Standoff: A Vin Cooper Novel by David Rollins Read Free Book Online Page A

did his job.
    I gazed at the blankets covering the children and parents murdered there on the ramp. The heat was accelerating the leaking of body fluids, the smell beginning to rise off the asphalt. Forensics was working hard to document the crime scene and get the deceased refrigerated.
    “Lieutenant, we’re gonna need some closure here. Your DOA 1AM was trafficking drugs,” said Gomez. “So head office wants us to stick around.”
    “Head office” meant Austin – Texas Ranger central. No one argued with Rangers. The business with Whelt and Sponson was my first case with Gomez. He didn’t ask permission, he took it. I liked that. We were gonna work out just fine.
    “Just clear it with the boss,” he said.
    “Sure,” Gomez replied.
    “So victim 5AF. Why was she singled out for special treatment?” I wondered aloud.
    “Her name was Gail Sorwick, married to Barney Sorwick.” He pointed at one of the blankets. “That’s him there – 2AM. From the photos in her purse she had two young children – Ryan and Clare.” His finger moved on, pointing them out on the ground. “The whole family, murdered. The kids were five and seven years of age. Mrs Sorwick was a looker. After she was sexually assaulted, she was shot and subsequently mutilated.”
    Lieutenant Cruz stepped over to one of the blankets and lifted a corner. The dead woman was naked from the waist up. Her face was clear and placid and, yes, he was right about Gail Sorwick being a looker. “She fought back.”
    The woman had bitten her attacker, drawn blood, cut him down to size.
    “She’s lucky that they didn’t mutilate her while she still breathed,” Cruz mumbled, leaning over her, talking to himself.
    A police K-9, a big German shepherd, was barking incessantly at something out toward the runway. I looked over in that direction. Nothing.
    “Her killer wanted to make a statement,” said Gomez. “Send a message.”
    Cruz looked at him.
    “Why go to so much effort to murder everyone in the area, being careful not to leave any evidence behind,” Gomez continued, “and then lace a mutilated corpse with your jism. It’s a message. Doesn’t make a lot of sense otherwise.”
    I had to agree, it didn’t. “What’s the message?” I asked him.
    “Add it to the list of questions.”
    Lieutenant Cruz nodded. “Well, we’re rushing to check the DNA profile against our records. But I doubt we’ll get a hit.”
    I nodded, the lieutenant’s turn to get some agreement.
    The dog was still barking, at ghosts apparently. A black Labrador had joined the chorus, straining at the leash, its handler getting curious.
    “What about your sole survivor?” Gomez continued.
    “The Learjet pilot? Still in a coma. We’re not expecting him to come around.”
    “Where’s the other pilot?” I asked.
    The sheriff’s investigator looked at me, licked his sunburned lips and swallowed. “What other pilot?”
    “A Lear usually flies with two.”
    “We, ah …” Cruz massaged his chin and put a hand on his hip. “Hey, Belle!” he called out. “You found anyone else with an FAA commercial ticket in their wallet?”
    Belle, a middle-aged, prematurely gray-haired woman with glasses and lines like trenches through her cheeks, glanced up from her discussion with a crime scene investigator and shook her head. “Nope, just the one.”
    The lieutenant turned briefly toward the dogs, distracted by the racket they were making, then turned back. “You said it usually flies with two? So it can also fly with one, right? Maybe on this flight, there was only the one pilot.”
    “Maybe,” I agreed without commitment because maybe the killers had abducted the other pilot; or maybe the missing pilot had something to do with the slaughter at Horizon Airport; or maybe the Sheriff’s office just hadn’t found him/her yet.
    Those dogs were making a hell of a noise. There was something out there in the desert. Their handlers had given in and were walking them over to an