
El Paso Police Department spokesman, Adrian Sifuentes, called the two detectives heroes in the fight to rid El Paso of the…
Captain Garcia muted the television and leaned back in his seat. He watched as pictures of the detectives flashed across the screen, remembering both. Grant had no family, so Garcia volunteered to arrange his
The detective’s eyes widened and Isaac was certain he saw tears now. The shaking of his gun hand increased. “No, man, no…I mean, yeah. I thought I saw the little demon in the pictures on your desk, on the girl, you know, but there ain’t no way. I didn’t do that shit.” He pointed at the body behind him, but his eyes never left Isaac’s. “Put the gun away and we can go back to the station and clear all this up, man.”
The plaintive whine in the man’s voice made Isaac grin. He nodded. “All right, let’s do that.” Isaac started to lower his pistol.
Mendes blew out a heavy sigh and dropped his. “Damn, man. You scared the fu—”
Isaac squeezed off a round. The muffled thump of the gunshot sounded loud in the desert’s stillness. The bullet caught Mendes in the hip and sent him stumbling. He tripped over the body in the bag and fell to his back with a grunt. Isaac closed on him, firing again as the detective squirmed to get up. The shot hit him dead center of the chest. Blood spewed from Mendes’s mouth as he gasped and collapsed onto the sand.
Isaac stalked forward, peering through the shadows that obscured Mendes’s head so he could end it. A muzzle flash brightened the darkness. Isaac felt something punch him in the chest, the impact spinning him around. He fell to his knees as a searing heat screamed to life, blurring his vision. Isaac tasted blood, gurgling sounds rising from his throat. His chest rattled as he breathed, and he could feel fluid filling his lung.
The heat spread from his chest to his cheeks as he realized Bane had shot him. Fury replaced agony. He raised his gun and fired once more at the killer, another flash going off at the same time. A gargled screech sounded from the shadows just as Isaac was hit in the stomach. The bullet crumpled him. His face struck the ground, dust and sand filling his nose and mouth as he struggled to draw breath. Isaac fought to raise his head, managing only to turn it slightly so he could see the soles of Bane’s shoes as they hung lifeless over the body bag that propped his legs up.
A cold numbness replaced the pain as Isaac stared, blackness eating away at the edges of his vision. He could no longer feel his legs as he willed his body to crawl, his arms limply thumping the dirt and raising tiny clouds of dust. He was going nowhere, so he gave up trying. His dimming gaze drifted once more to Bane. At least he died first.
Night closed around him and the world eased into silence. Isaac wondered what the morning news would say.
It was his last thought.
Chapter Seventeen
This is Jessica Rodriguez reporting from Far East El Paso County. We’ve little to go on at this time, but this isolated patch of land you can see behind me is where two El Paso police detectives met their end in what appears to be a tragic case of mistaken identity.
Sources tell News 7 that homicide detectives Isaac Grant and Javier Mendes were working the cases of Bane, the Toothpick Killer, and the Desert Ripper, respectively, when they were both led to this deserted strip of land by an anonymous tip.
The two detectives apparently stumbled across each other in the darkness, each believing the other to be the killer they searched for, and opened fire. Their bodies were found early this morning by a military convoy passing through the area.
El Paso Police Department spokesman, Adrian Sifuentes, called the two detectives heroes in the fight to rid El Paso of the…
Captain Garcia muted the television and leaned back in his seat. He watched as pictures of the detectives flashed across the screen, remembering both. Grant had no family, so Garcia volunteered to arrange his
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