GUARDIAN

[ C H A P T E R T W O ]

The Meth lab was just an old dingy building , surrounded by more buildings that served as safe houses and warehouse for keeping drugs and ammunition. On the back yard (where both detectives hid and carried out surveillance) were excessive amounts of trash which were mainly coffee filters, empty blue chemical containers tossed about and duct tape rolls.

It was located in the a corner West Sharp Avenue which served as home to the Diablo's, A Mexican s***h Columbian gang run by a Mexican overlord General, Diego di Matteo who was dubbed El Diablo by his foolish followers.

Shirley and O'Reilly who had parked the Bronc a street away, drew out their guns as they saw a couple of high school jocks taking packages from a huge Latino guy who wore what was once a white but now brown tank top over red shorts, a black bandana and who had his hair shaved in a military buzz cut.

From their vantage point she could make out he had tattoos covering his forearms and Shirley recognized him, Roberto Emiliano, the right hand man to Alonso Felipe, El Diablo's foreman.

Both detectives knew Emiliano was bad news, an excellent marksman and sharpshooter, he was the Cartel's assassin which was why they were confused how he'd voluntarily stoop so low he'd be handing out codeine to the kids.

Shirley crunched low a bit then motioned O'Reilly to follow her lead. The man rolled his eyes at how his new partner had assumed she was the boss of him. O'Reilly bypassed Shirley and faces the thug, interrupting the ongoing transaction.

"Emiliano one move and I blow you freaking brains off" O'Reilly threatened darkly. The Latino froze at his threats and the kids made a beeline for their damned lives .

"You don't scare me pendejo" Emiliano spat with venom.

It was like a slow-mo Emiliano immediately reversed their positions, elbowed O'Reilly in the lungs and making the man wheeze out. The both struggled for their guns that they had lost during their struggle and Emiliano pulled the trigger.

Shirley had already made her way inside the lab when she heard the sound of gunfire. Dashing behind a boulder she hid, pulling out her trust ole SIG Sauer P226 her cousin Japheth (who was known to his navy pals as Falcon) had given her on her graduation from the police academy. She moved with stealth aiming at one gangsta and shot.

A gunshot out stunning the shorter jock as it hit his friend from the back of his skull. The taller guy falls to his death as the bullet from Emiliano's gun hit the jock instead of O'Reilly.

Shirley pulls her trigger hitting Emiliano square at the forehead and the huge man fell almost immediately to his death.

At the gunshot a couple dozen gangstas showed up from their hiding points then begins to crowd O'Reilly who starts to back off in fear.

"hoo... holy s**t Leroy, help Leroy help me!" O'Reilly yelled as he didn't know where to start for he had been surrounded.

"No one's gonna save you Cabron, we'd eat you up for killing Emiliano, then we'll waste whomever that Leroy guy is" one of the punks yelled as he threw a punch on O'Reilly's face.

Shirley peered out from the windows of the warehouse she was hiding in and stared at the gangsters that were beating up her new partner.

"All things considered, this is why I don't do par'ners" she muttered under her breathe.

They were a hassle and mostly liabilities and at most times got in the way. Normally, if it had been just her she'd had tossed a hand grenade toward the crowd of gangsters but however O'Reilly really had to make it harder for her.

So she did the exact opposite of what she normally did...

With a roar and guns blazing she kicked open the doors, busting out of the warehouse and shooting down every gangster that was unfortunate enough to catch her notice.

Panic surged through the gangsters who starts to shoot erratically aiming to end whomever was gunning them down.

O'Reilly seizing the distraction and started making his escape but was stopped as two gangsters stood before him. Two shots rang out and he saw them crumble to the ground while Shirley stood with a bored look in her silver eyes as she reloaded her gun.

"Call for backup Sam, then kick those jocks asses when you git em, i'mma take it from here"

"No I'm not leaving you all alone Leroy" O'Reilly said, then widens his eyes when he saw a gangster aiming his gun toward Shirley.

"Leroy behi... " he started to say but went quiet when he saw her shoot the gangster down then proceeded to face him as if she hadn't just gunned a man down.

"Get the hell outta here or I swear I'mma kill ya myself" she barked causing the older man to move, he didn't doubt for a moment she'd handle this but she was also human, and O'Reilly didn't want to lose his new baddass partner"

Satisfied that her partner had finally listened to her Shirley ran toward the meth lab with her SIG and Glock 19 that came along with being a cop.

Dodging behind a door, she fired her gun hitting a couple of gangsters who had been reloading their guns.

The sound of gunshots alerted her she was surrounded but then she wasn't fazed knowing she could handle them but what she didn't count on was a stray bullet hitting a container containing Hypophosphorous acid which causes a ground shaking explosion to rock the lab.

Glass apparatuses containing acetone, freon, and anhydrous ammonia exploded adding more fuel to the fire and Shirley began to run including everyone else in the lab. The fire however grew so much that it's force knocked than everything on its path.

Shirley almost made it to the door when the force from more chemicals exploding knocked her from her feet hitting her head on the wall and as the woman fell to the flames all she could think was her poor old parents and how devasted they'd be when the found out they had lost another child...

Shirley's only consolation was she was sure she would not make heaven with the people she had killed and the things she had done, bending rules to ensure criminals never got away from her, she was glad she'd miss out their wrath when they caught up with her.

Then as she sank into the cold embrace of death she couldn't help but think one last time.... Her grandma Shirley had been right, Death's embrace was like one being wrapped up in an ice cocoon.

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