"Go get in the car," I told her.
Diana glared, "You go get in the damn car. I live here too!"
Whoever was in our house was still in there, I could hear them move around downstairs. I didn't want her in the house. I wanted her far far far away. I gave her a shove, "Go get in the car."
To my surprise she listened, I should have known better.
Instead I pushed the door open and slowly stepped inside, I could hear feet in the kitchen. What the hell could they be looking for? You didn't go on military bases for money.
Maybe they were looking for McKnight? After all he had a far larger fan club then I did. His room was also close to the kitchen.
With Diana no longer a concern I made my way through the dark house.
Through the living room and into the kitchen. A good-sized man was going through the cookie jar. It was full of bills, statements, extra checkbooks, and a couple credit cards that hadn't been activated. He was reading what looked like Diana's address book, for what reason I didn't know.
"Did you find the little shit's birth certificate?"
The man had a southern accent, but he was trying hard not to let it come out. There was a twang but he sounded each of his words out.
He turned, annoyed, "Bryan?"
"My birth certificate ain't here." I told him, wondering where the hell Bryan was. Scattered all over were papers from the Garfield Cookie Jar. The man dropped it on the floor and it broke, damn. Diana loved that stupid thing. But that thought was quickly erased when the man charged me.
A part of my brain kicked in.
It was as if he moved in slow motion, I could see things in the dark I hadn't noticed before. Like the man had a mustache, a bad one. Three tears tattooed under his eye. He had on black like all good criminals. He had pumped iron but was clumsy, somehow I knew this.
I let him come at me, when he was close enough I put my foot in his stomach and shoved him back! It sent the man to the floor and onto his back. Upstairs someone ran across the floor and down the steps, then stopped.
I looked back to the man on the kitchen floor and watched as he tried to catch his breath. But he rolled onto his feet while he did that, so he could fight, good.
I let him get up and come at me again.
The man swung at me once, twice, I blocked his third swing and put my elbow in his neck. He coughed and stepped back. I kicked his knee out, literally. The man fell on one knee screaming out in pain. I grabbed his head and pounded it into the side of the kitchen counter till he fell silent.
He fell in a pile out cold.
Where was the other guy, Bryan?
I made my way from the kitchen and toward the steps. Last time I heard him he was on the steps. I came around the corner and saw Bryan on his knees at the foot of the steps.
That did surprised me, Diana standing in front of him with a gun pointed at him didn't.
She stood out of his reach like a good girl. There was a little red dot on Bryan's chest from her gun. "Hoot, be a dear and turn on the light." I didn't argue. Instead I turned and flipped the light on, "Where are the handcuffs?"
"The bedroom," she told me.
Ah screw it, if they were down here I'd handcuff the one in the kitchen, but I wasn't leaving her alone with Bryan. I looked Bryan over, he looked harmless. Maybe 22 or younger, but in all black. A typical blue eyes brown haired kid. He looked from Diana to me, a red welt had risen on his cheek.
"Who the hell are you and why are you in my damn house?" she asked him, the kid didn't answer her but looked at me. Diana looked at me, "Hoot?"
"His name is Bryan," I told her, then asked him, "What you looking for? There ain't no money here kid."
He looked to Diana then me, "Where's my cousin?"
"Sleeping," I told him. Whether he though I was lying or not, I didn't care. I could have waited the kid out all damn night. Diana was less patient. She had learned gun safety from her father, when she pulled out her gun she wanted to shoot something. She was beginning to get ancy, trigger-happy you could say.
She fired two rounds into the floor a few inches from the kid. Which just scared the living hell out of him, he screamed like a little girl. Diana stepped up to him and put the gun to his head, "Look kid, the Military Police are coming, if I shoot you in my home they won't care, I won't care, Hoot won't care. Tell me what your doing in my house or I'm going to start shooting you."
Quickly the kid told her with tears in his eyes, "He told us if we found Norm Gibson's house and his birth certificate and anything else like that he'd give us a few thousand dollars. We didn't take anything valuable."
"Who was going to pay you?" Diana asked while I watched silently. She was doing fine without my help.
When the kid stammered she shot another round into the basement floor, though that bullet was much closer to the kid.
"My uncle," he cried.
Uncle?
"Your uncle better have a name!" Diana informed the kid.
I heard a car pull into the drive but knew it wasn't base police, with a quick look at my watch I knew it was McKnight. He'd just love this.
"Carter. Please stop shooting at me!" The kid began to beg, and then he began to cry.
Diana was growing more annoyed, but I didn't say anything. She then asked, "Does Thad have a last name?"
The kid nodded, tears were just streaming down his face, "Gibson. Look I'm sorry. I've never done anything like this before, ever! Please don't tell him you caught us."
Diana looked at me, both of us thought the same thing, I asked, "You related to Thad Gibson?"
The kid was surprised but nodded, "He's my dad."
Diana's eyes grew, I sighed and asked, "When did you call the base police?"
She looked at me, "A minute or two ago. Why?" Just then McKnight stepped inside and looked between the three of us, "What the fuck is this? Who the fuck is he?"
McKnight smelled of smoke, cigar smoke, Cuban cigar smoke.
I turned to McKnight, "Would you do me a favor?"
Diana was even confused, but was silent. McKnight nodded, "Sure, who the fuck is pretty boy?"
"He's my brother….theres'a criminal in the kitchen. If I drag his ass out here would you two say just he broke in? I wanna take Bryan home fore he gets in trouble."
Diana was surprised, McKnight wasn't, "All right."