Boston Blood: The first Frank McKenzie Thriller (22 page)

‘Why don’t you just let all of us go?’ The man asks

‘Because by splitting both groups up it takes the police longer to find me because they are too busy being heroes and saving you guys.’

The hooded man looks on as Jason eyeballs him.

‘You got something to say?’ Asks Jason

The hooded man shakes his head calmly.

‘Good. Anyone that declines to either help out or do as I say will get a bullet in their heads. I hope that’s clear.’

Jason starts pulling random passengers up by their arms. He pushes them to one side as he makes his way through the first row. The hooded man looks on as he clenches his fist. The dark woman next to him holds his clenched fist and shakes her head. Jason reaches the second row as the hooded man continues to watch and wait biding his time. Waiting for the right moment
to strike.

Eighty Four

‘What do we do now?’ Asks Frank as he rattles the ice at the bottom of his glass.

Shaw looks on as he lights his cigar.

‘There’s nothing we can do. The president is dead and the folks down at Washington don’t want any attention taken away from the assassination.’

‘That’s BS, we can’t let one mad man risk the capture of another. Sorry to be so blunt here but at the end of the day the president is one guy. One guy killed. Connor has killed a lot more people in the past two days then one single guy, no matter how important the president is, we owe it to the hundreds of people still being held hostage to make sure they don’t end up swallowing a mouth full of lead live on television.’

‘Your right Frank, but we still can’t go over their heads. This is Washington for Christ’s sake. I sure as hell don’t want to be stacking papers for the rest of my life because I didn’t follow orders.’ Interrupts Eddie as he hands Shaw a coffee

‘You want a coffee Frank?’

Frank looks down at his whisky and shakes his head. He starts pacing the room as both Shaw and Smith talk about the situation. Frank zones out as his eyes glaze over. He is interrupted by a pat on the shoulder. He turns around to see Eddie talking. He can’t hear what he is saying. He can only see that DA’s lips move. The sound snaps back in.

‘You okay Frank?’ Asks Eddie

Frank’s head is doused in sweat.

‘Look I need to get some air. I’ll be back in twenty minutes or so.’

At that moment Frank’s mobile rings. He flicks it open and puts it to his ear.

‘You got Frank’

The quiet hiss on the other end of the phone is interrupted by a familiar cackle.

‘Do I now?’ Laughs the voice on the phone

Frank quickly grabs a piece of paper and awkwardly jots the name “
Connor”
on it. Eddie and Shaw sit down in silence as Frank switches the loud speaker on.

‘It’s been some time in the making now.’ Says Connor

Frank clenches his fist at his side. Shaw pours him another drink and slides it across the table. Frank grabs it and belts it down his throat.

‘Speak up Frank my boy’

‘What do you want Connor?’

‘Oh so the bitch does talk! I’ve been trying to get a hold of you for some time now Frank. Have you been avoiding me?’

‘No why would I do such a thing like that?’

‘Maybe because I killed that office slut you liked so much.’

Frank kicks the chair next to him across the room. Eddie looks shocked as Frank bangs his fist on the table.

‘Now you listen here you mother fucker. When I get hold of you I’m going to gut you like a fish, you hear me you no good murdering son of a bitch?’

‘Tut tut, I look forward to it!’ Says Connor as the phone goes dead. The dial tone invades the room as Frank desperately catches his breath. He grips his phone and hurls it towards the wall. The impact shatters plastic in all directions as he kicks the chair once more. He takes another swig of whisky and storms out of the room leaving Eddie and Shaw stunned in their seats.

Eighty Five

Officer Mullins is sat in his patrol car stationed in the parking lot. He stares at his steering wheel as a tap on the passenger window startles him. He looks to his right and sees his partner gesturing him to open the door. Mullins flicks a switch on his dashboard and unlocks the heavy set door. The bolts snap and the door sucks open. His partner gets in and closes the door with a thud. Mullins looks on in angst.

‘Don’t slam the damn thing’ He says

‘Whatever. Look you got any news on what’s happening?’

‘If I did do you think I’d be in here staring at the wall?’

‘I don’t know. It’s just you’re the one who is supposed to be leading this operation’

‘Well not any more. Since the president was gunned down they don’t want us to go in after Chase’

Mullins partner looks on sympathetically.

‘What’s wrong?’ He asks

‘Maybe I’m pissed off at the fact that I had a chance to advance in my career and it was blown away in seconds. Now I’m going to be stuck in the patrol car with you for the rest of my life’

‘Charming’

‘Look if you haven’t got anything more to say then I’d appreciate it if you leave me alone.’

‘Look Mullins, the county is in a state of emergency. We have a psycho killer holding several hundred people hostage and the president was assassinated. All you can think of his how bad you have it. Just man up and do your damn Job.’

‘Believe me I am going to do my job. Don’t you worry about that.’

Eighty Six

‘I don’t want to hear that right now... You can’t be serious...Fuck sake!’ Screams Eddie as he slams the office phone down. Shaw looks on as Eddie pours himself another drink.

‘Are you alright Eddie?’

Eddie swigs his whisky back in one motion. He slams the empty glass down and looks at Shaw who’s sitting across him.

‘What does it look like?’ Says Eddie as he wipes his nose with his sleeve. His head is dripping with sweat as he pours himself yet another shot.

‘Don’t you think you need to slow down?’ Asks Chief Shaw

Eddie takes another swig, demolishing the contents of the crystal like glass.

‘Nope’

Shaw shakes his head as he stands up and makes his way to the door.

‘You need to pull yourself together; you’re the god dam DA. You can’t be drinking on the job like this. Plus you sound half cut. And you’re ringing Washington up in that state! You’re not going to achieve anything like that Eddie.’

Eddie pours himself another drink as he scornfully stares back at the Chief.

‘I’ll do what the hell I want when I want, you got me Chief Shaw?’

Eddie swigs another shot. The brown liquid hits his mouth hard, as it burst through the sides and dribbles onto his white shirt.

‘Oops’ Says Eddie sarcastically

‘Like I said, pull yourself together.’ Says Shaw as he makes his way out the door, slamming it behind him

Eighty Seven

Jason reaches the dark woman first. The train’s metal flooring creaks with every turn of the train. He looks down at the dark pregnant woman and then at the hooded man next to her. His eyes land squarely on the hooded man for a good few seconds. The man’s fists are clenched ready for attack. Jason smiles at the man and raises his hand high in the air. He swings it and lands a backhand firmly on the dark pregnant woman’s face. She hits the deck fast as the passengers watch on in horror. Jason laughs a prominent chuckle as the hooded man bolts up from the floor and tackles Jason to the ground. Jason’s head pings off the grated metal floor and clangs loud in the tin like cabin. Jason’s eyes widen as a fist makes its way towards his face, the hammering force hits him hard as his head ricochets back to the floor. The crowd cheer as the hooded man reigns down a fury of rights and lefts. He stands up and surveys his downed opponent. Jason’s vision focuses as he snaps his leg back and kicks the man’s right knee out. The sound of the man’s leg breaking is met by a torturous scream. Jason eases himself up and stands over the reeling man as he grabs his leg in agony. Jason pulls out his side arm 9mm and aims it straight at the man’s head.

‘I was wondering when you were going to make your move.’ Says Jason as he cocks the hammer back and fires one shot into the hooded man’s head, the fabric on the man’s black hood reddens as blood seeps out. Jason puts his gun away and turns to the other passengers.

‘Like I said, any one doesn’t do as I say, then its good night for them.’

He looks down at the pregnant women whose holding her face in pain. He kneels down in front of the terrified women and removes her gripping palm from her face, revealing a red bruise on her cheek. He looks deep into her brown eyes.

‘You’ll live.’ He says

He gets back up and grabs his AK47.

‘Now let’s get this party started!’

Eighty Eight

Frank is leaning against a brick wall as he surveys the traffic driving by. He looks to his right and sees the incident building in the far distance. He looks to his left and sees Boston’s skyline. His sight dwindles at the ground as he slouches down and sits on the pavement. His hands slide across the coarse pavement as he feels the cracks in the concrete. He looks at his right hand and spots an ant running across his finger. He remains seated for a long moment as he watches the cars drive by. Car by car his spirit drifts. He reaches into his pocket and pulls out a new pill container. He sighs as he unscrews the child safe locked top. He peers in and sees an assortment of pills. He pours three into his palm and chucks them into his mouth. He swallows them dry. His face remains placid for a while as he drifts in and out of consciousness.

His vision goes black as he sees specs of light dance around in front of him. The haze of light remains vibrant as he relaxes in his designated spot. He can’t hear a single thing as he watches the white lights dance. He smiles as he sees the image of his wife. Her luscious blonde hair drapes down her slender shoulders as she blows him a kiss. Her white blouse glistens as the white lights bounce off her vibrant skin. A tear drops down his face as it casually rolls off his chin, hitting the floor with a splash. He swallows hard as the image of his wife in front of him is vaporised. A car horn beeps and springs him out of his daze. He looks around and sees its night time. He looks at his watch and sees he has been there for three whole hours. A woman walks by him just as he is about to get up. She flicks a nickel on the ground as she walks away. He looks at the nickel in confusion as he sticks his arms out in front of him. His clothes remain tattered and dirty.

He gets up and takes another deep breath in, wiping the lose tears away from his face. He looks to his left once again and sees Boston glisten in the moon light. He turns to see the incident room shadow his view on the right. He bends down and grabs the nickel. He flicks it a few times as he turns back towards Boston. He briskly walks down the pathway flicking the coin as he does so. He looks straight ahead, his sights firmly locked on the Boston horizon.

Eighty Nine

Chief Shaw looks on as the crowd of officer’s form around the TV. The big screen TV flickers from pitch black to a live stream. Connor Chase stands in the frame wearing his usual white Tux. This time he is sporting a different look on his face as he stares deeply into the camera. Shaw looks on in anticipation as Connor fiddles around with a microphone attached to his chest.

‘Well hello America. Here I am again, broadcasting live to you and the watching world. My video streams have gotten more unique views then any video in the history of the internet. Count your self’s lucky to be part of such an accomplishment. YouTube fame aside I’m here on some important business. This business that I’m talking about is the 28
amendment. Now I know I must sound like a broken record by now but surely you can understand the importance of this amendment. Let’s take today’s events for instance. It was through the gathering of information, or as the CIA likes to put it,
intelligence
, that the president was assassinated. The people who killed him knew he was coming. They knew how to get to him and they knew how to get away with it. Obviously they succeeded because the president is dead and the authorities are sucking their thumbs trying to find a lead on who was responsible. Now I’m not stupid and I know that the mere fact that I’m mentioning something like this on my stream is warrant enough for them to pin this on me. They probably think that I had something to do with this. That I’m the mastermind behind the whole assassination, I’m not going to lie, I did think that maybe the president did deserve to die, I mean all that shit about him being with this girl, then that girl. Cheaters never win people, but I am humbled and have to admit that I had nothing to do with the poor guy being shot. I know people are going to find that hard to believe, but let me lay it down like this for you.’

Chase paces the screen for a few minutes as he thinks with his hands.

‘Why would I kill the guy I need alive to pass the 28
amendment?...I guess I could have had him killed for wasting my time and not complying with my demands, but unfortunately I did not and now the guy is dead and I’m left with no bargaining boss. So here’s what I propose. I think Washington should start to take me seriously, if they don’t I will do away with twenty five hostages live on this stream in a matter of minutes. I want a call from the people in charge so we can finally arrange a means of me getting away from this building alive, safe passage to some third world county, blah blah blah, you know the drill. Most of all though, I want Washington to know that if they do not pass my 28
amendment forgoing previous laws on privacy then I shall do away with those twenty five hostages in a firing line live on TV. Now to make sure that everyone understands my willingness to cause such acts of brutality I would like to take you to some live CCTV footage of the train station down town, where I helpfully placed some cameras in strategic positions to catch a moment in history. Roll the footage as they say.’

The TV stutters from the live stream to a CCTV like image of four separate shots overlooking the train station. The images on the TV remains docile as nothing happens for a while. Suddenly a train makes its way into shot. It slows down to a crawl and remains idle. The four different camera angles capture the front end of the train. The side of the train, the rear of the train and a wide angle shot of the whole train. The silence in the room is unbearable as all the officers watch the footage closely. The ticker on the bottom right of the TV reads the exact time and date. Shaw picks up his mobile and dials in some digits as he looks on at the idle train. Someone answers.