Got Your Six

Chapter 38

Calvin - Present Day

I stare at my brother in disbelief, unable to think of anything to say. He stops at the base of the stairs, looking right back at me. Gavin remains slumped on the floor in between us as I lower the gun to my side.
"No, this isn't happening," I whisper to myself. "This isn't possible."
"It's me," Cameron says in a soft voice.
Hearing his voice confirms what I thought to be impossible, my brother is alive.
"How?" I mutter, wanting an explanation for all the pain I've endured within the past two weeks.
"I had to do it, I'm sorry Calvin," Cameron says in a tone that I think he intends to be comforting.
"How is this even possible? I watched you die," I say, raising my voice. The confusion mixed with the anger I was already feeling is all getting to me now. It's as if I've been betrayed all over again, this time by my own brother who I thought was dead until now. How could he just let me think he was dead all this time?
"Captain Bennett needed me to fake my death so that I could go undercover with Gavin. He wanted me to find out who Gavin all had working for him so we could take everyone down at the same time and put an end to it all," Cameron explains.
"I helped you," Gavin mutters as he looks up at Cameron, sounding just as betrayed as I am.
I want to ask him what he means by that, but decide to keep my attention on Cameron. He's clearly played both of us for fools over the last two weeks.
"Of course Captain Bennett was in on this," I say with disgust. "Why couldn't you guys just let me in on the plan? Do you know how much pain I've gone through?"
"The less people that knew about it, the better," Cameron says softly.
"That's bullshit!" I shout, making Cameron flinch. "Do you know how many people have died because of this? Actually died," I ask him, wanting to know how much he actually knew about everything.
"I know," Cameron says quietly. "It was never supposed to go like this."
"Our own sister was killed last night!" I yell at him, as if it's his own fault. "Was that part of the plan?"
"None of this has been part of the plan!" Cameron yells back, suddenly getting defensive. "I was supposed to just get on the inside and report back all the names of whoever was working for Gavin and then there would be one big takedown!"
"So what happened?" I ask accusingly.
"You kept interfering!" Cameron says, hitting me with a cold blast of reality. "You kept prying and you wouldn't leave it alone and you got Gavin's attention."
"You were apart of that?" I ask, interrupting him in the middle of his explanation.
"No! Of course not. But Gavin sent someone to my funeral and that guy came back and told him you were asking about him," Cameron tells me.
"Why did he send someone to your funeral?" I ask him.
"He wanted to know if anyone was suspicious, if anyone thought I was still alive," Cameron explains.
I'm left speechless, knowing that none of this would've happened if I would've just left it alone.
"You kept pushing and trying to track down Gavin and he kept pushing back. I wasn't a part of this because he kept me in the dark about it. I didn't know about how close you were getting until today, when Gavin told me he was expecting you," Cameron explains to me. "Calvin, I was not in on this. You think I would help him mess with you? Try to kill you? You think I would help him kill Christina?"
"He has to pay for it all," I whisper.
"He will," Cameron assures me. "He will go to prison and pay for everyone he's hurt."
"No," I tell him.
"What?" Cameron asks, suddenly confused.
"He has to pay, tonight," I say, lifting my pistol back up to point it at Gavin.
"Calvin, no. Don't do this. He should go to prison, he'll suffer more in prison," Cameron says, trying to change my mind. "How are we going to explain this to Captain Bennett?"
"Fuck Captain Bennett!" I shout. "He's still a murderer. He still killed several people, even if you weren't one of them. He killed our sister, Cameron! You want to just let him get away with that?"
"He won't get away with it," Cameron assures me. "Calvin, just put the gun down. He'll spend the rest of his life behind bars."
"Just let him do it," Gavin mutters from the floor, seemingly accepting his defeat. He must realize there's no way he's getting out of this. He either dies tonight or gets hauled off to prison for the rest of his miserable life.
"Shut the fuck up!" Cameron shouts at him. "Calvin, if you do this, what does that make you? You'd be no better than him if you pull that trigger."
"I have to do this," I say through gritted teeth.
Cameron bends over and picks up an object from the floor. I turn my focus to him and find him holding the pistol I dropped earlier, my pistol.
"I can't let you do this," Cameron says, holding up the gun and pointing it in my direction.
"What the fuck, Cameron? Whose side are you on?" I ask him accusingly.
"Calvin, I can't let you do this. I don't want to see you do something you can't take back," he tells me. "I don't want to do this. Please don't make me do this."
"Put the gun down, Cameron!" I shout at him.
"No!" He shouts back. "He belongs in prison which is exactly where you'll end up if you do this. I can't let you do this."
I stare at him for a moment, keeping my aim on Gavin.
"Captain Bennett put me on this assignment to bring Gavin to jail in the end, not to watch him get assassinated by my own brother. Just put the damn gun down and we'll bring him to jail together," Cameron demands, still pointing my own gun at me.
"I've already lost everything! This man has taken everything and everyone from me!" I yell, shaking my gun towards Gavin. "I've lost my job. Everyone I know has turned their back on me. He killed our sister. And now he's got you pinned against me too!"
Cameron clearly doesn't have any response because he remains silent but continues to point the pistol in my direction.
"And you can't even deny it," I say as more of a statement rather than a question.
"Calvin," Cameron says softly. "Please don't make me do this."
He puts his other hand on the gun, holding it firmly with both hands. Is he actually going to shoot me? Is he really trying to defend Gavin right now? After letting me think he was dead for two weeks, he comes back and decides to take the side of a criminal over his own brother. How could he do this to me?
"If you go down this road, there's no turning back," Cameron says, trying to come up with anything that might make me lower my weapon. "This isn't you. You're not a killer. Just put the gun down, Calvin. Please don't do this."
He makes a good point. If I pull this trigger, I'll be the one going to jail instead of Gavin. It's either that or go on the run until I get caught. On the other hand, I don't have anything to go back to. I've already lost my job, no other police department is going to hire me when they hear about everything I've done already. My wife has seemingly turned her back on me. My own brother is pointing a gun at me. Christina is dead. And at the center of it all, is Gavin. He's the main source of all my problems.
"I'm sorry," I say to Cameron. "I just can't let him go."
I look down at Gavin and pull the trigger. The loud gunshot echoes throughout the house and for a split second, I think I hear a second gunshot go off at the same time. My own body jerks back as I watch Gavin's fall limply to the ground. I feel a sharp pain in my chest and look up at Cameron. He's still standing at the base of the stairs with the gun at his side but there's tears in his eyes. I drop my own gun to the floor as I look down at my chest and see the blood seeping through my shirt. I've been shot.