Category Archives: Arc 3.7: The Executioner

The Executioner: Part 11

“Are you crazy? Don’t you see a difference between killing a guy because he’s trying to kill you, and killing him when he’s practically dead?”

Sean reddened.

“He was a killer, and I stopped him. You weren’t going to. I did what had to be done. What were you going to do, hand him over to the cops? He’d only escape again.”

“I don’t know what I was going to do. All I know is that you didn’t kill him because you think the system doesn’t work. You were going for revenge.” Continue reading The Executioner: Part 11

The Executioner: Part 9

She kicked up a lot of sand when her feet left the ground, but I didn’t pay much attention to it. I was too busy watching where she’d land.

That would likely be low on any list of “Smart Things to Do When You’re Being Chased.”

Here’s why: If I would have run, I’d have likely made it partway across the street, possibly all the way across, and into the forest.

As it was, she landed within arm’s reach of me. Continue reading The Executioner: Part 9

The Executioner: Part 8

The door shattered.

I stumbled, and nearly fell as I dropped to the sand behind the house. Between my rush to leave and the stealth suit’s additional strength, I’d overshot the steps.

I nearly hit the grill of the white, Ford Bronco parked in the driveway. Dodging it, I twisted, and turned left into sand and knee-high, dune grass. Continue reading The Executioner: Part 8

The Executioner: Part 7

Mom’s arms were on the other side of the chair from where Rachel and I stood, but if she were hoping to get away, those ropes had to go next.

Glancing near the legs of her chair told me no more ropes lay on the far side.

I thought she might be waiting for a better chance, but then I realized that this was it.  For the first time since I’d arrived, no one held a gun to her head. Continue reading The Executioner: Part 7

The Executioner: Part 6

Looking like Gunther had in every picture I’d ever seen of him–tall, brushcut, and muscular, I didn’t see why Ray would look forward to his appearance.

As Haley stepped through the door, Ray said something, his voice low, and intense.

The white circle that had been painted on the floor flared, making everything outside the circle a shade lighter. Simultaneously, the walls of the room turned reddish, including the open doorway behind Haley. Continue reading The Executioner: Part 6

The Executioner: Part 5

Ray kept the gun pointed at my mom, but acted as if we were making small talk at the Christmas party.

“So you know I’ve done jobs for the Chicago Outfit, right? I got a job to kill Night Wolf a few years back. Night Wolf had been retired for years by then, and the client was old, so I took it because it sounded like easy money. If he was still alive, he had to be in his 80’s.
Continue reading The Executioner: Part 5

The Executioner: Part 3

Further out from the city of Grand Lake, cottages and big houses dominated the coastline closest to Lake Michigan.

From the state park northward, aside from the houses, the landscape seemed to be all trees.

Sean and the truck disappeared into the bulge of a forested dune near Northshore Drive.

Even in the distance, I could hear a crashing noise.

No explosion though. Continue reading The Executioner: Part 3

The Executioner: Part 2

Next to me, Rachel said, “Does he really think he’s going to stop Ray by himself?”

I didn’t say anything. I’d pulled up my communicator. They’d given Sean one, and he’d managed not to trash it yet. I clicked, and got a GPS view of the team including Sean’s dot.

He was flying toward the address Gimpius had given us. Continue reading The Executioner: Part 2