Page 27 of Unknown

Cora ran towards the Jeep, gun raised and ready, adrenaline pumping through her veins. She needed to act now, and fast, while the men inside were disoriented, dazed from the impact of the crash. She saw the driver trying to start the car again, but it wouldn't budge. One of the passengers had his hand on the door handle, trying to open it, but it was stuck.

Gabe was pounding behind her as Cora made for the back door. She guessed that would open more easily, and she thought it had been where the shots were coming from. That threat, she wanted to crush, and fast.

She yanked at the door handle, inhaling the stink of tortured metal as she reached the car, her feet slipping over broken glass. It opened, and inside, she heard groans. The man with the gun had dropped his weapon. Both hands were over his nose, which was spouting blood.

Cora dragged him out of the car, kicking him viciously in his ribs as he stumbled to the ground. Then, Cora smashed the barrel of the gun down on his head, and a painful breath whooshed out of him. He lay still, twitching slightly.

Now for the two in front. They were also in a bad way after the crash. The airbag had gotten the passenger in the face and he was also moaning in pain, with what she guessed might be a fractured cheekbone. At any rate, he offered no resistance when she dragged him out of the car and got his hands behind him.

But the driver still had fight left in him, and as Cora clawed her way back into the car, she saw that he had been fumbling for his own weapon. As she dove onto the front seat, he raised it.

Cora jackknifed out of the way as a shot exploded, so close she could feel the path of the bullet. She grabbed his arm, wrenching it sideways as another shot exploded, this bullet veering high into the corner of the windshield. With his other arm he was grabbing for her and she ducked to avoid it, twisting the wrist of his gun hand, hoping that the pain would cause him to drop his weapon, or at least, weaken his grasp.

The driver let out a grunt as Cora twisted his arm. But he didn't drop the gun. Instead, he pulled the trigger again. This time, the shot went wide, punching into the roof of the car.

They were in close quarters, and the gun was a deadly weapon in his hand. She had to get it away from him before he pulled the trigger again.

She clawed at his face and he jerked away, retaliating with a brutal punch that she managed to ride, twisting aside so that it pushed her rather than hammered her. And she hung onto his wrist with all the force she had, using the momentum of his own blow to wrench herself backward.

Now, finally, she was getting some purchase on that gun hand. She grabbed it with her other hand, too, twisting his wrist so hard that she felt his bones grinding under her grasp.

He groaned and finally released the weapon, which thudded down, and then she was on him, smashing his face with her own pistol before he could throw another of those brutal punches.

And then, Gabe was at the driver's door, tugging it open in a shriek of warped metal, grabbing the guy by his shoulders and dragging him out head first. Cora followed, grasping for his arms, getting them in as tight a hold as she could. Now, he was contained. The final one of the four. She held him, forcing his hands behind him while Gabe tightened a cable tie, pulling it so hard it cut deep into his flesh. No way was he getting himself out of that in a hurry, and it seemed that the fight had gone out of him now.

"Where were you running?" she snapped. "What the hell was that all about?"

He swore at her, grimacing in pain, twisting his shoulders in an effort to get himself out of the cable tie.

"Not your problem, bitch. Just get out of here, get away, or you're in big trouble."

"I am?" Cora faced him down. "I don't think so. What I want to know is what you were hiding."

Now that all four of them were contained, Cora strode to the back of the car and wrenched open the door.

There was a pile of blankets there, and for a moment, her heart stopped. Was it a person? Did they have a body wrapped up tight there?

No. It was a tarp. Nothing more. A tarp wrapped in blankets. But something was underneath it, something solid and dense, half hidden in the folds of the rugs.

Cora pulled it out and held it up.

It was a good sized block, white and solid, wrapped in plastic.

"Cocaine?" she asked incredulously. "You guys were dealing? You came out here to sell?"

This was enough for a major bust. It was enough to take them down, for sure. But it wasn't what she wanted.

"You know anything about the murders?" she asked the driver, forcing her gun into his neck again. "Anything about the murders that have been happening on base?"

"Why the hell would we know anything about them?" he retorted, his voice hoarse, speaking between gasps. "You think we're killers? We're just trying to survive, man. Just trying to get a side hustle going."

"Did the victims know about your side hustle?" she asked.

"We weren't even in the same barracks. Nobody knew. We made sure of it. Those people being killed, that was just bullying getting out of hand."

"I heard you bullied one of the victims."

"That was during training! Not after hours. Yeah, during training, anyone who's slow, I give a hard time. That's my job, to do that, and that's it!" he spluttered, snorting blood up his nose. "I have no idea what else goes on at the base. Most probably, some people have axes to grind and they get that done after hours. We weren't paying it any attention. Why the hell would we?"

---