James Patterson Club 02 Second Chance

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"
My eyes flashed toward the cop. In that instant, the strangest thing came
clear to me. His blues. He was wearing a patrolman's uniform that I hadn't
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seen in a while. I fixed on the face, and to my shock, it was Coombs. It was
Chimera. I was the date he was planning to keep.
Someone spun me from behind as I raised my Glock.
"Hey!" I yelled.
I saw Coombs's gun spurt orange. Twice. Nothing I could do to stop it.
Then everything got incredibly crazy and confused. Chaos. Terror.
I know that I got off a shot before my body went numb with pain.
I saw Coombs lurch forward, his glasses flying off, his gun pointed my way. He
staggered, but he was still coming for me. His dark eyes glared with hate.
Then a scary shooting gallery erupted in front of the Hall.
A cacophony of loud, echoing pops... five, six, seven in rapid succession,
coming from all directions. People were screaming, running for cover.
Coombs's blue uniform erupted in bursts of bright red. Cappy and Jacobi were
firing at him. His body hurtled backward, jerking with the hits. His face
showed terrible pain.
The air was laced with a burning cordite smell. The echo of each shot crashed
in my ears.
Then it was eerily quiet. The silence was startling to me.
"Oh, Jesus," I remembered saying, finding myself down on the concrete steps. I
didn't know for sure if I'd been shot.
Jacobi was leaning over me. "Lindsay, stay right there. Be still." His hands
were on my shoulders, and his voice reverberated through my brain.
I nodded, inventorying my body for a wound. Shouts and walls echoed all
around, people rushing everywhere.
I reached for Warren's arm and slowly pulled myself up.
He tried to give me an order: "Lindsay, stay down. I'm telling you now."
Coombs was on his back, ruptures of crimson oozing out of his blue shirt.
I pushed by Jacobi. I had to see Coombs, had to look into his eyes. I hoped he
was still alive, because when the monster took his last breath, I wanted him
staring up at me.
A few uniforms had formed a protective ring around Coombs, ordering everyone
to stay clear.
Coombs was still alive, labored sounds escaping from his heaving chest. An EMS
team came running, two techs lugging equipment. One, a woman, began ripping at
Coombs's bloody shirt. The other was taking his pressure and setting up an IV.
Our eyes met. Coombs's gaze was waxy, but then his mouth twitched into an ugly
smile. He tried to say something to me.
The EMS woman was backing people off, shouting out his vitals.
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"I have to hear what he's saying," I told the tech. "Giv" me a minute here."
"He can't talk," she said. "Give him room to breathe, Lieutenant. He's dying
on us!"
"I have to hear," I said again, then I knelt down close.
Coombs's uniform shirt had been cut open, a mosaic of ugly wounds exposed.
His mouth quivered. He was still trying to talk. What did he want to tell me?
I leaned closer, the blood on Coombs smearing my blouse. I didn't care. I put
my ear close.
"One last...," he whispered. Every breath was a fight for him now. Was this
how it ended? With Coombs taking his secrets straight to hell?
One last...? One last target, one last victim? I stared into his eyes, saw the
hatred still there.
"One last what, Coombs?" I asked"
Blood bubbled out of his mouth. He took in a hard breath, husbanding the last
of his strength, straining against the power of his own death.
"One last surprise." He smiled.
Chapter 101.
COOMBS WAS DEAD. It was over, thank God.
I had no idea what Coombs had meant, but I wanted to spit his words back in
his face. One last surprise... Whatever it was, Chimera was gone. He couldn't
hurt us anymore.
I hoped it didn't mean he had left' one last victim before he died.
"C'mon, Lieutenant," Jacobi muttered. He gently pulled me up.
Suddenly, my legs buckled. I felt as if I had no control over the lower part
of my body. I saw the look of alarm on Warren's face. "You're hit," he
uttered, wide-eyed.
I looked down at my side. Jacobi peeled back my jacket, and a wet red gash
appeared on my right abdomen. All of a sudden my head began to spin. A current
of nausea rose.
"We need help here," Jacobi shouted to the EMS tech. He and Cappy eased me
back to the ground.
I found myself staring over at Coombs, as the female tech who had peeled away
the dead man's shirt rushed over to me.
God, this was so unreal. They took off my jacket, slapped a blood pressure
monitor on my arm. It was as if it were happening to somebody else.
My gaze stayed fixed on the killer, the goddamn Chimera.
Something a little strange, something not tracking. What was it?
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I pulled myself out of Jacobi's grip. "I have to see something... "
He held me back. "You have to stay right here, Lindsay. There's an ambulance
on the way."
I pulled away from Jacobi. I got up and went over to the body. Coombs's police
uniform had been peeled back off of his chest and arms. Raw wounds spotted his
chest. But something was missing; something was all wrong. What was it?
"Oh, my God, Warren," I whispered. "Look."
"look at what?" Jacobi frowned. What the hell is wrong with you?"
"Warren... there's no tattoo." [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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