Highway Patrolman Dale Roberts blinked rapidly as he snapped back to reality. Water was dripping down his face, and he was still trying to blink his way back to consciousness. The last thing he remembered was looking at Laura Dell’s driver’s licence and noticing two wires. He remembered a sensation akin to being tasered, but stronger and…different.
“Wake up…Dale.”
Dale sputtered water out of his mouth and looked up. Laura was now out of her car, and she was in a catcher’s crouch in front of him. She was holding an empty water bottle, and strands of her black hair had broken free of her pony tail holder. Her stray hair blew in the South Dakota breeze, as she stared at Dale with a look Dale couldn’t even describe. She slowly stood up, and Dale tried to do the same. His attempt didn’t even get off the ground, as he realized his legs had been zip stripped, and his hands were cuffed behind him. He looked up and over his shoulder, realizing his hands were cuffed behind a mile marker he couldn’t quite read. When he looked forward again, Laura had disappeared. He saw his squad car about 150 feed away, with all of the lights still on. Laura walked in front of him again, and walked slowly towards his car.
“Ma’am…you’re in a lot of tr-”
BLAM
Dale’s head lurched back as the shotgun blast rang out across the empty stretch of interestate. Laura fired several more times at his car, and then hammered at the windshield with the gun’s stock until the bulletproof glass gave-way in one spot, leaving a hole no bigger than a bowling ball. Laura slowly walked back with a slight smirk, and one finger across her lips. Dale frantically looked around his body. His gun and belt were gone, his badge was gone, and so were his keys. Dale bent his knees and tried to stand, using the mile marker sign as leverage. His body moved up a few inches and stopped, once he felt the handcuffs snug up. He sank back down as he heard footsteps.
“I zip stripped the cuffs to the marker. Those holes in sign posts come in handy.” Dale took a deep breath as he heard her voice, and approaching footsteps. She suddenly crouched down right in front of him, and her smile had only grown. “Now Dale, I need to ask you something, and be honest. When help comes, and they find you here, are you going to tell them about me?”
“Of course! You are in big troub-”
Laura placed one finger on his lips. She used the other hand to pull out a revolver. Slowly and deliberately, she loaded one bullet. She looked him in the eye again. “Are you going to tell them about me?”
“Yes.”
Laura loaded a second bullet into the gun. “Are you going to tell them about me?”
Dale hesitated for a second. “No.”
“You’re lying” Laura said. She loaded a third bullet. “Are you going to tell them about me?”
Dale looked at the gun, and looked up to Laura’s eyes. “Maybe.”
Laura slowly loaded a fourth bullet. She shook her head, then asked again, “Are you going to tell them about me?” Dale’s mouth opened, but no sound came out. “That’s a yes. Oh Dale, I’m running out of chambers here.” Laura pulled out a fifth bullet, and slowly slid it into the chamber. She held the gun up and locked her eyes with Dale’s. “Last time I’m going to ask Dale. When they find you out here, and they ask you who did this, what are you going to tell them?”
Dale looked at the gun, then at Laura. She had the gun in one hand, and a single bullet in the other. Her smile was gone. “I don’t remember who did this. It’s all fuzzy” Dale said, almost not believing he was saying it. He noticed his breathing had accelerated, and he had an overwhelming feeling of doom. Laura slowly placed the bullet in her pocket. She stood up and smiled.
“I believe you, but I wish you’d said that earlier.” She spun the cylinder of the revolver, then with a flick of the wrist she locked one of the chambers in place. She cocked the hammer and pointed the gun at Dale’s head.
