Forced Meeting

Jerrold Pershing opened his eyes, only to immediately shut them again as he was blinded from the glaring light in front of him. He tried to turn his head, but found that he was unable to, and when he tried to raise his arms to shield his face, he realized they too were immobile. He could feel his muscles tensing as his body tried, and failed, to respond to his commands, so he knew he wasn’t drugged, or paralyzed, or stuck with some kind of neural collar. Whoever it was, and he had a pretty good feeling he knew who, had him in some good old fashioned restraints.
Jerrold tried to open his eyes again, slowly this time, allowing them time to adjust to the abrupt brightness. He blinked his eyes closed again in rapid succession before finally managing to hold them open, largely able to overcome the pain by this point. Being able to see, Jerrold was finally able to take in at least some of his surroundings, limited as they were.
He was in a room, dark save for the single light source, a spotlight like those used in a dentist’s office, parked just a foot or two away from his face. Aside from that, the room was largely featureless, but it must have been in the interior of wherever he was being held, as there were no windows. He also couldn’t see any doors either, meaning he must be positioned towards the wall to stop him from getting any potential details in the corridor. Whoever this was, either they were smart, or this wasn’t their first experience with abductions.
Jerrold glanced down as far as he could, spotting the shiny pair of handcuffs used to bind his arms to the chair he was in, and though he couldn’t see his legs, a quick jolt confirmed they were likewise bound. It was around this time that he also noted the chair itself, made of wood, though running his fingers around it, he determined it wasn’t a particularly hard variety.
After several long moments of relative silence, Jerrold picked up the sound of boots coming from behind him as they lightly thudded against the floor. He stopped moving and focused forward, though trying not to stare directly into the light. The boots stopped somewhere to the right of his head and, after a painfully long moment, the light was finally moved out of his face and allowed him to blink with relief. In its place was the face of a woman; Jerrold guessed she was likely in her late 50s or older thanks to the wrinkles that adorned her face. He knew her, not particularly well, but he recognized her face.
Jerrold flashed an almost convincing smile, “Ah, well hello there, Sheriff. If you wanted a meeting with me, you could’ve just asked, y’know? There wasn’t much of a need to send your… deputies out like that.”
Sheriff Giulia Bianchi looked down at him with a frown. They both understood what he meant, with a pair of her deputies grabbing him at a local eatery while he was grabbing lunch. More to her credit, they both knew why it had happened, too. Jerrold had spent nearly two weeks investigating the local crime syndicate, the Tecaride Cartel, and it seemed that good Mr. Brumnov’s assertions that she and her cronies were bought and paid for might have been accurate.
“You didn’t leave me much choice, Mr. Garnett. You were too careful when you were alone, and that was the only place where you had dropped your guard.”
Jerrold swore silently to himself. It was true, he had been aware of her men observing him ever since he killed the two Tecarida enforcers at Brumnov’s farm, and that had forced them to keep their distance. As his investigation and actions against the Tecaridas grew more ambitious, it had clearly forced them to be more proactive in interfering with him. Jerrold had figured that they were going to move against him soon, though shame on him for not expecting it at a goddamned fast food joint in broad daylight.
“I’d have appreciated it if you’d have let me finish my food first. I had already paid for it, after all.” He continued, glad she was still using the alias he had adopted when he arrived on Peruggio.
“And I told you I’d appreciate it if you had kept to yourself and stayed out of business that didn’t concern you.” She responded, the ire clear and evident in her tone.
“Well, that was kinda hard to do when they tried to murder my new boss on my first day here. Self-defense, entirely above board and legal as far as the UEG is concerned.”
“The UEG isn’t the law out here, Mr. Garnett. The Tecaridas are, and you’ve pissed them off something fierce.”
Well, so much for pretense, he thought to himself.
“You know, I’ve met a lot of law enforcement in my life. Some good, some bad, some absolute pieces of shit. Good cops tend to be good for a few reasons, but shitty cops can be bad for a lot of reasons. Selling out yourself and your town is pretty far up there.”
“Don’t moralize at me, Mr. Garnett. The Tecaridas don’t fuck around, and neither do I. They would burn this place to the ground and kill everyone here if they kept pushing back.”
Jerrold chuckled to himself, the cliches almost wrote themselves here, “So you’re protecting them with this, right? Talk about moralizing. I bet the kickback money don’t hurt either?”
At this, her face turned red and she delivered a biting backhanded slap right across Jerrold’s face, the brace tied around his head causing him to take the full force of the hit.
Touched a nerve there, it seems.
Jerrold spit out a small glob of bright red blood, before shifting his eyes back to her, “Well, since we’re dropping the niceties, I’ll jump right to the point. You’re not the first woman to jump my ass and tie me to a chair. I’ve had my ass beat by the best of them, and you and your posse of dipshits doesn’t even compare.”
Sheriff Bianchi looked unimpressed, “You don’t seem to get what’s going to happen here. Since you clearly aren’t getting the message through that thick skull of yours, I’ve got something that will.”
With that, she gestured to the holster at her hip, currently holding a wickedly large revolver, “I use this for killing bears or bulls that’re too dangerous for their own good. I figure it’ll work nicely on someone like you, especially without that fancy armor we’ve seen you running around in.”
Jerrold scoffed, entirely aware of how vulnerable he was, especially if they meant to kill him, “Oh please, better men and women than you have tried. When I get outta here, I’m killing you and your band of jackasses, and then I’m going after your bosses. It’s the least these people here deserve.”
She shook her head as she reached down to her holster, “No, Mr. Garnett. I’m happy to say that you won’t.”
As the revolver cleared the leather holster, a trio of gunshots rang out. Rather than in front of him, they instead came from behind, further into the building. Bianchi’s head shot up towards the guards standing behind Jerrold, her face red with anger.
“You two, get out there and see what the hell’s going on!”
This was his chance. While she was distracted, he lifted his arms as high as they could go with the restraints on, only an inch or so but it would hopefully be enough. With all the strength his augmented muscles could muster, he forced his body weight down onto the arms of the chair, the wood snapping in two and freeing his arms enough to reach out in front. Bianchi had just enough time to register what was happening before Jerrold was able to lock his hand onto her gun, twisting it sharply and freeing it from her grip. In an instant, he had the gun aimed at her and, after another moment, he fired; the large caliber round blasting a hole through the sheriff and spraying the wall behind her.
Within the next few moments, Jerrold Pershing was freed from the remains of the chair. He stretched his arms and legs, wondering just how long he’d been out when a pair of deputies, likely the same two from just a minute prior, came around the corner. Jerrold wasted no time as another pair of shots rang out, the two men dropping like rocks in the hallway. Another pair of footsteps were close behind and Jerrold raised the pistol again, ready to fire, when he saw the face of Samson Bramnov poking from behind the corner.
Jerrold breathed a sigh of relief and waved the man over, reaching down to relief the former sheriff of her holster and spare ammunition. As Bramnov approached, Jerrold slid the gun into its holster and smiled at the man, “Glad to see you made it, I was starting to think you weren’t gonna come.”
Bramnov looked down at the body of the sheriff, “Yeah, I almost didn’t. A couple of times, too. But it looks like I got here when it mattered.”
Jerrold nodded, “That you did, now let’s get outta here before more of them show up. I’m sure she has ‘deputies’ all over the goddamned place.”