On Call: An Original Short Story Read Online Free PDF

My thrust drove him backwards. I heard the air explode from his lungs. The pipe clattered to the floor.
    Moving as quickly as I could manage, I pushed myself away from the door, executed a painful shoulder roll, and grabbed hold of the pipe. Before I could stand, I was kicked hard in the face. I fell back. My vision blurred, but I started swinging the pipe wildly and connected at least once. The blow pulled me off balance. When I scrambled to me feet, I saw the exit door had been opened and my attacker was on the run. The pain in my face, wrist, and legs made it nearly impossible for me to follow. A dozen yards down, the tunnel split, and my attacker had vanished. I was cooked. I chose the left, followed it for a while, and gave up.
    I dragged myself back to the spot where I had been attacked. On the floor against a wall, I found a thin fragment of red plastic. I had no idea what it was or if it was related to the attack. Still, I suspected the mystery would not remain unsolved for long. After all, I worked in a lab and, until she left for her sister’s place, had the chief of pathology at my disposal.

    The answer, at least to some of my questions, came in the form of a 2 A.M . call from Detective Manny Rodriquez. Rather than try to enlist Hannah’s help when she was under such stress, I had called Rodriquez, and he and his partner came by the hospital, checked over the tunnel, and then took the lead pipe and oddly shaped red plastic fragment off my hands.
    Now, at eight on a cloud-shrouded morning, it was time for action. I stood on the front steps of George and Hannah’s sprawling Tudor-style mansion, with the gun I had first used as an apprentice rodeo clown tucked in the waistband of my trousers.
    Seconds after I rang the bell, Kincaid was at the door. “Gabe,” he said, perplexed, “what are you doing here?”
    I took a step inside, pulled the gun out, and jammed it into Kincaid’s sit-ups-enhanced midsection. The medical chief groaned as though he’d been sucker-punched.
    “Get inside and don’t do anything stupid,” I said.
    Kincaid backed into the kitchen, where Hannah was at the table cradling a hefty mug of coffee.
    As soon as Radcliffe saw me and the revolver, the mug tumbled from her hand and shattered on the tile. “Gabe!” she cried out. “What are you doing?”
    “Sit down, George,” I said, jabbing his midsection with the gun.
    “We talked about this, Gabe,” Radcliffe said. “This isn’t the plan. You’re supposed to speak to the police after I leave for my sister’s. Please, Gabe! Be reasonable.”
    “That was before he tried to kill me,” I said. “Didn’t you, George? I was getting too close, and asking people about you and Annabelle. So you decided bashing my head in was the simplest solution.”
    I came up behind Kincaid and pressed the muzzle of the gun to his temple. He was shaking now. Radcliffe was, too. I must have looked like a rabid dog to them, spittle at the corners of my mouth, utterly dangerous.
    “What do you want, Gabe?” Kincaid stammered. “What do you want from me?”
    “I want you to admit that you killed Annabelle Stern,” I said.
    “What? I’ll do no such thing!”
    “My best friend is in jail because of you. You strangled Annabelle and you tried to kill me, you sonofabitch. Now, you’re going to confess to what you did, or I’m going to use every bullet in this on a different part of you.”
    Radcliffe came at me. “Gabe, please!”
    I whirled and pointed the gun at her. “Back off, Hannah. You don’t want to get involved in this. In fact, why don’t you just get out of here? Go to your sister’s like we planned.”
    “This isn’t like you, Gabe,” she said. “Please stop!”
    I turned back to Kincaid. It was clear I was no longer in control. “You were too good to get caught. I’m not going to let you get away with this while my best friend rots in prison.”
    “No, I didn’t kill her. I didn’t!”
    “She was blackmailing you about