Chapter 5 : The Final Stand
"They tracked the GPS in your police radio," Miller said, pointing to the radio clipped to Davis's belt.
Davis cursed, immediately unhooking the radio and smashing it beneath his heavy boot. "I'm an idiot."
"You're a rookie who kept my daughter alive. I'll take it," Miller said grimly. He turned toward the water tower. "Inside. Now. It's fortified."
The inside of the water tower's base was a makeshift command center. Laptops, radios, and maps littered a folding table. Firearms were stacked against the rusted iron walls. Miller had been preparing for a war.
"Do you have the card?" Miller asked, his eyes desperate.
Davis reached into his pocket and pulled out the micro-SD card.
Miller breathed a sigh of relief. "Everything is on there. Vance's offshore accounts, the drug cartel payoffs, the hit orders. It's enough to put half the precinct in federal prison for life."
"So what do we do?" Davis asked. "Take it to the feds?"
"We can't walk out of here," Miller said, pointing to the security monitors hooked up to cameras outside.
On the grainy screens, a terrifying scene unfolded. Vance’s tactical teams were swarming the perimeter. But it wasn't just cops. Heavily armed cartel mercenaries were stepping out of unmarked vans. Vance wasn't playing by police rules anymore. This was an extermination.
"I need ten minutes," Miller said, booting up a heavily encrypted laptop. "I have a secure uplink to the FBI Director's personal server and every major news outlet in the state. Once this progress bar hits 100%, the entire world will see what Vance is."
"And if they breach before the ten minutes are up?" Davis asked, picking up a tactical shotgun from the table.
"Then we make sure they don't get to this laptop," Miller said coldly.
BOOM!
The heavy metal door of the tower shuddered as a breaching charge exploded outside. Dust rained down from the ceiling.
"Here they come!" Davis yelled, taking cover behind a concrete pillar.
Maya hid beneath the heavy metal desk, covering her ears. Rico stood directly in front of her, teeth bared, ready to die for his pack.
The door blew off its hinges with a deafening screech.
Smoke poured into the room. Laser sights cut through the haze.
"Suppressing fire!" Davis roared, pumping the shotgun and firing blindly into the smoke. Screams echoed as his buckshot found its targets.
Gunfire erupted from the doorway, chewing through the concrete and metal of the tower. Miller fired back with his good arm, dropping two mercenaries who tried to rush the flank.
"Progress: 40%!" Miller yelled over the deafening noise.
Suddenly, a flashbang rolled into the center of the room.
BANG!
A blinding white light and an ear-splitting ring incapacitated Davis. He fell to his knees, his vision swimming.
Through the blur, he saw Captain Vance step through the smoke, an assault rifle raised, aiming directly at Miller.
"It's over, John!" Vance screamed. "Did you really think you could beat the system?"
Miller gritted his teeth, his gun empty.
"Progress: 85%!" the computer chimed.
Vance noticed the laptop. His eyes widened in panic. "Shut it down! Now!"
He aimed his rifle at the computer.
But before Vance could pull the trigger, a black and brown missile flew through the smoke.
Rico didn't attack the gun. He attacked the man.
With seventy pounds of sheer momentum, Rico slammed into Vance's chest, taking him to the ground. Vance screamed as Rico's jaws locked onto his tactical vest, tearing at the fabric, shaking him violently.
"Get this beast off me!" Vance shrieked, struggling to aim his pistol at the dog.
Davis's vision cleared just enough. He lunged forward, kicking the pistol out of Vance's hand. He pressed the barrel of his shotgun squarely against Vance's forehead.
"Move, and I'll end it right here," Davis growled.
Rico stood over Vance, growling menacingly, a single inch from tearing his throat out.
"Upload Complete," the computer chimed in a pleasant, robotic voice.
Silence fell over the room.
The mercenaries outside, hearing the automated voice and seeing their boss pinned, began to slowly lower their weapons. They knew what it meant. The evidence was out. The money was gone. The war was over.
Sirens wailed in the distance. But these weren't local police sirens. These were heavy, federal sirens. Black SUVs with FBI emblazoned on the sides were tearing down the street.
Vance stared up at Davis, his face pale, realizing he had lost everything.
Davis looked down at him. "You forgot one thing, Captain."
May you like
"What?" Vance spat.
Davis smiled, a true, genuine smile. "You forgot a dog never forgets his real name."
