Open Carry

Book 1: Arliss Cutter Novel

by Marc Cameron

Genres: Political Thrillers; War & Military; Women's Fiction

Synopsis

Law enforcement veteran Marc Cameron brings an explosive authenticity to this powerful U.S. Marshal series. Arliss Cutter is a hero for our times. And his hunt for justice cuts straight to the bone. . . .

U.S. Marshal Arliss Cutter is a born tracker. Raised in the swamplands of Florida, he honed his skills in the military, fought in the Middle East, and worked three field positions for Marshal Services. When it comes to tracking someone down—or taking someone out—Cutter's the best. But his newest assignment is taking him out of his comfort zone to southeast Alaska. Cold, dark, uninhabited forests that are often shrouded in fog. And it's the kind of case that makes his blood run cold . . . the shocking murder of a Tlingit Indian girl.

Three people have disappeared on Prince of Wales Island. Two are crew members of the reality TV show, Fishwives. Cutter's job is to find the bodies, examine the crew's footage for clues, and track down the men who killed them. Easier said than done. Especially when the whole town is hiding secrets, every trail is a dead end—and the hunter becomes the hunted. . . .

Release date: February 25, 2020

Publisher: Pinnacle Books

Print pages: 448

Sample

SUPERVISORY DEPUTY US MARSHAL ARLISS CUTTER KNEW HOW TO smile—but it took effort and, often, came at great expense. More than once, the flash of his killer dimples had sent him crashing headlong into an ill-advised and short-lived marriage. The dimples were a genetic gift from his mother, but he’d also inherited the resting “mean mug” of his paternal grandfather—whom everyone called Grumpy. The mean mug turned out to be perfectly suited to a man who hunted other men for a living.

Cutter stood beside his government issue Ford Escape—the irony of the name not eluding him as a manhunter. The hood of the small, white SUV was surrounded by the seven other members of his ad hoc arrest team, each of them dressed in the full battle rattle of law enforcement on a mission. The three Anchorage PD officers looked bedraggled, having spent the last six hours of a ten-hour shift shagging back-to-back calls for service. One had a mud stain on the thigh of his dark blue uniform, like he’d slid into home plate. Anchorage could get rough after midnight. The two special agents from the DEA, along with the two deputy US marshals assigned to the Alaska Fugitive Task Force, had the damp hair and scrubbed-pink look of people who’d showered and rushed out the door in order to make it to the 5:00 a.m. briefing. One of the DEA guys still had a bit of tissue paper stuck to a shaving cut on his neck. These two sported neatly trimmed, matching goatees, though one had more salt and pepper than the other.

Counting his time in the army, Cutter had almost twenty years of experience tracking evil men, but this position with the Fugitive Task Force was new. He was a hands-on leader, and would be hands-on during this first op in Alaska.

The chilly breeze teased at his sandy hair, pushing a Superman curl across his forehead. He took a deep breath, drawing in the spring smells of flowing birch sap and new spruce growth. He was a long way from his home state of Florida and its comforting familiarity.

There was a real upside to working fugitive cases in the Last Frontier—at least during the spring and summer. The hours of darkness were few and far between now, so the bandits spent most of their time running around like cockroaches trying to find a place to hide. In Cutter’s experience, stomping roaches was easy when they ventured into the light. There had been plenty of cockroaches in Florida and it turned out there were a few in Alaska that needed a boot heel as well.

The roach of the moment, Frederick “Donut” Woodfield, had a criminal history that said he’d gone peacefully during each of his seventeen previous arrests. There was no reason to believe that today would be any different. Cutter checked the BUG—or backup gun—in any case. It was a small Glock he wore in a holster over his right kidney. On his hip, he carried a stainless steel Colt Python revolver with the Florida Department of Law Enforcement badge engraved over the action.

Arliss Cutter was fresh to the District of Alaska—and as such, the two deputies assigned to his task force were fresh to him. All three were still in what Grumpy Cutter had called the “butt-sniffin’ stage.” They were untested, getting to know each other’s ways, the good, the bad, and the stuff that might get somebody killed. The deputies had yet to see Cutter lead, and he’d not seen either of them in a fight. That too was apt to change. The pursuit of violent fugitives virtually guaranteed it.

Deputy US Marshal Sean Blodgett stood to Cutter’s immediate right. Bull strong but thirty pounds on the heavy side, Blodgett’s thick forearms rested T. Rex–like on the magazine pouches and personal trauma kit on the front of an OD-green armored plate carrier he wore over a tight navy blue T-shirt. A subdued green and black circle-star badge was affixed over his left breast. A short-barreled Colt M4 carbine hung vertically from a single-point sling around the deputy’s neck. Bold letters on the back of the vest said “POLICE: US MARSHAL.”

At twenty-six, Deputy Lola Fontaine was what Cutter’s grandfather would have called a “healthy” girl. Naturally thick across her hips and shoulders from her Polynesian roots, she took her fitness to the extreme. Decked out in the early morning light, she reminded Cutter of something from an advertisement for tactical gear. Similar to Deputy Blodgett’s, her vest identified her as a “US MARSHAL,” but her intense countenance and chiseled arms screamed “badass.” She kept her dark hair pulled back in a tight bun that highlighted her wide cheekbones and made her look more mature than she actually was. Chestnut eyes issued a challenge to anyone who met them for too long. She was around five and a half feet tall, but Cutter didn’t have to guess her weight because she kept a record of it on a piece of printer paper taped to her computer. Yesterday, she’d scrawled, “134 pounds of blue twisted steel.” She had proclaimed this her “fighting weight” and no one in the task force offices argued with her. Cutter had heard her tell war stories in the squad room about the fights she’d been involved in, and considering the swagger with which she walked through life, he was inclined to believe her.

Boiled down to its core, manhunting was a straightforward science. Deputy US marshals cared little for the what, when, or why of a crime—but focused with a laser-like intensity on who and where. In theory, now that they had a location on Donut Woodfield, it was a simple matter of closing in and scooping him up. But in practice, few theories survived first contact with a fugitive.

Cutter glanced at the two seasoned agents from the United States Drug Enforcement Administration: Simms and Bradley. Each was dressed in a thin blue raid jacket pulled over an olive-drab tactical vest. Each topped off their extra ammo, personal trauma kits, and other tactical gear with two flash-bang grenades. A little over the top for someone not in a SWAT unit, but it was hard to argue against taking extra gear as long as it didn’t weigh you down.

The DEA guys appeared to be capable enough, though Simms, the younger of the two agents, made a lame joke that Lola Fontaine was a stripper’s name. Cutter did what any good supervisor would do. He quietly led the man away from the group and threatened to kick his ass if he heard that kind of talk about one of his people again. Although it took a few minutes away from the gathering, it was time well spent. With a six-foot-three, two-hundred-forty-pound supervisory deputy making sure he watched his p’s and q’s, Special Agent Simms became a picture of decorum. Deputy Blodgett had also made fun of Lola Fontaine’s stripper-esque name—but in private and as part of the USMS family, so Cutter had let it slide with nothing more than a raised eyebrow. Even that had the same effect.

As per their standard operating procedure on a raid, both DEA agents wore black balaclavas, ready to roll down over their goateed faces just prior to booting the door. The other five members of the team—the three uniformed APD officers and the two deputy marshals—were young, pitifully so in Cutter’s mind, young enough to make his forty-two-year-old bones ache. He was at least a decade older than anyone else there. But young didn’t necessarily mean inexperienced, especially for the coppers. Serving a population of three hundred thousand, these APD officers witnessed enough human conflict and unmitigated stupidity every night to mature them at near lightning speed.

Out of habit, Cutter touched the small leather bag tucked into his belt, and then leaned over his Ford to get one last good look at the floor plan drawn there in erasable marker—a mobile whiteboard. It was just before five-thirty in the morning but the other members of the team cast stark shadows across the hood.

He was satisfied that he had a solid mental picture of the apartment complex they were about to hit, but as supervisory deputy, Cutter positioned himself to face the rising sun, making certain everyone else could study the diagram before they went in. He’d seen too many good people die over some piddling mistake—and wasn’t about to let it happen on his watch.

The oldest of the APD officers, a sergeant named Evers, was likely in his early thirties. He shot a glance at the sad little set of apartments set among the white birch trees in the quiet neighborhood off Spenard Road, then looked back at the diagram drawn on the hood. “Anybody been inside this place before?”

“I have,” one of the APD officers said, raising a black-gloved hand. “It’s basically four floors of whores, Sarge.” He looked as though he might still be in middle school but spoke with the conviction of a man ten years his senior, and this calmed Cutter a notch.

“The landlord lives in California,” Deputy Blodgett added. “He’s got a rap sheet as long as your arm for heroin distribution and use. I’m not even sure if he remembers he owns the damn thing.”

Lola Fontaine shoved a powder-blue warrant folder across the hood toward the APD officers. It was thick with Woodfield’s background information and known associates. She’d folded it open to the criminal-history page.

“Frederick James Woodfield,” she said, tapping the photograph with the bright red nail of her index finger. “AKA Donut.”

“That’s a fit dude for a heroin dealer,” Sergeant Evers said. “Doesn’t look like someone named Donut.”

Fontaine shrugged, wincing a little from the movement. Even in the chill, she was still sweating from her 4 a.m. preraid workout and her arms glistened in the morning light. Both of the younger APD officers were mesmerized by her. It would have made Cutter smile, if he were the smiling sort.

“Whew,” she gasped, half under her breath. “It was shoulder day this morning and I am feeling it.” She glanced up at Blodgett. “I could barely get into my T-shirt at the gym. Know what I’m sayin’?”

Cutter cleared his throat, keeping her on task. “Donut?”

“Right,” she said, rolling her shoulders again. “Not sure why, but that’s what everybody calls him. He’s got warrants out of California, Washington, and Alaska for distribution. Black male, six-five, two hundred and sixty pounds. He’s got ties to the TMHG—Too Many Hoes Gang—one of the Crips affiliates out of LA. Maybe the name comes from them.”

The APD officer nearest Cutter dragged his eyes off Fontaine’s biceps long enough to study the photograph of their target and whistled under his breath. Officer Trent, a callow string bean who looked fresh out of the academy, tapped the line that showed Woodfield’s date of birth and shook his head. “Twenty-eight. Isn’t that ancient for a guy in a street gang?”

“True,” Cutter said.

“So our guy’s on the fourth floor?” Sergeant Evers repeated back information he’d already been given. Cutter didn’t blame him. Cops were more terrified of hitting the wrong place than they were of flying bullets.

Cutter looked at Deputy Fontaine, letting her answer. It was a DEA warrant, but they’d turned it over to the Marshals Service. Cutter wanted to make sure everyone here knew this operation was Fontaine’s show.

“Correct,” the deputy said. “Apartment four oh five. Three down after we top the stairs, on the south side of the hall.”

Evers nodded. “I’d still be happy to bring in SWAT,” he said. “If you think this guy’s going to barricade.”

“That’s your call,” Cutter replied to the sergeant, taking a half step back and crossing his arms. “If it would ease your mind. This is your city.” Cutter knew that being able to personally slap the cuffs on a fugitive at the end of a long hunt was a point of pride with those who hunted men. He wasn’t immune to the notion, but if there was any indication that Donut Woodfield was going to be a problem he would have stepped in and called SWAT himself.

All the men looked at Lola Fontaine. The two DEA agents shuffled a bit and everyone seemed to be holding their breath at this critical juncture. The whole operational plan could change with her next words.

Fontaine flashed a quick look at Blodgett, then confidently shook her head and pointed to the criminal history. “He’s never put up any fight before. I think we’re good with what we got.” She flashed a grin at the APD officers. Cutter couldn’t help but notice that even her face had clearly sculpted muscles. “I appreciate you guys coming along though. A uniform presence keeps the neighbors from going ape shit.”

“And anyhow,” Deputy Blodgett chimed in, “we got a pile of five more of these mooks around Anchorage that we’re going to hit today. SWAT’s got no time for that.” Blodgett was from Nevada, but used words like “mook” and “perp” as if he’d grown up as a NYPD beat cop.

Evers gave a low groan, still mulling it over. “He’s supposed to be alone?”

Fontaine gave a noncommittal shrug. “That’s what we understand,” she said.

“Okay.” The sergeant stepped back from the Ford. “We seven rock stars should be able to handle it. Are you planning to knock and announce first?” He glanced down at the breaching ram resting upright on the pavement at Blodgett’s feet. Fifty pounds of steel and painted flat black, it resembled a length of railroad track with two hoop handles and a flat plate welded to the end—because that’s exactly what it was.

The older DEA agent coughed, drawing attention in his direction. “There’s a good chance this guy’s holding a fistful of black tar heroin. If it’s all the same to you, we’d like to get inside before he has a chance to run it down the garbage disposal.”

“Daisy will make that happen for us.” Blodgett smiled and gave the ram an affectionate pat.

The sergeant studied his two officers, looking them up and down the way good field leaders do to make sure their people are squared away. Satisfied, he turned back to Cutter. “No fire escape on that end of the building. We can all go to the front door. You guys will handle the breaching tool, right? If my guys touch it, I gotta call SWAT.”

Blodgett hoisted the steel ram to his chest. “Nobody’s touching Daisy but me,” he said.

Special Agent Simms threw a black nylon backpack over his vest. It held a pair of bolt cutters and a hooked breaching bar that resembled a hammer with one claw called a Halligan tool. It would be invaluable in the event Donut’s door happened to open outward, or was too flimsy to make Daisy effective.

“Here we go then,” Evers said, waving toward Donut Woodfield’s four floors of whores. “We’ll follow you.”

Lola Fontaine led the convoy of six law enforcement vehicles off Spenard Road, parking behind the cover of the birch trees on the north side of the building, away from Donut’s apartment. With no reason to dally, the team eased their vehicle doors shut, then moved immediately into the main entrance of the apartments. They stacked in the same order they would hit the door. Fontaine was in the lead, Deputy Blodgett behind her with the ram, followed by Cutter, the two DEA agents, and APD acting as over-watch in the rear.

The overwhelming stench of trash and dirty socks hit Cutter full in the face. Deputy Blodgett took a deep breath through his nose as if savoring a favorite meal.

“Hmmm,” he whispered. “Yummy . . .”

The building had an elevator, but the team opted for the stairs, moving at a fast trot. They stayed close enough to reach out and touch, but just far enough apart so as not to bump into one another. Her Glock drawn and pointed at the floor, Fontaine indicated 405 with her free hand, confirming that was the apartment as soon as they reached it. Cutter had warned her about spending too much time on target. Rather than ramming the door immediately, she reached to gingerly try the knob. It was not the worst thing in the world to ram an unlocked door, but it was as embarrassing as hell.

It was locked.

Fontaine gave a whispered hiss. “Breacher up!” She stepped to the side, allowing Blodgett room to swing the heavy ram. She would take the lead inside once the door gave way, while everyone else filed in behind her. Blodgett, having dropped the ram and transitioned to his rifle, would follow at the rear of the stack.

The door was metal with a solid core, and from the looks of it, had a deep, reinforced dead bolt. There was a peephole at eye level, so Cutter gave a thumbs-up ordering them to make entry. Blodgett took his stance and swung Daisy back at the same time Cutter saw a camera mounted on the ceiling in the far corner of the hallway. He noticed it a fraction of a second too late.

The heavy door swung open an instant before the steel ram made contact, causing Blodgett to lose his balance and stumble forward. A dark and brawny arm grabbed the deputy and yanked him inside before slamming the door. The dead bolt slid home with a definitive clunk, leaving Cutter and the rest of his team standing flat-footed in the hallway—with no ram.

ARLISS CUTTER PUT HIS BOOT TO THE DOOR—GETTING NOTHING but a sickeningly solid thud. With the breaching ram and Blodgett in the apartment, Cutter and the rest of the team were effectively locked out.

“What the hell just happened?” one of the DEA agents gasped. They looked up and down the hall in disbelief, guns still drawn, at the ready—one man gone and no bad guy in sight.

It sounded like two elephants battling it out on the other side of the door. Dust streamed down from the ceiling as something heavy shook the wall.

Cutter looked up and saw the hallway had a suspended ceiling and motioned Fontaine over with a quick flick of his wrist. Keeping clear of the door in the event Donut decided to start shooting, he holstered his Colt and interlaced his fingers, stooping to give her a place to stand.

“I’m going to lift you up,” he said. “Let me know what you see.”

Instantly, she grabbed his shoulders and stepped into his hands, pushing the acoustic tile out of the way as Cutter stood.

“No good,” she said when he lowered her back down. “Walls go all the way up to the next floor.”

Muffled screams carried through the walls along with the sound of heavy pounding. Someone was being beaten to death.

Sergeant Evers tried to boot the door again. It did little but scuff the metal facing. Next both APD officers set to kicking the door together. Soon everyone was taking turns with zero results.

The sergeant got on his radio and called for backup—but Cutter knew it would be too little, too late. This would all be over before anyone could arrive with another ram.

Inside Woodfield’s apartment, it was all-out war. Glass shattered, furniture crunched as the men engaged in an epic knock-down-drag-out brawl. Donut Woodfield had six inches and sixty pounds on Blodgett. Even if the bandit wasn’t armed, Cutter knew there were at least two guns inside—Blodgett’s. The deputy was loud and brash, and thankfully, he was built like a small Sherman tank. Cutter just hoped he knew how to fight.

Cutter drew his pistol again and snapped his fingers at the DEA agents. “Use the Halligan,” he said.

Simms moved up immediately, drawing the metal tool from his shoulder bag like a sword. He tried to pry the door next to the dead bolt, but it held firm.

“It’s reinforced,” the DEA agent said through a clenched jaw. He moved the flat edge up and down the jam, beating it against the metal to try and find a sweet spot.

Cutter’s heart raced as he listened to the clatter on the other side of the door.

“This is really stuffed,” Fontaine whispered, looking much less muscular than she had just moments before. “He’s killing Sean in there.”

Helpless, Cutter cast his eyes up and down the hallway, hoping to find a fire axe or something with which to make entry and save his deputy. Sean Blodgett had been on his own a full minute—an eternity when you’re fighting for your life. Cutter tried not to imagine the scene, focusing instead on a way inside.

The door to 407 opened a crack and a dark eye peered out. The door started to close, but Cutter shoved his foot inside, forcing it open to reveal a bony-kneed brunette with track marks on her arms. She wore a thin T-shirt and loose gym shorts—the easy-on, easy-off uniform of a hooker who worked from home.

“Hey!” she said, glancing backward at the marijuana plants growing by the balcony door. “You can’t come in here without a warrant.”

“I don’t care about your weed,” Cutter said, working hard to keep his breathing under control so he could think. “You know your neighbor?”

The battle in the next room was even louder from inside the hooker’s apartment.

“He keeps to himself,” the woman said. She folded her arms and cocked a bony hip to one side.

Agent Simms stuck his head in from the hallway. The muscles in his jaw clenched with stress. “Halligan tool’s not working for shit,” he said. “I can’t get through.”

A series of ragged grunts came through from Donut’s side of the wall. Cutter couldn’t tell who made them, but at least there were no shots, and the telltale banging continued unabated. Cutter’s eyes fell on the two flash-bangs on the front of his vest before the DEA agent disappeared back into the hallway. An internal clock had started a countdown the moment the door had slammed shut behind Sean Blodgett, with something telling Cutter that if he could get through the door within three minutes, he might have a chance to save his deputy.

He glanced at his watch. Two minutes gone.

“Bring me the Halligan!” Cutter snapped.

Simms stared. “You want it in here?”

“Just bring it,” Cutter snapped. “Fast!”

Deputy Fontaine ducked in behind Agent Simms. Sweat plastered strands of dark hair to her forehead from her continued efforts to break down the door.

Panting, she gave Cutter a quizzical look. “Did you find another way in?”

“Maybe.” Cutter snatched the metal bar from the DEA agent. “Maybe not.”

Using the wingspan of his arms, he measured approximately five feet from the door inside the woman’s apartment, then buried the picklike spike on the end of the Halligan tool in the Sheetrock. The building was decades old and it was easy to see the swell of the wooden studs in the adjoining Sheetrock wall. He punched two holes, six inches apart and at chest level between the swells.

“Hey!” The hooker tried to step forward but Fontaine checked her with a hip. “But this is my house.”

Cutter ignored her. He yanked open the Velcro closure of his ballistic vest and slid the entire thing up and over his head, dropping it on the floor. He turned immediately to the DEA agent and held out an open hand. “Give me one of the flash-bangs. You take the other one. Pull the pin and drop it into the wall the same time I do.”

Simms nodded, looking like he understood the plan. “This might actually work,” he said, dropping his stun grenade into the hollow of the wall in unison with Cutter.

Two seconds later dust shot from each hole with a muffled whoomf.

Confined to the bottom of the hollow wall, the relatively small explosions still produced enough force to peel the Sheetrock away from the studs, giving Cutter just enough space to insert the Halligan tool. He ripped upward, frantically tearing away the Sheetrock on his side and exposing Woodfield’s inner wall. The studs were set a full two feet apart, but even without his vest, the remaining gear forced Cutter to turn sideways in order to fit.

Heavy bar in hand, he slipped between the studs, sucking in his gut to avoid rusty nails and ancient wiring. Putting a shoulder to the opposing wall, he crashed through the Sheetrock wall, nearly falling over the tangled knot that was deputy and Donut.

Not a stick of furniture in the apartment remained upright. Shattered glass and broken picture frames littered the carpet. A pan of what looked like half-eaten lasagna lay overturned in the middle of the living room floor. Sean Blodgett was on his back, his Glock apparently having been dislodged from the holster. The rifle was nowhere to be seen. Woodfield stood above him with a broken baseball bat high overhead, raining down blows in an effort to brain the deputy. Legs up, Blodgett shielded his face with his forearms and rolled back and forth to avoid the bat. Blood sprayed from Woodfield’s nose with each breath. His jaw hung at an odd angle. Blodgett’s left eye was swollen shut. Blood dripped from his elbows.

Cutter roared, enraged at seeing his deputy on the receiving end of the beating. Plowing into the startled Donut Woodfield, he knocked the man off his feet and gave Blodgett a few seconds to regroup. Wounded but far from finished, Donut rolled and spun to face the new threat. Cutter lunged forward, oblivious to the bat, swinging the Halligan like a polo mallet. He buried the spike end of the tool in Donut’s shoulder as he went past. The fugitive jerked away, shrugging off the wound and raising the bat again. Enraged and intent on braining the fugitive, Cutter rushed him a third time, narrowly missing his head with the Halligan tool but catching the bandit in the right hand as he tried to ward off the blow. The outlaw screamed in pain. Cutter used the spike as a hook and yanked Donut into a left cross that landed on his already shattered jaw.

Woodfield dropped the bat and collapsed screaming to the floor. Momentum from the punch sent Cutter stepping past.

Fontaine had come through the wall right behind Cutter and jumped on top of the dazed fugitive, before Cutter could turn around. Blodgett crawled up beside her, squinting with his good eye while he helped pin one of Woodfield’s arms so she could ratchet on the handcuffs.

Nostrils flaring, Cutter came at all of them with the raised Halligan tool.

Fontaine held up her hand to ward him off. “We’ve got him!”

“What?” Cutter said, blinking, still brandishing the heavy steel bar.

“Arliss!” Fontaine snapped. “It’s me, Lola. We’re good here. He’s cuffed.”

Lola Fontaine stared up at her new boss as he held the Halligan tool high above his head, eyeing Donut Woodfield like a piece of meat. A lock of her long hair had worked its way loose from the bun and she blew it out of her face so she wouldn’t lose eye contact . . .