Payback by T. S. Worthington Page A

Mike Trapp the anger surged through him as the bastard started laughing at the top of his lungs at what he had done. He was thinking with glee about all of the cops he had just murdered, not to mention destroying any bit of evidence that might be at the home to link him to the murders he was being apprehended for.
    Brian lunged at the bastard and tackled him to the ground where he proceeded to beat on Mike Trapp’s face with his fist, raining hard right hand after hard right hand down on him. Trapp’s nose was broken by the first punch; his eye was glowing bright red from the blood vessels that were being broken, and he was losing teeth.
    Still he continued to laugh.
    A few of the S. W.A.T guys grabbed him and threw him off of Mike Trapp. Heywood got up in Brian’s face to try to calm him down.
    “KNOCK IT OFF! WE GOT BIGGER SHIT TO DEAL WITH!” He yelled.
    Brian backed off, the anger residing a bit to a simmering boil beneath the surface. He knew that Heywood was right, but that had felt so good to bash that kid’s face in.
    “A few of you take that piece of shit to the station and book him. Heywood, grab a few guys and follow me. Somebody call in the explosion!”
    Brian finished his orders and hopped behind the wheel and peeled out.
    Within thirty seconds he was at the scene of the blast watching as several members of the team writhed in agony on the ground outside of the lot that used to occupy Mike Trapp’s house. There was fire everywhere. On a few of his neighbor’s roofs, in a few trees close by, and even a few cars were on fire. Off in the distance Brian could hear the wailing siren of emergency units on the way.
    Something caught Brian’s eye off to the side. A figure was moving slightly. It was the chief!
    “Chief! Oh, shit. Oh man, how did this happen?” Brian asked no one.
    The chief was badly hurt, but it looked like his body was intact and there was a chance that he might be saved. His body was covered in bruises and it was evident that he had several broken bones and ribs judging by the whistling of his labored and painful breathing. Brian felt his heart breaking as he watched Arnold in so much pain. The chief was strong and he was a fighter, but this was too much. Brian didn’t know if he was going to make it.
    He glanced around at the mangled bodies of friends and colleagues that he worked with every day. He did not see John, but he desperately wanted to look for him. He wanted to make sure his friend was ok and he wanted to give him a hug. What in the hell was happening. How did the team walk right into this trap?
    They had underestimated Trapp. They had been so eager and so desperate for a break in this case that they had completely ignored the protocol that said there might have been danger in the home. But this had never happened before like this. What Trapp did was so out of character that it was difficult to wrap your head around the fact that he might have killed himself.
    They had underestimated his paranoia and his dedication to his work. That was what they did. Brian could see it all now. When Trapp decided to commit himself to this thing he decided that he would always have a contingency in place just in case he ever found himself looking down the barrel of the criminal justice system. The man was willing to die for his crimes and to protect himself from prosecution. His ego was so massive that to even think that he would let himself be taken into custody and put behind bars was laughable to him.
    How had they been so careless?
    Brian tried to shake himself out of it as he grabbed ahold of the chief’s hand to comfort him. He had to know that Brian was not going to leave him; he would stay right by his side. He would never give up hope either.
    The ambulance arrived on the scene. “Here! He is alive! We need a gurney!” Brian yelled. He stepped back and let the EMT’s and the fire crew work.
    As he looked around at the mess that had become of everything Brian felt like he might