Lost At Sea - Arthur Limbada (cat reading book .txt) 📗

second movement, some of the men with faster reflexes were reacting. Laurence had his hand on his gun by then and Andrew was already drawing out his pistol.
The third movement was done faster than the other two. To an onlooker, it would seem that he had previously practiced that move over and over. The killer roughly grabbed the stunned Lloyd’s left shoulder and spun him around, pulling him towards him. While he was doing this Laurence had fully pulled his gun from his holster. Andrew was quicker. He already had his pistol in front of him. And he fired. It was a hurried gunshot so since he wasn’t standing properly, he got jarred back. But the shot did the damage. The bullet hit the criminal just below the right shoulder seconds before he pulled Lloyd in front of him.
And then he completed his fourth action. It probably was more difficult to complete than he thought it would be when he planned it, but he did it surprisingly well for just being shot in the shoulder.
He raised his bloody right hand, gripping the hand gun tightly in his hand, and placed it’s nuzzle firmly against Lloyd’s head. Despite just being hit, he kept his hand steady and surprisingly firm. He seemed impervious to any of the pain he was experiencing.
And then he just glared forward. Not at anyone or anything, just ahead. He completed the four movements and now he had a sure course for escaping. It was almost child’s play now.
Order Laurence and Andrew to drop their guns and once they’re on the floor, kick them away. Then he could order Laurence to pass the car keys to Lloyd. After that happened, he would manoeuvre Lloyd through the police station and out into the rain, all the while making sure no one came close to either of them or do anything to stop them. He would get Lloyd to unlock the car and then push him onto the seat parallel to the drivers. Then he would get in, the whole while pointing the pistol at Lloyds head. And then he could drive away. He wouldn’t be able to drive very far with that bullet in him though but he might be able to get far enough before he loses too much blood.
He would probably kill Lloyd. He had just killed someone earlier that morning and it didn’t seem like his conscious would stop him from killing again.
He could have done that but it didn’t seem to be his plan. Instead, he just stood there. Seconds ticked by that seemed like minutes. Andrew had regained his balance and trained his gun at the killer. Now it was two against one. Except that the one had a human shield. Gerald was feeling extremely out of place. He didn’t even bring a knife to a gunfight. More seconds passed.
Andrew knew that with the amount of blood he was loosing, the criminal couldn’t hold out much longer. He slowly walked a single step closer and spoke.
“Let go of the man, he said, you don’t want to do this. You are only making your situation worse.”
The killer didn’t respond. He continued to stare straight ahead of him, right past Andrew’s shoulder.
Andrew kept on speaking. Softly yet firmly. “Come now; put down your gun and we can work this out.” He slowly stepped closer. He was expecting a shout from the criminal telling him to stop moving but nothing happened. He took another small step. Several more feet and he might be able to touch Lloyd.
And then the criminal spoke.
He seemed as if he was talking to the wall behind Andrew. His voice was surprisingly calm for some one who had just gotten shot.
“Quit now Andrew Gray, or more people are going to get killed.”
And then everything was confusing again.
Lloyd was shoved forward onto the floor. Laurence saw his opening and he fired as soon as his partner was on the floor. His shot hit the right arm in an attempt to get the killer to drop the gun he took from Lloyd. But it didn’t. He noticed it as much as he noticed the first shot. He lifted his wounded arm and fired at the fallen cop in front of him.
And then it was just loud noises and blood. Gerald fled the scene. There was no need for him at the moment and he wasn’t in the mood to die at the moment.
He dived behind the nearest counter, closely dodging stray bullets. He slid across the floor until he smashed into his place of temporary refuge from the gun shots flying through the room.
The shooting continued on for what seemed to be half a minute, and then there was just silence. Gerald waited for almost a minute behind the desk before he got the courage to get up and view the carnage. The sight wasn’t pretty. Blood was everywhere. Lloyd was lying dead on the floor, dead. The criminal was on the floor behind him, riddled with bullets. Gerald counted twelve holes in various parts of his body. He spotted Laurence being helped out of the building. He seemed to have been shot twice in the arm. Unlike the killer’s, Laurence’s face portrayed the extreme pain he was experiencing.
Andrew was surprisingly unhurt. At least one of the bullets from the killer’s gun should have hit him. It seemed to be that the murderer purposefully aimed away from Andrew. Either that or Andrew was just really lucky.
Gerald watched him. He just stood there, leaning with one arm against a wall. He seemed to be deep in thought.
Gerald decided it was time to find a quite spot to do a bit of brain storming.
Chapter 7.

Tyron walked down the sunny street that led to the dead man’s cottage. As he came up to it, he noticed that there was a white car parked outside that hadn’t been there before. Andrew and Chevan were walking outside through the front door.
“Hey, did the CSI guys get here already, he asked?”
“No”, Chevan answered sarcastically, “the car belongs to the delivery boy. Oh no wait, you are the delivery boy! Did you get us what we ordered delivery boy?”
“Yes I did, but I don’t think I appreciate your tone very much young lady. Chicken and mayo for you Andrew, and Vegetarian for the Vegetarian”, he said as he tossed the two their sandwiches.
The three agents stood underneath the hot Bermudian sun, eating their sandwiches. After about five minutes they were done. Andrew received a call on his cell phone which ensued for about ten minutes.
Once he finished, he turned around and faced the other Chevan and Tyron. His expression was extremely serious.
And then he explained what he learnt from Gene.
First he described to them everything that he was told about what happened with Gerald and Terrance. But he didn’t stop there. He had more to tell them.
“Gene says,” He continued, “that over the past few months, there have been four murders in this area of Bermuda. This is very interesting since it is genuinely crime free and the hardly any murders happened besides these four. What is even more fascinating is that all of these murders were done at or around, pharmacies, and each time, items were stolen. I don’t know about you, but I noticed that Albert Guss had a lot of chemicals and pills around his house.”
“I mean, he already killed someone. I doubt that he would have much trouble killing other people. What I mainly want to know is that supposing Albert Guss killed all these people, if Henry Downing influenced or had anything to do with these murders.”
“If we can find a way to link Henry Downing and these murders, maybe we can find something, some kind of hint or clue, to discover what he had to do with the vanishing of the mineral, if he had any. So far, we might just be chasing a red herring for all we know. Hopefully this is not so, but we don’t really have any solid proof to say otherwise. We’re just working on what we have however. It will take some time still till the Crime Scene Investigators will be able to tell us if they found any physical evidence from the crime scenes, but till then we just have to continue to do what we have been.”
“Anyhow, Gene is working on getting all the information she can about those four murders, to see if she can match anything up. If these murders are related to the disappearance of the mineral, then maybe can discover the cause for the vanishing. Once we find the reason, then we will have a better understanding of the situation.”

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Text: Arthur Limbada
Publication Date: 08-20-2011

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