Disclaimer: I don't own Human Target and intend no copyright infringement.
"I still don't see why we can't simply call the police!" Ilsa insisted, practically yelling at Chance while he was already starting the van's engine. Guerrero hopped in, shotgun strapped to his back. Winston, already seated, was equally heavily armed.
"By the time we've explained all this to Peale, Aquam's and Wagner's people will have torn the Zodiac into little pieces", Chance yelled back over the roaring of the engine. Time was pressing, if they wanted to beat Aquam to the Zodiac they needed to leave NOW.
"And that would be a bad thing because...?"
Ilsa didn't get an answer. Chance put the van in reverse and raced off.
Winston and Guerrero, however, exchanged glances at Ilsa's question. She had a point.
... ... ...
The man who had called himself the Zodiac almost a lifetime ago, killer of at least seven people, resided in a suburb. Small white house, well-kept lawn, picket fence. No unnecessary flowers or decorative items. No pet. His neighbors would have described him as an unobtrusive elderly man, polite, rather introverted, but always friendly.
They found him on his couch, eating a microwave menu and watching TV. When they burst through the backdoor, he slowly put down his food, turned towards them and just stared, wordlessly.
They didn't waste time with introductions or explanations. In the five minutes before leaving, Guerrero had pulled "Mr. Kramer"'s file from the school records and found enough holes in his CV to support Shakeema's conclusion regarding his identity. Not to mention the purchase of potassium Guerrero had been able to trace back to him.
You don't kick in anybody's door, tie him up and throw him in the back of a van without at least a whiff of evidence. Mr. Kramer was stinking.
The plan was to transport him to the nearest police station that would withstand an onslaught from Aquam's and, a very real possibility, Wagner's people. Wagner was just as pissed off as Aquam. He had lost some good people. Competent employees were hard to find, damn it, and it wasn't that he could place an ad with LinkedIn, could he? Winston would handle the delivery, explain everything, Chance and Guerrero would stay out of sight.
The second they got into the car they heard the high-pitched screech of tires burning rubber on tarmac. Three black SUVs rounded the corner. Aquam's army had arrived.
With Chance at the wheel and the Zodiac tied up in the back under Guerrero's watchful eyes, they raced off. Guerrero had gagged their captive, too. No need for conversation with evil incarnate, especially not when people were closing in that wanted nothing more than punish him. As long as he lasted. Guerrero didn't need Chance to hear an elderly man's pleas for mercy. With a little luck they'd at least make it to the nearest police station. Unless…
More screeching tires. Wagner's people were coming from the opposite direction. Could that be possible? He and Aquam actually cooperating? Coordinating their actions? Two monsters, brought together by a third one. Well, the world has seen stranger things.
Probably.
All philosophical considerations aside, Chance had to make a decision, fast. Trust him to choose the craziest option. With one swift yank of the steering wheel he went off the road and straight through the neighborhood's pretty collection of backyard gardens, leaving a swath of destruction.
"WATCH OUT FOR THE SWIMMING…" Winston didn't get any further. Chance rushed past the above ground swimming pool of the corner house so closely, he tore its side open with the van's fender, flooding the house's lawn, the deck… and at least stopping those two cars that had followed them through the gardens.
Two less.
Chance managed to get back on the road, but unfortunately not to shake off their other pursuers.
If they called in the cops now, they'd have to answer all sorts of potentially risky questions. Not an option. The upset neighbors would see to that anyway, but this way they'd have a little more time. At least they had all attackers behind them now. Chance revved up and headed out of the suburban area, towards a more industrial one.
"Dude, I think one of the tires didn't survive the last picket fence." Guerrero spoke calmly, his weapon unwaveringly trained on the Zodiac, but the message alarming nevertheless. And yes, now Winston and Chance could feel it, too. The car was moving wobbly and it was getting worse. It didn't help that their pursuers were now shooting at them.
"Chance, there's a wall right in front of us … Chance … CHANCE!" Winston grabbed the passenger seat as Chance crashed through a gate boarded up with wooden panels, right into what looked like a former garage or factory. One of the panels broke through the window, shot into the car like a spear, left a deep scratch on Chance's face and dislocated his shoulder.
"You and Guerrero take the Zodiac, head out the back. You won't have much time before they've figured out where the back entrance is, but it's a headstart. I'll hold them back." Groaning with pain from his injured shoulder, Chance grabbed a shotgun from the back. The scratch on his face was bleeding quite heavily by now, blood impairing his vision. And as if that wasn't enough, the heavy impact of the vehicle colliding with the wood had also somehow injured his knee, he was limping visibly as he jumped out of the van, immediately firing a round at the approaching cars. With the weapon's blowback he was barely able to keep his balance.
"Dude, they'll stomp you into the ground! They know we're all here and have no means to use the girl as banter!"
"That's an army outside, Chance. And the police will arrive soon. They catch you with a shotgun…" Despite the circumstances, the fact that time was pressing, that they could all die if they didn't act fast, Winston had to swallow hard before he said the next words. Hell, he'd been a cop for twenty years and this was different than shooting a thug in self-defense. "He isn't worth it…", he finally said.
"If we throw him to the wolves, they'll make him disappear forever." Chance fired another round. His vision was swimming, not to mention the veil of blood that was leaving him half-blind. "The relatives of all those he killed will never find peace, knowing that the monster who took their loved ones got punished. And what about those killings that were only suspected? Those people deserve answers."
Fire from their attackers made them all duck.
"Leave!", Chance thundered. "NOW!"
Guerrero reached into the van and opened a secret compartment. The concealed door was a little difficult to open, thanks to the wrecked state of the vehicle.
"I'm going to make this easy for you, dude", Guerrero mumbled, wheeled around and shot Chance with a taser gun.
The electrodes hit him straight in the chest. Painless, but immediately immobilized, Chance went down like a ton of bricks. Winston, however, managed to catch him before he crashed to the ground. He had known about the hidden gun, and, the second Guerrero started groping around in the van's left corner, had seen it coming.
"Sorry, Chance", he mumbled, as he cautiously lowered him to the floor, making sure not to hurt him any further. Then he nodded at Guerrero, giving him the go ahead.
Guerrero activated his cell phone and called Aquam.
The Zodiac watched with eyes like dead fish.