Niklosi's Nightmare (First Wave Book 10) Read Free Page A

so
polite, but there was something about the large man that drew her to him and
she didn’t feel the least bit of danger around him like she would around a
guilty suspect. She trusted her instincts and hoped she wouldn’t need to call
an army to get the guy to the car.
    Niklosi blinked to try and clear
the burning chemical from his eyes and stumbled as he got to his knees and
tried to stand. He felt the tug on his hands to steady him, and before he knew
it he was being led to a car and placed in the back seat before she slammed the
door shut. He watched through blurry vision as she leaned into the front of the
car.
    “Buford, I need some serious back
up here at Jepson’s place. As soon as you can get here,” BJ said calmly into
the radio mic.
    When several minutes passed with no
response, Niklosi laughed.
    “Guess they don’t like you much.
Did you shoot them in the face and spray chemicals in their eyes too?” he
mouthed off.
    He couldn’t help but wonder where
the hell Decano and Traze were, and why they hadn’t stepped in yet to get him
out of this. As appealing as the female was, he was done there, and didn’t want
the woman shooting him when he tried to escape.
    “Markson, I’m almost there,” came
the reply on the radio.
    Niklosi burst out laughing.
    “Your back up is a dinosaur?” he
asked, mocking the gravelly, weathered voice that had responded.
    BJ didn’t even bother to respond to
the bait.
    “I’m placing you under arrest and
I’m going to read your Miranda Rights,” BJ said before launching into the words
she knew by rote. “Do you understand your rights?”
    Niklosi just chuckled at the
absurdity of the situation and nodded his head.
    “Yeah, I understood you perfectly,”
he said.
    BJ puzzled for a moment over his casual
acceptance of the situation before she remembered her disappearing evidence.
She leaned into the front seat and flipped on the headlights to illuminate the
body, popped the trunk, pulled out two large black cases, and headed over to
where the majority of the desiccated body still remained.
    The wind was blowing more of it
away by the second, and she knew she didn’t have much time before the rain
heading their way that morning would destroy the rest of the scene.
    She put on her gloves and began
taking pictures of every angle of the crime scene before collecting as much
evidence as she could before the wind managed to take the rest of it away.
    At the bottom of the pile of dust
the body had turned into, BJ smiled as she picked up the handful of slugs the
killer had pumped into the man. She looked up as headlights crested the hill an
hour later, and she waved at Buford as he put his truck in park.
    “What you got, girl?” Buford asked
as he sauntered over to the car and looked inside. “Damn, he’s a big ‘un! Who
the hell is he? Where’d you find him?”
    “You’re not going to believe me,
Buford,” BJ said with a shake of her head as she finished collecting as much
evidence as she could. She sighed in frustration as the wind carried the
remainder of the dust away.
    “Is he Jepson’s haint?” Buford
asked as he walked towards her.
    What the hell is a haint? Niklosi
wondered as he watched Buford and the female interact.
    “I honestly have no idea,” BJ
admitted. “He sure ain’t from around here, or someone would’ve mentioned him by
now.”
    “What in tarnation is all this
doing out here?” Buford asked as he knelt down beside the pile of weapons BJ
had taken from Niklosi.
    “That’s what he was carrying,” BJ
said as she popped open an evidence bag and handed it to Buford.
    “Damn, girl, what did you get in
the middle of out here?” Buford asked as he held the bag open for her.
    BJ shook her head as she glanced
back at the car where the killer sat calmly in the back.
    “I wish I knew, Buford. I need you
to follow me into town and call Irwin, Mojo, and Dennis for me. Have them meet
me at the station,” BJ said.
    Buford whistled low and shook