BLOOD AND VENGEANCE 2ND SNEAK PEEK

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Blood and Vengeance

(Encore Sneak Peek)

by

Keith Gaston (aka DK Gaston) & Keith Kareem Williams

Bible Thumper

Becoming aware of the approaching man, the posture of the officer posted outside the interview room hardened. “Who are you,” he barked, holding up a restraining hand that left no doubt he wouldn’t allow any unauthorized personnel inside.

“Special Agent Royce,” the man answered, three-fingering his cred-pack from his shirt pocket. He flashed his badge and ID card.

The officer scrutinized the credentials. “DOJID? Never heard of it.”

Mechanically, Royce answered, “Department of Justice Infringement Division.” The officer’s curious response hadn’t surprised him at all. He’d been getting that same reaction a lot lately. The agency was only three weeks old, and he, its only field agent. “It’s fairly new. Just more letters to include in the federal law enforcement alphabet soup.”

“I’m not sure I’m supposed to let you inside. Maybe I should check with one of the detectives involved with the case first,” the officer said scratching his head.

Royce read the name tag above the officer’s breast pocket and then produced some paperwork from somewhere inside his suit jacket. “Look, Northouse. This paperwork authorizes me to do whatever I like. I know this is a local case and as far as I’m concerned, it can stay that way. The suspect in the interview room may have information on a related investigation I’m working on. All I need is a few minutes with him, after that, I don’t care what happens to him.”

Northouse took the documents, his eyes moving left and then right as he scanned every word. After several drawn out minutes, Royce wondered if he should have let the man contact the detectives. Then the officer handed back the paperwork.

“I can’t let you go in with your weapon, Fed or not,” Northouse said in a gruff voice. He pointed to a table to the right with a metal lockbox. “Place your pistol and backup piece inside there.”

Royce upholstered his Glock first. Reaching down to his ankle, he lifted his right pants leg to claim his second gun and placed them both into the metal container. He noticed a thick, worn, bible beside the lockbox. “Yours?”

The officer shook his head. “That bible has been there for as long as I can remember. No one knows where it came from.”

“Mind if I take the good book inside with me?” Royce asked.

“Whatever,” Northouse replied, opening the door to the interview room.

Royce entered the room, the bible gripped in his fingers. Seated firmly in a chair behind a nondescript gray metal table, the suspect, Reggie Dobski, eyed him with obvious resentment.

“Who the hell are you?” Dobski barked. His gaze shot down to the bible in the other man’s hand. “You some kind of preacher man, here to save my soul?” A harsh laugh followed his question.

Royce waited until the door closed behind him before he spoke. “Who I am doesn’t matter.” Glancing around the room, he sought and found the surveillance equipment. “But I am interested in you baring your soul to me.”

Dobski craned his head around following Royce’s movements in the small room. “What the hell are you babbling about, man? And what are you doing?”

Reaching up to the camera perched in a corner; the agent disarmed the unit by pulling out the audio and video cables. When he finished, he circled around the table to stand across from Dobski. He slapped the bible down hard on the flat metal surface, his palm laid atop of it.

The man stared up at him in stunned silence, not knowing what to make of him.

“I have little time and require quite a bit of information from you Reggie. We both know you’re not going to simply answer my questions, because I have a winning smile. So, I’m going to appeal to you in an unexpected way…” He lifted the bible. “I’m going to do this with the word of God.”

Dobski laughed. “You’re wasting your time, Mr. No Name. There’s nothing in that book going to get me to talk.”

Royce grinned. “I beg to differ.”

“Kiss my ass!”

Royce blew out an exhausted breath feigning disappointment. Casually lifting up the book, he rounded the table until he stood alongside Dobski. “You’re not a good man, Reggie. You’ve hurt a lot of people, said and done bad things. You’ve pretty much have broken every commandment.”

“Kiss my ass,” Dobski shouted again.

“Commandment one,” Royce said, “Do not worship any other gods.” His arm came up smacking the man hard underneath the jaw with the bible, forcing him out of the chair like he popped a cork off a champagne bottle and onto the floor.

“You son of a bitch,” Dobski screamed, spitting blood. A tooth wiggled inside his mouth. “What’s the matter with you? You can’t hit me!”

Royce hit him again, striking him in the temple with the thick spine. “Commandment two: Do not make any idols.”

The man’s pain-laden cries filled the room, becoming Royce’s universe. The federal agent got all the way up to the seventh commandment when the suspect begged him to stop hitting him, promising to tell Royce anything he wanted to know.

Obtaining Dobski’s information in record time, Royce sauntered to the exit. The man’s wails followed him out as the interview room door opened.

Northouse stood in the hallway, his sidearm drawn. “What the devil is going on in there?” the officer shouted.

“I’m done with him. He’s all yours,” Royce said, nonchalant. He tossed the bloodied bible on the table next to the lockbox. “Oh, and he’ll need some medical attention.”

Northouse scrambled inside the interview room as the federal agent collected his pistols. His assault on the suspect would most likely lead to a sweet plea bargain in Dobski’s favor. Regardless, Royce hadn’t felt guilty about what he had done. The answers he’d drawn out of the man, trumped any of the petty crimes Dobski had committed.

Before leaving the police station, he’d have to make sure any digital footprint of his visit vanished from the police computer database. His role in the beating of the suspect would eventually become nothing more than rumor and hearsay. The federal agent would carry an air of mystery among officers and criminals alike at the precinct. Just the way Royce liked it.