They Mocked the Homeless Veteran Until He Fought Back

Chapter 003

Everything happened in a flash. No one had time to react.

"You... you, you, you!" The female officer's voice came out strangled, her face flushed with a mixture of anger and humiliation. Andrew's large hand was pressed firmly against a rather sensitive part of her anatomy, and the unfamiliar sensation shot through her entire body, leaving her breathless and nearly suffocating.

The male officer shot to his feet, drawing his service weapon and leveling it at Andrew. "Put the gun down right now! Don't do anything stupid!"

"Please," Andrew muttered under his breath, slowly rising to his feet. "If I wanted to, you think you'd even get the chance to point a gun at me?"

With casual precision, he disassembled the pistol in his hands, breaking it down into component parts that clattered across the floor in a scattered heap.

The young woman and her companions stood frozen, faces pale, unable to process what they'd just witnessed. In broad daylight, someone had actually dared to seize a police officer's weapon and turn it on them. Just who was this guy?

The female officer scrambled to her feet, smoothing down her uniform with shaking hands. After a moment to collect herself, she fixed Andrew with a stern glare. "You are now suspected of assaulting a public official. You need to come with me to the station."

She unclipped her handcuffs and approached him.

"Sure, why not." Andrew shrugged with complete indifference, extending both wrists and waiting.

The metallic click echoed in the space.

Without hesitation, the officer snapped the cuffs into place.

The young woman glanced at Andrew with worry etched across her features. She wanted to help, to do something, anything, but found herself utterly powerless. All she could do was watch as the female officer led Andrew away.

At the male officer's prompting, she turned back to finish giving her statement, though her mind was clearly elsewhere.

Outside the train station, in the parking lot, the female officer gripped Andrew's shoulder and shoved him into the back seat of the patrol car. She pulled out her radio. "Headquarters, this is Mara Whitlock. I'm at the train station. I've apprehended a suspect for assault on a public official. Requesting immediate backup."

"Headquarters received. Dispatching nearby units now."

Andrew sat quietly, listening to the exchange. So the woman had a nice name after all, he mused.

"Mara," he thought to himself. "Not bad. And she's got quite the assets too."

The sensation from earlier still lingered on his palm. Firm yet soft, absolutely top tier.

Mara had no idea what was running through his mind. "Kid, you picked the wrong cop to mess with. Today's your unlucky day."

"Kid?" Andrew shot her an incredulous look. "I'm twenty-five today, you little girl who's barely grown up."

Twenty-five was a watershed. Cross it and you were pushing thirty. Stay under and you could still claim youth.

"You!" Mara's beautiful eyes flared, but she quickly gave up. There was no point arguing with someone like him.

"Wait, where's my luggage?" Andrew suddenly sat up straight, as if remembering something crucial. "Why didn't you bring my bag?"

"It's just a beat-up duffel bag," Mara replied dismissively. "Nobody's going to steal your stuff."

Before she'd even finished speaking, Andrew had somehow slipped out from the back seat. Moving with startling speed, he bolted back toward the station entrance.

The handcuffs lay on the seat behind him, abandoned and open.

"Stop!" Mara reacted fast, immediately giving chase.

The two weaved through the crowded station, one fleeing, one pursuing. Andrew vaulted over a guardrail in a single smooth motion, drawing stares from everyone around.

Mara wasn't about to be outdone. She'd held the record for the fastest two-thousand-meter run at the police academy. No way was she letting him disappear.

She cleared the guardrail with equal grace, her movements sharp and efficient, drawing appreciative glances from the crowd.

"Stop running!"

"Only an idiot would stop!"

Andrew called back without breaking stride. When he spotted the police office just ahead, where the male officer was escorting the couple out, he skidded to an abrupt halt and melted into the sea of people.

Mara stopped as well, scanning the crowd for any sign of him.

"Mara, what's going on?" The male officer had clearly noticed her and called out.

"That bastard got away. I'm so pissed!" Mara snapped the reply over her shoulder before taking off again.

The male officer stood there, watching her disappear into the crowd with a helpless shake of his head before leading the couple away.

The young woman emerged last from the police office, her suitcase in her left hand and Andrew's beat-up duffel bag in her right. She looked around uncertainly.

"Thanks for holding my stuff for me," Andrew's voice came from directly behind her.

"Ah!" The young woman jumped, spinning around with her hand raised to slap him.

A large hand caught her wrist gently.

She finally recognized Andrew's face, though he'd changed clothes at some point and she'd almost missed him.

"Here, I'll take that. I need to go." Andrew took the duffel bag and slung it over his shoulder. Just then, Mara's voice rang out again in the distance. He ducked his head and took off running.

The young woman watched him vanish into the crowd, her mouth slightly open as if to say something, but it was already too late.

Mara chased him for nearly half an hour before finally losing his trail. She stamped her foot in frustration. "Damn it! I'm going to catch you eventually!"

In a narrow alley off the main street, Andrew leaned against the wall, catching his breath. "That woman... how does she have so much stamina?"

He opened the duffel bag. Inside were some clothes, two urns containing ashes, and a strangely shaped jade pendant.

"Don't worry," he murmured to the urns. "I'll get you both home soon."

With a heavy sigh, he lifted the jade pendant and fastened it around his neck before getting to his feet.

His real reason for coming to Ashridge was to return the remains of his fallen comrades and, if possible, look after their families.

Andrew had been an orphan from childhood. After his last mission had ended in tragedy, he'd chosen to leave military service, grief-stricken and adrift. Recently, his former superiors had tracked him down and asked him for this one favor: bring two fallen comrades home.

That was why he'd come to Ashridge.

"Mickey's family lives at Rivercrest Estates, if I remember right. I'll start there."

Decision made, Andrew started out of the alley.

Four or five large men suddenly rushed toward him, wielding steel pipes. They forced him back into the alley and blocked his exit.

"Who are you supposed to be?" Andrew asked calmly. "I don't think I've done anything to you guys."

"You little punk, you forget what happened on the train already?" One of the men, a large guy with a Scorpion tattooed on his face, spoke in a cold voice.

"Oh, you're with that couple from before, right?" Andrew set down the duffel bag and cracked his knuckles. "Here for revenge?"

It had been a long time since he'd had a real fight. This might be a good chance to see if he still had it.

"Boys, cripple all five of this punk's legs!" Scorpion raised his steel pipe and charged first.

The other thugs followed close behind, swinging their weapons at Andrew from multiple angles.

"Too weak," Andrew said, shaking his head.

He dropped into an impossibly low stance and surged forward. With one hand braced against the ground, he swept his right leg in a wide arc, taking Scorpion's feet out from under him.

Without pausing, Andrew launched an uppercut from his low position, the force of it slamming into another thug's gut.

The man's face twisted in agony, cold sweat pouring down his face as he staggered backward and collapsed, screaming.

A steel pipe came whistling toward Andrew's head. His eyes sharpened. He caught the attacker's wrist with both hands, wrenched the pipe free, and swung it backhand into the man's skull.

In less than a minute, three men were down and howling. The remaining two dropped their weapons and fled in terror, abandoning their fallen comrades without a second thought.

A passerby witnessed the entire scene and immediately pulled out their phone to call the police.