Chapter Ten: A Freedom Fighter
Eddie had been following the events on the news, and considering
the issues and his options. Then he made his decision. He emptied the water
fire extinguisher into the sink. Then, as he had done many times at work, he
opened it up. It was a simple process: Half full with water. Don’t fill it all
the way, because you can put it on the compressor and pressurize it, and the
gauge would show full pressure, but only a tiny amount of pressurized air would
be inside, and only a tiny burst would be propelled out.
Eddie took two liters of ammonia and two liters of bleach. He
held his breath and poured them together into the extinguisher. Then he screwed
the cap back on and washed out the ammonia and bleach containers.
The fan in the room was on, and blew the poisonous vapors away.
Eddie used a wrench to tighten the cap, and put the extinguisher on the
compressor. In a few seconds, he had his deadly weapon.
Eddie sat on the front steps and waited. After an hour, a cop
was walking by. The cop could not see the extinguisher, but it wouldn’t have
mattered anyway. Fire extinguishers were still legal in New Hampshire.
Eddie took a deep breath, picked up the extinguisher, aimed the
hose and sprayed the unsuspecting cop in the face. After a few seconds of
screaming and gasping, the cop fell. Eddie calmly set the extinguisher down and
walked up. He breathed again for a few seconds, then stepped up and removed the
cop’s gun from the holster, capturing the gun as a prize of war. He used the
first bullet on that cop, then walked around the
block. As he turned the first corner, he retrieved the leather jacket and
sunglasses he had stashed. He put them on, and concealed the gun under the
jacket.
After making his way all the way around the block, he saw the
scene, with enemy officers swarming in. He stepped out between parked cars and
shot one big cop in the back of the head. Then he turned and exchanged shots
with another cop. The cop’s shot struck Eddie. Eddie’s shot struck the cop.
Eddie died in two minutes, the cop died in five.
The evening news would be abuzz with yet another story of a
citizen fighting back, and everybody would know another way to kill a cop when
a gun is not available.