“You’re still trying to protect women. Comes from all those sisters.” Harmon said as he pointed his gun at Drake. He wouldn’t shoot, it was just another power play, Drake cut his glance to the tattooed man whose powerful gun was resting against the arm of the couch. That was when he saw the stoned man on the floor lift the woman’s gun and pull the trigger. The bullet went wild, Harmon yelled and shot Drake in the chest.
Drake surged backwards into solid muscle.
A gun came up around him, and he saw tattoo boy, who suddenly had his gun up and ready to fire, die. O’Malley had shot him in the forehead.
Mason moved past them both into the small confines of the trailer. The other two were too frightened to make a move. They begged not to be hurt, and Mason quickly took away their pistols.
Aiden helped Drake slide down to the floor and started pulling at his coat. Drake batted his hand away. “I’m fine.”
“Bullshit, you were shot.”
“Couldn’t have been more perfect, right in the middle of the armor.” Drake laughed, then started coughing.
Aiden couldn’t be stopped, he pulled open Drake’s coat and checked to see where the bullet had impacted.
Drake coughed again. “I forgot, you’re a medic.”
“We need to get you seen.”
“Fuck that shit.” Drake nodded to where Mason had already pulled a sheet off one of the windows and had it wrapped around the woman. “You need to see about her.”
“Yeah, I do.” Aiden turned, and Drake breathed a painful breath, glad to have been forgotten.
“Lois?” Aiden asked.
“Who are you?” she shivered.
“I’m a friend of Eva’s. Can I help you up?”
Mason found a chair for her, and he saw that he had found a towel, that actually looked clean, to put on it, before she sat down. Satisfied that Aiden had Lois in hand, Mason turned to Drake and Harmon.
He crouched down next to Drake and asked softly, “Do you want me to take over?”
“Only if you want to. I’m only a little shot,” he grimaced.
“Okay, then, you’re in charge, how do you want to handle it?”
Drake considered it.
“You play bad cop for a while, then I’ll play badder cop.”
“You got it,” Mason agreed.
He got up and towered over Harmon.
“You alive?” Mason asked in a steely voice.
There was no answer. Drake elbowed his cousin. “He’s talking to you.”
“I hurt,” the younger man whined.
“He’s alive,” Drake answered. “Where are you shot, Harmon?”
“In my arm.”
Mason crouched down and ripped open the sleeve of Harmon’s flannel shirt. “Quit your bitching, it’s a flesh wound.”
Drake pushed up from the floor. Then he grabbed his cousin’s uninjured arm and yanked him up.
“Ow,” Harmon screeched.
“We’re taking a walk,” Drake said as he kicked open the door of the trailer. “You got this?” He looked over his shoulder at his two teammates. Mason nodded.
“I’m cold. I can’t go outside.”
“Look, you little shit. You just shot me in the chest. You can go for a walk in the woods with me.”
“You’re gonna kill me. You can’t do that. You’re the police.”
“I’m in the Navy. I’m on leave. I’m pissed. I can do whatever the hell I want.”
“Help!” he screamed.
Drake looked around the shroud of the snowstorm. They couldn’t be heard. God help him from imbeciles.
“Take me to the lab.”
“You’ll kill me.”
Drake’s eyes widened. He stopped and desperately wished he could rub his chest through the body armor, ‘cause it hurt. But instead, he twirled Harmon around and picked him up, so only his toes touched the ground. He could see the whites of his eyes.
“I might kill you. You don’t know. But I will kill you if you don’t show me where the lab is. Are we clear?”
“I can’t find it in the snow.”
Drake dropped Harmon on the ground, then pulled out his pistol.
“Wait, please. We need to drive a half mile, then it’s a little ways in the woods. Please, Drake.”
“We’ll drive.”
“Please. Let me get a coat. Please.” Drake could see the tears freezing on his cousin’s face.
“Fine.”
***
After pinpointing the location of the meth lab, Drake called Clint. The DEA agents who had planned to be in Jasper Creek the following afternoon got in their car that night. Aiden drew the short straw and ended up waiting in the trailer for them. He was less than happy having to babysit the dead body, Harmon, and two tied up ex-cons.