Lies that Destroy
Disclaimer: I do not own Good Luck Charlie
A/N: From this point on Teddy will go by her given birth name, April. To avoid confusion, it will change to that within both the narrative and dialogue.
Chapter 37 (State of Shock)
Michael was pulled up by Doug and took a few staggering steps as four patrol cars shot past him. "You good, Mike?" Michael cleared his throat and glanced towards his house, full of terror and anger. He remembered they still needed to take Bob out.
"I'm fine." No time to wait, and Doug understood this. Bob Duncan would die if he did anything to that family.
No, he would die either way. He'd pissed off every last officer, the order to shoot-to-kill had gone out a long time ago. This was the point of no return. "Let's get moving!" He narrowed his eyes and nodded. They broke into a run towards his house, where Bob smashed into the red Nissan parked into his driveway.
"My car! Again, Bob? Seriously!" Bob bolted from his car and ran into the house just as Doug and Mike made it to the front lawn. Several officers, the Commander and Captains, stepped from their cars and pointed their guns towards the house. Michael growled and fought back the panic shooting through him. "I swear to god he better not hurt them!"
"Normally I'd say don't go rushing in due to possible hostage situations, but…"
"You know I'm not going to listen." He shot past Doug and ran for his front door. Doug clicked his gun and ran after him while ordering all other officers to hold their ground. Several units sped onto the road, along with the remaining SWAT van. The officers started surrounding the house, but remained outside as pertaining to Doug's order, he did not want any more police casualties.
Once inside, Michael started scanning the surrounding with his eyes, growling out his irritation. Nicole ran into the living room in her purple silk nightgown, she put her hands over her mouth and tears started running down her eyes. "Michael? What's going on?"
"Go outside, honey." He didn't want to scare her, but it was likely too late for that. He knew Denise and Gabe were still in the house, he could hear Amato barking from their bedroom. This only meant one thing, Bob was in there. "Shit." He looked to Doug, who slowly nodded his head. Nicole started whimpering as he pointed to the door. "Don't worry dear, we'll handle it. Please go outside…I won't let anything happen to my family."
Nicole trusted him and hurried outside where some officers pulled her across the street. Michael cracked his neck and Doug breathed in deeply. "He's in their room, isn't he?"
"Sure sounds like that…just pray Amato keeps him at bay. If he does anything…I may need you to hold me back…"
"Got it…That's what I'm here for."
"Let's do this." He took off in a run towards his children's bedroom. The two burst in and found Gabe and Denise sitting on their beds, frozen in terror. Standing in the middle of their beds, right in front of a window, was Bob. He was holding a pistol in his hand and frozen in terror as Amato stood between him and the window, barking angrily. "Attempting to leave through the back window, I see…" Bob tensed and looked back over his shoulder, growling angrily. Michael whistled and Amato quickly darted behind him. "Your run ends here, Bob."
"Come quietly," Doug said with narrow eyes. The two trained their guns on Bob, both eager and ready to shoot. They didn't want to, but they would give him one final chance to let them arrest him. "Resist, and we will shoot you."
"I don't want to have to do that in front of my kids…but I will if it means protecting them." Michael wavered his gaze past Bob and saw several officers surrounding the perimeter outside. They'd caught up with Bob just in time, a second earlier and Bob would have managed to bypass all of them and run into the trees. "No narrow escape for you this time around, Duncan."
"Don't take another step!" Bob exclaimed. His right arm, the gun arm, was on Denise's side. Denise shouted something at him and Bob growled. "Shut up!" Michael's eyes widened and his finger steadied on the trigger, slowly preparing to pull back. Bob met his eyes and growled. "If you don't think I will shoot them, you're mistaken! I'll shoot them, I'll shoot you, whatever it takes to get the fuck away!"
"So you're resisting?" Doug asked. "You know you can't escape."
"I'm not going to prison, so fuck you! Fuck you and all the cops outside."
"You won't get far if you run, you know that. The whole of Colorado is looking for you. The country's out to get you." Not only that, but he'd pissed off the wrong people.
Michael wanted to tell his children to run, but he was afraid for them. He was afraid if they moved, Bob would kill them. They finally got Bob where they wanted him, though. If they shot him now, it would all be over. Outside, it was finally raining, as it had appeared to do just mere hours ago. "Bob, do you remember what I said to you a while back?" Bob looked to Michael and chuckled.
"What?"
"If you had either of my children in your house, if you laid a hand on either of them, I would take you in."
"So?"
"You had both, and here you stand in my house now, a danger to both of my children." Michael pulled the cock on his gun back, Doug followed suit. He narrowed his eyes and growled spitefully. "So you really don't want to piss me off. Make this easy on us. I'll gladly put my gun down and arrest you if you would prefer to be arrested."
"Fuck you!" Thunder clapped and lightning shot down outside the window. Michael's eyes widened as Bob began bringing his gun in. Denise let out a scream and Gabe threw his handheld console into Bob's leg. Bob screamed out and turned his head to Gabe, in the split second of distraction, Denise shot up and grabbed Bob's wrist, pulling his arm back and making the shot fire off into the ceiling.
"Denise! Gabe!" Michael screamed out and Bob quickly jerked his arm back, throwing Denise back onto her bed and against the wall. Anger spiked within Michael and he quickly opened fire. Doug followed suit. Gabe pressed himself up against his wall and watched with wide eyes. Denise opened her eyes and gasped at the sight.
Bob screamed out as their bullets tore through him. He stumbled backwards as blood splashed out from him. He staggered to the window and twisted around, slowly climbing, then falling, from the window. Michael and Doug ran for the window and watched with narrow eyes as Bob struggled to stand. There was a line of police and SWAT officers training their weapons onto him. Once Bob stood on his feet, blood pouring and dripping down his body, he eyed the firing squad with wide and fearful eyes.
Doug lifted his hand and let out a victorious shout. "Fire!"
"No!" Bob screamed. All weapons blasted out their bullets, riddling him and jerking him back and forth. Flesh and blood flew in all directions. The gunfire went on for a full minute until Bob's body crumpled to the ground, somehow the man had been able to withstand the barrage of gunfire for so long, but now, it was clear he was gone.
Michael breathed heavily as Doug looked back at him. Gabe and Denise charged from their bed and hugged his legs tight, both weeping and shaking. He heard a cry and looked to the doorway, smiling as he saw Nicole with her hand over her mouth. "You're safe!" She cried out. She ran up to him and hugged him. He hugged his family back, swearing to protect them.
"It's over. He's gone, he's finally gone…"
Doug cracked his neck from left to right, then fired one last shot into Bob's forehead. "That last one's for the Booth family," he stated. Finally the clouds of terror were letting up over Denver. With Bob gone, they could focus on repairing and moving on with their lives. "About damned time."
On the ranch, Frank Duncan peered up at the sky. His daughter, grandchildren, and great grandchildren surrounded him. They had been watching the news, terrified, like all of Denver. Though, in this instant, they felt a great weight fall from their shoulders. Peace struck his heart, and he slowly turned back towards his door, his eyes full of tears.
He didn't need the news to tell him what he knew, his son was gone. His daughter and grandson put their hands to his back and walked with him into the house. It was hard to be happy, but hard to be sad. For Denver, they were happy. He'd been given a choice, but Bob clearly chose death, rather than a chance to have a few extra years of life.
Flying towards Alaska, Ivy had been struck with a great sense of peacefulness that she couldn't quite explain. She looked to Emmett, who was sitting beside her, and took his hand. He smiled at her and she slowly put her head to his shoulder. As her eyes moved towards the aisle, her breath caught in her throat. Her parents were standing before her, smiling.
Was it truly over? They'd been avenged? They looked towards the plane's television screen where the news was playing. She followed their gaze and saw the news circling the Brown household. Someone was moving a blanket over a body, but it was the words on the screen that caught her attention.
Bob Duncan killed in high speed chase
Her heart swelled and Emmett squeezed her hand. No longer would anyone have to leave in fear of him! She wanted to jump and dance, to cheer, but she preferred the comfortable position she was currently in. A smile graced her lips as she closed her eyes and nestled closer to Emmett.
The Booth home was filled with silence and tears as Henry, April, PJ, and Skyler sat frozen in their seats. Their eyes were glued to the television screen, they'd been watching this chase from the moment it hit the international news. They couldn't believe where it ended, nor could they believe it was truly over.
April and PJ were filled with a great amount of peace, part of the nightmare had ended for them. "T-They got him," April uttered. "They really got him. I knew they would, but…they got him…"
"I know," PJ added, astonished. He shook his head in disbelief and felt Skyler put her hand in his. Now they could truly move on with their lives. They had to tell their therapist of this, the therapist would want to know exactly how they felt in this moment. "Chief Dooley, Chief Brown…they are incredible…"
Incredible? No. They were heroes. They never gave up, kept pursuing, and finally, they won! He wanted to faint, he wanted to scream, he wanted to cheer, but he could hardly budge. "The Monster is…dead…"
Elsewhere, in her jail cell, Amy sat with the spirit of Jasmine beside her. She'd been praying this entire time for the Denver police, since she'd heard the other prisoners declaring what was on the news. She felt a sting in her chest, followed by a calm wave of peace. She lifted her head up to Jasmine, but no words were said.
Jasmine slowly nodded, understanding what was in her heart. As they looked to the side, they saw Bob's ghost appear in front of them. His eyes were wide and terrified, his body completely red and covered with bullet holes. Bullets were falling from these holes, all clumped in the blood flow. When he saw them, his face twisted into extreme pain and terror.
He tilted his head back and let out a violent scream as a burning circle appeared around him. Amy and Jasmine held their breath and watched as the flames of Hell burst up from the circle and engulfed him. His scream echoed and intensified while his body began to melt down into the floor, sinking with the fire.
Soon, the vision was gone. Amy pressed her lips together and closed her eyes. "Let his victims, and the families of his victims, move along with peace." Finally, Bob's reign of terror was over.
*whistles* What did you think of that stand down? Lots of irony too, Bob smashing into Mike's parked car, and then he goes down completely amidst a firing squad waiting for him. Doug seals the deal and gives one last punch for the Booth family. You can feel the shock running through everyone as the realize it is finally over, Bob Duncan is gone. Three chapters remain