August 21, 2013 - Iraq
Ryan Werner ran into the large barrage of bullets and took down the opposition soldiers with ease. Ryan and his pal since kindergarten, Henry Amaro searched the upper part of the hanging-by-a-thread claybrick compound. "Enemies are down, upper section clear," said Ryan mellowly. Ryan said, "Gotta admit even after all these years of fighting the terrorist, the killing never gets easier." "Well, at least we're killing to keep our country safe." "Yeah...I guess so....Henry, what are you staring at?" "A high-tech computer." Then, Henry's face changed in to despair. He turned on his intercom and said, "Leave the building NOW! It's gonna blow!" Ryan knew he had to leave, but didn't want to leave his friend who had helped Ryan through all of his missions and problems. Ryan saluted Henry, and Henry said, "10 seconds left until I blow up." Ryan quickly ran to a locked wood shutter covering a window and bashed it with the butt of his gun. As 7 seconds remained, Ryan got the shutter open and he flung himself out of a hole in the wall that they called a window. As he hit the dry, solid sandstone ground, Ryan felt a sharp pain in his hip. "Fuck," he exclaimed. Ryan looked down and saw his knife in his hip as blood gushed out. Bang! The house imploded with few debris to fly about as Ryan covered his his ears. Ryan turned on his com and said, "Henry's most likely KIA and I have stab wound that's gushing blood.....F..fuck!" "Ryan, stay calm, and get the first..." "Aid...already on it. I'm grbing the..."
"Ryan, stay with us! Are you there?"
On the other line was silence.
"Fuck! Send an med-evac out toward Ryan."
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August 21, 2013 - Ain Assad Air Base - Iraq
"Ryan, Ryan are you awake?"
"Yeah."
"My name is Dr. Sarah, and we have good news and bad news,"
Ryan was still kind of still waking up and didn't know what was going on, but he was in a US surgery room.
"Your knife wound is fine and patched up, but we found that since you were only about 4 meters away from the building....you have a piece of shrapnel that cut your right bicep in half, and one that just missed your heart, so we're gonna have to put you under again."
"Whoo ar..."
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Present Day - Home - America
"Ryan, we're out of...."
"Ssssssh...Dr. Werner, I know what you're doing. You're testing me to see if I know today is our anniversary. PS I know."
"Check under your bed. I got you a little something."
Ryan power-walked to his bed and got on his knees. He reached his arm into the darkness and touched a ridged edge. Ryan grasped it and opened it, and found a homemade camo-bandana. "Sweetie...this is...amazing." "Did you see the other thing?" Ryan looked in the box and found a US Army shirt with Henry's face and death date on it. "Honey, I will wear this proudly for Henry." They hugged and as they hugged, Ryan tried to sneak car keys into his wife's pocket. "What are you doing?" She pulled his hand out and saw the keys to Mini Cooper in his hand. She held her hands over her mouth and said, "Oh, my gosh! This...is."
"Amazing, right?" They hugged again, but this time, Ryan's phone rang. "Sorry, hon, gotta take this call." "Ryan, I'm sorry I have to do this, but....I'm promoting you to detective after you protected the streets of New York from several dangerous criminals. "Thanks, Chief."
"Now that you're Detective Werner, you can call me Sam." "Thanks, Sam. I'm...speechless." "Don't thank me yet cause I have a case for you. A rich republican congressman hasn't been seen in weeks, and our patrolmen didn't find him in his house, and his friend called it in...Mr.Rickets." They only found a pile of dust." "On it." "Oh yeah...I called yesterday to promote you, but your wife answered and said to tell you tomorrow, so she can get you a suit." Ryan's phone call shut off and his wife wasn't to be seen, but Ryan heard noise in his room. "Hon, bring out the suit. I heard already." His wife can out with a black-and-white suit with a black bow tie. "Hon, thanks, but I gotta go, and get my new badge and partner.
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As Ryan entered the building, everyone applauded his appearance, and the police chief Sam handed Ryan his new badge. "Thanks, sir." The chief patted him on the shoulder and said, "You're welcome, and thanks for keeping the streets safe." "You're welcome as well....Sam, do you know where my new partner is?" "He's in the break room...drinking our stereotype drink." "Ha...thanks." Ryan walked toward the break room, and saw a man being taken in. When he arrived, he found a medium guy with a brown combover and a big beard. "You must be..."
"I'm Liam Flick. You must be Werner."
"Ryan Werner. So where we heading?" "We're heading to your car, wherever that it's and then we'll be off to see the victim's friend's wife who's been accused of an affair before, but wasn't made official for sure."
Ryan hopped in the driver's seat, but Liam kicked him out. "I'm always driver, kid." "Fine, old man." Liam and Ryan got in their final seating positions, and set off. "For your knowledge, I'm 47." "Well, I'm 29." Something was up as they went toward the friend's house. "Liam, I..." "I know." The husband's car wasn't there, and for your information, his records said he had 2 cars : his formal, oldie Lincoln, and a Lamborghini, but both were gone which wouldn't have happened if he left to go somewhere. And furthermore, the 42-year-old wife was wearing sexy clothing for sitting on the porch. As they stopped on the block after they saw the house, Liam told Ryan his predictions and plan. "I believe she's divorced, so you go in as a cop, and if that doesn't get us info, then I go in as an eligible bachelor to persuade her." Ryan got out of the car and looked back at Liam, taking deep breathes. As he approached, the wife looked from her book (tablet?....not sure?...lets just say it was a book for now) and said, "What you want? My husband, I assume. We're divorced, but we still live in the house together." "I'm a cop and wanted to inform you that your husband's friend reported him missing." Her facial expressions change greatly. "You mean Rick Rickets." "Yes." "Oh, God, no...he did it." "What?" "I kind of flirted with Rick when I was drunk several times and my husband, John Tyler, said he'd kill him, but I think Rick may have killed him instead." "I forgot....your name?" "Elizabeth Tyler." "Mrs. Tyler, you didn't do anything else with Mr. Rickets?" Her eyes looked away and came back to Ryan's face. "No....I didn't." "Elizabeth! We can take you downtown and interrogate you there or you tell me now why is going to kill him. We know he's not unstable because we have his record." "Me...and Rick did a...little thing." "How many affairs had you had?" "10 because John abusive and hated me, and wanted a man to defend me and when it came to Rick....he was so angry and threatened him, but Rick wanted to be manly and not take it to the police, so they had a fight...and then, John left for a week....never returned." "You believe your husband was killed by your 'boy toy'." "Yes, and now....he's probably coming back....oh god." "Elizabeth, stay on the porch and me and my partner will hid in the bushes and arrest him." Ryan radioed to Liam and they both got in their places. 3 hours later, nobody came. "Well...I'll go tell Mrs. Tyler." Ryan knocked and opened the unlocked door, but as he climbed the stairs of the moonlit house, he heard a man's voice. "You never told me he was your husband...you said he was a agent after you." "You and your mental mind...I never liked you. I just needed someone to get me that insurance money." "Fuck you!" Then, Ryan kicked open the door and heard screaming as he say Rick stab Mrs. Tyler. Ryan aimed and shot Rick twice; one in his side and one in his shoulder. Rick fell down and dropped the knife. Ryan kicked the knife away and handcuffed Rick. Ryan quickly checked Mrs. Tyler's pulse. It was fading. "Mrs...you'll be fine." Ryan radioed Liam and told him to call an ambulance and to come inside. Liam took no stroll to get inside, Liam was in there within 2 minutes. "Ryan, what happened?" "I walked in to check to see if Rick came back, and I heard a noise upstairs. Apparently, Mrs. Tyler tricked Rick into killing her husband so she could get a big insurance payout, but Rick found out and stabbed her." "Make sure you hold that wound down hard, and the ambulance should be here in a few minutes." After 2 minutes of waiting, Mrs. Tyler died, but Rick was still alive and was taking in the ambulance. "First case as detective was no problem, right, Ryan?" "Longer than I thought it would take. I'm ready to go and sleep." "Head home, and I'll close up the report." Ryan got in his car and drove back to his house. He arrived right at 12 am.
YOU ARE READING
Republicans, Democrats, and The Butcher
Mystery / ThrillerA war veteran turned detective, Ryan Werner, gets his chance to shine in his first case, which is a death of a politician, but soon finds out that the first death isn't the last.