black pistol as he casually walked down the row of cars, he got to the BMW and heard the sounds of crying. He saw a couple standing at the front of the car. A young man and woman. The man had the woman bent backward over the front hood. He was leaning on her and kissing her neck while her head constantly rolled back and forth as if trying to get away from the rest of her body.
"Everything all right there?" Karch called.
The man looked over at him.
"We're fine. Why don't you just piss off?"
Karch started moving down the side of the car. The man suddenly stepped away from the woman and turned to Karch. He stood arms and feet wide apart and waiting.
"Why don't you leave her alone?" Karch said. "It doesn't sound like she – "
"Why don't you fuck yourself? She's fine. She just likes to yell, okay?"
"No, not okay. Maybe you just like to make her yell. Makes you feel like you're in control of things."
The guy suddenly leapt forward in a charge that Karch was expecting. Like an experienced bullfighter he quickly sidestepped the charging beast and used his hands to redirect his opponent's momentum into the side of a minivan. The man hit the side door of the van headfirst, causing a dent in the door panel. As he was straightening up and turning around, Karch moved in. He dropped the. 25 into place in his hand and brought it up under his opponent's chin, driving the muzzle deep into the soft underside of the jaw.
"You feel that? Feels small, right? It's a twenty-five, just a pop gun really. Very unreliable unless you get in close like this. I cap one off like this, the slug will go right up into your brain and it won't be strong enough to get out. It'll bounce around inside there a few times and cut everything up in there to mush. Probably won't kill you but you'll be wearing a slobber guard and riding a wheelchair the rest of your – "
"Hey, leave him alone," the girl said from behind him. "He didn't do anything."
Karch made the mistake of not watching her.
"Shut up and back away. This guy – "
She grabbed Karch from behind then and he used his left arm to roughly shove her backward while keeping the gun pressed against the man's neck. He heard her hit the BMW hard and then fall to the pavement.
"Johnny!" she cried out.
"See what you did?" Johnny cried out. "Big man. Look what you did to her. A knight in shining bullshit."
Karch pulled back from him and stepped backward until he could keep his eyes on Johnny and see the girl as well. She was sitting on the pavement, her legs spread and looking a little dazed. Johnny ran to her and she grabbed him around the neck. She started crying again.
Karch turned and started walking quickly to his car. He was thinking Why the fuck did I do that? I'm here for one reason only.
He got into the Lincoln, backed out and drove away. He saw Johnny standing in the lot behind him, watching him go.
Karch pulled to a curb on Magnolia Boulevard, put on the dome light and got the National Law Enforcement Association frequency book out of the glove compartment. He had bought the book from Iverson for $ 500. It listed every federal, state and local law enforcement agency and the radio transmission frequencies assigned to them. Printed in large letters across the top of every page was "Law Enforcement Use Only." Karch had laughed the first time he saw that.
He found the listing for the Burbank Police Department and punched in the three patrol frequencies assigned to the department on the scanner mounted below the dashboard. He then locked in a repeating scan on the three frequencies and waited and listened. If the couple he had just tangled with called in a report, he needed to know about it.
Things seemed quiet in Burbank for a Thursday night. A couple of domestic disputes went out to patrol units and then came a call to the parking lot at Presnick's bar. It had been reported as an assault and threat with a firearm.
"Shit!" Karch yelled loudly.
He banged his fist on the steering wheel. He looked at his watch. It was almost midnight. He knew he wasn't too far from Burbank Airport. He could go there and try to find another set of plates. But it was getting